Calvin On Tap

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm singing and civil defense in early 17th century Geneva

2012-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

For the last 400 years, in the evening of December 11^th and on into the wee morning hours of the 12^th of December, the longest day of the year on the Julian calendar, the city of Geneva hosts a very large and raucous celebration called the Fête de l'Escalade, the Celebration of the Scaling. During the span of this celebration a hot and tasty vegetable soup is sold everywhere in the streets of Geneva. Along with this soup, the famous chocolate "marmites", a replica of a soup cauldron, filled with marzipan vegetables and decorated with the colors of Geneva, is sold to revelers. According to a long standing custom, these chocolate pots are smashed, while shouting: Thus perish the enemies of the Republic [of Geneva]. Other customs include the offering of mulled wine and children in Halloween-like costumes singing Escalade songs in local bistros and in the streets, but the height of the celebration is marked by the procession of hundreds of Genevans dressed in full historical costume, along with horsemen, musketeers, crossbow marksmen, torch-bearers, a hangman and his assistant. The procession is accompanied by gun smoke, firecrackers and gun salutes which concludes its processional by marching to the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre where proclamation of Genevese victory is made. Everyone enjoys a good local parade and civic celebration, but what does this Genevan custom have to do with the martial ethos of historic Reformed worship? The answer is that this parade is a public celebration of the annual celebration of the victory of Calvinistic Genevan forces over hostile, Roman Catholic forces of Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy which launched a surprise midnight attack against Geneva.

From the inception of Duke Charles Emmanuel’s rise to the throne of the House of Savoy in 1580, he longed to subject the Calvinists of Geneva to Savoy rule and to make the city the northern capital of the house of Savoy. Over the course of time he alternated diplomatic and military offensives, intimidation, threats and promises of peace, none of which secured the objective which aimed at breaking the back of Protestantism in Geneva. The Duke of Savoy enlisting the help of his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, finally attempted to seize his objective by force, amassing a force of 2,000 paid mercenaries, and launching a midnight raid on Geneva. The plan was to use a small mobile force of commandos to scale the city walls and to open the gates from the inside in order to flood the city with attackers. However, the plan of the Savoy attackers was thwarted by an alert sentinel who was able to squeeze off an alarm shot before he was killed. This shot set off the tripping of alarms and bells across the city, waking the Genevans and rallying them to defend the city against attack. One of the enduring legends preserved from that fateful evening is the story of Mother Royaume (Mère Royaume), the mother of 14 children, who, when she realized the city was under attack took a large cauldron of soup she had on the fire and hurled it onto the head of a Savoyard mercenary. To this day this act of valor is commemorated by the selling of the vegetable soup and the smashing of the chocolate pots. The upshot of the story is that the citizens of Geneva managed to repel the attackers from scaling the city wall (climb = escalade); while the Duke's army of 2000 mercenaries suffered several hundred casualties, the Genevans suffered only 18.

When the smoke settled on December the 12^th and the citizen militia concluded its mop up campaign, they returned to the streets of Geneva in order to celebrate their victory. As crowds gathered and reveled in the streets they sang Psalms giving thanks to God for their victory. At some point during the celebration, Theodore Beza, at this point in his 80’s, appeared before the crowd and called upon them to sing Psalm 124, one of the psalms he had versified in the 1550’s (p.53). Down to this day on December 12^th the Genevans still mark the annual celebration of this momentous victory by the singing of this psalm. The Psalms then, not only galvanized the Reformed in France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland to face the flames of persecution and filled their hearts with courage as they marched out to battle, they also unified the Calvinists in Geneva to rally in defense of the Reformation in Geneva and to defend it against the malevolent aims of the Roman Catholic Duke of Savoy.

It is apparent from the series of examples highlighted in these past several posts that the singing of the psalms cultivated a martial ethos in the hearts of Reformed worshipers across the continent and the British Isles, not only unifying the Reformed in their experience of their worship but also energizing them to take up the sword in self-defense and strengthening them in heart to face the fiery flames of persecution. Dr. Reid, looking over the evidence makes a couple of pointed conclusions. First he says that, “the vernacular-metrical psalm…became woven into the fabric of the sixteenth century Calvinist and life—one might even say it became part of the Calvinistic mystique” (p.53). So, Dr. Reid makes the claim that psalm singing was part of the fabric and mystique of the Calvinist way of life in the 16^th century. In thinking about that statement, a reasonable question to ask is if that could be said of the Reformed and Presbyterian church today. Is the singing of psalms part of the fabric and mystique of the Church? Only a moment of reflection will lead to the sad conclusion that no, psalm singing is not a part of the fabric and mystique of the Church today. The reason it is not is because the Reformed and Presbyterian church somewhere along the line decided that the regulative principle of worship, formulated in the 16^th and 17^th century confessions did not apply to the content of the songs sung in worship. An unintended consequence of this false assessment is that it changed the ethos of the Reformed and Presbyterian church, exchanging a martial ethos for an ethos of pietistic, syrupy and sentimental emotionalism reflected in the revivalistic hymns of the 18^th and 19^th century and the vapid praise songs of the 1970’s and 80’s which mimic the tunes and sentiments of Barry Manilow and Ann Murray. Second, Dr, Reid draws the conclusion that psalm singing became one of the major factors in “forming and inspiring Calvinist resistance to persecution, oppression, and attack” (p.54). Can this be said of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches today? Again, only a moments reflection will lead to the obvious conclusion that such an ethos of courage and valor to face persecution, oppression, and attack is not being formed and cultivated in contemporary Reformed and Presbyterian Christians. It would not be stretching the truth too much to say that a major problem in the Reformed and Presbyterian church is that it lacks an identity and therefore has no significant identity to embrace or rally around in support, defense, or self-sacrifice. The Reformed were once known for virulent defense of worship; now, Reformed worship includes everything from Bill Gaither style of worship to the worship style Calvary Chapel or the Vineyard. With such an amorphous worship identity it is no surprise that the Reformed church is suffering from spiritual anemia having replaced the regulative principle of the confessions with the principle suited to the taste of the masses which is constantly driven by the winds of change: whatever feels good, do it.

It is time for the Reformed and Presbyterian church to be honest, either admitting that the regulative principle of worship contained in the confessions is inaccurate and unbiblical, therefore standing in need of a reformulation which conforms more closely to Scripture, or, it is time to be honest and admit that the innovations which have taken place in its worship since the 16^th century are inconsistent with the regulative principle and thus mobilize to restore the old form of Reformed worship. This will not happen however until the record about historic Reformed worship is set straight and the Reformed and Presbyterian churches are consciously made aware of the fact that in practice they have both departed from and rejected the regulative principle of worship. Once there is an awareness of that fact, a decision will have to be made, will the Church embrace its own confession or will it reformulate the regulative principle of worship along the lines which Dr. John Frame has proposed. Evading this question is dishonest and not only undermines the credibility of the Reformed churches, it also cultivates a spineless mushy ethos in the churches and leaves it without a clear identity to embrace or an obvious purpose to rally around, promote, defend, and sacrifice for. No amount of substituting hot button commitments to home-schooling, six day creation, Van Tilian apologetics, or denial of women’s suffrage will restore vigor to the Reformed since the backbone and foundation of the Reformed church is worship as John Calvin himself said in On the Necessity of Reforming the Church:

If it be inquired, then, by what things chiefly; the Christian religion has a standing existence amongst us, and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge, first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained.

The longer the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, which want to claim the mantle of faithful Calvinism, fail to reckon and make peace with this statement of Calvin, that the whole substance of Christianity rests upon the mode in which God is duly worshiped, the more the Church will suffer from anemia and will twist and shift with the winds of worship which blow across evangelicalism and it will not be able to draw sharp contrasts between itself and broad evangelicalism. Sadly, the Reformed will be indistinguishable from a broad range of churches which includes everything from Anglicanism, to traditional Southern Baptist worship, to Calvary Chapel and the Assembly of God.

People of God, now is the time to rise upon protest, now is the time to embrace our Biblical and historic Reformed heritage!

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm singing, persecution, and public resistance in the 16th century British Isles

2012-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

While the psalms may have been sung on the continent as battle songs for courageous soldiers marching out to war, Dr. Reid points out that they were put to a slightly different use in the 16^th century on the British Isles. Reid argues that the reason for this difference lies in the fact that the opponents of the Calvinists on the Isles were not primarily Roman Catholic; rather, the martial conflicts were related more toward nationalism and politics (p.50). However, it is worth pointing out, during the 17^th century, the psalms would be used by Ironsides and the Covenanters in a series of military skirmishes. Though it is proper to note that there is a difference in use between the Isles and the Continent, it is clear that the psalms continued to be a galvanizing force in Britain among the Reformed, and had important cultural applications.

Psalm signing was not always a prominent feature of British piety however. Dr. Reid explains that prior to 1539 there were no English metrical versions of psalms. This void was first filled by Miles Coverdale’s publication of his Ghostly Psalms, and was further supplemented by the work of Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins who contributed another thirty or so psalms to the growing collection of metrical psalms. It is worth noting in passing that these psalms were suppressed by King Henry the 8^th and at the same time were used to strengthen the resolve of persecuted Christians such as Bishop Hooper as they were led to the stake for slaughter.

It would however be left to the leadership of John Knox to promote an expanded use of the Psalter. Knox, having been forced to move on from serving saints in Frankfurt on account of the swelling ranks of Anglican refugees, moved on to Geneva to serve a congregation of British exiles. Here Knox presided over the construction of a liturgy based upon the model used in Geneva and oversaw the publication of a Psalter consisting of 54 metrical psalms arranged and edited by Sternhold and Hopkins (p.51). Upon Knox’ return to Scotland he brought both the liturgy and Psalter with him establishing their use in the Scottish Church.

A similar liturgical use of the psalms occurred at this time in England as well. As Marian exiles returned home after the accession of Elizabeth, they brought a complete Psalter with them containing all 150 psalms. It would turn out that these psalms would take up a vital place in Puritan, non-conformist worship. Dr. Reid reports that when the lectureships were established, it was a common practice for the congregants to gather together about an hour before worship began to join their voices together in praise using the psalms. The use of psalms became a signature mark of English Puritanism and a badge of Puritan identity similar to their use on the Continent. One practice in particular highlights this characteristic feature of the 16^th century Puritans which was the gathering of large crowds in the evenings at St. Paul’s Cross to sing the “Genevan jigs” as a form of protest against Queen Elizabeth’s demand for religious and liturgical uniformity (p.52).

Two separate examples of the use of psalm singing in Scotland are worth mentioning here before winding this post down with a note of conclusion. First, when Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, she was greeted on her first night by a large crowd of Scottish Christians who serenaded her with psalms under her bedroom window. The rather chilling significance of this public display was not lost on Mary who experienced a taste of the psalm singing ethos, as it functioned among the Huguenot’s, during her stay in France while married to Francis II (p.52). Second, a specific incident occurred on 4 September 1582 upon the return of exiled minister John Durie. Durie, a minister in Edinburgh, who had been exiled by James VI by the hand of Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, was escorted from seaport to his Edinburgh rectory by a throng of psalm singing Scots. As Durie made his way toward the St. Giles Kirk, a crowd numbering in the thousands lifted up their voice in praise using the psalms. This public display of psalm singing was so unsettling to the Duke that he immediately tucked his tale in fear, leaving Scotland, never to return (p.53).

It is not too difficult to see the significance of the role of the psalms as the Reformation swept across the British Isles in the mid 16^th century. First, no sooner had a Reformed movement taken embryonic shape in Britain than metrical versions of the psalms were arranged, published, and made use of to strengthen and nourish the saints and to sustain martyrs as they faced the fires of unholy persecution. Second, the psalms were used exclusively in both Scotland and England as the manual of praise among those who identified themselves with the Reformation which emanated from Geneva. This fact is significant to highlight as it establishes the form of worship which was characteristic of Calvinistic worship in the British Isles of the 16^th century. Commitment to exclusive canonical psalmody was not a subsequent development of 17^th century hard line, fundamentalist Puritanism, as is sometimes claimed, rather it was the practice of the Calvinistic Reformed churches from the time when the Reformation gained a footing in Britain. Third, though the psalms did not quite have the same role in 16^th century Britain as they did in on the Continent, they certainly were an identifying feature of Reformed British worship and piety as is exemplified by the examples of their use in both England and Scotland which were cited above. A fair and reasonable conclusion to draw from this evidence is that wherever the Reformed church went the Psalter went, whether on the Continent or Britain, and, the psalms were put to use as a powerful means of resistance to tyrannical, anti-Reformed magistrates. All this points to the fact that psalm signing was central to the ethos of the church militant in the 16^th century British Isles.

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm singing and persecution in the Netherlands

2012-01-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

In pursuing the connection between psalm singing and persecution, we move from France to the Netherlands. Sadly, the experience of the Reformed in the Netherlands varied little from the experience of the French Reformed, as pools of bright red Reformed blood formed across the landscape of the Netherlands as the Reformed faith struggled to take root. Besides being bonded by blood, these churches were bonded by a common commitment to the singing of psalms, and it was this commitment that generated violent opposition against the Reformed church.

From the inception of Reformation in the Netherlands, there was no lack of Psalters available to Reformed Christians to help them give voice to their praise. As early as 1539 psalm books flowed from the presses in Antwerp as the Reformed faith began to gain a footing. In 1540 Souder Liedekens' complete Psalter was rolled out, eventually going through thirty-three editions. Another Dutch Psalter was produced by Jan van Utenhove who brought his own version of 100 psalm settings over from London. The introduction to Psalm 46 in this Psalter highlighted the relationship between psalm singing and persecution stating, “this psalm also aroused all those truly praising God to trust whenever the godless arose in persecution.” However, the Psalter which gained widest circulation was the Marot-Beza Genevan Psalter of 1562 which was translated into Dutch first by de Heere, and then by Dathenus, the latter version being adopted officially at the Reformed synods of Wesel (1568) and Dordrecht (1574).

As the psalms began to unite the hearts and voices of the Dutch Reformed in praise and worship, it will come as no surprise that persecution was initiated against them. Strada, a Roman Catholic historian, reports that hundreds of Reformed Christians flocked to public meetings where psalms were sung in protest against the Roman Catholic magistrate. In the Netherlands, public psalm singing led to the same experience of bloodshed as it did in France. On one occasion, 300 English refugees were sent to the stake with Psalm 130 on their lips, while on others, riots broke out and arrests led to mass executions.

A series of instances of persecution against the Reformed are worth taking a moment to highlight and draw attention to, as we consider the connection between psalm singing and persecution in the Netherlands. First, in 1562 at Valenciennes, when the magistrate attempted to execute a man named Faveau and his associate for publicly preaching Reformed doctrine, a large crowd of Reformed Christians began to form and started to loudly sing the psalms. Mayhem was unleashed and the end result was that the mob of psalm singers overwhelmed the executioners, effecting the release of the prisoners. Second, in 1562 a man named Christopher Fabricius was condemned to death for preaching Protestant doctrine. While positioned on the pyre awaiting execution, Fabricius began to sing Psalm 130 and the crowd began to join their voices to his. The situation rapidly deteriorated with the executioner and civic officials turning tale and running; however, before the executioner fled in panic he thrust Fabricius through with a sword and smashed his head in, instantly killing him. Third, in 1566 Viscount Brederode began to publicly organize large public worship services as a means of civil disobedience against the magistrate. These public services, often attracting crowds measured in the thousands, consisted of preaching and psalm singing. On one occasion, Dr. Hermanus led his followers into a cathedral and preached a fiery sermon against idolatry. In response to the sermon, the crowd began to vigorously sing the psalms, which eventually led to an outburst of iconoclasm as the worshipers destroyed all the images in the cathedral. The regent was so alarmed by these public meetings that she wrote to Philip II warning him psalm singing was leading to widespread civil unrest and rebellion. Fourth, by 1574 the public singing so enraged the magistrate that the Dutch Reformed experienced their own St. Bartholomews Day massacre in Alva’s Council of Blood, which effectively suppressed the public gatherings of the Reformed.

This brief survey of the early days of reformation in the Netherlands shows that the Dutch Reformed were psalm singers whose experience was one of persecution and the costly shedding of blood. While Roman Catholic oppressors hated the psalms, the Reformed found their identity and unity in them. Though the psalms were sung out of the conviction that God had prescribed them as an element of worship, they were not relegated to the Lord’s Day worship alone, as the Dutch Christians made use of them at home privately and in the public square openly as a means of civil disobedience. Clearly, the Psalms were the fuel of first generation reformers in the Netherlands, giving shape to Dutch worship, piety, and practice, and would remain dominant in Dutch Reformed life for hundreds of years until the winds of 19^th century liberalism would sweep over the Dutch church in the Netherlands and until the blight of revivalism and Yankee pragmatism would ravage Dutch Reformed convictions about worship in the 20^th century in America. If the Dutch Reformed church would regain the robust faith of their forefathers it will need to toss out the use of manmade revivalistic hymns and junk praise songs and replace them with the Psalms, God’s very own appointed manual of praise.

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm singing and persecution in France

2012-01-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

Continuing on in our series on the relationship of psalm singing to the corporate life and experience of the Reformed churches, which embraced the theology of worship spelled out by John Calvin, we turn to psalm singing and persecution. The experience of Reformed churches in three different geographical regions in France will be taken up for examination. Throughout the following paragraphs we will highlight certain key facts and insights provided by Dr. Reid.

First, strong opposition to psalm singing was encountered by the Reformed at the hands of Catholic leaning French authorities in city of Paris. As early as October 1557 in Paris, the Huegenots were being persecuted by the magistrate. Dr. Reid cites a particular instance of persecution which occurred at a meeting of Huguenots at the home of a Parisian citizen on Rue St. Jacues behind the Sorbonne. Here, hundreds of Huguenots met for worship with a large spillover crowd positioned outside the home. Sorbonne clergy, alerted about the meeting, gathered up a mob of thugs, deputized them and sent them in to arrest the men assembled at the gathering. A substantial portion of the men pushed their way of the house, leaving women and children behind, believing that the women and children would be unharmed by the clergy's deputies. The plan backfired as many women and children were incarcerated for an extended period of time; however, the incarceration led to greater antagonism as the captives spent much of their time singing psalms in unison. As for the men, many of them were subsequently captured and burned at the stake for the subversive act of practicing their Calvinist faith with its signature feature of psalm singing. At this point it is a reasonable question to ask whether these Christians would have been as savagely persecuted had they been gathering to sing hymns as praise songs and "ministered to" by naturally talented individuals who sang together in choirs, trios, duos, and solos. While it is difficult to answer the question to everyone's satisfaction, a reasonable conjecture, based upon a knowledge of the facts, is that the Reformed would not have experienced such severe persecution. It is undeniable that psalm singing generated stiff opposition then, as it does now.

Second, similar confrontation was experienced in La Rochelle and beyond. As early as 1550 ecclesiastical court documents indicate that authorities had banned the importation of the Calvinist Geneva Psalter. Opposition to psalm signing was also encountered about the same time at Bas-Poitou, Bourges, and Bordeaux. In all these places the civil and ecclesiastical authorities maintained the position that such singing "was in derision and to the great scandal of the Christian religion." In Nantes, the hatred of psalm singing ran so deep that authorities, in 1562, petitioned Duc d'Etampes to come and stamp out the public singing of the psalms. It is worth pausing to notice, that being Protestant in general, or more specifically "Calvinitistic" did not necessarily provoke the ire of civil and ecclesiastical authorities, rather, it was the additional factor of psalm signing that made these French Reformed Christians targets for savage persecution.

Third, Reformed churches in Normandy and Dieppe experienced similar hostility from authorities. To voice opposition to the Cardinal's opposition to the French Reformed churches in this region, the Huguenots positioned a force of 2,000 worshipers outside his residence who sang the psalms for hours. Of course, this action initiated a hostile response and many Huguenots subsequently lost their life. The Huguenots however were not to be deterred as throngs of worshipers openly sang the psalms as they marched the dead to their graves in public funeral processions.

These three examples of regional persecution of French Reformed Calvinists mark only a tip of the iceberg of violent persecution directed toward Reformed psalms singers. On the one hand, it is encouraging to think about the persistence of the Huguenots in practicing their faith in the face of fierce opposition, noting that this persecuted minority steadfastly maintained their faith believing they were commanded to do so, instead of caving in to the authorities and abandoning their convictions to pacify oppressors in order to make their lives more comfortable. One way to account for this remarkable testimony of faithfulness is by realizing that the practice of singing these Holy Spirit inspired Psalms itself, tapped into rich streams of energizing grace, which in turn, nourished and fostered dutiful and God-glorifying obedience. On the other hand, it is deeply discouraging to consider that fierce opposition to exclusive psalm singing persists 500 years later. What is especially disheartening is that the Roman Catholic civil and ecclesiastical authorities have been replaced by the Reformed churches as the primary oppressors and opponents of exclusive psalm singing. It is inexplicable that those who claim to bear the mantle of Calvinist theology are those who would have opposed and oppressed Calvin himself for instituting exclusive canonical psalm singing. I can only imagine that this hostility flows at least in part from ignorance of the history of the Reformed church and it is my hope that the publication of the record of the historic Reformed commitment to this distinctive practice of exclusive singing of canonical psalms will not only lead Reformed people to set aside their hostility and opposition to psalm singing, but will also lead them to reconsider their own practice of worship and conform it to the pattern of historical Calvinism.

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm-singing for Vigorous Kingdom Service (part 3)

2011-11-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

So far in our series of posts about the martial ethos of historic Reformed worship, cultivated as it was by the godly singing of the Psalms, we have noted Dr. Reid’s bold claim that this particular music developed a peculiar resolve in the hearts of Calvinists who were forced to use weapons to defend their lives and promote their liberty. Unlike the Lutherans, who after the Peace of Augsburg (1555) did not have to take up arms to defend themselves against hostile enemies, the Reformed were in a much different position and would spend the next 150 years marching out to battlefields and being marched to the stake to be burnt in the flames for holding to their Calvinistic, Reformed faith. These assertions are simple matters of fact, and Dr. Reid has made the argument that what galvanized the hearts of the Reformed around their cause, trained their hands to fight, and steeled their courage to endure intense persecution, was the singing of the psalms. Beyond that, we have seen that the construction of the Geneva Psalter, which was a life long pursuit of Calvin completed in 1562, left the Reformed with a song book comprised of nothing but the psalms bequeathing a distinct heritage of psalm-singing that would serve as a badge of identity and strengthen their morale in the face of persecution and conflict (p.42). That leads us in this post to address the question of why the Psalms had this effect by expounding the three reasons Dr. Reid furnishes as answers which account for it.

First, Reid argues that psalm-singing provided the Reformed with a distinct identity (p.43). It appears that this distinctive practice was so prominent among the Reformed that they were derisively labeled as “psalm-singers” by those from without. It is not too difficult to understand how this practice could have served as such vivid and accurate label when we consider that all the rest of the churches of 16^th century Europe sang what could be called “sacred music” meaning hymns and canticles accompanied by an organ. Encountering the “strangeness” of Reformed worship (a cappella singing) in that day would have left just as much of an impression upon the casual observer of the peculiarity of the practice, as it would in our church context today which almost entirely dominated by praise and worship music. So, singing of the Psalms had the effect of strengthening the Reformed to face opposition and conflict because it gave them a distinct identity which was as peculiar as it was easy to identify.

Second, Reid proposes that the identity shaped by psalm-singing produced unity among the Reformed (p.43). The bonds of unity were not only reinforced by sharing in the same practice of worship and the singing of psalms exclusively, it was also cultivated by sharing in a common cause and profession of faith expressed in the psalms. Beyond that Reid points out that the Reformed shared a profound sense of being enlisted in a common battle for the defense and promotion of the kingdom of God even to the point of bearing of arms in battle. Evidence for this form of unity is indicated in the fact that they sang the Psalms in unison as battle songs while they marched in columns toward fields of battle gaining the confidence every step of the way that “no matter what would take place they were on the Lords, i.e., the winning side” (p.43). Not only did the Psalms play a significant role in building up confidence and courageous resolve as the Reformed marched out to battle, they also united their hearts in praise as they gave thanks to the Lord for victory with psalms. So psalm-singing cultivated unity among the Reformed as they rallied together around the common cause of promoting the kingdom of God.

Third, Reid makes the case that the singing of the psalms had a profound effect upon the Reformed because they were convinced that they could legitimately appropriate them to themselves. A primary point of departure for appropriating the psalms to themselves was by identifying the new covenant church as the continuation of the covenant people of God who were bonded together in covenant with the sovereign Lord. By singing the psalms in worship and in a host of informal contexts they bore witness to this relationship. Hopeful that the psalms would be used for this very purpose Clarence Marot wrote, in his dedicatory address of his own publication of 49 metrical psalms in 1543, that it “would a happy time when prayer would flourish, with the laborer at his plow, the carter in the street, and the craftsmen in his shop singing psalms to ease their work” (p.44). Hostile witnesses provide more than ample evidence that Marot’s wishes were fulfilled as Roman Catholic Claude Haton, wrote in his memoirs the Huguenots sang psalms “to move their hearts” and fellow Catholic M. de Casteleneau observed that the “harmonious and delectable singing stirred the Calvinists to proclaim the praises of the Lord no matter what the circumstances” (p.44). Clearly, even beyond the walls of houses of worship, the Reformed testified to their identity as the covenant people of God as they took His sacred songs upon their lips in praise.

In our next post we will chronicle some of the opposition mounted against the psalm-signing Calvinists by their bitter enemies.

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm-singing for vigorous Kingdom service (part 2)

2011-11-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

In thinking about the historic Reformed practice of psalm-singing and how it cultivated the particular effect of a martial ethos, it will be helpful to briefly trace the origin and distribution of the Geneva Psalter which had such a substantial hand in shaping Reformed worship for at least a few centuries subsequent to the Reformation. Although Psalms were being sung as early as the 1520’s among the Reformed, it was Calvin who helped make this practice a badge of identity for the Reformed churches. Taking a middle road between Luther on the one hand, who incorporated hymns and psalms in public worship, and Zwingli on the other, who rejected the use of both instruments and songs altogether in public worship, Calvin proposed the singing of the Psalms a capella by the whole congregation.

To facilitate turning this principle into a consistent practice, Calvin oversaw the editing and publication of a French psalter in 1539, while yet in Strausburg (p.38). Though this first run at producing a psalter was not without its flaws or limitations, it did at least accomplish the objective of putting his principles into practice, not only in his congregation of French refugees, but it also laid the groundwork for the spread and use of the Psalms in the worship of the Reformed churches through the influence it had upon Valerian Poullain, his successor in Strausburg, who then went on subsequently to serve in England and then Frankfurt (p.39). A few short years later, in 1542, having returned to minister in Geneva, Calvin published a new version of the psalter, this time with a preface which explained the rationale for using the psalter in Reformed worship:

And in truth, we know by experience, that singing has great strength and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal.

It is evident from even this brief remark that Calvin saw the inherent power of music to move the soul and viewed the Psalms as the most pure lyrical form to mold pious zeal for holy ends.

Believing the Psalms were best suited to cultivate a true and substantial holy ardor and in view of that seeking to actually compile a psalter complete with musical settings was one thing, pulling it off in practice was quite another. Early on Calvin had put his own hand to translating and arranging metrical versions of the Psalms, but had to admit his own labors were less than satisfactory. By the providence of God, a man named Clement Marot was led to Calvin for just such a purpose. Hands down, Marot was one of the leading French poets of the day. So renowned for his capabilities was Marot that he had access to the court of Francis I, but acquiring his skills for Geneva's project proved to be quite an ordeal. In 1535 Marot had been accused of heresy and fled Paris to seek refuge in the court of Renee of Ferrara where he met Calvin (p.40). Apparently, someone was able to patch things up between Marot and Francis I because he can be found back in the king’s court by 1538 and was at that time already producing metrical versions of the psalms that even found favor with the king and his court. By 1543, while Marot’s psalm settings were growing in popularity in various pockets of France, they were growing in disfavor with the Roman intelligentsia at the Sorbonne and with the Roman authorities. To escape persecution Marot fled to Geneva where he received a hearty welcome from his old friend John Calvin. Though Marot’s stay in Geneva would not be a particularly lengthy one, he was able to publish a total of 49 metrical versions of the Psalms. Apparently Clement had a knack for crossing swords with people, and before he could finish his work in Geneva he was exiled from the city for inappropriate fraternization with some ladies down at the local pub. After expulsion from Geneva things took a sharp dive southward for Marot as he died suddenly and prematurely in Turin by means of poisoning (p.41).

With about one third of the psalter arranged for music, Calvin turned to another leading humanist and poet, Theodore Beza, in order to see to it that the work Marot started would be brought to conclusion. From 1549 to 1562 Beza worked steadily to complete the psalter project. Beza, working side by side with musicians such as Franc, Goudimel, and especially, Louis Bourgeouis, was able to produce a psalter that displayed a remarkable artistic touch and was well adapted for popular use.

With production complete, the psalter was ready for distribution, and all indications are that it was a hot commodity as it rolled off the press. Upon completion of the final edition in 1562, the Geneva Psalter was translated into Dutch, German, Hungarian, and English (p.42). For the most part, the new translations attempted to retain the tunes and simply translate and arrange the lyrics to the musical settings. The success of the psalter can measured by its massive popularity as Reid notes, “even Godeau, Bishop of Grasse in 1649, could witness to the popularity and influence of the Huguenot psalm-singing while his own Roman Catholics were either dumb or sang “des chansons deshonnetes” (p.42). The effect of the psalter was that it unleashed a wave of what Reid calls “popular music” for it had finally put sacred lyrics to tunes that were accessible to the musically untrained. This popular music certainly had unintended consequences, which we will take note of in subsequent posts, but for now I leave us to consider Reid’s preliminary summary of the psalter’s effect:

This was of great importance for it meant that the faithful could now sing together the songs of faith, a practice which was bound to strengthen their morale in the face of persecution and conflict (p.42).

Imagine that being said of Fanny Crosby or CCM songs, or even the trendy new worship songs advertised on one web site which promotes “intimate songs of the heart” that are “sure to capture your heart, and leave you with an enduring sense of His presence, and a hunger for more.” To even consider the question for a moment is to answer it; such pious doggerel does not nourish the heart for even a moment, let alone for the flames of persecution.

With these comments in view I conclude with Dr. Reid’s bold claim for consideration, “certain types of music have power to stimulate to action, even the power to incite hands to war and fingers to fight.”

In the next post we will examine how psalm-singing shaped the Reformed identity and bore witness to their motivation and purpose as they sought to spread the truth and how they sustained them when they faced the fiery flames of persecution.

The Martial Ethos of Historic Reformed Worship: Psalm-singing for vigorous Kingdom service (part 1)

2011-11-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Calvinistic worship, that is, worship regulated according to Scripture alone (Heidelberg Catechism Q 96; Belgic Confession article 32), has fostered and cultivated a unique form of piety in the Reformed church in the past. Many examples and testimonies of this distinct form of piety could be cited, but in this new series, I propose the MARTIAL ETHOS produced by Psalm-singing, which characterized militant Calvinism in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, for consideration. The research I will use to discuss the martial ethos produced by Psalm-singing among the Reformed churches of this period has been generated and published by W. Standford Reid in an article entitled, “The Battle Hymns of the Lord: Calvinist Psalmody of the Sixteenth Century.” Dr. Reid was a professor of history at the University of Guelph and the research presented in this particular essay is found a volume of essays published in 1970 in Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, edited by C.S. Meyer. In the subsequent posts based upon this essay, I propose to examine the following five areas for examination: 1) Psalm singing strengthened the Calvinists to fight, 2) A brief history of Geneva Psalter’s construction –including its distribution in several languages, 3) Reasons why the psalter strengthened the Calvinists, 4) The Roman Catholic opposition to the Psalter and the Calvinist Psalm-singers and, 5) Use of the Psalter of various Calvinistic military campaigns of the 16^th and 17^th century. As we consider the evidence set forth and make the connection between the singing of psalms and the martial ethos of historical Calvinism, I challenge contemporary Reformed churches to recommit to the exclusive singing of the Psalms and inspired canonical psalms in order that they may reclaim the Calvinistic heritage of fulfilling the Biblical mandate to embrace the roll of the church militant in this age, which it has been shamefully distracted away from through its conscious choice to adorn Reformed worship with the accoutrements of breezy evangelical revivalism and to follow its form of feminine piety.

Dr. Reid begins his essay by claiming that certain types of music have power to stimulate to action, even the power to incite hands to war and fingers to fight. A moment’s reflection upon various kinds of music will easily verify the adequacy of this assertion. Ask yourself, “which performer or group would tend to motivate a soldier for battle more, Barry Manilow or Metallica?” I don’t think anyone who wants to be taken seriously would propose that Barry Manilow is the more obvious selection. It is obvious that a particular kind of ethos corresponds to these styles of music: Manilow’s music is characterized by a syrupy emotionalism and is thus fitting for cultivating and evoking that response where such moods are desired, and of course, a sort of robust, manly, courageous aggressiveness has characterized the music of James Hetfield and Metallica from their earliest beginnings, and that music is well suited to cultivate and strike similar chords in the hearts of its listeners. That simple exercise then provides common sense confirmation of the assertion made by Reid that certain types of music stimulate certain actions, even martial action.

Next, Dr. Reid points out an obvious fact which is that the Calvinists had to fight their way to Reformation in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. To verify the point, one only needs to think for a brief moment about the Huguenot’s, the Dutch, the Scottish Covenanters, Cromwell’s Roundheads, or the “Reformes of the Cevennes,” all who valiantly engaged in battle to defend and promote their deeply held Calvinistic and Reformed convictions. Helpfully, Reid gives at least a brief explanation for why the Calvinists were so often found marching out to battle, and it was not because they happened to be blood-thirsty, maladjusted thugs. It was rather because Calvinists, unlike the Lutherans, were never afforded the same political and religious protections from Rome and its allies, as the Lutheran’s received under the settlement of the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. On account of that lack of protection the Reformed were often savagely persecuted for their faith, and were left with no other option but to resist and fight back.

Interestingly, what Reid points out as characteristic of these Reformed armies who trudged out to the battlefield in the defense of polis and ecclesia is that as they went out to battle “the psalmists’s words seem to have come almost automatically to their lips” (p.36). Beyond that, think for a moment about Reid’s claim which is that it was the Psalms that tipped the balance in the favor of the Reformed as they engaged in battle. It is true, as Reid points out that Reformed forces were often led by a militant aristocracy and funded generously by a wealthy bourgeoisie, but those factors alone cannot account for their military success. Instead of finding the secret of their success in the quality of their leadership or the adequacy of their financial partners, Reid digs down into the hearts of the soldiers themselves, and having peeled back the layers he finds the Psalms there and argues that it was the Psalms which both built up and maintained the morale of the soldiers as they fought (p.37). See that? Calvinist worship, as historically conceived of and practiced by the Reformed churches of the 16th century, led to Kingdom advancement!

As we bring this article to conclusion, it is best to give Reid the last word so we can hear his bold and decisive claims about the all significant role of the Psalms in the 16^th and 17^th century battles for religious and political freedom from Rome and her allies:

The things that really grabbed the common man, the ordinary Calvinistic soldier, was something much more mundane: his catechetical training and congregational singing of the psalms. More than all the fine theological training, both the catechism and the Psalter entered into the very warp and weft of the humblest members’ lives (p.37).

Well, there we have the main thought Reid proposes for consideration, which is that the Psalms, when repeatedly sung in the congregation, have the power to fashion a certain kind of piety and theological conviction in the heart such that it creates a vast reservoir of motivation and resolve which may be tapped repeatedly and used as fuel to energize “hands to war and fingers to fight” in order that Christ’s kingdom may be defended and advanced for the glory of His name.

Now, let me conclude with a question for my Reformed readers (and I ask this as gently as I can), whose churches long ago sold the precious birthright of Psalm-singing for the pottage of revivalistic hymns and praise songs, are your songs tending to motivate and strengthen you to fight and to defend and to advance the kingdom of God, or do they tend to keep your hands clean from such actions and concerns and focused instead on your prayer closet and personal piety? Of course having spent much of my life in Reformed churches which rejected the Calvinistic and Reformed heritage of Psalm-singing in favor of Watt’s paraphrases, hymns of the Wesley brothers, and Fanny Crosby’s ditties, I am satisfied that I know the answer, but I would like you to consider Reid’s assertion for yourself: certain types of music stimulate to action, even to inciting hands to war and fingers to fight. Try to answer honestly!

Next time we will give a brief history of the Geneva Psalter’s construction –including its distribution in several languages.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody Pt.13: recap and conclusion

2011-10-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

As all good things must come to an end, so to must this brief study of the development of Calvin’s thought with respect to music and song in public worship. In wrapping these series of posts, I want to follow Garside’s study to its conclusion where he summarizes the main lines of thought developed in Calvin’s growing convictions about worship song between 1536 and 1543. These main turns in thought can be summarized in four decisive steps:

First, Garside establishes the baseline for charting Calvin’s progression in thought by fixing on the year 1537 and more specifically, by appealing to the publication of the Articles. For the first time, Calvin advocates the use of vernacular psalm singing in public worship. This proposal marks a decisive change in practice, as just a year prior, in 1536, Calvin in his Institutes could only commend singing a psalm or reading some portion of scripture during and after participation in the Supper. So what generated this shift in perspective? Garside suggests that the several months of pastoral service in Geneva during the year of 1536 accounts for this change as much as anything else. In witnessing firsthand the coldness of the prayers of the saints, Calvin was moved to consider another course. For Calvin, nothing was more useful for stimulating the heart and emotions to godly fear and joy than the singing of the Psalms in the native tongue of the worshiper. While this proposal was not fully implemented before Calvin was exiled from Geneva in the spring of 1538, he did find opportunity to put this proposal into practice while serving in Strasburg. There he finally experienced the quality of worship which he had envisioned for Geneva, and upon his return in 1542 he made it a matter of first priority to oversee the implementation of vernacular psalmody as a means of intensifying the quality of the Genevan worship experience and stoking the ardor of the church’s prayers.

Second, Calvin’s conviction about the role of psalms in worship solidified as he grew to understand more fully the role of psalms in the worship of the ancient church. Through his extensive interaction with Bucer during the years of pastoral exile in Strasburg, Calvin became even more acquainted with the function of psalms in early worship. Evidence for his deepened awareness of psalm singing in the apostolic and early church is the title for the proposed alterations to Geneva’s worship liturgy which he described as “according to the custom of the ancient Church.” The description of the 1542 liturgy indicates Calvin’s desire to reform the church according to the model of antiquity.

Third, through a careful reading of Augustine, Calvin developed a concept of sacred music. From his study of Augustine, Calvin became impressed with the need for gravity and majesty in the church’s music and the necessity of permitting the text to take priority over the tune and melody. In this way the power of music would be harnessed for spiritual good as the music assisted the worshiper to think about the lyrical content of the song while at the same time restraining dangerous excesses which could be generated by music shaped strictly for the purpose of engaging the emotions while bypassing the intellect.

Fourth, Calvin’s final step in 1543 to replace secular songs with the Psalms even outside of worship marks a final significant turning point. Aiming at counteracting the potentially corrosive effects of immoral and obscene secular songs sung in wider society, Calvin proposed that the psalms could and should be sung around the home and hearth as well as in worship. While Calvin’s effort to banish secular songs and substitute the psalms only in their place may sound extreme to our 21^st century ears, Garside points out that this was not entirely out of step with 16^th century humanist ideas concerning the social dimensions of music which had been profoundly shaped by Platonic theory (p.29). Given such a context, it is not hard to appreciate how it happened that vernacular psalmody became something like a Calvinist badge as the Reformed sang their psalms in worship and took them on the go as they went into workplace and on to the battle fields while defending their heartfelt faith.

In bringing this final post on Garside’s article to a conclusion, I will give him the last word:

Calvin’s vernacular psalmody in the last analysis is nothing other than a formulation in uniquely musical terms of the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. Thus from its inception Calvin’s theology of music in its textual dimension was Scriptural. The Psalter was conceived, and always would be considered by him, as an indispensable instrument for the prosecution of his ministry of the Word of God to the city of Geneva and the wider world beyond (p.29).

I hope this close look at Garside’s analysis of Calvin’s developing thought between 1536 and 1543 has been both useful and informative, and that it may help stimulate a desire, at least among the Reformed, to return to the rich heritage of Calvin’s and by extension, the apostolic and early church’s practice of worship according to the Word.

In our next series, we will examine other aspects of Calvin’s views on psalmody.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody Pt.12: Singing that glorifies God and edifies the believer

2011-09-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

It is one thing to come up with a great theory, but it is quite another to put it into practice in such a way that others can understand it and easily apply it. A capella singing of the Psalms is one example of where theory and practice intersect and as anyone knows who has tried it, it provides us with a classic case of trying the rule of easier said than done. Not only does it presuppose that everyone understands and embraces the principle of the matter, it also requires some capacity on the part of those involved to execute the singing properly. Calvin was well aware of the complexities of this issue and put careful thought into making the theoretical become reality. In what follows, we will unfold three crucial components of Calvin’s practice of Psalm singing.

First, Calvin laid it down as a matter of principle that singing Psalms to the glory of God involved singing with the whole heart. It is interesting how many times between 1536 and 1543 that he revisits this principle and places a heavy accent upon it. For instance in the 1536 Institutes he strikes this note saying, “unless voice and song…spring from deep feeling of heart, neither has any value or profit from God’ (p.26). In other words, one could be physically engaged in the right worship activity and still not be pleasing the Lord in the performance of it because the very nature of true worship requires a body and soul connection. Similarly, his 1537 proposal of Psalm singing in Geneva required that it be done in a “heartfelt” manner. Finally, in 1543 he reinforces the theme explaining that it was a principle laid down by Paul that “spiritual songs can be truly sung only from the heart” (p.26). This emphasis upon the quality of heartfelt worship and singing is a testimony to the fact that clinical sterility and cold legalism is not the necessary byproduct of seeking to follow the regulative principle of worship as Calvin conceived of it, but is rather a violation of Calvin’s principle of regulated worship since Calvin himself set down the quality of heartfelt worship as a first principle of Psalm singing.

Second, Calvin places an emphasis upon the role of the intellect in worship. This principle flows from the Calvinist and Reformed requirement of the intelligibility of worship which is illustrated by their conviction that all worship must be in the vernacular. The Reformers were keen to make the point that worship could only be edifying to men if it was understandable to those who participated in it. Carrying on either in reading or song in a language foreign to the worshiper not only insures that those assembled will fail to understand what is going on it can, under certain conditions, easily lead to rank superstition. The latter, by all accounts, was a significant concern of the Reformers who had witnessed this problem first hand in their youth as members of the Roman church. But this matter of the prominence of the intellect was not only born out of experience, it was also informed and shaped by the ancient fathers. For example, Calvin could find ample evidence to support the idea of the centrality of the intellect in worship through his study of Augustine who argued that the all-important difference between the singing of a parrot and a believing human being was that one sang with intelligence while one did not (p.26). Of course, this emphasis upon the intellect in worship serves to demonstrate the mutual interaction and interdependence of heart and head in worship. Without the intellect, worship could easily degenerate into emotional excess and fanaticism if unchecked by sober reflection, while worship without feeling could become cold and impersonal. In this twin emphasis upon heart and head, Calvin strikes a godly and edifying balance.

Third, Calvin sees a major role for memory in public worship. It appears that memory has the potential of facilitating undistracted, contemplative worship as the worshiper is free to sing without the constraint of helps such as a song book if both lyrics and tunes have been thoroughly memorized through repetition of use. The role of memory is not only a critical aspect of unconstrained worship, it also provides the added blessing of portability as the worshiper can take the spiritual songs with them in their heart wherever they are whether at home or at work. In this way Calvin envisioned the Pauline admonition to “pray without ceasing” could be fulfilled as the believer spontaneously prayed and lived in the world when the Psalms emerged in the consciousness of the believer (p.27). This emphasis on the memory plays a vital role in the daily edification of the believer as they use the mind to recall and dwell on the spiritual songs sung in worship on the Lord’s Day.

Before wrapping up this series on Calvin’s view on psalmody, we will take the opportunity to briefly retrace and link together the steps forged together in Calvin’s thinking between 1536 and 1543.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody Pt.11: the Uniqueness of the Psalms

2011-09-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

Throughout this series of posts we have been charting out the course of Calvin’s intellectual development with respect to the role of song and music in worship. With great interest we have watched him scale the rugged terrain of worship and grapple his way up the mount of conviction about the role of Psalms in worship. We have watched him move from the tentative footing of merely commending the Psalms for singing in the church to the very firm ground of commanding the exclusive use of canonical songs in public worship. Along the way up that mountain, it is clear that his thinking about the role of the Psalms in the spiritual life blossomed and grew in some very unanticipated directions. A particularly interesting feature of his progress in thought brought forward to examine is the move to replace all secular songs with the Psalms whether that be within the church or without. In this post, our focus will be on Garside’s argument that this conviction expressed in the Epistle of 1543 is the logical conclusion of the very sharp antithesis forged in Calvin’s understanding between sacred and secular song, the former having the inherent power to raise the soul to joy, while the latter maintain the capacity to unleash the dark power of song which leads men to “disordered delights” and to “obscenity.”

The story of the journey toward the position that the Psalms alone are to replace all other songs, whether for worship or innocent amusement, begins in 1538. In May of this year he submitted a memorandum to the synod of Zurich which called upon Geneva to adopt the Bernese policy of eliminating certain lascivious songs which were used to accompany dancing that seemed to only promote lewd behavior. As Garside notes, at this particular time, Calvin was not aiming to replace secular songs with Psalms altogether, he simply aimed at eliminating one form of song which appeared to promote unseemly behavior. By 1542 a kind of substitution of one for the other began to be evident. Writing in the preface to the 1542 French liturgy for Strasbourg, Calvin wrote that the Psalms along with their melodies had been published “so that you will have seemly songs instructing you in the love and fear of God in the place of those which are commonly sung which are concerned only with dissipation and all vice” (p.25). Clearly, what is in the forefront of Calvin’s thought here is the binary quality of music which has the capacity to effect the soul either for the good or the evil. However, it seems there is still a reservation that some music may still be suitable for recreational use. A door remains open yet for some kind of non-sacred music which although it may not have the power to edify, would not at the same time be spiritually destructive. With the publication of the Epistle of 1543, all ambiguity is removed, and Calvin takes the very uncompromising stand that sacred music (the Psalms) must replace all other music since it alone has the power to promote Christian spirituality outside the context of public worship (p.26).

What remains to be solved at this point, is how Calvin experienced such a turn of thought. Garside maintains that Calvin’s fully matured position of 1543 owes to his extensive interaction with Bucer in the years between 1538 and 1541. Illustrative of Bucer’s point of view on this matter are the remarks he penned in the Foreword to the Strasbourg Song Book. Here Bucer argued that “no instrumentalizing may be sung or used except by and for Christian spiritual activities” (p.25). In a society ruled by the policies of Bucer, no secular songs are permitted and all children are required to go through an education process which subjects them to “psalms and spiritual songs” exclusively. For Bucer, following such a careful regimen was the key to inoculating a whole generation against the wiles of lewd and lascivious songs.

From all indications, the policy of Bucer became a matter of principle for Calvin, albeit with the exception of one crucial aspect. Throughout the Foreword, Bucer spoke of Psalms and “sacred songs” by which he meant human compositions. He freely admitted the influence of Luther at this point, who may have endorsed the use of Psalms but never considered that other non-canonical songs should be banished from public worship provided that they were of a sufficient spiritual quality. Calvin however took a very different stand. When he argued for the policy of replacing secular song with the Psalms in 1543, he argued for a replacement of all songs not contained in canonical scripture because as Garside argues, “For God and His angels as well now as for the world below, nothing else was, or even could be appropriate” (p.26). Just how successful Calvin’s policy was is indicated in what we will see in future studies, that the signing of the Psalms everywhere from the church, to the battlefield, to the factory, to the home around the table and hearth, became the distinguishing badge of French Calvinists.

In our next post we will examine the singing of the Psalms as we wind down our study.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody Pt.10: the 1543 Epistle to the Reader

2011-09-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Knowing what to say and when to say it can be of as much strategic importance, in certain situations, as how something is actually said. In the 1543 Institutes Calvin had added a couple of significant lines of thought to reinforce and shore up his argument for psalmody in public worship: history and the necessity of moderation. Given the unambiguous testimony of the early church and its use of the psalms in worship, establishing the propriety of using the psalms for congregational singing in public worship was easily accomplished. A different format however, would be needed to enlarge on the significance of the concern to maintain appropriate moderation in the use of music in worship. It is to this subject that Calvin now turns in the 1453 Epistle.

Ever since Calvin had proposed the use of psalms in worship in the 1537 Articles, his appreciation for their spiritual power and worth had grown substantially as he both witnessed and experienced their powerful effects in worship. By 1543, after several years of experimentation with the singing of psalms, Calvin began to see their incredible utility for cultivating piety within worship and without, in the grooves of daily living. Calvin was so impressed with the spiritual value of singing psalms that he heartily commended their regular use “in the homes and in the fields” (p.21). What is developing and growing in Calvin’s thought is the fact that it is the very nature of music itself that makes it not only a vehicle of praise, but even more, a rich source of stimulation to praise as it fires the spiritual sensitivities to behold the power and glory of God in the full sweep of life.

Two sets of antitheses are used to expand upon the spiritual utility of music. The first antithesis is between is the spiritual duty of rejoicing in God on one hand, and the sinful tendency for man to delight in vanity on the other. As a wise and compassionate Father, the Lord knowing our weakness and proneness to wander repeatedly into snares and temptations, provided us with music to occupy our minds and fill our hearts with godly joy. Calvin expounds upon this line of thought with several well crafted statements:

Our Lord to distract us and withdraw us from the temptations of the flesh and the world presents us all means possible to occupy us in that spiritual joy which He recommends to us so much

(music is) a gift of God deputed to that use…

(music is given for the purpose of) recreating man and giving him pleasure

(and is) dedicated to our profit and welfare (p.22).

At once, not only the goodness, but also, the power of music is made evident for all to see. Yet, it is right there in the awareness of music's power, that a potential problem begins to emerge. If music can be put to such positive spiritual use, it can just as easily be corrupted by sinful men to cultivate gross moral degeneration. It is to this concern that Calvin now addresses himself in the second antithesis.

In a fallen world full of sinful men, even the best gifts are subject to corruption. This fact leads to the framing of the second antithesis which is that even though music has the power to “raise men up to spiritual joy” it also has the power to lead men to into “disordered delights” and even to “obscenity" (p.22). Clearly, Calvin is aware of contemporary discussions about the power of music to enhance or corrupt, but he has adequate testimony from “the ancient doctors” to confirm this point as well, when they lament that “obscene songs” were corrupting the world of their day already. Enlarging upon the degenerating and corrupting potential of music he explains:

There is scarcely anything in the world which is more capable of turning or moving this way and that the morals of men, as Plato prudently considered it. And in fact we experience that it has a secret and almost incredible power to arouse our hearts one way or another (p.22)

Garside notes that although sentiments such as these betray the influence of sixteenth century humanist thought, this philosophical perspective does not entirely account for his stance toward music. Arguing against such a wholesale influence, Garside makes the case that Calvin distinguishes himself from contemporary humanist reflection by developing “the notion of moderation in practice” (p.23). What that means for Reformed worship is diligent and careful regulation of worship music, which we turn to next.

For Calvin, the binary nature of music was more like a riddle to be solved or a knot to be untied rather than a Zwinglian death knell to the use of worship music altogether. Solving the problem begins by understanding the relationship of melody to lyrical content, for it is in the combination of words and sounds that music takes on its peculiar nature, as Calvin writes:

It is true that every evil word (as Saint Paul says) perverts good morals, but when the melody is with it, it pierces the heart that much more strongly and enters into it; just as through a funnel wine is poured into a container, so also venom and corruption are distilled to the depth of the heart by melody (p.23).

It is unquestionable that, from this remark, we can see Calvin’s view of the power of melody. On his understanding, melody is like the tip of the poison dart that drives the corrupting influence of song deep into the heart. However, it is equally clear from Calvin’s remarks that words and lyrical content are of great concern as well since we have apostolic testimony to confirm their capacity to pervert good morals. Distinguishing between these twin features of song points to the way out of the dilemma because if melody can drive corrupt ideas and influences into the heart it can also be used as a vehicle to harness the power of music for good if it accompanies pious lyrics. Such lyrics are in rich store and easily found since the Lord has provided them for us in the Scriptures. By putting the words of the Scripture, primarily the Psalms, to appropriate melodies, the spiritual value and power of music can be unleashed for the advantage of God’s people.

It turns out then, that the large leap forward, made in the 1543 Epistle, is that it represents the full flowering of Calvin’s thought as he makes the crucial connection between melodies and lyrics, and above all in fashioning the priority of words over tunes. While both are important, it is clear by now, that Calvin places the priority on what it is that is sung rather than how it is sung. Since the Psalms are worthy of God because they have been given by Him, it is clear to Calvin the key to using music in worship as a force for good comes through regulating its lyrical content and prescribing the rule that only songs inspired and produced by the Holy Spirit are fitting for the worship of God. Upon making this connection Calvin proceeds to make some of his most memorable and oft quoted statements about the Psalms:

When we sing them (the Psalms), we are certain that God puts the words in our mouths, as if He Himself were singing in us to exalt His glory…

(men will now have) songs not only seemly, but also holy, which will be like spurs to incite us to pray and praise God, to meditate on His works in order to love, fear, honor, and glorify him

Only let the world be so well advised that in place of songs in part empty and frivolous, and in part stupid and dull, in part obscene and vile, and in consequence evil and harmful, which it has used up to now, it may accustom itself hereafter to singing these divine and celestial hymns with the good King David (p.24)

Clearly, these statements indicate that Calvin did have a sort of regulative principle of song, and that principle is, that every word of edifying praise must come from God Himself. The claim is often made that Calvin merely preferred the Psalms and that he only commended their use rather than taking the position that the regulative principle of worship specifically required their use. Claims such as these fall flat upon reading Calvin in context. The reason Calvin can take the stand against the position of Zwingli who forbid the use of music in worship altogether is precisely because he came to understand that the way to resolve the problem of the potential spiritual harm of music was to find its value in the lyrical content. By making lyrics the issue, Calvin brought congregational song under the strict application of the regulative principle since only canonical songs possessed the specific quality of divine inspiration.

In our next post, we will examine the uniqueness of the Psalms.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody Pt.9: the 1543 Institutes

2011-09-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Social movement scholars have for some time been aware of the fact that as social movements progress, the ideas which fire and drive it grow more refined and specific. Such was certainly the case in the magisterial reformation of the 16^th century. Numerous examples abound which indicate that as the years passed, reformed ideas and rhetorical expressions grew in refinement and depth. Thus far in our study of Garside’s analysis of Calvin’s view of worship song we have been noting how his thoughts and expressions mature, expand, and grow from 1536 onward. In coming to the Institution of 1543 there is evidence that Calvin, in this “Latin counterpart to the French Epistle” is concerned to both amplify and frame his thoughts on music and song with greater clarity and rhetorical force (p.20).

Though Calvin expands his argument in the new version of the Institutes, he continues to follow the structure of the argument found in the 1542 Epistle to the reader. In this edition he follows the threefold pattern of history, apostolic instruction, and appeal to St. Augustine. For the first time however, in marshaling his arguments for psalmody from Scripture, he quotes the apostle Paul directly saying:

This we may infer from Paul’s words: “I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind” [1 Cor. 14:15]. Likewise, Paul speaks to the Colossians: “Teaching and admonishing one another…in hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to the Lord.” [Col. 3:16p.] For in the first passage he teaches that we should sing with voice and heart; in the second, he commends spiritual songs, by which the godly may edify one another (p.20).

By directly quoting from Paul he enhances the force of his argument by allowing the reader to see for themselves that his proposals are simply an implementation of Biblical injunction. In writing to a Protestant audience that was being trained to hold fast to scripture alone for faith and practice, the ability to lay hands on specific Biblical texts must certainly have lent great credibility to his argument.

Moving from Scripture to church history, he again puts the reader’s hands on specific historical texts that seemed to support his claims. In this case, as in past writings, Calvin lay hold of St. Augustine’s remarks about music and song made in the tenth book of the Confessions. Here, Calvin seizes on the link Augustine forged between melody and the verbal content of the song. From Augustine the lesson is learned that “our ears are not to be more attentive to the melody than our minds to the spiritual meaning of the words” (p.20). In a moment of transparency, Augustine confesses that when singing, he had a tendency to focus more on the singing than upon what was actually being sung; therefore, he heartily endorsed the prescription of Athanasius who admonished worshipers, when singing psalms in public worship, to “use so slight and inflection of the voice that it was more like speaking than singing” (p.20).

These caveats of Augustine, cited with approval, form a new way of conceiving of the role of music and song in worship. Instead of constructing songs that contain melodies and words which are crafted for the ear and for the sake of delighting and entertaining a human audience, Calvin admonishes that song and music are fitting for public worship if only they are consciously aimed at promoting the glory of God and are characterized by the kind of vocal inflection proposed by Athanasius which in turn promoted and reinforced the emotional restraint approved of by Augustine. Any other kinds of music and song conceived of for public worship were, according to Calvin, “unbecoming to the majesty of the church and cannot but displease God in the highest degree” (p.21).

With these remarks of Calvin in view, it is hardly conceivable how many so-called “Calvinists” today countenance the use of emotionally charged revivalist hymns and syrupy praise songs, both of which are extremely superficial and paper thin in theological content. Use of such music and song seems to betray a lack of candor and an apparent discomfort in the admission that they share nothing of Calvin’s and, by way of extension, 16^th century Reformed views of music and worship song. It would seem that a more honest and edifying course of action would be to openly refute Calvin’s views and repudiate them so that contemporary Reformed Christians would understand why their views and practices are superior to and more Biblically grounded than Calvin’s and the rest of the 16^th century confessionally Reformed churches.

The next post will examine additions made to the 1543 Epistle.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.8: the 1542 Epistle to the Reader

2011-08-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

In the last post, mention was made of the fact that Calvin says scarcely little about music or song in the 1541 Ecclesiastical Ordinances. As Garside observes, only two sentences about song can be found, and these are tucked away in the middle of a paragraph devoted to marriage. The point was made that Calvin’s intention was to take up the subject of worship song separately and in an entirely different format. That new format is found in the 1542 Epistle to the Reader in his order for worship for Geneva. This 193 word statement would be enlarged upon and revised over the next year, and incorporated into a couple of different works, but in seed form, there are some very significant thoughts expressed about music and song in this current work which further chart out Calvin’s maturing thought.

The title of this new work setting forth the liturgical order for Genevan worship is itself instructive, The Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Songs, with the manner of administering the sacraments and consecrating marriage according to the custom of the ancient Church. Of particular importance for our purposes is that within the body of this work Calvin identifies three ordinances which constitute public worship: preaching, public prayers, and the administration of the sacraments. For the first time in Calvin’s writings about song, we see that he places song, an element of worship, under the rubric of public prayer. Expounding upon this rubric of public prayer he writes that prayers are of “two kinds: the one made with the word only, the others with song.” With respect to this apparently new liturgical development of subsuming worship song under the rubric of prayer Calvin explains that it “is not a thing invented a short time ago” (p.17). So what does he mean by all this?

Garside explains that Calvin is essentially introducing his theology of music and song to the public for the first time. Prior statements made about the role of song had only been made in private communications to the council of Geneva. In presenting this liturgical work to the broader church community in Geneva, it was necessary to offer some explanation of why song and prayer were joined together. The first point he wants to make about song in general is already signaled in the title of the 1542 Genevan order of worship, tucked away at the very end in the prepositional phrase “according to the custom of the ancient church.” Calvin’s primary explanation for the introduction of song as a form of prayer in worship is expressed in two succinct sentences in the Epistle: for from the origin of the Church this has been so, as appears from the histories. And even as Saint Paul speaks not only of praying by mouth, but also of singing (p.17). In other words, to “sing prayers” was to follow the custom and practice of the early church, and in turn, that was to embrace and follow a practice which was founded upon the authority of Scripture.

An additional insight into Calvin’s developing thought about song in worship is unveiled in the Epistle where he breaks new ground in commenting about the nature of worship music itself. With respect to music Calvin writes, “And in truth, we know from experience that song has great force and vigor to arouse and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal” (p.17). Garside makes the point that this marks a tangible movement forward in Calvin’s understanding since in the 1537 Articles his remarks were limited to the content of song, while in the 1542 Epistle his remarks branch out and cover new ground, taking into consideration the topic of music in general. This new insight about music seems to be have been generated and born out of his own experience of congregational singing in Strausburg. In 1537 Calvin could only propose song on the basis that the content of the songs (psalms) themselves could be “most expedient for the edification of the church.” Now however, in 1542, having experienced the “feeling” generated by hearing the whole congregation sing aloud in worship, Calvin speaks of music’s “emotional power.”

The concept of music’s inherent power to move the emotions was a matter of great concern for Calvin. He was not at all interested in moving the emotions for the sake of having an emotional experience. In other words, he was not “sanctifying” the mere experience of emotional uplifts, or any and every form of emotional manipulation. Rather, he was speaking to the benefit and blessing of a certain kind of spiritual vigor kindled in the heart by a peculiar kind of music. This fact is born out by a clarifying comment found subsequently in the Epistle: there must always be concern that the song be neither light nor frivolous, but have gravity (pois) and majesty (maieste), as Saint Augustine says” (p.18). Interestingly, Garside points out that neither “gravity” or “majesty” or their equivalents are found in the passage from Augustine that Calvin quotes. Instead, it seems that these two qualities of music are unique and original to Calvin himself.

In searching for an objective handle to sort of grasp hold of what Calvin has in mind by “gravity” and “majesty,” Garside proposes that a final comment in the Epistle provides a helpful starting point for analysis. Distinguishing between the quality of “sacred” and “secular” music, Calvin says, “And thus there is a great difference between the music which one makes to entertain men at table and in their homes, and the psalms which are sung in the Church in the presence of God and His angels” (p.19). Apparently, there is music which is directed to men (music "at table" and "in home"), and it is for the purpose of entertaining, and then, there is music directed to God (sung in Church), and it is uniquely suited for the worship of His glorious and eternal being. It is obvious from the context and tenor of Calvin’s remarks that it would be wrong to seek to inflame the emotions by the use of song and music which is purely for man’s entertainment (which is obviously the nature and character of all revivalistic and contemporary worship music ). For Calvin, only songs of a unique and specific quality (Psalms) combined with tunes which are appropriately grave and majestic can meet the rigid qualifications of worship song which is truly worshipful to the Lord. These comments then, contained in the 1542 Epistle, truly do mark out a significant leap forward in Calvin’s theology of music, and according to Garside, signal the beginning of “the sacred style” which would subsequently come to characterize the melodies of the Genevan Psalter.

The next post will take up Calvin’s remarks about song contained in the 1543 edition of the Institutes.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of music pt.7: the Ecclesiastical Ordinances of 1541

2011-08-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life you learn things the hard way and end up having to admit that you were just plain wrong. Individual people learn this lesson and cop to it all the time, it is rare however for politicians to learn that lesson and be as forthright. There is an example from history where this did happen, at least partially, and that is found in the case of the Genevan council with respect to Calvin’s dismissal. In 1538, in the heat of personality conflicts, Calvin and Farel stared down the town council and refused to give in to their politically motivated demands. The council called Calvin and Farel’s bluff, eventually bouncing them out of town just after the Easter service. While Calvin was happy to leave and settle down somewhere else to the life he always dreamed of, the council in Geneva began to reconsider, realizing they had made a big mistake. After gulping down a heaping serving of humble pie, the council decided to bring Calvin back on board and Calvin reluctantly agreed to return.

So what did Calvin do when he returned to his old stomping grounds in Geneva? Well, he did exactly what a man like Calvin always does, he picked up right where he left off before. On September 13, 1541, he reentered Geneva, met with the town council, and started pushing immediately for the adoption of his church order. Evidence of partially changed circumstances emerged as the town council refused the opportunity to balk at Calvin’s proposal and passed his Ecclesiastical Ordinances in November of 1541. These Ordinances reflected a continuity in tenor and even wording with the Articles of 1537, as the basic guiding principle of both was the principle that the church was obligated to conform to Scripture and the practice of the ancient church.

When it came to the issue of music, there was a difference between the Ordinances of 1541 and the Articles of 1537. In the former, music is hardly even mentioned. Garside speculates that what accounts for that is Calvin’s determination to take up the subject of music separately. That decision is reflected in the fact that “there are only two sentences devoted to the subject, and even their position is peculiar” (16). Tucked away in the middle of a paragraph on marriage are the following two sentences:

It will be good to introduce ecclesiastical songs, the better to incite the people to prayer to and praise God. For a beginning the little children are to be taught; then with time the church will be able to follow (16).

Though these sentences are similar in content with the Articles they say little about the nature of worship song and they seem to shift the subject from worship to children’s education. The odd thing about the latter is that there were no city schools for the children to go to in order to be taught. Raising the prospect of children’s education, and education in music at that, is surely a good thing, but the very wording of the Ordinances suggests that a future communication would be needed to clarify the content and role of music in the public worship of the Genevan churches.

Next, attention will focus on one of the most significant statements Calvin ever made about music and worship song in the 1542 Epistle to the Reader for his order of worship for Geneva.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.6: The Strasbourg pastorate

2011-08-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Before pressing on to survey Calvin’s pastoral stay in Strasbourg, we should take a moment to set up the context by reviewing the principles of worship which had prevailed there for the past 15 years or so. In 1524 Bucer spelled out his Protestant understanding of the regulatory principles and practices of Christian worship in a book entitled Justification and Demonstration from Holy Scripture. Two themes emerge from this work which are particularly relevant to our concerns. The first is the emerging concept of the regulative principle of worship. With respect to the content of worship song, Bucer explains that “in the congregation we do not use songs or prayers which are not drawn from Holy Scripture.” It is evident that Bucer makes a concrete connection between theory and practice as he spells out the standard for songs sung in public worship. The second theme which is evident in Bucer’s early views on worship is the use of the church fathers and early church worship as a guide for applying apostolic principles of worship. This principle is evident as he takes a swipe at Zwingli in these remarks, “those who decry the use of song in the congregation of God know little either about the content of Scripture or about the practice of the first and apostolic churches and congregations, which always praised God with song” (12). Again, in the 1530 Tetropolitan Confession (written by Bucer) Garside notes that “Scripture and the Fathers continued to be the norm for evaluation of the liturgy” (12). So a regulative principle of worship which requires Biblical warrant for worship practices and the use of the early church and the Fathers as a guide to applying this regulative principle mark out two dominant characteristics in Bucer’s theory and practice of Christian worship, which of course were given expression in the Strasbourg liturgy which Calvin encounters as he arrives in 1538.

It was into this context of careful reflection on worship, that Calvin came to serve as pastor to French refugees the latter part of 1538. Calvin’s early correspondence from Strasbourg indicates that the prevailing liturgical practices were shaping and influencing his thoughts on worship. A profound indicator of this influence is the publication of a French psalter in 1539 edited by Calvin himself and modeled on the Strasbourg Psalter. Garside argues for more than a mere editorial role for Calvin in the construction of this psalter, as he makes the case that more than a handful of the psalms had been rhymed by Calvin himself. Another piece of evidence that indicates the influence of the Strasbourg liturgical practices on Calvin's thinking is found in the 1539 edition of the Institutes published there. Garside juxtaposes Calvin’s comments in the chapter on prayer contained in the 1536 edition and those made in 1539, siezing on a slight revision made in the latter version as evidence of a significant advance in Calvin’s thinking about the role of song in worship. In the previous edition (1536) Calvin expressed the opinion that he did not “condemn speaking and singing provided they were associated with the hearts affection and serve it” (hardly a ringing endorsement of congregational singing) while in the 1539 edition he inserted between “singing” and “provided” the following phrase: but rather strongly commend them (13). Another revision occurs where Calvin deleted the phrase “serve it,” as was expressed in 1536, removing the notion that song had a mere servile role in worship. Garside suggests that these slight modifications in the 1539 Institutes, written as they were in Latin, which means they were available to a wide reading audience, form a permanent record of Calvin’s views on worship song and set in motion the emergence of the liturgical principles of Strasbourg as the standard for the next few hundred years of Reformed worship which would eventually erode and give way under the weight of popular revivalism.

In our next post we will examine the 1541 Ecclesiastical Ordinances submitted by Calvin to the Genevan council.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt. 5: the influence of Bucer

2011-08-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thus far in our quest to understand the historical development of Calvin’s view of psalmody, led of course by Dr. Garside every step of the way, we have seen that a crucial pivot in Calvin’s views on song in worship occurred somewhere between the middle 1536 and early 1537. The baseline for dating and charting his rather significant change in thinking is the difference in tone and character of the remarks about song in worship in the 1536 Institutes, and the proposal of psalmody in worship to the Geneva Council in the Articles of 1537. Obviously whenever thinkers of Calvin’s caliber make large leaps in their thinking, it presents a problem for the intellectually curious to seek to unravel. In this installment of our series on Calvin’s view of psalmody, we are to going to walk through the unfolding steps in Garside’s analysis of Calvin’s developing views on song in worship in order to get a handle on what led Calvin to experience such a significant change.

At this time in the Reformation era (the 1530’s) there were essentially only a handful of serious players who could have exercised any substantial influence on Calvin’s thought, and, included among those, are Luther, Zwingli, and Bucer. Luther of course, had no objection to song in worship from the outset. It is safe to say that the Lutheran and the Reformed wing of the Reformation really had little in common when it came to public worship, except perhaps a shared common desire to rid worship of the most profane and idolatrous elements of Romish practice. Other than that, there is not much affinity in their respective positions on worship. That means, it is more than reasonable to rule out any influence of Luther on this area of Calvin’s view of song in worship.

Zwingli had for about the space of ten years made the most public noise about Reformation among those who would later become known as the “reformed.” Clearly, Zwingli was opposed to much of what passed as worship, at least as he understood Roman worship from his experience in the church. As early as 1519, Zwingli altered liturgical practice by making expository preaching the center piece of worship in Zurich. By 1523, he had come to the conclusion that song was to be subsumed under the rubric of prayer. Reasoning from Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees’ model of public prayer recorded in Matthew 6:6, Zwingli argued that prayer was to be silent. It is evident from his Apology on the Canon of the Mass that he found further support and confirmation of his view of silent prayer from Ephesians 5:19 where Paul commands prayer from the heart. His conclusion was that since song was to be made in the heart, then it certainly could not be audible (a view that Bucer will challenge). In 1525, Zwingli’s views on worship song were formally instituted in Zurich and the “barborous mumbling” (worship song) was removed from the churches (p.11).

Turning from Zwingli to Bucer, we see a slightly different understanding of song in worship. It is fair to say that Bucer was not too keen on Zwinlgi’s argument about silent prayer. Instead, Bucer defended the role of song in worship as early as 1524 in his Justification and Demonstration from Holy Scripture. This work not only proposes suggestions for where song is to be appropriately used in the course of the liturgy, it also defends congregational singing in the final chapter. Bucer takes his stand on the Pauline corpus and argues that it would absurd for Paul to command Christians to edify one another by following prescribed rules in worship, if those very rules commanded worshipers to sing and pray silently in their hearts! Beyond that, the center piece of Bucer’s argument for singing in worship is found in his appeal to the model of Christ who sang the Psalms out loud with the disciples after instituting and partaking of the first Lord’s Supper. Scripture not only commended singing in worship, it virtually commanded it since Jesus established the New Covenant sacrament of the Supper as a permanent ordinance, commanding its regular use; so, who then could reasonably argue against singing the Psalms in response to the Supper, if Jesus himself sang them at the conclusion of the first celebration of the Supper? In addition to making a purely Biblical defense of song in worship, Bucer added to it the practice of the early church and the testimony of the Fathers. Not that the Reformed church was bound to follow every practice of the Fathers and the ancient church, but, the church legitimately could receive guidance and direction in matters of worship from the early church and the Fathers when and where their practices conformed to the Biblical model. And for Bucer, it was clear that in this particular matter they did.

The question which now needs to be asked, and, in turn, answered, is did Calvin have access to the views and practices of Zwingli and Bucer, and whether his writings betray an influence of their views upon his own thinking? As a matter of fact, it is difficult to establish a clean paper trail here which would provide a definitive answer, but Garside takes the very strong position that Calvin indeed had either read Zwingli and Bucer, at least in translation, or, had at least been informed about their practices through word of mouth testimony. It may just be a real possibility that each had influence upon Calvin in their own turn. Garside points out that the 1536 Institutes show an inclination towards Zwingli’s view of prayer, especially in his exposition of Matthew 6:6, while the Articles of 1537 betray the hand of Bucer.

What then, caused the change from a decidedly more Zwinglian approach to a more Bucerian view of song in worship. At this point, my read of Garside is that he claims the pivot was not as much intellectual as it was experiential. When Calvin arrived in Geneva in the autumn of 1536, he complained that the prayers of the Genevan’s were “cold.” Garside explains that Calvin is probably reacting to the fact that when he arrived in Geneva there was no music worship at all since Farel had abolished it from the liturgy (p.14). It seems like Calvin experienced a sort of renaissance in his thinking by actually experiencing what life would be like without worship song, and he found it lacking indeed! After enduring several months of songless worship Calvin submitted a proposal for change in worship practice in the Articles of 1537. What Calvin proposed would not, at least at this time, be approved in Geneva. By early 1538, not only would Calvin not yet be enjoying the proposed change in worship, he also found himself in the position of being banished from Geneva by the city council. On account of his refusal to endorse the arrangement which would cement political ties between Geneva and the Swiss city of Bern by implementing liturgical reform that would make these two cities uniform in their worship, Calvin and Farel were given their "pink slips" and were bounced out of Geneva (p.14).

In spite of the turbulence experienced by Calvin and Farel, a silver lining would emerge in the clouds as a result of their banishment from Geneva. Upon their dismissal from Geneva, both Calvin and Farel went straight to Bern in order to give an account of the fallout in Geneva. From there, they went on to a local synod meeting at Zurich in early May of 1528 where something of a tectonic shift occurred. There, Calvin and Farel presented 14 articles for consideration, and among those, article 13, was a requirement to sing psalms in public worship. The synod unanimously approved these articles, including article 13, and just a couple of months later the city of Bern changed course from a Zwinglian policy of no congregational singing to one of exclusive psalmody in June of 1538. Ironically the unintended consequences of the Bernese political arrangement with Geneva left Calvin without a pastoral call, while at the same time, it triggered a massive change in policy among the Swiss churches which signaled a decisive shift away from the policies of Zwingli toward the new views of Calvin (Bucer!) on worship song.

Next time, we will survey Calvin’s pastorate in Strasbourg.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.4: the Articles of 1537

2011-08-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

The rise of twitter signaled a massive shift in 21st century communication theory and practice with its implicit declaration that if one cannot say what they think in 140 characters, then what they have to say is probably not worth saying in the first place. A similar shift in the theology of Reformed church music took place in 1537 when Calvin took only 146 words to lay the foundation for his conception of the role and significance of the psalms in public worship. As noticed in a previous post, just a short year earlier, in 1536, Calvin had little to say about the role of music in worship. At most, Calvin could only conceive of a small role for song as a part of the observance of the Lord's Supper. This very underdeveloped and embryonic conception of worship song marks the point of departure for evaluating Calvin's maturing views on congregational singing.

It is clear however that by 1537, the place and role of song in worship had grown much larger in Calvin's thinking. While in1536 song had a minor, if not optional role in public worship, by 1537 the psalms took on a significant and even necessary role in public worship. That massive leap forward in Calvin's thinking about the place of psalms in public worship is expressed in the following 146 words contained in the Articles of 1537:

The other matter is the psalms which we wish to be sung in the church as we have it from the example of the ancient church and also the testimony of Saint Paul, who says that it is good to sing in the congregation with mouth and heart. We are not able to estimate the benefit and edification which derive from this until after having experienced it. Certainly at present the prayers of the faithful are so cold that we should be greatly ashamed and confused. The psalms can stimulate us to raise our hearts to god and arouse use to an ardor in invoking as well as in exalting with praises the glory of His name. Moreover by this one will recognize of what advantage and consolation the pope and his creatures have deprived the church, for he has distorted the psalms, which should be true spiritual songs, into a murmuring among themselves without any understanding (10).

Expounding on Calvin's views expressed here, Garside explains that, "In the space of a mere 146 words Calvin presented the council with a statement which constituted nothing less than the foundation for his theology of music" (10).

Several items are worthy of notice and some elaboration. First, Calvin grounds the use of psalms in worship on the model of the ancient church. He does not elaborate on the practice of the ancient church, he merely asserts it, as if it were a matter of common knowledge, and in need of no defense whatsoever. Second, in just a breath later, Calvin commends the psalms for use in public worship since they are commended by the by the apostle Paul himself. Of particular interest in Calvin's appeal to Paul is that he has in mind Paul's remarks in Colossians 3:16. That much is evident from the claim that Paul urged psalms to be sung with "mouth and heart"indicating that he has in view the Pauline admonition to sing "with grace in the heart to the Lord."This appeal to Colossians 3:16 is intriguing since most contemporary Reformed opponents of exclusive psalmody argue that this passage has in the first instance nothing to do with public worship, and in the second, based upon Calvin's commentary on Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, that Paul is actually prescribing man made compositions which have a mere spiritual quality. It is clear from Calvin's remarks here that these contemporary advocates of hymnody and praise songs have not read Calvin in sufficient breadth or depth. Third, Calvin advocates for the use of psalms because they glorify God by promoting profound spiritual edification: the psalms can stimulate us to raise our hearts to God and arouse us to an ardor in invoking as well as in exalting with praises the glory of His name (10). This remark echoes and builds on views already expressed in the 1536 Institutes where Calvin insists that acceptable and pleasing prayer to God must join heart and mouth together lest prayer degenerate into mere Pharisaical lip service. Fourth and finally, Calvin takes a thinly veiled swipe at the use of papal choirs in public worship when he says that the singing of psalms by the congregation will expose the "advantage and consolation the pope and his creatures have deprived the church (of), for he has distorted the psalms...into murmuring among themselves without any understanding." Garside illuminates this statement by Calvin as he explains that Calvin is taking aim at the singing of priests in Latin during public worship. In other words, Calvin is seeking to restore congregational singing to the church by returning the duty of praise to the congregation from the hands of the professionals and by requiring the psalms to be sung in the native tongue of the worshipers.

With these four distinct developments in view, it is not hard to see how these remarks in the Articles of 1537 mark a watershed moment in Calvin's theology of music and song in public worship. These 146 words signal that a reformation in worship is afoot in Calvin's thought and they portend the peculiar character of Reformed worship which prevailed in the churches for the next few hundred years until the riches of this Reformed birthright was traded in for a mess of revivalistic pottage. For the moment however, it is good to imbibe the spirit and quality of this robust theology of worship and song.

In the next post, we will examine the influence of Bucer on Calvin's developing view of song in worship.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.3: the 1536 Institutes

2011-08-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

In the previous analysis of the Articles submitted to the Genevan Council in 1537 by Calvin, it was noted that congregational psalm-singing was presented as "essential for Christian worship" (8). This ground staked out by Calvin in the 1537 Articles marks out new territory in Calvin’s expressed views about song in public worship. Evidence to support that conclusion is presented by Garside from the 1536 Institutes. At the end of the fourth chapter of this same work, in discussing the proper administration of the Lord’s Supper, Calvin explains:

either psalms should be sung or something be read, and in becoming order the believers should partake of the most holy banquet, the ministers breaking the bread and giving the cup. When the Supper is finished, there should be an exhortation to sincere faith and confession of faith, to love and behavior worthy of Christians. At the last, thanks should be given, and praises sung to God (9).

According to Garside this is the first and only “unequivocal” set of instructions on music and congregational song in the 1536 edition of the Institutes. This single passing and underdeveloped set of remarks constitutes a loud silence on behalf of Calvin, since he wrote them while in Basel and undoubtedly must have been aware of the fact that German versions of the psalms had been sung in public worship for at least ten years (9). A fair and reasonable judgment to make about these instructions is that Calvin's views on music and song in worship are embryonic at this point and this matter has not yet begun to crystallize in his thoughts. These first published remarks of Calvin about music and song then, form a historical baseline which is of great assistance in charting and evaluating the progressive development of Calvin’s thinking about the role and significance of song in public worship.

Before leaving the 1536 Institutes it is worth singling out a few more remarks Garside makes about views expressed in chapter 3 of this work. A significant component part of Calvin’s view of prayer expressed here, which recurs subsequently and interlocks with his views on public prayer (congregational singing), concerns the quality of prayer, that is, it must be sincere and heartfelt. As Garside seeks to draw out Calvin’s views on the nature of private, individual prayer, he cites a number of statements made by Calvin which highlight this specific quality including, “unless voice and song spring from deep feeling of heart, neither has any value or profit in the least with God,” “we do not here condemn speaking and singing provided they are associated with the heart’s affection and serve it,” and finally, “the tongue without the heart is unacceptable to God” (8,9). Again, it will be important to keep these remarks close at hand, because they will find expression in Calvin’s subsequent remarks about the role and rule for music and song in public worship.

In the next post, more careful examination and analysis of Calvin's views expressed in the 1537 Articles will be given.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.2

2011-08-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

B.B. Warfield once made the pithy and insightful observation that the very genius of Calvin’s reforming activity is that upon finding Protestantism an unruly mob, he organized it and turned it into a disciplined army. Perhaps Warfield was reflecting on Calvin’s 1537 Articles when he made that statement. Several months after accepting Farel’s call to serve Geneva and to lead the Reformation there, Calvin submitted a set of ordinances to the city council of Geneva for their approval and implementation. These ordinances were designed to order and regulate both church and society, marking the first concrete steps toward structuring Geneva’s civic and church life according to the gospel. Four proposals formed the backbone of Calvin’s attempt to bring order to Geneva: church discipline, psalm-singing in public worship, catechizing the youth, and reform of marriage statutes.

Much could be said about the each of these four areas of emphasis. Of particular interest for our purposes is the second ordinance which institutes the singing of psalms in public worship. Standing on its own, this ordinance gives the impression that congregational singing of the psalms is of the well-being of the church. On further analysis, it would appear that it is all of that and more. Garside quotes from Calvin where he gives expression to the rationale of this ordinance:

Furthermore it is a thing most expedient for the edification of the church to sing psalms in the form of public prayers by which one prays to God or sings His praises so that the hearts of all may be aroused and stimulated to make similar prayers and to render similar praises and thanks to God with a common love.

Commenting on Calvin’s commendation of congregational psalm-singing as “a thing most expedient for the edification of the church,” Garside says that for Calvin, psalm-singing is not “an indifferent matter” rather, it “was essential for public worship.” In other words, psalm-singing is of the essence of public worship, apart from which, God cannot be rightly worshiped. This foundational conviction, Garside explains, is the origin of Calvin’s theology of music.

In the next post, we will examine Garside’s analysis of Calvin’s remarks found in the 1536 edition of his Institutes.

Charles Garside on Calvin's view of Psalmody pt.1

2011-08-09T10:43:00.001-07:00

In the following series of blog posts I will be outlining Dr. Charles Garside’s very historically illuminating study on Calvin’s theology of worship song entitled, “The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music: 1536-1543.” This study was presented in the summer of 1979 to “The American Philosophical Society,” the oldest scholarly journal in America, which reaches back to 1769. To the best of my knowledge, the historical work produced here by Gardside, relating to the development of Calvin’s thinking on worship song, has not been exposed or refuted as false and inaccurate. Therefore, this historical analysis provides invaluable information about not only Calvin’s views on public worship song, but also, by extension, a baseline to help evaluate the worship views of subsequent 16^th century Reformed thinkers and ecclesiastical practice.

What made this particular study so useful for scholarly research and understanding concerning the factors contributing to the development of Calvin’s views on worship song, was that it plugged a hole in Calvin studies relating to Calvin’s theology of song. As Garside points out., since the late 19^th century and going on into the mid 20^th, a number of outstanding studies on Calvin’s view of song had emerged in the scholarly literature. Felix Bouvet published a work surveying the history of the Hugenot Psalter in 1872, in the later 1870’s Orentin Douen produced a two volume work, massive in scope, which attempted to critically analyze Calvin’s view on music, while Leon Wencilius presented valuable research on Calvin’s view on the arts in general in 1932, then Pierre Pidoux published a critical edition of the Genevan Psalter in 1962, and finally, Walter Blankenburg generated a wide ranging body of research which aimed at producing a panoramic view of the milieu of the Psalter as a whole.

What this massive compilation of research established was that psalm-singing formed something like a badge of identity for 16^th century Reformed Christians; what this research had not yet established was the chronological development of Calvin’s views on worship song. More specifically, Garside narrows the focus of his historical investigation to the events and factors which account for the shape and solidification of Calvin’s theology of worship music and song between 1536 to 1543. The historical investigation is bracketed on one end by Calvin’s scant and underdeveloped remarks about worship song in the 1536 Institutio and the rather enlarged and substantive remarks about the matter in the 1543 preface to the Genevan Psalter on the other.

I bring this first post on Garside’s publication to a conclusion by quoting Garside’s summation of Calvin’s matured and developed view on worship song:

Calvin’s vernacular psalmody in the last analysis is nothing other than a formulation, in uniquely musical terms, of the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. Thus from its inception Calvin’s theology of music in its textual dimension was Scriptural. The Psalter was conceived, and always would be considered by him, as an indispensable instrument for the prosecution of his ministry of the Word of God to the city of Geneva and the wider world beyond (p.29).

Four distinct factors converge to form the basis of Calvin’s views on worship song, which in turn will be the lines of investigation developed by Garside and explored in subsequent posts: pastoral concerns, historical considerations, Augustinian theology, and a 16^th century humanistic philosophy of music.

I trust that you will find the forthcoming posts informative, interesting, and edifying.

16th century reformed confessions on the magistrate

2011-05-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

For some reason blogger erased this, so I am posting it back up again. I think it is helpful to reflect on a Reformed understanding of the magistrate and his duties with the Reformed confessions in view before us. Enjoy.

Tetrapolitan Confession-(1530 Bucer and Capito):

23- … They accordingly teach that to exercise the office of magistrate is the most sacred function that can be divinely given. Hence it has come to pass that they who exercise public power are called in the Scriptures gods… Therefore none exercise the duties of magistrate more worthily than they who of all are the most Christian and holy…

First Confession of Basel (1534 Oecolampadius):

8- God has charged governments, His servants, with the sword and with the highest external power for the protection of the good and for vengeance upon and punishment of evildoers. For this reason, every Christian governement with which we desire to be numbered, should do all in its power to see that God’s Name is hallowed among its subjects, God’s kingdom extended, and His will observed by the assiduous extirpation of crimes.

First Helvetic Confession (1536 Bullinger and others):

26- Since all governmental power is from God, its highest and principal office, if it does not want to be tyrannical, is to protect and promote the true honor of God and the proper service of God by punishing and rooting out all blasphemy, and to exercise all possible diligence to promote and to put into effect what a minister of the Church and a preacher of the Gospel teaches and sets forth from God’s Word…

Geneva Confession of 1536 (Calvin):

21- We hold the supremacy and dominion of kings and princes as also of other magistrates and officers, to be a holy thing and a good ordinance of God…

Confession of the English Congregation at Geneva (1556 Knox):

4- And besides this ecclesiastical discipline, I acknowledge to the Church a political magistrate who administers justice to every man, defending the good and punishing the evil, to whom we must render honor and obedience in all things which are not contrary to the Word of God. And as Moses, Hezekiah, Josiah, and other godly rulers purged the Church of God of superstition and idolatry, so the defence of Christ’s Church against all idolaters and heretics, as Papists, Anabaptists and such rascals or antichrist pertains to the Christian magistrates, to root out all doctrine of devils and men, such as the mass…

Scots Confession (1560):

24- … The are not only appointed for civil government but also to maintain true religion and to suppress all idolatry and superstition.

Belgic Confession (1561):

36- …And being called in this manner to contribute to the advancement of a society that is pleasing to God, the civil rulers have the task, subject to God’s law, of removing every obstacle to the preaching of the gospel and to every aspect of divine worship.

… And the government’s task is not limited to caring for and watching over the public domain but extends also to upholding the sacred ministry, with a view to removing and destroying all idolatry and false worship of the Antichrist; to promoting the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and to furthering the preaching of the gospel everywhere; to the end that God may be honored and served by everyone, as he requires in his Word.

Second Helvetic Confession (1566 Bullinger):

30- …The chief duty of the magistrate is to secure and preserve peace and public tranquility. Doubtless he will never do this more successfully than when he is truly God-fearing and religious; that is to say, when, according to the example of the most holy kings and princes of the people of the Lord, he promotes the preaching of the truth and sincere faith, roots out lies and all superstition, together with all impiety and idolatry, and defends the Church of God. We certainly teach that the care of religion belongs especially to the holy magistrate.

About Face!

2011-05-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110511/D9N512K00.html

I must say that I am completely stunned, and extremely gratified by this policy reversal. Thank the Lord for those five dozen house lawmakers who had the courage to put a stop to this. As encouraging as this might be for the moment, we still need to keep the pressure on. The way this retraction reads is that the reverse course is temporary until all the red tape is in place. Love of country and of love of God demands that we push back on this issue and let our local representatives know that this policy cannot be implimented.

By the way-- and I will revisit this in a series of subsequent posts about classic Reformed reflection on the magistrate -- here are some links you might want to check out so that you can brush up on historic Reformed political thought. There are plenty of leading lights out there who claim to speak definitively for the Reformers, and much of what they say is dead wrong. Enjoy!

John Knox on the magistrate

http://ironink.org/index.php?blog=1&title=john_knox_shall_the_magistrate_punish_vi&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Bucer on penology

http://ironink.org/index.php?blog=1&title=bucer_on_the_reformed_magistrate_more_an&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Zanchi on the Godly Prince

http://wedgewords.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/zanchi-on-the-godly-prince/

George Gillespie (17th century Scottish theologian and commissioner to the Westminster Assembly) Wholesome Severity

http://www.naphtali.com/articles/george-gillespie/wholesome-severity/

Navy Chaplains to Perform Same Sex Marriage

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/navy-authorizes-chaplains-perform-same-s

Just over a week ago, I was glued to the television set, watching it with rapt attention, as President Obama testified to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. troops. It was some of the best news this country had received on the war on terror in quite some time. Watching Obama’s speech and listening to his description of the courage and the skillfulness of U.S. special ops personnel made my chest swell with pride. This was an “at a boy” moment if there ever was one. And well, now this: the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy will be able to get married in Navy chapels, and that Navy chaplains will be allowed to perform the ceremonies -- if homosexual marriage is legal in the state where the unions are to be performed. "Stop the tape!" “Stop the tape!” Are you kidding me? Can it be true that we are really moving from the glorious headline of Seal Team Six taking out the murderous thug-in-chief of the al-Qaeda regime, to Naval Chaplains performing same-sex marriages in Naval chapels?

This is deeply discouraging news and reveals the heart of the insidious agenda of the gays in the military crowd. We have been told since Clinton's liberal pandering "don't ask, don't tell" policy was instituted back in the 1990's that it was all about allowing patriotic gay men and women to have the opportunity to serve their country. It is obvious what a lie that was. What gays in the military is about is evident now: it is about using the nation's most honored and respected institution to sanction and legitimize deviant social policy, same-sex marriage. Notice the craftiness of the same-sex marriage brigade; while they were busy distracting all the attention and debate toward the issue of patriotic military service, what they were really aiming for was legitimizing the same-sex marriage cause. What they realized is if the military sanctions such marriages, and the tax-payer funds the benefits of same-sex military couples through taxes, then there can be no argument left to stop this agenda at the federal level.

I wish I could say, "wake up people!" The fact is, I cannot, because while we were sleeping the Trojan Horse was slipped in, and now its soldiers have guns fixed on our heads, holding us all hostage. What can we do now? Well, we (Christians) must realize that while the Church's primary calling is to offer true worship to the Lord and preach the gospel, it is the Christian citizen's primary calling, to advance the kingdom of God on earth, right here and now. It is the duty of every patriotic, freedom loving Christian, to band together with other Christians, to articulate a clear agenda, and to proclaim the Lordship of Christ over the nation, calling for both magistrate and citizen to "kiss the Son" lest He be angry. I know I was supposed to say that we should pray, that is a given, but what is really needed is a fully-orbed political policy that is explicitly Christian.

As I call for this, I am aware that the radical two-kingdom crowd out there operating in Reformed circles, which spouts its false-neutrality propaganda and godless cultural agenda in the ivory towers of learning, and over the air waves, will complain that such a response is overreaching. They will say that church and state are to be separate, that the kingdom of power is neutral, and that natural law is all we need to promote a just and peaceful society. I say to that, NONSENSE! Look at how well the Greeks and the Romans faired with natural law alone; they became some of the most morally corrupt regime's in history, and were all toppled in just divine judgment for their decadence, arrogance, and wickedness. Unfortunately, policies such as Naval Chaplains marrying same-sex couples in Naval chapels indicates that this is exactly where the United States is heading. It is heading for the scrap heap of history, where all the rest of the godless, immoral, atheistic nations of the past rest in peace. People of God, we need to do more than just wake up, we need to arm ourselves with the sword of truth and begin to push Christ's kingship over the nation with tactical genius.

Thoughts on thoughts: Dr. Carl Trueman, megaconferences, and the Reformed celebrity cult

2011-04-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/04/thoughts-on-marketing-and-conf.php

Dr. Carl Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, has posted some very interesting thoughts up at reformation21 about so-called “Reformed” megaconferences sponsored and promoted here in America. Before relating some of Dr. Trueman’s insights, it is worth noting that his remarks are not the sour grape rants of a petulant wannabe who could only wish to have the kind of slice of fame, even for just 5 minutes as it were, that many of these “reformed” starlits enjoy. Dr. Trueman is probably one of the most educated and seriously enlightened Reformed thinkers on the scene today who not only knows Reformed theology and church life, but knows and can more than capably interact with contemporary intellectual currents. Instead of taking the route which most Reformed “intellectuals” do today, which is to publish in Christian sub-culture magazines which they themselves edit, or turn in one manuscript after another rehashing some previously written about topic, to small fish Reformed publishers in order to keep a steady pay-check coming in from the book sales to their zealous disciples, he actually puts out thoughtful, respectable works which either address real academic issues or advance contemporary Reformed discussions in significant ways. All this I throw out there so that no one will be easily prone to characterize and then summarily dismiss Dr. Trueman's remarks as the bitter sniping of the poor kid left standing on the sideline after teams were chosen up at a pick-up basketball game down at the local park.

Now, to Dr.Trueman’s “deep thoughts.” First he points out the all too obvious problem in American evangelicalism more broadly, and now a huge problem among conservative Reformed types, which is the problem of the celebrity cult. It turns out, that Reformed people, who once thought they were immune to the Billy Sunday’s of evangelicalism, actually now have their own, its just that they don’t have quite the same star power in the eyes of outsiders. Never mind that though, because the sad, but humorous thing is, that we don’t care about that as much as we do that he is “our” Billy Sunday. See, if a man gets enough headlines, publishes enough popular books, speaks at enough conferences, and can throw in a few good jokes while he is at it, well, eventually he can attain a certain level of celebrity status among the Reformed, as long as he is willing to coattail the fame of other evangelical celebrities such as John Piper or John MacArthur by speaking with them at various conferences and backslapping them and refusing to condemn their gross sin of being Anabaptists.

I wish Trueman had said these things at least 10 years ago, because I fear that the time for giving a fair hearing to his message about the celebrity cult is long past. Reformed sub-culture has not only constructed its own superapostles, it has become a veritable superapostle making factory. Many in our Reformed world have taken the cues and studied the lessons well of how the evangelicals built a vast evangelical sub-culture that capitalized on the desire for star power and have now reproduced that with incredible efficiency within the Reformed world. At one time in the Reformed community, we stood shoulder to shoulder in criticism against the appalling atrocities committed in the evangelical empire, simultaneously sounding the criticism and sneering in contempt as we made light of their folly. Now however, we have our celebrity cruises with your favorite superapostles, we have “megaconconferences,” and even some of our leading lights actually know the evangelical superstars on a first name basis and have had the opportunity to shake their hand! Isn’t progress grand? What is next, can you say “Reformation theme park!”?

The second thing worth noting in Dr. Trueman's post is the prescription he offers. One, don’t advertize the names of the people speaking at the conference, instead, advertize the subject matter of the conference. The novel idea he proposes is that people will be attracted to the content not the speaker. Here, I think we should cut Dr. Trueman some slack, after all, he is a foreigner: silly Brit, don’t you know that conferences are the only time that most Reformed people will have a chance to know what it feels like to be at a church related activity that has a megachurch feel and atmosphere, and don’t you know that conferences are the only chance we have to get up close, within 15 feet or so, of bona fide celebrities (even if just a celebrity of our making)? Great idea Dr. Trueman, but it will never work. Two, he proposes that conference organizers should consider inviting small fish, from small ponds to speak at the big conferences. His reasoning is basically, that the small fish pastor has a lot more in common with the rest of the folks he is speaking to on account of the fact that most pastors who waste their time going to conferences serve churches of a 100 people or less (give or take). As much as I appreciate new ideas, and Dr. Trueman has some good ones, this is one I think I will pass on. First, if you invite the small fish pastors and people enjoy what they hear, knowing the Reformed sub-culture, they will do everything they can to feverishly commence the work of preparing this poor small fish to be absorbed into the big sea of the Reformed celebrity cult. Second, this would only reinforce the all too common tendency found among many Reformed pastors now which is to dream about one day making it to the “big leagues.” Look at how many small fish there are out there “publishing” their paltry wares with Timbuktu Publishing House in hopes that one day, just one day, they will finally hit that big break and get a chance to be a warm-up act on the Reformed celebrity circuit. Bad idea Dr. Trueman, although I will concede that your heart is in the right place in what you propose.

Well, let me conclude my thoughts on Dr. Trueman’s thoughts by saying, “seriously!”? Has it really come to the point that we need a xeno to politely tell us Reformed people that somehow in fighting against evangelicalism, we have become like our enemy? I wish it were not so, but all indications are that we really need to turn this ship around or it won’t be long before we start printing the names of our talk shows and radio programs on coffee mugs and t-shirts. Oops, we already do that!

Cultural approach to organizations

2010-12-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

In the HBO hit series The Sopranos, each meeting of the mafia bosses and “made men” began and ended with a handshake and hug where all the participants gave each other a firm couple of slaps on the back while standing in momentary embrace. Simple social gestures such as these handshakes and hugs are laden with meaning in many different cultures, but they don’t necessarily hold the same measure of meaning whenever they are employed. For instance, in the Sopranos episodes, these gestures functioned as forms of social communication and were designed to reinforce bonds of peace and loyalty between mafia members; however, when these gestures were not exchanged between members at the beginning and of meetings called “sit downs” it indicated that there was division and possibly even hostility brewing between the parties in question, which could eventually have serious if not deadly consequences if the problem was not resolved. It hardly goes without saying, that physical gestures such as handshakes and hugging, communicate that same kind of meaning and significance in most cultural settings. The difference in meaning does not lie in the physical exchange itself, rather it owes to a communal attribution assigned to these gestures when performed in certain situations. This concept of assigned meanings for such mundane social interactions as handshakes and hugs illustrates how certain activities within organizations take on the function of ritual, designed to communicate values and meaning which are important within the framework of a given organizational context. Other communicative features, beyond rituals, of organizational life which provide insight into the values and culture of an organization are stories, myths, vocabulary, and metaphors. These various modes of communication form the backbone of the approach to organizational study called “cultural theory” of organizational analysis.

Cultural theory

Organizational research, from a communication perspective, took a new turn in the early 1980’s when Pacanowski and O’donnell-Trujillo (1982) proposed an alternative approach to studying organizations. Three primary issues were identified as reasons justifying the proposal for a different approach to organizational analysis: the conceptualization of what constituted an organization, the managerial bias predominant in organizational studies literature, and the dominant use of quantitative methods of analysis. A case was made by Pacanowski and O’donnell-Trujillo that the balance of organizational literature focused too narrowly on business firms and government agencies, while virtually no attention was paid to other kinds of organizations, resulting in a truncated understanding of the operations of organizations. In place of such a narrow focus, they argued that an organization is “the interlocked actions of collectivity” (p.122). What they meant was that an organization consists of places where people gather to get things done including everything from business firms to Friday poker nights to discreet family units. By enlarging the definition and conceptualization of organization, a door was opened for a broader analysis of the inner workings of groups or collectives united around certain loyalties, commitments, values, and associations. Another concern, managerial bias, added a further argument in favor of their proposal. Noting that “more things are going on in organizations than getting the job done” they complained that a managerial bias in research tended to focus narrowly on issues of utility and efficiency without ever looking under the other stones which comprised the life of an organization (p.116). Finally, they pointed out that the almost exclusive use of quantitative methods of analysis biased the research findings and imposed unnecessary limitations on research. To address the research constraints created by a quantitative methodology, they proposed an ethnographic approach to organizational study where researchers would have the opportunity to observe, interview, and analyze so that “the organizational experiences are understood in terms of the understandings of organizational members” (p.127).

Having identified concerns related above, which were typical of what was, at that time, the “traditional” approach to organizational studies, Pacanowski and O’donnell-Trujillo (1982), outlined a cultural approach to organizational studies which was consciously and explicitly “communication-based” (p.121). The underlying rationale for a communication-based approach was their working presupposition that communication creates and sustains organizational life and reality; by analyzing the various modes of communication employed in a specific organization, researchers would be able to understand how communication was used by organizational members to make sense of their experience and thus, would “uncover an organizations culture” (p.124). In order to get at the meaning constructed by organizational members by means of communication, and in turn uncover the organizational culture, they proposed that researchers study “indicators and displayers of organizational sense-making” including, but not limited to: constructs, facts, practices, vocabulary, metaphors, stories, and rites and rituals (p.124-126). Through becoming embedded within a culture in order to gain firsthand knowledge through observation and interviews, the researcher is enabled to build a plausible case for how organizational members “communicatively make sense of their interlocked actions” (p.127). The concerns, methods, and communication focus set forth by Pacanowski and O’donnell-Trujillo (1982) form the backdrop and constituent parts of the cultural approach to organizational analysis which was further developed in subsequent research by communication scholars.