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In order to justify currents trends in sacred music, a new idea has surfaced. No other age of church history has held or believed it. No one even verbalized it until the mid-1960s. Even to this day secular musicians and musicologists scoff and ridicule it. In spite of an overwhelming body of evidence to the contrary, this new, strange doctrine is vigorously defended in many Christian circles. It says that music is neutral (or amoral)--that only the words matter in sacred music.

Historical Evidence

First, let's examine this philosophy from a historical perspective. Plato wrote, "The introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most political institutions." He further comments on music's influence to good or evil: "Music directly represents the passions or states of the soul --gentleness, anger, courage, temperance...If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person..." In Plato's respected opinion, music--rather than being neutral--is powerful indeed in shaping the destiny of nations and men. Note that Plato wrote of music with no reference to the words.

Martin Luther wrote, "Besides theology, music is the only art capable of affording peace and joy of the heart...My heart which is full to overflowing has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary."

In his classic text, The Enjoyment of Music, Joseph Machlis states the belief that is commonly held among all serious students of music: "Music has been called the language of emotions. This in not an unreasonable metaphor: for music, like language, aims to communicate meaning...Music is related to human experience, and it has expressive content; otherwise, it could not have functioned for thousands of years as a spiritual force in the lives of men."

J.S. Bach implies the power of music in his explanation that music is for "the glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit." If music can refresh the spirit, it is reasonable to assume that it can by the same power pollute or corrupt it.

Modern secular musicians have boasted about the power of their music. Charles Reich, in his book, The Greening of America, describes music's influence. "Music has become the deepest means of communication and expression for an entire culture. The dominant means of communication in our society--words--has been so abused, distorted, and preempted that at the present [words or language] does not seem adequate for people of the new consciousness. Music, on the other hand, says all the things they want to say or feel. It expresses raunchy, sweaty sex. It is [a] repository of fantastic energy--as anyone who has watched a rock band knows. The older music was essentially intellectual; it was located in the mind and in the feelings known to the mind; the new music rocks the whole body and penetrates the soul. The new music is a music of unre-strained creativity and self-expression."

There is an ever-burgeoning field of study called music therapy, whereby mental and psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety are treated by "prescribing" the right music as a medical doctor prescribes a drug. Certainly this field of study is based on the fact that music affects people.

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