Open Up the Doors: Music in the Modern Church (Studies in Popular Music)

Within the Judaeo-Christian tradition -with few exceptions- music has always been central to the performance of sacred rites. The musical setting of liturgy has its roots in the earliest customs of the church and the practice has continued to evolve up to the present day. As the contemporary church in many Western societies grapples with the divisive issues of gay clergy or female ordination, just as divisive a schism appears to be in progress in the world of church music. On the traditional side are those that keep the ancient choral traditions alive. They face the new, intense informality of the evangelical wing who embrace a plainer more approachable music but who are not themselves without controversy, owing to the struggle between the secular forces from which their new forms of church music derive and the messages they wish to propagate and who are also, it often seems, drawn to fundamentalist and reactionary politics. This book surveys the music used in churches around the world today in the context of the history of western congregational song and concludes that music, like other cultural elements of contemporary Christianity, has been widely secularized. This secularization is a global phenomenon fed by the explosive growth of the contemporary church music industry (worth more than $900 million in annual sales) which has seen the large secular music companies acquiring independent labels, in many cases, to the distress of the faithful. By analyzing the tensions and controversies that are fuelling this crisis and leading to the breakdown of traditions that have been the backbone Christian tradition for centuries, the book questions whether the theoretical and practical problems aroused by this crisis can ever be surmounted. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 16 Personal Inductions 16 1. Contextualising Contemporary Congregational Music 23 1. Contemporary Christian Music as Popular Music 23 2. Contemporary Christian Music as Vernacular Music 25 3. Participation or Performance: Unravelling the Roles of the Church Musician 28 2. ‘Nothing New Under the Sun’: Learning from History 39 1. Congregational Music: Historical Trajectories 39 2. The Biblical Basis for Music in the Church 55 3. Ending the Corporate Worship Wars 60 1. Music as Worship 60 2. Corporate Worship Wars 72 4. Resistance or Accommodation: The ‘World’ of Quality 81 5. The Rise and Rise of Pentecostal Music: History, Hillsong and Star Texts 102 History and Antecedents 103 6. Theomusicological Frameworks for Congregational Song Analysis 125 1. Engaging Theomusicology 125 2. Rethinking ‘Praise’ Songs 132 3. The Body of Christ 141 7. Corporate Worship GetsPersonal 151 1. ‘As For Me...’ 151 2. Looking Ahead and Looking Back 163 8. Conclusion: ‘When the Music Fades’ 173 1. Imagination and Variation 173 2. General Congregational Song Trends 179 3. The Heart of Contemporary Congregational Song 182 Appendix: Song Classification and Analysis 185 Notes 198 Introduction 198 Chapter 1 198 Chapter 2 199 Chapter 3 201 Chapter 4 203 Chapter 5 204 Chapter 6 207 Chapter 7 208 Chapter 8 209 Bibliography 210 Index to Bible References 218 Subject Index 220 Contextualising Contemporary Congregational Music -- Nothing New Under The Sun : Learning From History -- Ending The Corporate Worship Wars -- Resistance Or Accommodation : The World Of Quality -- The Rise And Rise Of Pentecostal Music : History, Hillsong, And Star Texts -- Theomusicological Frameworks For Congregational Song Analysis -- Corporate Worship Gets Personal -- Conclusion : When The Music Fades. Mark Evans. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [195]-202) And Indexes. Represents an attempt to provide objective criteria and analytical frameworks by which the quality and function of contemporary congregational music can be assessed. This book also considers how well modern music is serving the modern church, and also how effectively it is operating as a musical form in the secular culture that surrounds it. Providing objective criteria and analytical frameworks by which the quality and function of contemporary congregational music can be assessed, this book also considers how well modern music is serving the modern church, and how effectively it is operating as a musical form in the secular culture that surrounds it