 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Discipling
Music Ministry: Twenty-first Century Directions (Hendrickson Publishers,
1992) by Calvin Johansson. Reviewed
by Dr. Barry Liesch.
If you are looking for a book that is critical of contemporary
worship and contemporary culture, then this book may be for you. Dr.
Calvin Johansson, a Pentecostal by background, has been a music professor
for many years at the Assembly of God college in Springfield, Missouri,
and at the same time has directed church music at an Episcopal church.
That combination of influences is fascinating in itself! Johansson's book has drawn negative reactions from
a number of Christian professors who teach music and worship at the
college and university level in North America.
His philosophy of music, for example, conflicts starkly with
that of Harold Best (Music Through the Eyes of Faith). To his credit
though, Johansson cites concrete examples in presenting his case. Here
are a few quotations which express his views. "It would be better to stand up to culture...and
risk a limited separation from the world" (p. 46). "the prophetic role of music may necessitate going
against the grain of popular trends…Christian discipleship is developed
through the use of a comparatively narrow range of choices" (p.4). "The gospel's penchant for the narrow way, the
hard way, and the disciplined way, shows the need for a music which
analogically and symbolically expresses these things" (p. 108 "The goal of church music and that of secular
music is incompatible. The adoption
and adaptation of secular music does not fulfill the church music’s
overall purpose because it is incapable of doing so. Accommodating the
gospel to culture is often a vexatious problem (p. 20). "Pop, by whatever its name, is hedonistic. It
seems absolutely imperative to conclude that to use pop music as a medium
for the gospel message is wrong. "
(p. 52, 55). "The music of rock supports the repudiation of
biblical standards by using combinations of sounds which are violent,
mind-numbing, vulgar, raw, mesmerizing, rebellious, grossly repetitive,
uncreative, undisciplined, and chaotic sounding.
If listeners do not hear these things, it is because rock has
dulled their aesthetic sensibilities" (p. 26). "Theists must be objectivists through and through.
All worthy art is based on God-given aesthetic principles that are laid
down in creation and are cross-cultural and timeless" (p. 46). "There are universal musical principles common
to all cultures"(p. 70). "the universal principles of coherence, unity, continuity, dominance, variety, and tendency gratification [are] established by God in creation" (p.58). Personally, I do not find major parts of Johansson's point of view convincing. I feel it is valuable, however, to consider differing, even opposing viewpoints. Buy the Book Now from Amazon.com Worshipinfo gets a small payment from Amazon.com if you buy the book by clicking on our link. |