The Music of Jesus

About the Book

This book examines four large questions: Do we need a theology of music? (And if so, why?) What is the place of art music ('classical' music) in a postmodern world? What are the characteristics of 'the music of Jesus'? How can this music be manifested in the Christian community? Each question is addressed on the basis of building a consistent Biblical worldview which includes adequate respect for the powerful force of music. Although the book focuses on the role of composers, its aim is to encourage serious musical examination, support, and action from within the entire evangelical Christian community, with an eye to affecting the culture at large. The author asserts that in the area of music the Church has become a cultural follower rather than a leader, adopting the dangerous postmodern tendency to define musical choices as matters of mere personal preference rather than seeking to define them on the basis of what God has revealed in the Word, by the Son, and through the Spirit. Specific suggestions are made by which the contemporary Christian community may resist such a tendency, even while building a dynamic, new, Christ-centered musical practice which can flourish in our postmodern world.

About the Author

A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, composer/conductor Mark Hijleh is associate professor of music at Houghton College in New York and founder and president of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers (www.cfamc.org). His professional biography appears in the 2000 edition of the International Who's Who in Music (Classical edition).