A book review of Jeremy Begbie’s Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music
Today we swim in the sounds of music. Sometimes we are thrown into the deep end involuntarily. Often we live within it unknowingly. And every now and then we embrace music for God’s sake. In the midst of our floating and sputtering, drowning and swimming, Christians should recognize where they are and do something about it.
For those who would like to do something about it, theologian-musician Dr. Jeremy Begbie has provided a combination alarm-and-lifesaver in his Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music. This text is “not only for the professional theologian but also for anyone who wants to think seriously about music from a Christian perspective” (19).
Ultimately, he hopes to “situate music within a vision of the purposes of a Triune Creator, who in Jesus Christ has embodied and realized his purposes for creation, who now through his Spirit works to bring all things to their intended end, and who invites us, with Christ and in the Spirit, to ‘voice creation’s praise’” (305).
To guide us to a Christian perspective on music (particularly Western tonal music), Begbie must first challenge some of the modern West’s basic assumptions about music. In his definition, music is actually a set of actions, particularly music-making and music-hearing. Moreover, music is simultaneously socially and culturally located and based in the physical order of the world. This dynamic drives much of the book’s argument. Although music is made and shaped by humans, music is also based upon God’s created order, and as such music can testify to God, align us with God’s order, and be a part of our Christian vocation.
After considering what little Scripture has to say about music, Begbie turns in Part 2 to the “rich reservoirs of thought” found in historical Christian reflections on music. He begins with “The Great Tradition” (c. 500 BCE - 1500 AD). Begbie knows this tradition is flawed, but he doesn’t want its flaws to deafen us from its echoes of the truth. While it wrongly downplays the physical, the sensual, and the practical, it also stresses (in ways that modernity does not) how music is “grounded firmly in a universal God-given order.” This tradition rightly saw music “as a means through which we are enabled to live more fully in the world that God has made and with the God who made it” (94).
From here Begbie considers the views of three influential Reformers (Ch 4), J.S. Bach (Ch 5), three musical theologians (Ch 6), and two theological musicians (Ch 7). These chapters cover an impressive amount of ground. To grossly summarize, these Christians give us hints on how to approach music, which include theological affirmations of the goodness of the physical world (including music), and musical portrayals of Christian themes that communicate in ways that words simply cannot.
Begbie’s crowning achievement, Part 3, offers a Christian perspective on music that draws upon the insights of these earlier chapters. Chapters 8-10 sketch a doctrine of creation and locate music within that doctrine. First, he establishes that the cosmos are created by the triune God freely and in love, and this cosmos sings God’s praise. Humans, as those made in God’s image, are to “extend and elaborate the praise that creation already sings to God,” and this takes place in Christ. In him “we are to bring creation to be more fully what it was created to be, and in so doing we anticipate the final re-creation of all things” (207).
According to Begbie, how does music fit into this cosmos? 1) Like the cosmic order, the sonic order of music is given to us by God freely and in love; we should be thankful for it. 2) Just as the physical creation is good but is not God, so too is music.6 3) Music can bring God glory by offering “experiences of a fruitful interaction with time,” which God has given to us and which “we inhabit as physical creatures.”7 4) Music is bound to and reflects a sonic order that is both ordered and open. 5) The sonic order is a unity that is also internally diverse, which reflects “the diversity of the [one] world” (235).
How is music a part of our calling to voice creation’s praise? Music can help us be attentive and responsible to creation. It is a way for us to develop upon the given order and encourage newness and life. Music also allows us to partake in God’s healing of creation, in that music can testify to the hope we have in the cross and the final resolution in the eschaton.
Begbie’s last chapter considers music’s “singular powers.” Most notably, music uniquely draws us into dynamics of tension and resolution, which reflects how the Christian life is marked by both Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and how we must patiently await the ultimate resolution in the eschaton. Moreover, in music we hear distinct entities (notes) that not only share the same space but enhance one another, which is a great way to imagine how the persons of the Trinity relate, and therefore how Christians hope to relate to God and others.
In sum, Jeremy Begbie has offered a substantial contribution to a Christian wisdom about music. Drawing upon past Christian insights and the doctrine of creation, he fashions a “Christian ecology” in which he couches a theology of music. His Christian ecology is impressively Christocentric and attentive to the trajectories of Scripture. Music in his scheme is part of our human engagement with God’s created, ordered cosmos, and it can be part of our vocation as those who voice creation’s praise.
However, Resounding Truth also raises questions that Begbie could address more explicitly in his next installment. Theological readers of a postmodern bent in particular would benefit from a more explicit account of his view of natural theology and revelation. That is, how do Christians come to know what is and is not ‘order,’ ‘good,’ ‘beautiful,’ or ‘true’? How can we be confident that our judgments are not bent by sin? Similarly, given that flourishing in Christ should look different from worldly standards of flourishing, then how do we discern the difference and live accordingly? Begbie assumes that Christians will judge with a redeemed outlook, and we would all benefit from knowing more about how we acquire and evaluate such skills of discernment as redeemed sinners.
Regardless of this lingering question, Begbie’s argument remains robust. He proves that music can point us to Christ and many truths of the Christian faith that otherwise often perplex us. He shows that music is a part of how we can faithfully engage creation, encourage one another in Christ, improve our imaginations, and praise God alongside all of creation as we were created to do. In short, music is a God-given gift within creation that re-sounds God’s truth. This book exhorts us to receive the gift by hearing it, and to give it back by making joyful sounds of praise. Christians, do you hear the music, and will you do something about it?