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My recent comments on contemporary Christian worship music (here and here) have provoked a more heartfelt and interesting discussion than any other article on this site. I have a longer article on this subject in the pipeline, but it will be some time before I can finish it. In the meantime, I have a brief positive note on the matter for tonight. (I am also trying to think of less incendiary topics to write on: perhaps I will start with affirmative action or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.)

Tiffany wisely points out that any medium has potential. A corrollary to this is that any criticism of contemporary worship should not be a priori, especially not when talented, thoughtful, and sound people like Tiffany are in charge. One thing I’ve found problematic with most incarnations of the contemporary worship scene that I’ve encountered is the constant neophilia — the “If it ain’t new, fix it” impulse. I find this rejection of two millenia of some of the greatest Western music and poetry heartbreaking. (Whether or not this is symptomatic of a larger, intellectual and theological neophilia in contemporary evangelical Christianity — as well as Christianity at large — is another matter. Personally, I trace the problems of having to reinvent every doctrinal, ecclesiastical, and liturgical wheel to pietism, the privileging of individual judgement over all else, and — as a causal force to both of these — the Enlightenment.)

The situation Tiffany describes, transitioning from a contemporary praise song to an upbeat rendition of classic hymn, does seem to (as she indicates) combine the best of two worlds. The contemporary idiom is a plus for many, and the introduction of the classic hymn implies a connection from the current instant to something greater, something historical: the church triumphant from every age. In an ideal world, we would be able to take the best expressions of Christian truth from every age, presenting understandable sentences that express unchanging propositions. I am interested in the idea of fusing contemporary expressions with established ones: the concern is ensuring that we hold Christian art and worship from the present to the same standards of aesthetics, functionality, and doctrine as we would to that from the past. (More on standards later.)