After more than a century of grappling with Descartes’ division of knowledge into “subjective” and “objective”, eighteenth-century thinkers developed a way to rescue the concept… Read More »Beauty’s Difficulties: The Problem of Taste
Why are there such different “tastes” among people? Is the debate over music in worship simply a “preference issue”? Are matters of music, dress, recreation… Read More »Taste and Preference: A Last Word
Taste is never shaped in isolation. We learn to love what we love from our family, our church, our school, and our society. In other… Read More »Taste Formed and Deformed by Culture
A discussion of taste is one of the most difficult (and unrewarding) ones to have, for most people are unreflective about their likes. “I know… Read More »Taste Spoiled By Sweetness
Even atheists used to believe in good taste. The infamous David Hume wrote in his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals “In many orders of… Read More »Good Taste and Christian Taste
Adiaphora (indifferent matters) are misunderstood on two grounds. First, evangelicals misunderstand the term indifferent to mean unimportant. Second, evangelicals conflate the moral neutrality of adiaphora… Read More »Preference and Amorality
God reveals His will in Scripture in three ways. The first is by explicit command or prohibition. God simply mandates certain behaviours and forbids others.… Read More »Preferences and Adiaphora
De gustibus non est disputandum, said the ancient Romans. There is no disputing over taste, meaning that in matters of personal taste and preference, there… Read More »Ten Mangled Words:”Taste”
This week I am studying Psalm 34, and the two instances (one noun, one verb) of a Hebrew word for “taste” (טעם) caught my attention.… Read More »A Tidbit on “Taste”
I have often argued (such as in Sound Worship) that it is the responsibility of Christians to change their tastes for beauty to match what is truly… Read More »Is there any room for preference?
During the years I was in college and the one year before I was married, I ate a lot of junk food. I grew to… Read More »Change your tastes
Nathan Hatch, in his Democratization of American Christianity, writes concerning the changes in American religion due to the implicit notion of the “Sovereign Audience”: Popular… Read More »Wrested . . . from churchly control
We recently received an excellent question submitted through the “Article Suggestions” module in the right column of this site: “What areas of aesthetics are preferences… Read More »Isn't there any room for preference?
The following is taken from Sound Worship: a Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Source of… Read More »Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder, Part 6: Change Your Taste
The following is taken from Sound Worship: a Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World. Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Source of… Read More »Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder, Part 5: The Judgment of Beauty
Pre-order for 30% off | Book Website “Scott Aniol has contributed a reasoned, thoughtful, Scripture-infused, and theological approach to his subject. This book should prove… Read More »What Others Are Saying About Worship in Song
Pre-order for 30% off | Book Website SECTION ONE: LAYING THE FOUNDATION Chapter One: Biblical Authority in Matters of Faith and Practice Many Christians insist… Read More »Contents of Worship in Song by Scott Aniol
One particularly common misconception in the realm of aesthetics is that “we all have different tastes, and that’s OK,” and Christians are certainly not immune… Read More »Taste is Black and White