Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns by T. David Gordon
“It is not merely the case that Johnny doesn’t sing hymns. It is truer to say that Johnny cannot sing hymns. Johnny has been so swallowed up in a contemporaneous, casual, trivial, youth-centered, guitar-playing pop culture that for him, music, by definition, sounds contemporary. “ (p. 173-4)
Gordon first begins by examining worship through music within the Bible, both within the Old and New Testaments- not just the Book of Psalms.
“Worship song is both the remarkable privilege and the solemn duty of the redeemed. Therefore, to suggest that worship sons is ‘merely’ or ‘just’ anything, whatever that ‘anything’ is, is to deny the very teaching of Scripture about the importance of worship song in God’s economy”(p. 31).
Worship is a vital and integral part of a church service, yet it has been reduced to a trivial argument over including substance-less popular music in lieu of true praise hymns. While there are some powerful lyrics in some contemporary songs, a quick side by side comparison of the lyrics of those most popular to that of classic hymns shows the stark contrast away from true, whole-hearted worship. Contemporary music has turned into an experience of sentimentality for us, instead of a way to glorify God. (Look into the aim of popular music from Bethel Worship & Hillsong if you’re curious about the music theory that’s actually used by these “Christian” groups). Gordon suggests removing the musical accompaniment from newer songs to see if they truly elicit genuine praise based on their lyrics alone, as do the Psalms.
The discussions on musical nuance over the centuries were captivating, leading to a commentary on society overall and just how far we’re strayed from what music once was in terms of quality and emotional response. The chapter entitled Contemporaneity as a Value was the most interesting, as it really gets to the heart of the cultural shift that has created the preference for what is popular, calming, and frankly unenlightening. Gordon sums this up best in his statement, “A contemporaneous culture, however, does not necessarily disagree with the past; it simply regards it as unworthy of attention” (p. 120). This sentiment applies to so many areas of popular culture, including the severe lack of knowledge (or even concern with knowing) history. The shift toward casual, or put more frankly trivial, in virtually every sphere of daily life has bled over into the culture of the Church as well, to its detriment.
I also appreciated the final chapter, which proposes suggestions for how to introduce hymns to a younger audience, or those who are unfamiliar with the style of their music and lyrics. Often times books will outline an issue in great detail and abruptly end without any thought given to creating change.
My Thoughts:
I’ve been becoming more aware of just how lacking contemporary Christian music is, both lyrically, emotionally and in terms of true acknowledgement and praise of God. I’ve been making more of a concerted effort to minimize that style of music in place of solid, Biblical hymns. This was the perfect book to expand upon that thought process. When reading the preface and introductory chapter, I was worried I was in over my head in terms of understanding of music theory, but the meat of the book is very readable. That being said, I do have an interest in music appreciation and have been a fan of classical music, opera and traditional hymns for quite some time. If your go-to genre is popular or contemporary music, this may read as rather dry and academic, but personally, I loved it.
What I Didn't Like:
As an aside, I was a bit taken aback by a footnote describing cults as those that “reject the church catholic” (p. 122), as this is not at all the definition of a cult and was added to make the author’s point. By this definition, all of the major world religions aside from Christianity would fall into the category of cult, which is frankly not at all true. There is a difference between a false religion and a true cult. This has no bearing on my enjoyment of the book, but did think it worth mentioning as it seemed very out of place within the goal of the overall text.
It's also worth pointing out that other reviewers on Goodreads felt the writing style was rather pretentious. I would agree with that, but I wasn't bothered by the tone taken throughout the book, as it was clear to me that Gordon is passionate about both this topic and the lackadaisical attitudes taken among Church attendees overall.
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