Date of Award
5-1958
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Seminary
Abstract
Music has been and is an integral part of the life of the Christian Church. History reveals that from the very beginning of the Church, and on through the ensuing centuries, music has played a vital role in the worship of the Church, and has even had a part in the development of the expression of the Christian faith.
The contemporary Christian Church has evidences of producing a complex pattern of church music which is unprecedented in history. In the first place the church life of today has rapidly become decentralized, through the increasing emphasis on departmentalization of the Church into segregate parts. In many such instances the leadership has been left to individuals who were more concerned with the music of one particular department, than the well-being of the total music program. Other evidences of this complex picture may be noted in the type of music produced and used by the various Christian Youth Groups, and that characteristic of the Salvation Army and other Missions, the music used on various Gospel radio broadcasts, and the multiformity of religious songs gaining popularity in general church life. Included in this profusion of diverse types of church music have been multiplied invasions of modern secular influences.
In the light of this complex pattern of church music, it is evident that the church administrator should be responsibly aware of the total picture, and should seek to improve the situation in every possible way. Assuming that the need for such responsible leadership is valid, a basic problem of importance arises: by 'What standard shall the music of the Church be judged and administered? It is to this problem that the present study is given.
Recommended Citation
Buffman, Glen M., "A Historical Study of Church Music Reform" (1958). Western Evangelical Seminary Theses. 118.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/wes_theses/118