Cedars, November 2018

November 2018 18 COVER STORY Cedarville Campus Discusses ‘Christian’ Music by Callahan Jones A recent Cedars-run poll of the stu- dent body of Cedarville University revealed that a large portion (48.7 percent) of the 503 students polled cared very little or didn’t care at all if a musical artist they were listening to professed to be a Christian. A majority (59.1 percent) said it was of little or no importance if a band they were listening to labeled themselves as a Christian band. However, for many students, the is- sue of music in relation to Christian’s life is much more nuanced these two data points. “A lot of bands don’t describe them- selves as Christian bands,” said Luke Mar- quardt, a junior computer science major. “But the members are definitely Christian and it plays itself out in the songs that they make and the way they live their lives. They don’t label themselves that way, I think, to get out of what I call ‘the K-LOVE bubble.’” The radio station K-LOVE was a fre- quent topic of discussion amongst those polled and interviewed, both in positive and negative lights. Many people enjoy listening to it and found it encouraging and edifying for them to do so, but for some, the radio station puts forth the most commercially produced music. “I don’t think that music is going to be more worth listening to just because the band says they are Christian,” said Dr. John Gilhooly, director of the honors program and assistant professor of philosophy and theology at Cedarville. “A lot of what’s driv- ing the production of the music is its profit- ability. They’re going to be producing what they think people will buy, and that extends to Christian music as well. If people want emotional music speaking of their own re- flections on God, that’s what you’ll get.” When asked what their favorite or most listened-to genre of music was, 18.1 percent of students said they primarily listen to what they would consider Chris- tian or worship music, which was the most popular genre. The second most popular genre was pop music (12.9 percent). Of the options provided, electronic dance music and jazz came in last, both receiving 2.8 percent of the vote. There was also an “other” option, which had several unique answers, such as “patriotic tunes (march- es and anthems) and hymns” and “trom- bone music.” Matthew Shinkle, a senior psychology student at Cedarville, said that while Chris- tian music may be pop- ular in the Cedarville student body, he per- sonally does not listen to it much because of the effect commercial- ization has had on it. “I don’t listen to much Christian music myself, as what I would call good Christian music is hard to find. I don’t listen to K-LOVE. A lot of it is mass pro- duced and similar,” said Shinkle. “If I want to find good secular music, I might look at Pitchfork reviews or see what won Grammys this year. But if I want to find good Christian music, I have to go and find it myself.” While Christian music may be popu- lar on campus, what did seem to be a great point of contention amongst those polled and those interviewed is what “Christian music” actually means, or if Christian music could even be called its own genre. There seems to be two main camps of thought, with many nuances involved. One believes that for music to be called Christian, it must feature lyrics that spe- cifically point toward God. The other camp believes that it is the intention be- hind the writing of the music that could classify it as Christian. The one thing that most of the responders seemed to agree on: Christian music is much more than worship music. “A lot of people have straight up told me before that we should stop classify- ing anything as Christian music or in the Christian genre that isn’t worship music, and I think that’s straight up wrong,” said Solomon Somers, a sophomore computer science major. “I think it extends far be- yond corporate worship music. I would say that Christian music is music that is writ- ten with the intent of glorifying God.” Marquardt said that the definition of Christian music is too restrictive. “I would say that a lot of people would describe ‘Christian music’ or the genre as what is played on K-LOVE or what plays on Resound Radio here,” said Marquardt. “I would argue that’s a very narrow definition of Christian music. It discounts a lot of mu- sic that’s very high quality that is very glo- rifying to God. That sounds pretty hipster of me, doesn’t it?” One poll respondent went as far as to say: “While several genres can contain Christian music, I consider Contemporary Christian music to be its own genre because no other music can disappoint me the way CCM can.” Dr. Roger O’Neel, the assistant chair of worship and an associate professor of wor- ship at Cedarville, said that for him, both of these definitions can be fairly specific. “Music abstractly stands on its own and is not necessarily related to faith,” said O’Neel. “I think for me, when Chris- tian music becomes Christian, is when it has either lyrics that communicate Bibli- cal truth, that express our praise back to God, it could be that we are admonishing each other with psalms, hymns and spiri- tual songs. For me, that’s when it becomes Christian.” O’Neel went on, further explaining what he meant, specifically excluding purely instrumental works of music from his defi- nition of Christian music. “Music is God’s creation, so we might enjoy what one might call ‘absolute mu- sic,’ that is music that is just composed and has no Christian association and we can enjoy God’s creation and the beau- ty in that,” said O’Neel. “But for me, the music only becomes Christian when there are external forces acting upon it, such as lyrics.” Shinkle was somewhere in between these two camps, being reluctant to even call Christian music its own genre. “Christian music is not a genre, just like sad music or music about trucks is not a genre,” said Shinkle. “It’s a subgenre that discusses certain topics, in the way that rap about cocaine is a rap subgenre. I would say that worship music could be its own genre, as it has specific topics that it covers and also has specific musical stylings that would set it apart.” Nate Stahlnecker, a senior computer engineering student, believes that instru- mental music could be called Christian mu- sic, given the right circumstances. “Throughout Scripture, there are sev- eral references to God’s attention to the creation of beautiful things, even by hu- mans,” Stahlnecker said. “God values beau- tiful things, as they point back to Him as the progenitor of all that is beautiful. They bring glory to Him. For this reason I would add that instrumental or classical music continues to bring glory to God after it is written insofar as it was created with the right intent and mirrors (though vaguely) His beauty.” While this view may not be as popu- lar, it is still a commonly held one. Many proponents of this view point to the clas- sical composers Bach and Handel, who wrote many pieces with the intent of “Soli Deo Gloria,” which means “glory to God alone.” Beauty was also a topic that came up frequently in people’s definitions of Chris- “But for me, the music only becomes Christian when there are external forces acting upon it, such as lyrics.” Roger O’Neel professor of worship