I stumbled across a great blog yesterday called Kirchenlieder (Church Songs). If you enjoy the content of Kirchenmusik (Church Music), you'll want to take a look. It's not as philosophical as Religious Affections, but the author (Lance Peeler) definitely shares my aesthetics. Speaking of Religious Affections, the latest post on the site really held my interest. Scott Aniol discusses two types of art distinguished by aethetists: Dionysian vs. Apollonarian art. To quote Mr. Aniol:
Both Dionysus and Apollo were mythological Greek gods associated with art. Apollo was the god of reason and logic, and was considered the god of music since the Greeks thought of good music as a great expression of order and patterns (a la Pythagorus and Plato). Dionysus, on the other hand, was the god of wine and revelry, and was worshiped with loud, raucous music accompanied by pipes and drums.
So Dionysian art/music communicates to the raw passions, while Apollonarian art communicates (ultimately) to the emotions through the intellect. He quotes from Daniel Reuning of Concordia, who points specifically to the music of Lutheran tradition as Apollonarian.
His intention in writing is to help the Christian distinguish between mere emotional experience and true worship, which addresses the whole person and not merely the emotions.
While I do not share or endorse Mr. Aniol's entire theology, I have learned a great deal from his writing and I do not hesitate to share this valuable resource.
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Hi! I'm a fellow musician from North Carolina and stumbled onto your blog while doing research. I'm also a sophomore in High School. Based on your biographical paragraph at the left, I would like to sugest an amzing site (and man) to you. He is the founder and a teacher of Franklin Classical School in Tennessee, and his worldview in the area of music and really, all areas of the arts and of life as they pertain to Christianity is astoundingly complete and insightful. I think you might enjoy it! He consistently teaches the principles that created the past and makes fantastic applications to the present. The reason I know of him is because I'm a homeschooler involved in his "Gileskirk" program, an intensive Humanities course (along with corresponding literature and composition) that is available on dvd. His blog site is http://grantian.blogspot.com/ and I would encourage you to read one or two of his fantastic books. This is one of my favorite blogs of his and was required reading before we started the Gileskirk videos of his lectures at FCS. I hope you enjoy it! http://grantian.blogspot.com/2005/08/repentance.html
If you like, my email is ceilidhsongs@aol.com.
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