Did Luther Approve all Music for Worship?-part 2

Did Luther Approve all Music for Worship?-part 2

            I fear that when millennials read such quotes they will suppose that Luther would be quite cosmopolitan in his views of sacred music if he were alive today.  Surely musicologists who have studied Luther’s musical works and the music that he used in the liturgy that he used in the context of worship would not wish to promulgate such a faulty notion.  Certainly, the musical footprint of his chorales and hymn settings do not bear out any hypothesis that he was free spirited about music used in the context of worship.

            Luther’s view of music took the artistic “high road” by allowing much artistic endeavor as opposed to John Calvin’s restrictive view of “psalms only” in public worship.  Mark Sooy believes that in Luther’s view of music, “He noted the reflection of creation in the order and structure of the music itself.”  Mark Sooy, Essays on Martin Luther’s Theology of Music, Blur Maroon, 2006, p. 34.  Sooy believed that Luther may have recognized this reflection in the resolution of tension in music.   Ibid p. 34.  I am not sure that music is an accurate reflection of creation, but it has traditionally progressed from beginning to middle (tension) or climax, and then to end which is a release or resolution from that tension.  The view that music’s progression mirrors creative perfection, man’s fall, and God’s restoration of man is an interesting view, but I am not sure it will hold up under philosophical or theological scrutiny.

Thought for the Day

One thing is certain about music in light of creation, God created it and therefore He owns it.  So, Christian musicians must rid of the sense of ownership of music.