Music Ministry

History of contemporary Christian music from the 1960's to the 21st century.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Sacred Music contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 800 cross-referenced entries on major types of music, composers, key religious figures, specialized positions, genres of composition, technical terms, instruments, fundamental documents and sources, significant places, and important musical compositions. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about sacred music.

This fully updated second edition is a selective annotated bibliography of all relevant published resources relating to church and worship music in the United States. Over the past decade, there has been a growth of literature covering everything from traditional subject matter such as the organ works of J.S. Bach to newer areas of inquiry including folk hymnology, women and African-American composers, music as a spiritual healer, to the music of Mormon, Shaker, Moravian, and other smaller sects. With multiple indices, this book will serve as an excellent tool for librarians, researchers, and scholars sorting through the massive amount of material in the field.

From the Founding Fathers through the present, Christianity has exercised powerful influence in the United States--from its role in shaping politics and social institutions to its hand in inspiring art and culture. The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States outlines the myriad roles Christianity has played and continues to play.

The Supplement emphasizes music published since 1995, or titles that were overlooked in the previous editions. Entries are arranged from Genesis through Revelation.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts (OEBART) is an in-depth, comprehensive reference work that covers the cultural history of biblical texts, themes, characters, images, and the Bible itself in the literary, visual, and musical arts.

This book was born out of necessity and desire of the author to learn about proper church music in regards to melody, harmony, lyrics, instrumentation, and rhythm. The necessity is for clearer guidelines for pastors and musicians since there are many debates and divisions over worship music. The author desired a deeper understanding since he is a professional musician who was criticized for his choice of instruments, style, and genre. This book informs the reader of the musicological and theological aspect of worship music. It examines and explains the role of electric instruments and drums in 21st century worship. It helps music leaders make better decisions when it comes to building a church band and selecting proper music. This book also helps answering some myths people have about instrumentation, style, rhythm, lyrics and harmony in respect to theology, culture, and musicology vs. personal preference. This book will encourage today's musicians to explore, invent, develop, and enrich worship with their music. It will also help mend the gap between generations in regards to change, as good Christians will realize that drums were not invented by the devil and, if rightly used, could be a wonderful addition to the church band.

Musical activity is one of the most ubiquitous and highly valued forms of social interaction in North America (to say nothing of world over), being engaged from sporting events to political rallies, concerts to churches. Moreover, music's use as an affective agent for political and religious programs suggests that it has ethical significance. Indeed, many have said as much. It is surprising then that music's ethical significance remains one of the most undertheorized aspects of both moral philosophy and music scholarship. Music for Others: Care, Justice, and Relational Ethics in Christian Music fills part of this scholarly gap by focusing on the religious aspects of musical activity, particularly on the practices of Christian communities. Based on ethnomusicological fieldwork at three Protestant churches and a group of seminary students studying in an immersion course at South by Southwest (SXSW), and synthesizing theories of discourse, formation, and care ethics oriented towards restorative justice, it first argues that relationships are ontological for both human beings and musical activity. It further argues that musical meaning and emotion converge in human bodies such that music participates in personal and communal identity construction in affective ways-yet these constructions are not always just. Thus, considering these aspects of music's ways of being in the world, Music for Others finally argues that music is ethical when it preserves people in and restores people to just relationships with each other, and thereby with God.