A philosophy of Music Aesthetics part 2
Although the
Scripture lesson speaks primarily to the sexual sins it also speaks of
worshiping created things which includes art and art objects rather than the
Creator. Therefore worshiping aesthetics
or any created art forms is nothing less than idolatry! The Scripture lesson above warns those who
worship created things rather than the Creator start by suppressing the truth
that Christians must not worship any created thing. Therefore the result of an aesthetic approach
to religion is worshiping art for art’s sake.
I believe that worshiping art for art’s sake in music worship is the
outcome of a faulty praxial view of the place of the arts in worship. Worship music must derive its significance
outside of itself. If it does not, it is
autonomous. Therefore, a Christocentric
Christian aesthetic must derive its significance outside of itself. A Christian aesthetic view will consequently
not derive the same musical import as a secular aesthetic view does.
I want to make it
very clear that I believe that aesthetic beauty in the arts used in worship is
not wrong but, on the contrary, beauty in the arts is one of the proofs that an art form follows biblical
principles. Beauty is a concomitant of
God’s orderly creation. I believe that
when God created music as a part of his personal orderly creation that it was
very good or beautiful (Genesis 1:31).
Although misguided musicologists and some Christian musicians have
purported that the music of the Bible was harsh and ugly, there is not a shred
of biblical or extra biblical proof of such an exotic hypothesis. On the contrary the te’amim (the musical
melodies of all Old Testament scripture) have proven the music of the Bible was
very beautiful. (See chapter Eight of Music in the Bible in Christian Perspective).
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