SINGING, IN THE BODY AND IN THE SPIRIT

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003 by Guthrie, Steven R

I. WHY SING?

Christians in every era of Church history, in every culture, in every social setting, in every major liturgical tradition have adorned their gatherings with song. In a liturgical universe of extraordinary diversity, music is one of the handful of practices which has been and remains an almost universal feature of Christian worship. One author observes that "three acts, corporate prayer, public reading and corporate singing, form the basic building blocks of corporate worship in all of the traditions."1

Prayer, scripture, and song-at first glance these seem obvious things for Christians to do when they gather together. It seems obvious that worshipping people should address God in prayer. It seems plain that they should attend to the words of God in Scripture. But the special contribution of song is less clear.

"Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous," writes the psalmist, "it is fitting for the upright to praise him" (Ps 33:1).2 But why should the people of God be urged to engage in this particular activity? Why not, "Dig ditches you saints of his, for the LORD is good!"? Why not, "Do beadwork, you righteous!"; or "Mime to him joyfully O Israel!"? Why, in other words, have so many, in so many cultures and traditions agreed with the psalm writer's assessment, and found music an especially fitting vehicle for praise?

II. REASONS NOT TO SING

A well-known answer to this question, and one which still finds widespread currency, can be found in Augustine's Confessions. Augustine observes that when sacred words are joined to pleasant music, "our souls [animos] are moved and are more religiously and with a warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung."3 He can bear witness to this power of music in his own life:

When I remember the tears which I poured out at the time when I was first recovering my faith, and that now I am moved not by the chant but by the words being sung, when they are sung with a clear voice and entirely appropriate modulation, then again I recognize the great utility of music in worship.4

Music moves us. It engages one's soul (Augustine says), or our emotions (we might say). When Christians sing, their hearts are "kindled to piety" with a "warmer devotion" than they otherwise would be. Music may even stir the Christian to tears, as it did Augustine.

However true this may be, it does not take us very far in understanding the distinctive contribution of music. At best, it only pushes our question back one step. Why should music or song "kindle one's soul to piety"? Moreover, we might observe that many things kindle our souls, or arouse and engage our emotions-an embrace, for example, or a favorite meal, or watching a sunrise. Certainly words themselves can move, warm, and stir us (as Augustine the Professor of Rhetoric would have known well). So while music does move us, this alone does not explain the ubiquity of music in Christian worship. Augustine identifies one of those things we value about song. He does not however, tell us why Christians sing.

What is more, at the same time that he commends music, Augustine also suggests reasons why Christians should perhaps not sing. Augustine worries that when he listens to music, "my physical delight [delectatio carnis], which has to be checked from enervating the mind [mentem], often deceives me when the perception of the senses [sensus] is unaccompanied by reason [rationem], and is not patiently content to be in a subordinate place."5 So, he concludes,

I fluctuate between the danger of pleasure and the experience of the beneficent effect, and I am more led to put forward the opinion (not as an irrevocable view) that the custom of singing in Church is to be approved, so that through the delights of the ear the weaker mind may rise up towards the devotion of worship. Yet when it happens to me that the music moves me more than the subject of the song, I confess myself to commit a sin deserving punishment, and then I would prefer not to have heard the singer.6

Augustine's ambivalence is profound and sincere. He enjoys music immensely, and has experienced real benefit from it in his Christian life. At the same time, he has two very serious concerns about music, both of which arise from the way in which music appeals to the bodily senses. The first concern is that by appealing to the senses, music might lead one toward sensuality. By pleasing our senses through music, we might grow to be the kind of people who are constantly driven to please our sensual appetites. There is a second concern. Augustine believes that human beings should be led by reason rather than by bodily sense. The body is good according to Augustine, but it is good in its place;7 and the place of the body is under the leadership of the intellect. When this arrangement is reversed, we fall into ignorance, error, and sin.

In much the same way, other early Christian writers are cautious in their approval of music.8 Most recognize the usefulness of psalm singing and congregational song (provided it is a capella), and these practices are warmly commended. But their value is identified precisely with their usefulness-they teach doctrine and enable Christians to memorize the words of Scripture. The virtue of song is in the text, not the tune. And so writers such as Athanasius caution singing Christians against attending to the "pleasure of the ear."