Has the worship song quietly become a kind of sacrament? That was the pointed question animating a two-day gathering of worship scholars at Belmont University in Nashville this summer, where researchers examined the theology, money, and music now reshaping how Christians worship. Paul Ryan, a worship pastor at Calvin University and staffer at the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship, framed the question memorably: if Jesus were preaching today, would he still take up bread and a cup and say "Do this in remembrance of me" — or would he pick up an acoustic guitar and say, "Sing this in remembrance of me?"
The Conference on Contemporary Praise and Worship, held July 28–29, brought together some sixty scholars for roughly two dozen sessions on the theology and history of worship music. Organiser Adam Perez, assistant professor of worship studies at Belmont, noted that while contemporary praise music has played a major role in reshaping the American religious landscape, surprisingly few scholars study it closely. "For certain Christians," he said, "this is everything. For a lot of the rest of the people, this is just totally invisible." The gathering's premise, he explained, was simply to treat the phenomenon as worthy of study on its own terms.
Across the sessions, theology and economics were held side by side. Yale liturgical scholar Melanie Ross traced how commercial pressures have shaped church music since at least the 1950s, when singers such as Tony Bennett and Elvis Presley recorded faith-themed pop hits — and how publishing costs quietly steered which hymns denominations sang. Industry panellists were candid about the tension: Jimi Williams of Jesus Culture Music recalled being told to "just go find it. But you are going to hit that number," while Jamie Rogers of Capital Music Group insisted the aim remained "to go far and wide for the kingdom, just as much as you." The conversation also returned to the recent Asbury revival, where students sang for hours from a simple stage. Josh Sadlon, a worship pastor with Alliance Worship, part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, remembered that the stripped-down setting was born of necessity rather than design: "It was just the fact that no one had keys to the sound booth."
Source: Religion News Service — religionnews.com
