Five Marks of Excellence That Could End the Worship Wars

There is a great article by Donald T. Williams in the July/August issue of Touchstone titled "Durable Hymns: Five Marks of Excellence That Could End the Worship Wars" (unfortunately, it is not yet available online). In it, he discusses five criteria that we should use to evaluate contemporary worship music (and these same criteria are the ones that characterize those songs and hymns that have stood the test of time). Here is an excerpt:

"... we cannot find, encourage, and preserve the best contemporary music without knowing those marks of excellence that made the best of the past stand out and survive so long.

What are those marks? There are at least five: (1) biblical truth; (2) theological profundity; (3) poetic richness; (4) musical beauty; and (5) the fitting of music to text in ways that enhance, rather than obscure or distort, its meaning.

These are the marks of excellence in any age. They are not arbitrary but are derived from biblical teaching about the nature of worship (it is to be in spirit and in truth, and it involves loving God with our whole person, including the mind) and from an understanding of the nature of music and how it can support those biblical goals."

In the rest of the article, Williams elaborates on each of the marks and gives specific examples (both good and bad). It is well worth getting a copy and reading it in its entirety.

And though I've said it on this blog before, I'll say it again. If you do not currently subscribe to Touchstone, you are depriving yourself of possibly the best current example of literary excellence among all Christian journals. Click here to subscribe.