the end of April 2023 book review post discussing books about powers & principalities in Pauline lit and interpretation; the history of Catholic and Anglican exorcism; books on the late Roger Scruton; Frank Burch Brown's case for aesthetic pluralism as Christian hospitality and liturgical obligation; and a recap of interesting new books on galant music and sonata forms

Just to warn you, this post is no less than 7,449 words long.  You could think of this as a kind of book report post but, as I'm not Steve Camp, I'm not going to turn my book reports into songs. Let the reader understand (or not). So, here we go.

Ted Gioia continues to say musicology originated in the study of spells but his just-so tale would make more sense as a battle between highbrow and lowbrow art religions

I was reminded of the progress of a book by Bryan Townsend's blogging lately.

At this point on April 1, 2023 it’s not surprising Ted Gioia’s latest book Music to Raise the Dead: The Secret Origins of Musicology has been getting self-published by Gioia at his Substack. By now GIoia has reached chapter 5 of 11. Lately he has held forth along the following lines:

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/where-did-musicology-come-from

…
That shouldn’t be possible. Magic and science are total opposites. They shouldn’t rub shoulders. But music is the place where that strange meeting actually happens—in fact, an aware musician is always operating at a kind of crossroads where the known world meets a mystical realm. And that happens constantly, not just in ancient times but even today.
This is no empty claim. You feel it when you listen to music—perhaps not everyday, but at least on a few transformative occasions, maybe at a memorable concert you still think about years later, or at a dance or party or ritual. That’s why musicology, esteemed as the science of music, must also learn to embrace the ecstasy of music.
 
Musicology really ought to be a science of ecstasy. But instead, this magical stuff is feared and censored. That’s why conventional musicology is at a loss when dealing with the mystical writings of Sun Ra (which we discussed in chapter one). That’s why scholars try to sanitize the story of blues legend Robert Johnson, whose mythos has such deep supernatural elements. That’s why they gape in disbelief when I point out that the oldest active jazz venue in San Francisco is the Church of John Coltrane.
 
It’s no coincidence that we find ourselves discussing churches at this stage. That’s because magic and religion also intersect—and their dialectical merging is a crucial part of understanding the true scope of musicology.
 
At a certain point in human history, magical spells turned into prayers and religious music. You might think that those two things are very different, but they’re almost the same. Sometimes it’s very difficult to distinguish between a magic spell and a religious prayer. If you examine the history of witchcraft, you will learn that judges often made decisions of life or death on the basis of tiny word differences.
 
Sometimes inserting the name of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in the middle of a spell was enough to make it acceptable to authorities. But not always. As we shall see later in this book, many people were condemned as witches even though they thought they were aligned with formal Christian theology and practice.
 
This is a good juncture for us to look at how the hero’s journey—which is the central myth of musical magic—got turned into a religious concept. The oldest sources for musicology focus on this journey, which predates all organized religions but also permeates them. Sonatas and fugues and symphonies (and other formal structures) came later, but they retain these mythical and religious evocations.
 
That’s why the earliest theoretical commentaries on music—which are essentially guides to this journey—are permeated with metaphysics. The science of harmony didn’t exist at this early juncture. Or, to put it a better way, harmony was a much larger concept in this musicology than just the ways the notes fit together.
 
I could demonstrate this in many ways. For example, I could point to remarkable passages in Augustine’s Confessions where he describes ecstatic experiences, merging intense joy and painful hardship, that are almost like a Christianized shamanism—and they are initiated by singing or chanting the psalms. Or I could cite countless Pythagorean or Neo-Pythagorean texts on music that aspire to scientific accuracy, but keep on collapsing into the strangest mysticism. Or I could explore similar elements in Sufism and its whirling dances, or Tibetan Buddhism and its chanting and damaru drumming, or the ritualistic theurgy of the Neoplatonists.
…

CT v CT again: Driscoll alleges that Christian Theology (which ones?) err by defining spiritual warfare as personal rather than systemic (which means he's never read Caird, Berkhof, Wink or Stringfellow)

There were moments in reading Mark Driscoll’s new e-book where I wondered if he had suddenly taken the side of Greg Boyd (sarcasm alert): 

Christian Theology vs. Critical Theory

© 2021 by Mark Driscoll

ISBN: 978-1-7374103-7-9 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-7374103-8-6 (E-book)

Page 20

 

The point is that unified unbelievers seeking to make Heaven on earth without God are more powerful than divided believers. Jesus said that a house divided cannot stand up but will fall. Knowing this, the Critic behind Critical Theory, the same spirit that was at work in Babel (also known as Babylon), is seeking to divide believers and unify unbelievers to dismantle systems and institutions and redistribute wealth and power to build their version of Heaven on earth without God. Simply stated, this is a counterfeit of God’s Kingdom ruled by King Jesus - our kingdom ruled by us.

 

Unified unbelievers seeking to make Heaven on earth without God are more powerful than divided believers? On the basis of what?  Driscoll went on to make another proposal that struck me as confident but baffling:

 

On Episode 8, “Demon Hunting” of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, disputing that Driscoll’s early influences on spiritual warfare were charismatic by way of his copious statements to the show otherwise

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/mars-hill-podcast-mark-driscoll-demon-hunting.html

 

Well, there is something I should probably get out of the way about Episode 8 up front. It would be easy to take as given the statement that Mark Driscoll’s approach to spiritual warfare was influenced by charismatic theology. The trouble is that Driscoll didn’t identify as charismatic in any formal or affiliated way during his Mars Hill years. In 2001 or 2002 he said in person he leaned more cessationist than charismatic and he told me that.  As in at one point I had dinner with Mark Driscoll and told him I’m a continuationist, if a very, very cautious one and he said he leaned cessationist but there were continuationists whose work he liked such as Wayne Grudem and Gordon Fee.  I’ve liked a few of Gordon Fee’s books but I grew up Assemblies of God. 

In other words, what I'm about to do in arguing that Cosper and company fell short is based on my having been a member of Mars Hill and having had actual exchanges with Mark in the 2000-2004 period of Mars Hill where my continuationist background and stance was known and Mark and I compared notes on things in a period where he has since revealed his convictions shifted. I.e. I'm about to point out that it's not especially accurate to describe Driscoll getting his ideas from charismatic theology if you know anything at all about his history and reading habits from the 1999 through 2004 period.

updated version of the reading list from November 2020 on exorcism, diabology, Jesus as exorcist, spiritual warfare, and associated themes (updated 2-8-23)

Updated list, titles in blue are books I've finished.  Bold indicates books I liked/found helpful. There are tiny summaries in some cases and full-blown reviews that need to be written in some cases.  Some of the books in the list are, predictably, downright awful others are fantastic.

a reading list, for the moment presented without much explanation (11-14-2020, but it's a list of books on exorcism, diabology, The Watchers tradition, and spiritual warfare manuals in Christian writings and academic commentary thereon spanning 1895 to 2020)

But you'll see there's, ahem, a very persistent theme after the break. (updated as of 11-15-2020)