THE ENDLESS SONG
MUSIC AND WORSHIP IN THE CHURCH
BY: KENNETH W. OSBECK
CHAPTER 6
THE SONG STILLED: (Pages 57-67)
THE MIDDLE AGES
We will sing with stringed instruments all the day s of our lives in the temple of the Lord.
-Isaiah 38:20
In addition to first “searching the Scriptures,” a second necessary aspect of any serious religious study is surveying history. We learn valuable lessons for the present from the events and experiences of the past.
The Middle Ages – A.D. 500-1400
The power and practice of the Medieval Roman Church-the church’s song (Congregational singing) silenced.
The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation – 1400-1600
The Bible rediscovered and the church’s song restored.
The Pietistic and Evangelical Movement – 1600-1800
The church’s song revitalized.
The Romantic Period and the American Gospel Hymn – 1800-1900
The era of the gospel song
The 20th Century – 1900 – to present
Contemporary issues and tensions
This brief historical pilgrimage should confirm our conviction that our God is the ruler of the past as well as the Lord of the present and future.
The Medieval Roman Church (Pages 58-59)
The medieval Roman church became not only the absolute ruler over all spiritual matters, but also dominated the economic, political, social, artistic and cultural life in society as well.
The Church’s Liturgy: The Mass (Pages 59-60)
Throughout the early middle ages, religious musical development was limited to a liturgical use in the mass. The church’s true song-the singing by lay people-was discontinued. When Latin became the official language of the church’s liturgy, and laymen were given almost no part in the service, the worship of the church became “sacerdotal,” which means it could only be led by the priesthood.
For many centuries, the mass inspired many of the choral compositions by master composers of both Catholic and Protestant faiths.
Intoned chants by the clergy, borrowed from the Old Testament, became the foundation of the liturgy of the Mass.
Scholasticism
This is the philosophy of the later middle ages. This philosophical system sought to harmonize faith and reason on the basis of logic. It organized all human knowledge into seven broad categories, and it systematized the church’s means for dispensing grace into seven sacraments: provisions for gaining God’s grace:
1. Baptism – the washing away of original sin.
2. Confirmation – full admission into the church after instruction.
3. Penance – the confession of repeated sins.
4. Eucharist – receiving the body of Christ at the mass.
5. Marriage – the establishment of a Christian home.
6. Ordination – being set apart for the ministry of the church.
7. Extreme Unction – a rite to bring God’s grace to the dying soul.
Sacred Motets (Pages 60-61)
Beginning in the 9th century, church musicians began adding melodic parts to the chants. The chant or main melody line became known as the cantus firmus. This combining of additional melodic voices to the cantus firmus resulted in polyphonic music, the beginning of harmony.
This led to a new form of church music: sacred motets. This important form of church music had a Latin text, was unaccompanied, was highly polyphonic in style, and was difficult to sing.
Pipe organs-The church’s Musical Instrument (Page 61)
Important Hymn writers of the Middle Ages (Pages 61-65)
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) – O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)- All Creatures of Our God and King
Important Churchmen of the Middle Ages (Page 65)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 )- was the most influential Catholic theologian of the Middle Ages. Many of the church’s doctrines are based on his teachings.
John Wycliffe (1320-1384) – one of the first reformers to emphasize the supreme authority of the Bible.
John Hus (1369-1415) – he stressed that the Bible was man’s ultimate authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Summary (Pages 65-66)
Reflections (Page 67)
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