JBaldwin
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
The book Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal by T. David Gordon has been referenced a number of times on the PB. I came across this well-written and thoughtful review by Zac Hicks, Associate Pastor of Worship and Litergy at Cherry Creek Presbyerian (PCA) in Denver, CO. Zac Hicks has been in dialogue with T. David Gordon.
The review is rather lengthy, so I am putting the first page here. The link for the entire article is: http://www.zachicks.com/storage/pdfs/Review of Why Johnny Cant Sing Hymns.pdf
The review is rather lengthy, so I am putting the first page here. The link for the entire article is: http://www.zachicks.com/storage/pdfs/Review of Why Johnny Cant Sing Hymns.pdf
T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns: How Pop
Culture Rewrot e the Hymnal. Phillipsburg: P&R, 2010. $12.99.
189 pp. ISBN 978-1-59638-195-7
**NOTE: Upon fruitful dialogue with T. David Gordon following the
posting of this review, a few clarifications/retractions have been made
to this review. This particular review version is dated 12/1/10. To
follow the evolution of the clarifications and retractions, please visit my
blog at: Zac Hicks - Worship. Church. Theology. Culture. - Zac Hicks Blog.
INTRODUCTION & APPRECIATION
If one had any inkling that the worship wars were over, look no further
for evidence to the contrary. T. David Gordon has now established for
himself an official “Johnny” series with this follow-up to Why Johnny
Can’t Preach, published also by P&R in 2009. Gordon is professor of
religion and Greek at Grove City College (Pennsylvania), where he has, for over a decade, added
humanities and “media ecology” to his list of fine accomplishments in teaching and writing. Once a
pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) for nine years, the final lines of his bio make
clear that he and his wife attend an Anglican church (where one can assume that high liturgy and
traditional hymnody are practiced and sung).
T. David Gordon again shows himself to be a sharp and critical thinker when it comes to the
intersection of culture and the church. Along with other voices like Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves
to Death), Kenneth Myers (All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes), and Douglas Groothuis (Truth
Decay), Gordon sounds the seldom-heard horn that the media of modern culture not only affect us in
their message but by their very form. Such tools, he goes on to say, “both reflect our priorities and
values and reciprocally shape our priorities and values” (p. 10).
Gordon begins his work by asserting that another book on worship music is in fact needed and that
his humble contribution to the ongoing discussion would be to approach it from the “mediaecological
perspective” (p. 9). His thesis is “we make song, and song makes us” (p. 10). The
resulting argument: Pop culture’s textual expressions and musical idioms, which are standard fare in
many American churches, are corrosive to both our faith and spiritual well-being. I agree with
Gordon’s approach: “Every consideration regarding [worship music] should be undertaken in a
manner that reflects Christian obedience.” In other words, we must employ careful biblical and
theological refection when it comes to worship music, and Gordon and I concur that not enough of
it is being done among those in the “contemporary worship” camp (though, I observe that there is
evidence that the tide is turning). The final paragraph of the introduction makes clear that Gordon
has picked a side:
What follows is an extremely abbreviated list of the considerations that have caused me to be
wary of using contemporary Christian music in worship services at all, to object to its
common use, and to zealously oppose its exclusive use (p. 36).
So much of the criticism of modern worship has centered around the message of the content and not
that of the form. While Gordon does address content, his primary focus is, in fact, form. Not
enough people are addressing this critical issue, and I therefore commend Gordon for his unique
focus. Chapter 8, “Contemporaneity as a Value,” up until p. 119, offers insightful cultural analysis; I
would encourage every leader and proponent of modern worship to read it. Gordon excels at
cultural analysis, and, especially if the idea of analyzing media-as-form is a foreign concept to the
reader, this book is worth a look.