In a serial lecture, a music pastor claimed that church music is the epitome of theology.
In the second online lecture on the Sinicization of Sacred Music held by the platform named "Born by Love", Pastor Zhu Guijin, a teacher from the East China Theological Seminary and a member of the Shanghai Musicians Association, gave a speech titled "Theological Language in the Eyes of Musicians". He shared four themes: music is a transcendental language; music from Saint Cecilia; Hans Kung, Barthes, and Mozart; and hymns are the epitome of theology.
In the first part, Pastor Zhu began with the gospel film The Mission, introducing to the listeners how the hero of the film, Spanish priest Father Gabriel, opened the hearts of the uncivilized indigenous Guarani people in South America through a beautiful hymn, so as to stop fighting, establish friendship, plant the seeds of the gospel of heaven in their hearts, and lead them to realize the process of life reversal.
Through the story, Pastor Zhu showed that compared with language and writing, music has the power to cross the gap between regions and races, and this is the important factor why the gospel can take root in South America.
Later, Pastor Zhu explained the painting Saint Cecilia by Raphael, a famous Renaissance artist, elaborating on the wonderful common ground between sacred paintings and sacred music.
In this way, Pastor Zhu reminded his audience that when listening to sacred music, if people are only moved by the beautiful melody, but do not understand the theological meaning behind the lyrics, then they will replace God’s moving with their own feelings, which is absolutely undesirable.
He said that the artist’s depiction of the Saint’s action actually reflects the medieval musical aesthetic view that “vocal music is superior to other musical instruments”.
For such a composition, Pastor Zhu summed it up, “When a person’s solo or chorus singing praises, all other instruments have to make way to vocals because only the human voice is the most important instrument.”
Then, Pastor Zhu added that the music created by God can be divided into three categories. The first category is the sound of all things in the universe, the second refers to the sound of people, and the third denotes the music of various musical instruments created by human hands. Among the three, only the human voice can not only make music sounds but also pronounce words clearly and convey information. Therefore, in praise and worship, we should pay more attention to expressing praise to God with the voice He has given us. And this is exactly the medieval musical aesthetics behind Raphael’s painting.
At the same time, the pastor claimed that the aesthetic view of music is still applicable to today’s sacred music worship, but unfortunately, nowadays, many grass-roots churches have fallen into a misunderstanding by paying too much attention to the role of musical instruments, ignoring the music of human voices, and even some churches put musical instruments on a position higher than the choir, which is really regrettable.
In the third part, the pastor also introduced the music in the eyes of theologians and musicians around the evaluation of musicians Mozart by two theologians of different sects, Hans Kung and Barthes.
The pastor said that although Hans Kung and Barthes belong to Catholicism and Protestantism respectively, both theologians unanimously express their unanimous praise and affirmation for Mozart. Tthe reason is that Mozart affirms God’s salvation in music or theology even in the face of all negativity.
In this way, the pastor led the participants to look back at the whole history of Christianity, and borrows the example of Bach, a music theologian, to prove that music can not only overcome the language barrier but also transcend sects.
Continuing the topic that theologians and musicians have a wonderful resonance in vocal music, Pastor Zhu further extended the content of the fourth part, that is, hymns are the epitome of theology.
He said that the hymns actually express the theological meaning with the help of the lyrics. For instance, in the early church, there are cases where the heretical church and the orthodox church used hymns to convey theological thoughts.
Later, Zhu showed a number of hymns in order to explain many profound theological meanings behind the hymns with different tunes and contents and then points out the truth that “music points to theology”.
Finally, the pastor expressed his hope that with the help of the sharing of the lecture on hymns, people can better understand traditional sacred music while appreciating how these pioneers express their theological thoughts in the language of music, so as to help the church establish the correct path of sacred music.
- Translated by Charlie Li
日前，因爱而生平台圣乐中国化系列线上讲座第二场举行，此次讲座特邀华东神学院教师暨上海音乐家协会会员的朱贵金牧师进行分享。
当日的《音乐家眼中的神学语言》讲座中，朱牧师围绕“音乐是超越的语言”“从《圣塞西莉亚》谈音乐”“汉斯昆、巴特与莫扎特”以及“圣诗是神学的缩影”四大主题向大家进行了分享。（==当summary）
在第一部分中，朱牧师首先从福音电影《传教士》讲起，向大家介绍了影片主人公西班牙传教士嘉比尔是如何借着一曲美妙的赞美诗，打开了文明尚未开化的南美洲土著瓜拉尼族人的心门，从而止息干戈，建立友谊，并将天国福音的种子种在他们心中，带领他们实现生命翻转的历程。
借此故事，朱牧师向大家表示，相较于语言和文字，音乐拥有能够跨越地域与种族的隔阂的力量，而这也正是福音之所以能够在南美洲扎下根基的重要因素。
随后，朱牧师围绕文艺复兴时期的著名画家拉斐尔的画作《圣塞西莉亚》向大家进行了解析，阐明了圣画与圣乐之间奇妙的共通之处。
借此，朱牧师提醒大家，当聆听圣乐时，若仅仅只是被优美的旋律打动，却没有明白歌词背后所蕴含的神学意义时，那么我们则是以自己的感觉去取代了上帝的感觉，而这是万万不可取的。
牧师介绍道，画家描绘圣女如此动作实则体现出的是中世纪的音乐美学观，即“声乐是优于其他乐器”。
而对于如此的构图，朱牧师给予总结道：“当人的独唱或合唱的颂赞歌声响起时，其余一切的乐器都要在人声面前让路。因为唯有人声才是最为重要的乐器。”
随后朱牧师补充道，上帝所创造的音乐可以分为三类，第一类是宇宙万物之声，第二类是人之声，第三类才是人手所造的各类乐器的音乐。而在三者之中，唯有人声既能够发出乐音，又能够咬字清晰，传递信息。因此，在赞美敬拜中，我们应当更加注重以上帝所赐给我们的声音去向祂表达颂扬。而这也正是拉斐尔这份圣画背后所展现出的中世纪的音乐美学观。
同时，牧师话锋一转，向大家表示，就算放诸当代，这种乐美学观也依旧适用于如今的圣乐敬拜中，但可惜的是，现今许多基层教会却陷入了本末倒置的误区，过于注重乐器的作用，而忽略了人声的音乐，甚至有些教会将乐器摆上了圣台，取代了圣诗班的位置，实属令人惋惜。
在第三部分中，牧师又围绕汉斯昆、巴特两位不同教派的神学家对于音乐家莫扎特的评价，向大家介绍了神学家与音乐家眼中的音乐。
牧师表示，尽管汉斯昆与巴特分别属于天主教与新教，但是两位神学家却对于莫扎特都不约而同地表达出了一致的赞扬与肯定，而原因则都是因为：莫扎特纵使在面对所有消极时，依旧在音乐或神学上肯定了神的救恩。
借此，牧师带领大家放眼回望基督教整体历史，并借用音乐神学家巴赫的事例向大家证明，音乐不仅能够逾越语言的鸿沟，同样也是能够超越宗派。
延续神学家与音乐家在声乐中产生奇妙共鸣这一话题，朱牧师进而引申出了第四部分的内容，即圣诗是神学的缩影。
牧师表示，圣诗实际上是借助歌词的内容将神学的意义表达出来，例如在初期教会中，就曾出现过异端教会与正统教会使用圣诗来传递神学思想的事例。
随后，牧师向大家先后展示了《你真伟大》《圣哉三一歌》《千古保障歌》《教会根基歌》等多首圣诗，以此向大家阐明了不同曲调、不同内容圣诗背后所蕴含的诸如三一论、圣灵论、教会论等诸多深刻的神学含义，进而向大家点明了“音乐是指向神学”的真理。
最后，牧师向大家表示，希望能够借助此次圣诗讲座的分享，让大家在领略历代圣乐先驱如何用音乐的语言去表达神学思想的同时，也能够对于传统圣乐拥有更多以及更深入的了解，以帮助教会建立正确的圣乐路向。
圣乐中国化系列讲座——《音乐家眼中的神学语言》-福音时报--基督教资讯门户网站 (gospeltimes.cn)
圣乐中国化系列讲座——《音乐家眼中的神学语言》
In a serial lecture, a music pastor claimed that church music is the epitome of theology.
In the second online lecture on the Sinicization of Sacred Music held by the platform named "Born by Love", Pastor Zhu Guijin, a teacher from the East China Theological Seminary and a member of the Shanghai Musicians Association, gave a speech titled "Theological Language in the Eyes of Musicians". He shared four themes: music is a transcendental language; music from Saint Cecilia; Hans Kung, Barthes, and Mozart; and hymns are the epitome of theology.
In the first part, Pastor Zhu began with the gospel film The Mission, introducing to the listeners how the hero of the film, Spanish priest Father Gabriel, opened the hearts of the uncivilized indigenous Guarani people in South America through a beautiful hymn, so as to stop fighting, establish friendship, plant the seeds of the gospel of heaven in their hearts, and lead them to realize the process of life reversal.
Through the story, Pastor Zhu showed that compared with language and writing, music has the power to cross the gap between regions and races, and this is the important factor why the gospel can take root in South America.
Later, Pastor Zhu explained the painting Saint Cecilia by Raphael, a famous Renaissance artist, elaborating on the wonderful common ground between sacred paintings and sacred music.
In this way, Pastor Zhu reminded his audience that when listening to sacred music, if people are only moved by the beautiful melody, but do not understand the theological meaning behind the lyrics, then they will replace God’s moving with their own feelings, which is absolutely undesirable.
He said that the artist’s depiction of the Saint’s action actually reflects the medieval musical aesthetic view that “vocal music is superior to other musical instruments”.
For such a composition, Pastor Zhu summed it up, “When a person’s solo or chorus singing praises, all other instruments have to make way to vocals because only the human voice is the most important instrument.”
Then, Pastor Zhu added that the music created by God can be divided into three categories. The first category is the sound of all things in the universe, the second refers to the sound of people, and the third denotes the music of various musical instruments created by human hands. Among the three, only the human voice can not only make music sounds but also pronounce words clearly and convey information. Therefore, in praise and worship, we should pay more attention to expressing praise to God with the voice He has given us. And this is exactly the medieval musical aesthetics behind Raphael’s painting.
At the same time, the pastor claimed that the aesthetic view of music is still applicable to today’s sacred music worship, but unfortunately, nowadays, many grass-roots churches have fallen into a misunderstanding by paying too much attention to the role of musical instruments, ignoring the music of human voices, and even some churches put musical instruments on a position higher than the choir, which is really regrettable.
In the third part, the pastor also introduced the music in the eyes of theologians and musicians around the evaluation of musicians Mozart by two theologians of different sects, Hans Kung and Barthes.
The pastor said that although Hans Kung and Barthes belong to Catholicism and Protestantism respectively, both theologians unanimously express their unanimous praise and affirmation for Mozart. Tthe reason is that Mozart affirms God’s salvation in music or theology even in the face of all negativity.
In this way, the pastor led the participants to look back at the whole history of Christianity, and borrows the example of Bach, a music theologian, to prove that music can not only overcome the language barrier but also transcend sects.
Continuing the topic that theologians and musicians have a wonderful resonance in vocal music, Pastor Zhu further extended the content of the fourth part, that is, hymns are the epitome of theology.
He said that the hymns actually express the theological meaning with the help of the lyrics. For instance, in the early church, there are cases where the heretical church and the orthodox church used hymns to convey theological thoughts.
Later, Zhu showed a number of hymns in order to explain many profound theological meanings behind the hymns with different tunes and contents and then points out the truth that “music points to theology”.
Finally, the pastor expressed his hope that with the help of the sharing of the lecture on hymns, people can better understand traditional sacred music while appreciating how these pioneers express their theological thoughts in the language of music, so as to help the church establish the correct path of sacred music.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Music Pastor Says 'Hymns Are Epitome of Theology'
