Faith as a Basis for a Music Philosophy—part 1

Faith as a Basis for a Music Philosophy—part 1

             Recently there has been discussion by a very limited number of philosophers concerning faith as a basis for the development of a music philosophy.  A much larger number of philosopher’s writings have been directed toward whether real life understanding can or cannot be gained through music listening and performing.  Very few of the books that I have ever read on music philosophy have even mentioned faith as a basis for building a music philosophy.  This is not surprising since music philosophers who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior most often do not retain God in any of their knowledge of music and musicing.  If a philosopher does not believe in what the Bible teaches, why would a Christian expect that he or she would base a music philosophy on what the Bible teaches about music and musicing? 

             Some of the ancients believed that music had great power and meaning. Some of them believed that music could influence the morals and ethics of the performer and listener.  As the discipline of music philosophy developed over the centuries, there was often among music philosophers a connection between religion and philosophic reasoning. Over the centuries, music philosophers have been divided in their opinions of whether religious faith was necessary or was a reasonable option in the development of a music philosophy.  Sadly, most of the writings in the last century about music philosophy that I have read have not even given casual mention to faith basis.