Music: The Handmaiden of Theology

Back during the middle ages there where a couple of sayings that have really struck a chord (musical pun intended) with me. The first is this one: "Theology is the queen of the sciences and music is her handmaiden". The second is "Theology is the queen of the sciences and philosophy is her handmaiden". Music I believe can be a shared handmaiden. Music is a means of expression, not the end of expression. Music expresses how we feel or think. It is nothing apart from the passion that drives it. You may say, "what about jazz music? Some of it doesn't even have words!" Though it may lack words, it does not lack passion. And it is driven by something...some passion. So what drives the music that I write? Who does this "handmaiden" serve? I try to write music that is theologically informed. It is my desire for music to be the handmaiden of theology. I want the words I put together and the music that we play to serve as an avenue for biblical and systematic theologies. The term "theology" comes from two greek words. "Theos" means "God". And "logos" means "word" or "study". Hence, "Theology". So theology means a "word of God" or "studying God". It really bothers me when I hear people, pastors in particular, say that we don't need theology. Do you really believe that we do not need to know more about God? That is what I want my music to do, give you words of God. I want it to give you things to worship him about. Things praise him about. I want my music to stir you to love him. You can't love what you do not know. Philosophy has gotten my attention as of late. It is really interesting to me to see why people think the way they do. Where have the cliches and thoughts that fill our society come from? You may not know it, but most of them have come from philosophers. There are big name philosophers like Kant, Hume, Aristotle, Marx and so forth. But there are other philosophers that have taken music as a handmaiden. Bob Dylan and John Denver are two good examples. Their philosophies about life and how we live it permeated their music. I want this to be true of mine. I don't necessarily agree with all of their assessments but they realized one of the greatest avenues for thought-provoking discussion--Music. With all of this said, my style of writing is changing slightly. The content will be the same, The Gospel. But it will be more finely tuned. I am trying to write about how the Gospel affects how we live, think, and act. From the reality of our sins to how we view education and social issues. The gospel is offensive and beautiful at the same time. It won't let us stay the way we are and it will constantly be reminding us that we don't have everything figured out. So here is the first line of a new song and it speaks my fears and hopes for each concert "I've come to talk about your heart, I've come to talk about our sin, Knowing that if I do, You may not invite me again" God bless you, Josh

Back in the Habit

It has been a long time since we guys have gotten together to practice and play because we have taken most of the summer off. But our fall schedule is beginning to thicken and I have gotten two calls for bookings this week. We will be getting together to practice some new stuff and old stuff (if we can remember how they go). Just a little update. Things are picking back up again for the fall. Later.