Friday, January 2, 2015

Effective Musical Concomitants to the Gospel

Effective Musical Concomitants to the Gospel
            Strict music functionalism is a philosophical belief that the structure and design of music should be based on how it will be used and that all music should be excluded that does not serve a practical purpose.  This view in its strict form places music in the camp of the music pragmatists and removes it from the school of fine art and aesthetics.  There is nothing inherently wrong with the philosophical belief that the formal properties of a style of music should be congruent with its function and purpose. 
            Certainly all religious music should be congruent with the changed life principles taught in the Bible.  One of the major problems with twenty first century church music is that much of it is so connected with lifestyles and philosophies that are antagonistic toward Christianity.  Although association is not all there is to sacred music, it can and often does cloud the message of the gospel.  When worldview and lifestyle are represented in a great enough manner by the music, it ceases to be an effective vehicle for Christian witness.
             There are styles of music that have proven over the centuries to be effective concomitants of the Christian message.  Therefore, it seems odd that so many Christian musicians have accepted the notion that they should all be jettisoned in favor of styles that have from their inception been connected to lifestyles, philosophies, and worldviews that are contrary to a changed life principles of a Bible based, Christocentric. whole-life philosophy.

 

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