Worship in the Melting Pot

Eric B · Apr 17, 2007

However, I did find something of note in the page to which you linked us:
Quote:
Finally, a move toward styles previously identified as secular may occur as a response to a change in theology and liturgy affecting our perceptions of which attitudes and gestures and outlooks are pertinent to worship and prayer. If one has acquired a theology that is less suspicious of the body than much Christian theology has been over the centuries, then one stands a better chance of hearing religious meaning in music that is dance-like and overtly rhythmic. Similarly, what if one no longer accepts the judgment of John Keble and many other Victorians that true religion is always, at its core, “marked by a pure reserve, a kind of modesty or reverence”? Then one may invite music into the church that has a much wider expressive range, from outright lamentation to uninhibited jubilation.
At last, one of the new worship's own authorities acknowledges that the move toward CCM is a theological shift! A change in thought. Something I've asserted from the beginning. Music is not a thing. It is not an object that one might find washed up on a beach somewhere, or something that can be plucked from a tree. Music is thought.

Michael W. Harris said the same thing in his book, The Rise of Gospel Blues. Quote:
At the heart of this study of gospel blues is the premise that ideas—as opposed to events or other more concrete data of history—are the generative structures of culture. By extension, blues is thought as opposed to mere music. The rise of gospel blues will thus be treated here not as the appearance of a form or style of music but as the emergence of a concept—a "feelin'" as [Thomas Andrew] Dorsey would say.
Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. in The Power of Black Music, Quote:
My position in this book . . .is that African survivals exist not merely in the sense that African-American music has the same characteristics as its African counterparts, but also that the musical tendencies, the mythological beliefs and assumptions, and the interpretive strategies of African Americans are the same as those that underlie the music of the African homeland, that these tendencies and beliefs continue to exist as African cultural memory, and that they continue to inform the continuity and elaboration of African-American music.
The heart of this debate is not style itself, but the thought or system of beliefs that influences that style. We are really debating which doctrine of God is more true, and which "attitudes, gestures and outlooks" conform to that view.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone really denies a theological shift. The issue is, the assumption that one culture, in one time period had their theology perfectly correct, so that it was wrong to even change from it. A lot was wrong in "traditional Christian Western Culture", and there was a great gnostic influence, and unbiblical regarding of other cultures as inferior and particularly repulsive to God. But the Gospel taught that all have sinned, and much of "Christian" Western music and culture reflectied its pre-Christian pagan cultural memory.

Also, recently; I had found some information I had been looking for for a long time, and added it to my page. http://members.aol.com/etb700/ccm.html#communication The problem had been that I did not know the name of the piece in question:

Another ultimate proof that this whole "classical=good associations; rock=bad associations" generalization is the categorization of "classical" under the Gothic label! Now "Gothic" is just about the darkest thing we can think of, and we automatically picure modern rebellious youths, with their heavy "goth rock" music, and dark eyeliners, punked out hair, etc., and the associations with old horror/monster movies. But all of this has in its roots in "classical" European culture!. You can even see the classical music categorized as "Gothic" at this site: http://hercules.gcsu.edu/~rviau/musicoverview.html (Musical/Historical Overview By Dr. Greg Pepetone)! The epitome of this is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, (BWV 565); a dark, eerie theme associated with Dracula and other dark images. This is pure classical, by one of the most respected composers of "traditionalist" Christians, and should forever put to rest the false "moral/spiritual" dichotomy between rock and classical! Of course, people will probably say "oh that was just one example that was dark, but the rest of classical is not like that". But then the same generalization should be rejected for rock and other contemporary forms. Either the negative "association" rules ut the whole style, or you just have to draw your lines on a case by case basis. It is so much easier to put forth such effort for your own beloved style, yet with a broad sweep rule out everything else.

Useful Searches

Worship in the Melting Pot

Eric B Active Member Site Supporter

Eric B Active Member
Site Supporter