Religious Music and Secular Music: A Calvinist Perspective, Re-Formed
Frank Burch Brown
Although Calvin’s theology of music runs counter to the tenor of our times, it can be re-formed so as to alert us to both assets and risks of music in Christian worship and life. In particular, Calvin can help re-introduce critical discernment in a context in which churches appear eager to absorb virtually every style of secular music (the reverse of what Calvin desired). More positively, he can encourage us to find and create music that not only touches the heart but lends itself to the high calling of lifting hearts into “the presence of God and the angels.”
Lyrical Theology: Theology in Hymns
S T Kimbrough, JrLyrical theology is a term first used by S T Kimbrough, Jr. in 1984 to describe theology that is couched in poetry, hymns/songs, and liturgy. It is characterized by rhythm and expressive of emotion and sentiment. It often includes a digestion of theological concepts and ideas in brief, sometimes telescopic, terse lyrics.
Most discussions of theology in hymns (lyrical theology) address their functionality, content, context, style, and liturgical appropriateness. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of “traditional” hymns and “contemporary” praise and worship songs are also being explored quite carefully, as well as the effect of all these realities on the theological memory of the church. Few discussions, however, treat the questions addressed in this article: What is the spirituality behind the hymns/songs which gave them birth? Out of what spiritual ethos did they emerge? A response to these questions is essential, if one is to grasp the theological import and impact of Christian hymns/songs in the community of faith today and in the future.
Motive and Motif in the Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Robin LeaverJohann Sebastian Bach stands in a long line of succession of Lutheran composers, who used musical forms to convey theological concepts, that reaches back to Luther himself. Lutheran theologians and musicians used the Latin formula viva vox evangelii to define their understanding of music as the living voice of the Gospel. Here is presented first, an overview of this Lutheran tradition, and then an examination of specific examples from Bach’s musical works that expound specific theological concepts such as the doctrine of the Trinity, the distinction between Law and Gospel, the nature of discipleship, and Christological hermeneutics in general.
Roots into the Future: Recovering Gregorian Chant to Renew the Church’s Voice
Richard A. SmithIn the Christian Church, the people are the Body of Christ. Somehow, in the last half-century of re-inventing, re-imagining, recreating, reviving, renewing, and restoring ourselves in the rush to become or stay “relevant,” that identity has frequently become blurred or lost altogether. Music in the Church has been both a victim and a cause of this corrupted identity. Gregorian chant is well worth considering as a model for recovery in twenty-first century worship. Its spiritual power and musical excellence may lead us to recover our voice as the people of God.
Does God Manifest Himself in the World in Trickles of Music?
Calvin StapertThe reception of Mozart’s music is rife with extravagant claims that connect it to the divine and see it as a source of hope and comfort. Although that aspect of Mozart reception is still alive and well, recent demystification projects have tried to reduce his music to “social construction.” Christian theology goes some distance with those projects, but it also gives reason to believe that human artifacts can give glimpses of transcendence and reason for hope. Further, it guides our response to them between the dangers of idolatry and ingratitude.
The Ecstasy of Lament: Opera as a Model of Theology
Kristine Suna-KoroOpera is often perceived as an elitist genre of music, admired by snobbish traditionalists and greatly suspected by radical feminists. By viewing opera as an innovative avenue for lament over tragic and sinful human reality long before any formal feminist critique, the essay examines the creative role of opera as a mode of encouragement for a different theologia prima – worship in music as otherwise than intellectually satisfying certain theological assumptions. The risky speech of operatic lament as inverted ecstatic praise of the triune God affirms the relevance of critical attention toward the praise of God which, deprived of lament, risks becoming an inauthentic and vacuous worship.