T HE B ELHAVEN U NIVERSITY D EPARTMENT OF M USIC

A Brief Christian Philosophy of the Musical Arts

- Dr. Christopher Shelt God has expressed Himself in what He has made, in what He has spoken, and in what He has done. Creation, though now fallen, is a divine work of art, an astounding display of Gods infinite creative power, intelligence, and perfect integrity, authentically manifesting His glory in the material world. The created order manifests intelligent design and creative expression of such proportions that there can be no reasonable doubt of the existence of an infinite Creator. The world of sound, described by the laws of acoustics, evidences a divine acoustical engineer. Nature's concert of birdcalls and thunder, crashing waves and whale songs, echoed back to heaven the expressive brilliance of God before Adam and Eve ever left a footprint in Eden. God, a God of language, has spoken to human beings directly and has revealed Himself in the diverse language of inspired Scripture. God is also performer, director, composer, orchestrator, playwright, lighting specialist, and set designer, artistically governing every aspect of the production we call life. Gods ultimate artistic expression of Himself is in the Incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ, God Himself manifested in the flesh, the exact human representation of Gods being, the agent of both creation and redemption. Human beings are unique in the created order. The profoundly diverse and powerful cultural and aesthetic output of human beings, of which music is but a subset, transcends by quantum proportions that of any other any other creature. The Scriptures reveal that human beings, male and female, are made in the image of God the Creator. Only the reality of imago dei can adequately explain the remarkable creative glory of human artistry. Human beings have the high calling of benevolent dominion over the earth on Gods behalf, to be culture makers that reflect in a finite way the character, creativity, and ingenuity of the infinite Creator. The Arts are an essential aspect of the ever-expanding fabric of human culture. Creativity and artistry are not to be the purview of the sprinkled and isolated few but an integral part of human culture everywhere it exists. Indeed, the Scriptures cultural mandate calls for the multiplication of Gods image not only through procreation but also through God-centered education through the institutions of the family and the covenant community. If we are to multiply the image of the Creator God, we cannot relegate the creative arts to an optional educational category. Arts education is essential to multiplying an authentic image of the Creator. Music is a universal phenomenon, but it is not a universal language. The people groups of the earth often create brilliantly diverse musical cultures that are not immediately nor easily comprehensible to the people of other cultures. For this reason, integrity with image-bearing is the only transcultural aesthetic standard that can be biblically justified. This does not lead to artistic relativism; integrity with Gods image is an infinitely high standard. However, recognizing the reality of Gods intended cultural diversity demands of us great discernment, thoughtfulness, and relational humility when critiquing the panorama of cultural expressions that exist. People should not glibly look askance at new or culturally remote aesthetic expressions. Proper musical analysis requires deep knowledge of the intrinsic cultural forms and meanings within the music being assessed, a well-founded understanding of a Christian worldview, and a redemptive approach that is willing to listen as well as to speak, to affirm as well as to critique. Humankinds fall into sin has resulted in culture-making that is a twisted caricature of the integrity of God. Human cultural manifestations, including musical ones, fall short of honoring God to some degree, sometimes to an awful degree. True life and artistry is theocentric, rightly having Gods glory (reputation) as its highest priority. Cultural decline begins when life and its art become fundamentally man-centered rather than God-centered. W hen music makers, even Christian ones, primarily focus on promoting themselves or marketing themselves, often with making money or notoriety as the primary goal, the holy act of creativity, which we share in relationship with the almighty God, is degraded in purpose and in quality because it is removed from its proper relational context. W hen we dishonor God in our creativity, we also devalue the dignity of our neighbor who is made in His image. The world of the Arts, embedded in the wider culture, needs a redemption that preserves divinely intended cultural diversity, but which thoughtfully critiques and challenges cultural manifestations distorted by unbiblical man-centered assumptions. People are called to worship God with their whole beings according to the truth of Gods self-disclosure in the Creation and in the Scriptures. A comprehensive array of musical forces are commanded to be excellently employed to the praise of God. Singing, the most innate of worship expressions, which weds objective truth to subjective musical expression, is most repeatedly commanded. The Church is also called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, an active agent of cultural change, but it is often guilty of becoming like the surrounding culture or simply ignoring it. The role of the Church is not limited to evangelism and Sunday worship. The goal of Gods redemption is to save sinners from the just wrath of God, but it is also to restore the entire cosmos including human culture to His original intent. The Church is called to be an agent of societal transformation in every manifestation of culture, including every manifestation of Music. The local church should be a model of excellent musical culture making, a place where genuine musical artistry is developed and celebrated from childhood. The church by its theological essence is culturally diverse; therefore, the Church should be the place in human society where excellent diverse musical expressions exist side by side, not the place where musical barriers are erected and musical outsiders are shunned simply because they are different. The people of God, when they are gathered in worship, as well as when they are scattered about within the wider culture, should be the greatest force on earth for the positive renewal of all kinds of genuine musical culture so that Musics magnificent expressive power is unleashed to the glory of God.