Comments on: Great Thoughts on Music, Style and Worship

By: Michael Woody

Michael Woody — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:55:59 +0000

I would be interested in knowing your thoughts on John Makujina’s book, Measuring the Music: Another Look at the Contemporary Christian Music Debate.

I will confess. I am a Traditionalist. I love singing from the Psalter and I love the older hymns of the faith (not much of a fan of the Fanny Crosby era). I believe God does care about style and how we do something: this applies to all elements of our worship. However, I am frail and sinful in many ways and I know that my background certainly has a strong influence on my perceptions of right and wrong: that is why I ask the question.

By: The People Clapped, He Sat Down, and the Fundamentalists Went Wild « Fundamentally Reformed

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:36:33 +0000

[...] Recently I came across some great articles by Kevin Twit (of Indelible Grace) where he argues that such a distinction is artificial and a relatively recent innovation. Let me provide a few quotes from him, as I think they bear directly on this point. The dichotomy between high art and pop art is, at best, both unhelpful and musically and historically rather naïve. Actually the historical basis of this is a rather racist argument. This distinction is really only about 150 years old, emerges during the 19th century as people try to separate themselves from the massive influx of Eastern European immigrants, and falls prey to a classic logical fallacy: just because something is popular does not mean it is of inferior quality! It may mean that it is of great quality and has connected with a large number of people for really good reasons! In addition, the attempt to make a big distinction between folk art and pop art fails to understand how popular art functions. (see William Romanowski’s recent book “Eyes Wide Open” pg. 72-75 for a wonderful discussion of this issue! Or if you want to study this even more in depth, track down Lawrence Levine’s “Highbrow, Lowbrow: The Emergence Of Cultural Hierarchy In America”) — from this article (see my recent post for a more legible version). …the high art/ low art dichotomy….has become such a part of our vocabulary that it seems like a self-evident truth. Low art is said to be inherently inferior to high art. This is the crux of the arguments of people like Allan Bloom and Ken Myers. However there are a number of serious problems with this simplistic reduction. [...]

By: fundyreformed

fundyreformed — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:17:18 +0000

Thanks for stopping by. Glad the article and the critique I pointed out, were a help to you.

By: Todd Swanson

Todd Swanson — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:09:38 +0000

I’m glad someone thoughtfully reviewed this book. I’ve wondered what was going on when I picked it up in my local christian bookstore.

The idea that one music or style is better than any other is purposterious and the fact that a major publisher like evangelical press picked up this material is upsetting. It’s my belief though that materials like this will have little impact on the modern worship music movement. It was obviously written by the last diehards to the model of hymns only in our chuch please. I think that its important to remember that every song was new and revolutanry once even those found in a hymnal.