Are “Christian” and “rap” mutually exclusive? Mark Dever’s answer after a 9Marks interview with Shai Linne and Curtis Allen (Voice): “Hardly.” This from one of the most conservative evangelicals alive today. It is primarily for that reason that I’d like to make a few comments about the interview. If this is what one of the most… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Articles on Music
Is Music a Separation Issue?
Music philosophy is not a separation issue of the same kind of level as heterodoxy or flagrant, known sin. Probably one of the most common questions I’m asked is if I think differences over worship/music philosophy warrants separation. Here’s my attempt at an answer. What do you mean by separation? I do not view separation… Continue Reading
Does Music Matter?
Does music matter to God? Should it matter to us? We are living in a day when people — even Christians — see music as unimportant. Enjoyable, yes; but necessary or important? No. We see this kind of thinking all around us. Music education is now considered extracurricular in schools. It’s extra. It’s not important.… Continue Reading
Accessible vs. Immediate
I’ve heard a lot of teaching recently on what makes a good sacred congregational song, and among qualities listed, “accessibility” is inevitably among them. I wholeheartedly agree with this point: for a hymn to be congregational, it has to be, well, congregational! The congregation has to be able to sing it. In other words, there… Continue Reading
I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow my imaginary argument down!
Straw Men in the Music/Worship Debate One of the most dangerous, yet easy pitfalls one can fall into when discussing music/worship issues is to misrepresent the opposing view (most likely unintentionally). This is easy to fall into because it’s always easier to blow down an opponent’s position if you get to invent a pretty weak… Continue Reading
"CCM's theology of music should be ranked among the theological aberrations of modern evangelicalism…"
I just listened to three lectures given by John Makujina at the William R. Rice Lecture Series at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in 2005. They are outstanding. A must-listen, especially if you question whether. You can download them here. Here’s a critical highlight: Traditionally, this controversy has been contested under the rubrics of orthopraxy rather than… Continue Reading
What music should be used when planting indigenous churches in . . . the United States of America?
It seems as if several themes have been reoccurring on this site, Paleoevangelical, and a few other places over the last few weeks. These themes have to do with musical associations, indigenous church planting, and musical universals. Here are the posts I’m talking about in case you need to get caught up: On Taxonomies of… Continue Reading
Musical Universality, Ethnodoxology, and Associations
We must evaluate both the intrinsic meaning within music and the potentially negative associations of a song before we adopt it into Christian worship. The theme of the latest issue of “Worship Notes,” written by Ron Man, is “Making Musical Choices.” Man writes, The most consistently asked question of me in my international teaching is… Continue Reading
Punting to "Association Problems" may be a cop out.
In my post on associations, I made it very clear that I do think we must at least wrestle through association issues, so I do think associations can be significant enough to render even a good song unusable for a time. But as I’ve considered common discussions of association problems in some circles, I have… Continue Reading
On Taxonomies of Music/Worship Philosophies
There have been several interesting taxonomies of music/worship philosophies developed recently that have spurred me to think through classifying various positions. They intrigued me mostly because I found them unhelpful and missing key nuances, but each has merit that I think should be considered. The first was a recently published counterpoint book published by Broadman… Continue Reading
Full "Correcting Categories" Series
Below are links to individual posts and the full document of the “Correcting Categories” series. Correcting Categories, Part 1 – Biblical Authority Correcting Categories, Part 2 – Emotional Metaphor Correcting Categories, Part 3 – Music’s Benefit Correcting Categories, Part 4 – Dissecting Emotion Correcting Categories, Part 5 – Biblical Anthropology Correcting Categories, Part 6 –… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 10 – Conclusion
If the Church today is going to be able to rightly apply biblical principles to music and worship, it must recover important categories that are either assumed and implied or explicitly taught by biblical authors. Music communicates by means of emotional metaphor. buy viagra from india Spiritual response of the affections is fundamentally distinct from… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 9 – the Church Today
Today, the influences of Modernism, Revivalism, and Charismaticism in the Church’s understanding of the purpose and function of music in worship cannot be overestimated. First, because of Modernism, most Christian fail to understand the nature of emotion in human spirituality and worship. Most Christians see no fundamental distinction between a response of the affections and… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 8 – Music and Emotion in the Church
A Radical Change Protestants have historically been suspect of Dionysian forms of music, especially in sacred contexts, because they recognized that spiritual life resides in the affections and not in the physical feelings. They did not want to stimulate artificial experiences of the senses but rather nurture biblical affections through the mind and spirit. Presbyterians,… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 7 – The Nature of Pop
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 6 – Dionysian vs. Apollonian
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 5 – Biblical Anthroplogy
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 4 – Dissecting Emotion
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 3 – Music's Benefit
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading
Correcting Categories, Part 2 – Emotional Metaphor
My goal in this series is to help believers apply the Bible to their musical choices in life and worship. My contention is, however, that believers today approach the issue of musical choices with certain errant foundational presuppositions that need to be corrected before they can rightly apply the Bible in this area. So my… Continue Reading