Presbycast Crossover – Music for the Church and the Christian

Chortles Weakly and Wresby of the excellent Presbycast podcast join us to talk all things Christian music—from the business, to worship, to personal devotions and even for entertainment purposes. We had a lot of fun…maybe a little too much! Be sure to subscribe to their show: https://presbycast.libsyn.com/ Watch the show: https://youtu.be/s_aOPPt1gc4

We begin our discussion with Brett McCracken’s recent article for TGC, Best Christian Music of 2022, and we have a few questions.

Is the music coming from an earnest desire to glorify Christ and an authentic, unapologetic love for God’s Word? Even if it’s not in the “worship genre” (whatever that is), does the music cultivate in listeners greater love for the Christian God? If yes, we can call it Christian music.

“I disagree with his definition of Christian Music, though I think it is a good attempt to capture and include what the majority of people would label Christian music. I think a better definition would be “songs that carefully consider Scripture and theology and apply these truths rightly to the world, to the people in the world, and especially to the Christian life”. This takes the focus off of “earnest desires” or misguided intentions and puts it on measurable objective content markers.

Most CCM would not fit that definition, but any song that does not do what my definition requires is actually a syncretistic work of paganism, so I stand by my definition.”

Bryan

We also discuss instrumentation in worship, especially considering the places like Psalm 150 where it says to praise God with the clashing cymbals. This also leads into a discussion of contemporaneity and what music is good to listen to or perform in worship to in the car. There is a good chunk of this subject that falls into Christian Liberty. In any case, we had a great time and hope to see you again soon!

Thanks for listening

The Balm of Gilead podcast is a member of the Tech Reformation family of podcasts. If you enjoy the show, please share it with others. We enjoy hearing from you, so join us on our Discord and let us know what you’re thinking. If email is more your thing, write to us at thereis <at> balmcast <dot> com. Thanks again and we’ll see you next time, Lord willing.

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