Our response to music should be according, NOT to media but rather, to content.
(This most specifically refers to worship)
(This most specifically refers to worship)
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The primary aim of this blog is to post various writings on various topics not including frivilities or trivivial daily grime. Rather it is to be mainly an outlet for the occasional inteligent thought that i manage to catalogue... spelling errors included.
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What do you mean by ‘content’? Do you mean the words or lyrics? I agree that we need to worship almost entirely with words and sentences: cognitively cohesive constructs. Yet, there is a reason that we use music to express thoughts, and don’t just talk all the time. I would think you would agree that music (not only words) can convey moods, feelings, and ideas. Music also has the potential to portray beauty, which is a objective reflection of the appearance and display of the character of God. Even the way one sings words carries meaning. The whole reason why we use music is because it affects us. If it did not cause us to respond we would cease to use it and just talk. So instead of ignoring or resisting the effect of music, we should labor to listen to and respond to good music.
Also, God doesn’t stick to philosophizing when he communicates with us. He uses poetry, story, and songs, along with instruction. To say that we should only be affected rationally and cognitively to the various media of the Bible seems reductionistic. God created media and uses it to communicate with us; to say that it shouldn’t affect us goes against the grain of scripture. The Bible isn’t just doctrine. Theologian Kevin Vanhooser calls the message of the Bible “theodrama.”(see his article in Whatever happened to Truth) To say that “media” doesn’t affect us is simply not honest. To say that we must not let it affect us is unrealistic. I think it is dangerous and rather difficult to separate medium and message. On earth we cannot communicate without medium, and medium carries meaning (see Amusing Ourselves to Death for one example of this).
I would say that to the degree that any medium that excludes any objective, rational meaning, it ceases to be helpful. Also, media that encourages rational thought can be most helpful. There is a value for entertainment. Music written for entertainment or joy is appropriate some times.
Perhaps you have read Abraham Piper’s blog and are enamored with brevity, but some things need more explaining. The relation of music and aesthetics to meaning is complicated, and needs to be approached with care and discernment. Whether it would repay more serious study is a question I can’t answer yet.
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