Dangers of Music Theory and Theology

Studying Music Theory and Theology both share an inherent danger.  As a lover of both disciplines it is important I guard myself from this common risk.  Music Theory and Theology each serve their appropriate roles as means to an end, but have the capacity of becoming ends in and of themselves.

When I became a student of Music Theory I did so to expand my understanding of music.  I love how music ebbs and flows and engages with the world.  Tension and release.  Music is awe-inspiring, and learning some of the theory which undergirds it has only increased my adoration of music.  But studying Music Theory was never meant to overshadow my engagement with music.  I studied key signatures, chord structures, and harmonic progressions not to gain mastery over music, but to learn how to better appreciate it.  I want to go deeper in my love of music.

But a frustration I encountered as a music major was the belief every aspect of music, the nuance and sense of beauty, can be explained away by Music Theory.  Arnold Schoenberg articulated this academic belief succinctly saying "music need not be performed any more than books need to be read aloud, for its logic is perfectly represented on the printed page"(1).  I reject the belief Music Theory is superior to music.  A work of music does not exist in score form; music is a temporal and physical art (2).  We cannot divorce music from performance.  Theory exists to assist music and not the reverse.  To reduce music down to only theory assumes our modern academic beliefs trump the centuries of musical expression which predate written musical notation and academic analysis.

My approach to Theology mirrors my approach to Music Theory.  I study Theology because God is awesome.  God is infinite in ways my finite mind will never conceive, and I love this about God.  I do not read Theology books and ponder aspects of God's character so I can somehow express comprehension or control over God.  I study Theology to grow deeper in my understanding and appreciation of who God is.  Any time my learning does not increase my wonder of God I know I am doing something wrong.  Theology must be rooted in the truth God is God and I am not.  If my Theology ever tempts me to think otherwise my Theology has become an idol.  Finding security in my knowledge, even knowledge of God, and not in God Himself is folly.  Therefore Theology must be studied with great humility and caution to safeguard it remains a true avenue of intimacy with God.

So why study Theology?  Why study Music Theory?  If studying both subjects has this inherent danger why bother at all?  Ignorance is bliss right?  But the danger is not in the learning and discovering; the risk is in my ability to twist this knowledge to my own end.  I do not need to fear Theology, but I should instead be wary of what I may be tempted to do or justify with my Theology.  Theology is not God.  Theory is not Music.

In the midst of all this let us remember God is worth knowing.  God is absolutely worth knowing.  He alone is the Infinite and Independent One.  For every moment of the rest of Eternity (a number I cannot and will not ever understand) I will be in awe of my God and learning more about Him.  The key is for me to ponder the mysteries of His infinitude and of my finitude.  God Himself said it best:
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)

1. Arnold Schoenberg in Newlin 1980: 164.  Spoken in 1940.
2. Jeremy S. Begbie.  Theology, Music and Time. 2000. p 55-56.