Biblical Worship

Touchstone magazine article, “Durable Hymns" by
Donald Williams director of the School of Arts and Sciences at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/issue.php?id=151


"Much of today’s music is of poor quality, but so was some music written centuries ago. The difference is the old hymns have endured a centuries-long weeding-out process. If we hope to identify the best new music, we must know those marks of excellence that made the best of the past stand out and survive so long.”

"These marks of excellence are not arbitrary. They are derived from biblical teaching about the nature of worship. They come from an understanding of the nature of music and how it can support those biblical goals."

Here are the marks he lists:


1. Lyrics need not to be literal Scripture, but they do have to be faithful to it.

2. Theological profundity. Think of how the words to this great hymn encourage us to worship God with our minds:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes

By contrast, some contemporary choruses are often “so simplistic and repetitive that theological reflection never has a chance to get started,” Williams says.

3. Poetic richness. For instance, the use of a question in the hymn “What Child is This?” helps us capture “the wonder of the Incarnation.” In “Amazing Grace,” the word “wretch,” Williams notes, is “a simple but evocative” choice.


4. Musical beauty. In great music, “there are certain contours, structures, and cadences that make for a singable melody.” And the right harmony “can make that melody more memorable . . .,” he writes. For instance, “Be Thou My Vision” “rises and falls like an ocean wave or a sine curve.”

Tragically, Williams notes, “more recent praise choruses seem to ignore all the rules of good composition, giving us not well-shaped melodies but just one note after another.”

Now, some songwriters are creating excellent music today. But, warns Williams, only those musicians who are musically gifted, and historically, biblically, and theologically trained are qualified to help churches choose the best new music “as a supplement to the church’s rich musical heritage.”

Although I mostly agree with this, some of these points seem to be relative to a persons taste and definitely from a western Anglo cultural perspective. Some songs that are “sing-able” to some might be “un-sing-able” by others. How in the world would you measure "Musical beauty"? What about the church in Africa? What is "Musical beauty" to them? Shouldn’t “excellent worship” also be indigenous to the people? (See my post "What Worship Means @ Our Church" below for my thoughts on this.)

What would he say are the marks of “biblical worship” as opposed to “excellent worship”? Isn’t it more important to be "biblical" then "excellent"? Not that the two are opposed.

He says that these marks are "derived from biblical teaching about the nature of worship." Who's "biblical teaching"? Where in the bible does it teach about what elements or marks are suppose to be in worship songs? Where does scripture teach worship songs should have "Poetic Richness" or "Musical Beauty"? I am not disagreeing that worship music should have these things but how do these things make worship more "biblical"?

The real issues are much bigger then the article mentions. I think that this is a very man centered approach to these issues and questions. Shouldn't the real question be, "What kind of hymns does God like?" not, "What type of hymns do I like?".

What do you guys think?