Congregational Singing as an act of Corporate Worship

[WrittenFromUtopia]

How long has this been a tradition of the Church? Has it existed since apostolic times, or was it mostly made a widespread practice during/following the Reformation?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

The Catholic Encyclopedia says that congregational singing was an "ancient practice" (words of Pope Pius X, 1903). It was discouraged by the Council of Laodicea (c. 360 AD, Canon 15), which also affirmed the apostolic prohibition on uninspired psalms or hymns (Canon 59). The decline in congregational singing in the Christian era and rise in trained professional choirs and monastic Gregorian chant mirrors the general return to Jewish ceremonial worship (ie., Levitical-Papist choirs, Levitical-Papist musical instruments, etc.) and accretion of power by the elite found in the Roman Catholic Church (ie., withholding the cup and the Bible from the laity, interposition of the priest between laity and God, etc.). Luther, I think, was the first after that long period of decline to insist on the return to congregational involvement in this element of public worship, and Calvin agreed on its importance.

"From the apostolic age singing was always a part of divine service, in which the whole body of the Church joined together; and it was the decay of this practice that first brought the order of singers into the Church. The council of Laodicea (canon 15) prohibited singing by the congregation; but this was a temporary provision, designed only to restore and revive the ancient psalmody. We find that in after-ages the people enjoyed their ancient privilege of singing all together" (John M'Clintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 9, pg. 776).

Professor Donald Hustad who was formerly Director of the Sacred Music Department at the Moody Bible Institute wrote the following:

"The early worship music of the Christian church was completely congregational, so far as we can tell. However, following the spread of Christianity throughout the western world, the increasing power and sophistication of the church was accompanied by the development of trained choirs and music leaders. Church history records that about the fifth century congregational singing was largely eliminated in Christian worship, and the music was given to choirs"¦" (Jubilate!, pg. 46, referenced in Singing and New Testament Worship, by Dave Miller, pg. 3).

John Barber, Luther and Calvin on Music and Worship:

"œBy re-introducing public worship, the reformers displaced virtually overnight a thousand years of high church ritual. The Reformation fathers condemned the Gregorian Chant for some very telling reasons, revealing along the way their own evolving concepts of music. They objected to the distractions of elaborate vocal and instrumental music, the dangers of overly theatrical performances, the unwarranted expense of elaborate ceremonies and enormous pipe organs and the uselessness of text unintelligible to the common man. Contrasting with the high church´s entrenched musical traditions was the simple and pragmatic approach of men like Martin Luther. Luther´s stated goal was the restoration of true worship. He understood the tremendous benefit resulting from hearing the Word of God and then uniting as a congregation to offer thanksgiving in song. This stress on congregational participation in worship became a lynchpin of the Reformation."

Westminster Directory of Public Worship:

Of Singing of Psalms:

It is the duty of Christians to praise God publickly, by singing of psalms together in the congregation, and also privately in the family.
...
That the whole congregation may join herein, every one that can read is to have a psalm book; and all others, not disabled by age or otherwise, are to be exhorted to learn to read. But for the present, where many in the congregation cannot read, it is convenient that the minister, or some other fit person appointed by him and the other ruling officers, do read the psalm, line by line, before the singing thereof.

[Edited on 9-18-2006 by VirginiaHuguenot]