Michael S. Horton – The First Significant Influence in My Journey Towards Radical Conservatism
Scott Aniol
I’d like to highlight a few articles by Michael Horton, articles that were among the first to significantly shape my thinking on worship and music when I was in college. In particular, Horton confirmed some of the uneasiness I was already experiencing about what some might consider “traditional church music,” and he was the first to point me to Charles Finney as one of the turning points in the Church’s philosophy of worship and music.
In a required music philosophy class in college, I was required to write a 6-8 page music philosophy paper. Knowing that I was planning on devoting my life to worship and music ministry, I decided that I really needed to get a handle on issues related to music and worship. So I asked my professor (Paul Overly) if he would wave the page limit. He did, and I ended up writing a 35 page paper that set the philosophical direction for my future ministry.
I’m not sure how I stumbled across these articles form Michale Horton in my research, but they, along with The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards and some writings by C. S. Lewis, really helped me think through these issues with the right categories and historical frameworks in mind.
Perhaps these articles will help you begin a journey into “radical” conservatism as well!
As a fellow “radical conservative”, I enjoyed this post a great deal. I have just stumbled upon your site today and am happy to have found such well written, biblically sound material to digest. This is a beautiful thing!
I’ve just jumped into the blogosphere myself in recent weeks, launching http://FireBreathingChristian.com , where the most recent post is entitled “Candy Christianity: The Counterfeit Gospel of the American Church”, so this sort of subject has been on my mind.
It is always encouraging to connect with like-minded Christians. It is instances such as this that I am very grateful to Al Gore for inventing the Internet.
Soli Deo gloria!
Scott