Discussion of culture is an essential ingredient in any intelligent philosophy of Christian music. Especially in today’s globalized, multicultural environment, understanding what culture is and… Read More »Theological Issues at Stake in Discussions of Culture and Contextualization
This essay was originally published on April 27, 2012. A couple of events have coincided during the last day or so to bring a question… Read More »Start Them Young
I was recently made aware of an article on the Christianity Today web site about songwriter Melanie Penn. The following passage from the article is… Read More »Can a song that doesn’t mention Jesus be “Christian”?
Here’s one of the most important concepts about music in worship I think needs to be communicated to pastors and parishioners alike: Music in the context… Read More »The most significant misconception about music in worship
I grew up in Michigan. I now live in Texas. Texas is hot. Really hot. And it stays hot for a long, long time. However,… Read More »On Texas heat and musical meaning
Over the past several months I have written a series of short articles in which I dealt with the major categories of a biblical philosophy of… Read More »Free eBook of Back to Basics Series
I received some good feeback from my post last week briefly explaining musical meaning. Several were on Twitter: “@ScottAniol: Meaning in music is a tricky… Read More »Reading recommendations on musical meaning
Meaning in music is a tricky thing. Most people think it’s tricky because music is so abstract and lacks specificity such that describing its meaning… Read More »Meaning in Music
I participated on Friday in the Southwest regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. The theme of the meeting this year was the decline of… Read More »Evangelical Worship and the Decline of Denominationalism
One of the most difficult matters when engaging in a philosophy of music is the terms we employ. For example, the following terms often lack… Read More »Is musical meaning subjective?
Shai Linne and I are having a conversation between Christian brothers about Christian rap. This post will not make sense unless you start at the beginning of this discussion and… Read More »Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Musical Analysis (Rebuttal)
Shai Linne and I are having a conversation between Christian brothers about Christian rap. This post will not make sense unless you start at the beginning of this discussion and… Read More »Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Musical Analysis
Shai Linne and I are having a conversation between Christian brothers about Christian rap. This post will not make sense unless you start at the beginning of this discussion and… Read More »Discussion about Christian rap with Shai Linne: Example of Holy Music
Since Shai Linne is a busy church planter/assistant pastor, and I am a busy seminary professor in the last week of the semester, we’re finding… Read More »Some answers to questions about my views on Reformed rap
A firestorm erupted online last week after video of a panel discussion in which I participated at the NCFIC “Worship of God” conference went viral,… Read More »Explanation of my comments about Reformed rap on the NCFIC panel
One of the most difficult matters to explain when dealing with issues of music in worship is how music communicates. I think most people intuitively… Read More »How does music mean?
Yesterday, Scott Aniol showed that Martin Luther was influenced by Greek aesthetics, including that of Plato. In light of Dr. Aniol’s post, it is worth… Read More »Calvin and Platonic aesthetics
I was a high school freshman when I first heard Mendelssohn’s “Songs without Words.” Wandering through the back of the music room to pick up… Read More »Songs without words
That culture in America is decaying is no secret to conservative Christians. Recent events surrounding homosexual marriage has once again pushed this realization to the… Read More »Why do we assume that music alone is immune from cultural decay?
Since I’m in the mood to highlight other important articles, I want to direct your attention to an important article that I linked to Wednesday… Read More »Music has not always been considered neutral