A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life ___ I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)
In your view what makes a Christian hymn or contemporary song theologically superficial?
8 comments:
Bruce
said...
I think superficial hymns are the ones that stick with the writer/singer, and never move to God. Some songs are not written to God. They never reach out to the divine. To me these are superficial. Very simple hymns and songs can be extremely profound and powerful forms of prayer. They may not be theologically complicated, but profound nevertheless.
That's a hard question for me to answer in general. I have to take each hymn or song one at a time.
But I would say that my big frustration with modern Christian music is that it is difficult to find any song that references the doctrine of the Trinity or the church among other doctrines.
If one had to rely on contemporary Christian music only, it would not be known that Christians believe in the Trinity or that the church is important.
I imagine, similar to Bruce, that the songs that seem superficial to me were written because the writer needed something to do and not because God placed something on their hearts to speak to the church.
I find this particularly true with contemporary "Christian" music now that it's popular and 'cool' but it's not limited to contemporary work.
I would say that a superficial song (or hymn) focuses only on how the singer feels about God (in the moment) and not on God himself or the Biblical story (this is connected with the above statement about the need for more Trinitarian songs).
Also, any hymn or song that could be sung to my girlfriend without changing any of the lyrics would probably end up in the superficial category.
I agree with the sentiment on songs with "Jesus is my boyfriend" lyrics.
As for the tired old 7/11 critique, is that like the "living creatures" who (day and night) never stopped saying, "Holy, holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." ? Seems awfully repetitive to me...
In your view what makes a Christian hymn or contemporary song theologically superficial?
8 comments:
I think superficial hymns are the ones that stick with the writer/singer, and never move to God. Some songs are not written to God. They never reach out to the divine. To me these are superficial. Very simple hymns and songs can be extremely profound and powerful forms of prayer. They may not be theologically complicated, but profound nevertheless.
That's a hard question for me to answer in general. I have to take each hymn or song one at a time.
But I would say that my big frustration with modern Christian music is that it is difficult to find any song that references the doctrine of the Trinity or the church among other doctrines.
If one had to rely on contemporary Christian music only, it would not be known that Christians believe in the Trinity or that the church is important.
I imagine, similar to Bruce, that the songs that seem superficial to me were written because the writer needed something to do and not because God placed something on their hearts to speak to the church.
I find this particularly true with contemporary "Christian" music now that it's popular and 'cool' but it's not limited to contemporary work.
Me and Jesus only. That's what makes a hymn or a song superficial.
I would say that a superficial song (or hymn) focuses only on how the singer feels about God (in the moment) and not on God himself or the Biblical story (this is connected with the above statement about the need for more Trinitarian songs).
Also, any hymn or song that could be sung to my girlfriend without changing any of the lyrics would probably end up in the superficial category.
Seven Eleven songs... singing the same seven words eleven times.
I agree with the sentiment on songs with "Jesus is my boyfriend" lyrics.
As for the tired old 7/11 critique, is that like the "living creatures" who (day and night) never stopped saying, "Holy, holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." ? Seems awfully repetitive to me...
;-)
"I'm so glad I love Jesus, he makes me feel so good, and I love singing the same phrase over and over like a mantra...."
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