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Let’s Think about Music in the Early Church: What did leaders in the early church have to say about music? Perhaps surprisingly, their general view of music is relatively low. And when they did praise music, they usually qualified their statements.
Crawford and I cover the four main areas that the Church Fathers and other early church leaders address when they talk about music: musical metaphor, the academic discipline of music (ars musica), pagan music (instruments=bad!), and good/Christian uses of music in Eucharistic services, agape meals and other social settings, and private devotional life.
Listener Question: Kirsten wonders how choir members can give an offering: “It drives me nuts when choir members have no easy way to participate in the offering! Often there’s no plate (and the choir is maybe even singing during the offering); sometimes it’s possible to dash up right after the service and stick an envelope in the plate at the front, but sometimes it’s whisked away before choir members would even have a chance to get there, especially if you’re staying put and listening to the postlude.”
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Resources:
- Music in Early Christian Literature by James McKinnon
- I’m a Church Choir Director and/or Organist Facebook Group
