Ancient Worship Wars: An Investigation of Conflict in Church Music History

Authors

Michael J. Wood, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publication Date

11-4-2014

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Worship

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to prove that conflict in church music is nothing new. Even in the time of the early church fathers, dissenting views on what were acceptable and unacceptable practices in church music were present. The music of the 2nd century through the 14th century is examined.

The method used to find specific conflicts in church music history involved reading early Christian literature on music. When possible, both sides of the conflicts included in the project are presented. However, oftentimes only one side of an argument can be found since there is not an abundant supply of early Christian writings on music. When this is the case, a brief attempt at reconstructing the opposing side is made.

The most important resources for this research were James McKinnon’s Music in Early Christian Literature and Oliver Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History: Revised Edition. These were integral to this project as they provided primary sources translated into English.

Volume

5

Issue

2

DOI

10.15385/jmo.2014.5.2.3

Recommended Citation

Wood, Michael J. (2014) "Ancient Worship Wars: An Investigation of Conflict in Church Music History," Musical Offerings: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 3.
DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2014.5.2.3
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol5/iss2/3

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