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Worship Wars, Gospel Hymns, and Cultural Engagement in American Evangelicalism, 1890–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Tamara J. Van Dyken
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Abstract

This article argues that gospel hymnody was integral to the construction of modern evangelicalism. Through an analysis of the debate over worship music in three denominations, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Christian Reformed Church, and the Reformed Church in America, from 1890–1940, I reveal how worship music was essential to the negotiation between churchly tradition and practical faith, between institutional authority and popular choice that characterized the twentieth-century “liberal/conservative” divide. While seemingly innocuous, debates over the legitimacy of gospel hymns in congregational worship were a significant aspect of the increasing theological, social, and cultural divisions within denominations as well as between evangelicals more broadly. Gospel hymnody became representative of a newly respectable, nonsectarian, and populist evangelicalism that stressed individualized salvation and personal choice, often putting it at odds with doctrinal orthodoxy and church tradition. These songs fostered an imagined community of conservative evangelicals, one whose formation rested on personal choice and whose authority revolved around a network of nondenominational organizations rather than an institutional body. At the same time, denominational debates about gospel hymnody reveal the fluid nature of the conservative/liberal binary and the complicated relationship between evangelicalism and modernism generally. While characterizations of “liberal” and “conservative” tend to emphasize biblical interpretation, the inclusion of worship music and style complicates this narrow focus. As is evident through the case studies, denominations typically categorized as theologically liberal or conservative also incorporated both traditional and modern elements of worship.

Keywords

gospel musicworship musicMethodist ChurchChristian Reformed ChurchReformed Church in America
Type
Research Article
Information
Religion and American Culture , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Summer 2017 , pp. 191 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture 2017

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References

Notes

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2. Bulletins, January 24 and March 21, 1915; Bulletin, April 18, 1920; Bulletin, October 1, 1922, Third Reformed Church, Joint Archives, Box 6.

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60. Bulletins, 1914–1919; Second (Hope) Reformed Church, Holland, Michigan. Joint Archives of Hope College and Van Raalte Institute, Second (Hope) Reformed Church, Holland, Michigan, Box 7.

61. Bulletins, July 19 and July 26, 1925, Hope Reformed Church. Joint Archives, Box 7.

62. Bulletin, June 23, 1929, Hope Reformed Church. Joint Archives, Box 7.

63. Bulletin, March 20, 1927, Hope Reformed Church. Joint Archives, Box 7.

64. Bulletins, July 1, August 5, 1928, Hope Reformed Church. Joint Archives, Box 7.

65. Bulletin, January 13, 1929, Hope Reformed Church, Joint Archives, Box 7.

66. Bulletin, April 18, 1920, Third Reformed Church, Joint Archives, Box 6.

67. Bulletin, October 1, 1922, Third Reformed Church, Joint Archives, Box 6.

68. Bulletins, November 24, 1929; October 28, 1928, Third Reformed Church, Joint Archives, Box 6.

69. Bulletins, January 24 and March 21, 1915, Third Reformed Church. Joint Archives, Box 6.

70. Harrison, Then Sings My Soul, 3.

71. In the last few decades, church resources, pastoral conference sessions, and evangelical and denominational books have focused on these stylistic battles. A small sampling of books include Long, Thomas G., Beyond the Worship Wars: Building Vital and Faithful Worship (Alban Institute, 2001);Google Scholar Towns, Elmer L., Putting an End to Worship Wars (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997);Google Scholar Byars, Ronald P., The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002);Google Scholar York, Terry W., America's Worship Wars (Hendrickson Publishers, 2003);Google Scholar and Wayne Liesch, Barry, The New Worship: Straight Talk on Music and the Church (Baker Books, 2001).Google Scholar

72. Janet McMonagle. “Coral Ridge Presbyterian and Pastor W. Tullian Tchividjian: Split, Growth, and Change,” Jacksonville Examiner, November 4, 2009.