14 Ross ⦁ Making Music philosopher from the second century, discouraged the use of any musical worship. He wrote in his Paidagogos, When a man occupies his time with flutes, stringed instruments, choirs, dancing, Egyptian krotala and other such improper frivolities, he will find that indecency and rudeness are the consequences. Such a man creates a din with cymbals and tambourines; he rages about with instruments of an insane cult…. Leave the syrinx to shepherds and the flute to superstitious devotees who rush to serve their idols. We completely forbid the use of the instruments at our temperate banquet.1 The church was concerned that having instrumental music would cause the congregation to associate music with the pagan festivals where it was usually heard. The solution was to dispense with music all together. Instead of mindlessly promoting the traditional thoughts surrounding Christian music in worship, Augustine had a dilemma. He wrestled with his deep regard for the value of music against what he saw as the dangers which music posed—promoting uncontrolled desires. In his Confessions, Augustine wrote: I remember the tears I shed at the Church’s song in the early days of my newly recovered faith, and how even today I am moved not by the singing as such but by the substance of what is sung, when it is rendered in a clear voice and in the most appropriate melodies, and then I recognize once more the value of this custom. . . .Nonetheless when in my own case it happens that the singing has a more powerful effect on me than the sense of what is sung, I confess my sin and my need of repentance, and then I would rather not hear any singer.2 In A New Song, Calvin Stapert presents a summary of Augustine’s philosophy towards music, writing: “It is not wrong to delight in the beauties of sound, whether in eloquent speech or harmonious music. The problem comes when we stop there, when we do not go beyond the beautifully turned phrase or the elegantly shaped melody. Delight in eloquence and music should never be an end in itself.”3 Augustine loved music and beautiful sounds. His concern was that Christians would 1 Clement of Alexandria, Paidagogos, in Quasten, 61. 2 Augustine, Confessions, 270. 3 Stapert, 193.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=