Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 16:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: The Aesthetics Of Contemporary Worship Music: A Defense Of Simplicity
Author: Logan Wigglesworth

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The Aesthetics Of Contemporary Worship Music:
A Defense Of Simplicity

Logan Wigglesworth

Hope College

Abstract: Christian contemporary worship music, when compared to other genres of music, will not sound as innovative, technical, or impressive. This music will strike one as rather simple. One might conclude that this music has a comparable lack of both aesthetic value and musicianship. This essay is an exploration and defense of the aesthetic value, artistic phenomenology, and ethical significance of Christian contemporary worship music. After laying out the function of Christian contemporary worship music, I draw out three norms of Christian contemporary worship music—simplicity, predictability, and user-friendly keys. I then argue not only that contemporary worship music is aesthetically valuable in virtue of these features, but that it also comes with a unique kind of artistic agency. Furthermore, the music itself helps cultivate a specific Christian virtue: simplicity.

Key Words: aesthetics, artistic agency, Christian contemporary music, ethicism, moderate moralism, religious music, simplicity, worship

Christian contemporary worship music, modern praise and worship music with rock band instrumentation, when compared to other genres of music, will not sound as innovative, technical, or impressive. This music will strike one as rather simple. One might conclude that this music has a comparable lack of both aesthetic value and musicianship. This essay is an exploration of the aesthetic value, artistic phenomenology, and ethical significance of Christian contemporary music. I argue not only that contemporary worship music is aesthetically valuable, but that it also comes with a unique kind of artistic agency. Furthermore, the music itself helps cultivate a specific Christian virtue: simplicity.

This essay is structured as follows: I first illustrate some varieties of religious music, and then I lay out the concept and purpose of Christian worship music in section two. Section three describes the subsequent norms and features of worship music. I then argue that these features constitute aesthetic merits in section four. I then turn to artistic agency in section five and argue that there is a unique kind of artistic agency exemplified by performing worship musicians that is surprisingly complex and

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difficult. Lastly, I consider the ethical implications of contemporary worship music and its connection to the Christian virtue of simplicity.

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