Change your Music … Imperil The State

“The introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.”

Plato
Republic — Book IV

I wonder what this means for the Church. I wonder if we imperil the Church when we introduce the strangest of melodies. Sure, there can be little doubt that introducing cutting edge music will grow the church but is the numerical growth of the church achieved at the price of the malformed Christians?

Parents, pay attention to what music your children listen to. Music is not neutral and as such the music they listen to will shape them in the direction of the musicians tastes and thinking. I suspect that in our current climate this will be in a direction not desired by the parents.

Author: jetbrane

I am a Pastor of a small Church in Mid-Michigan who delights in my family, my congregation and my calling. I am postmillennial in my eschatology. Paedo-Calvinist Covenantal in my Christianity Reformed in my Soteriology Presuppositional in my apologetics Familialist in my family theology Agrarian in my regional community social order belief Christianity creates culture and so Christendom in my national social order belief Mythic-Poetic / Grammatical Historical in my Hermeneutic Pre-modern, Medieval, & Feudal before Enlightenment, modernity, & postmodern Reconstructionist / Theonomic in my Worldview One part paleo-conservative / one part micro Libertarian in my politics Systematic and Biblical theology need one another but Systematics has pride of place Some of my favorite authors, Augustine, Turretin, Calvin, Tolkien, Chesterton, Nock, Tozer, Dabney, Bavinck, Wodehouse, Rushdoony, Bahnsen, Schaeffer, C. Van Til, H. Van Til, G. H. Clark, C. Dawson, H. Berman, R. Nash, C. G. Singer, R. Kipling, G. North, J. Edwards, S. Foote, F. Hayek, O. Guiness, J. Witte, M. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Mencken, Lasch, Postman, Gatto, T. Boston, Thomas Brooks, Terry Brooks, C. Hodge, J. Calhoun, Llyod-Jones, T. Sowell, A. McClaren, M. Muggeridge, C. F. H. Henry, F. Swarz, M. Henry, G. Marten, P. Schaff, T. S. Elliott, K. Van Hoozer, K. Gentry, etc. My passion is to write in such a way that the Lord Christ might be pleased. It is my hope that people will be challenged to reconsider what are considered the givens of the current culture. Your biggest help to me dear reader will be to often remind me that God is Sovereign and that all that is, is because it pleases him.

5 thoughts on “Change your Music … Imperil The State”

  1. Everybody knows its booty-shaking time when the bass starts thumping. . .

    I’m a bit partial myself to the minor key. What does that say about my taste and thinking, do you suppose?

  2. Bach wrote a lot of music in minor keys.

    One may enjoy many styles of music (and I do), but that doesn’t mean all music is equal, or that just any music is suitable for corporate worship.

    There are higher and lower forms, the former generally focusing on melody and composition, and the latter generally focusing on beat and repetition.

  3. Joshua, where do chants in unison (such as those found in the Anglican prayer book and the liturgy of The Lutheran Hymnal) fit in to your high/low categories? They have repetitive elements but in a very different way (IMHO) than pop music.

  4. Chad:

    You can find chants in some psalters as well. As far as I know, the chants are lyrically almost identical to a psalm or hymn, they are just sung differently. Chants where a single word is repeated over and over would not necessarily be “low,” yet they are not scriptural and would probably constitute vain repetition.

    I realize I am generalizing quite a bit, but I guess what I meant to say is “repetitiveness” as opposed to “repetition.” Not all repetition or thematic elements are “low.” But all the same, psalms and hymns are generally linear, whereas pop tunes (and praise choruses) have an inherently repetitive and cyclical structure.

    For instance, in the psalms or the great hymns, you don’t find puerile and mindless stuff like repeating “let it rain” ten times. But the church by and large sings such twaddle every Sunday. The abandonment of the psalms in the church’s liturgy is a major cause of the church’s immaturity and impotency today.

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