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Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal

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This book follows through on the promise of its title. It actually explains why Johnny can't sings hymns, not why he should.

The author, who teaches media ecology at Grove City College, states that media ecology is a sub branch of cultural anthropology, and it is from this perspective that he attempts to answer his title question. Why, for so many people, do traditional hymns seem so foreign, strange, inaccessible?

He only states the obvious when he says that as "background music," contemporary music is everywhere. We hear it on TV, radio,in commercials,. We shop to it, dine to it in resturants,bake to it, and brush our teeth to it. We are so saturated with contemporary sounding music that any earlier music is foreign sounding.

"There are many people in our culture whose musical listening has been almost entirely banal; 98% of the music they have heard has been pop. To their ears, this is just what music sounds like; they haven't heard enough significant music to distinguish significant music from insignificent music."

Things were different for his father's generation. No one had TV, and those who had radio did not play it all day long. They did not buy groceries or shop for clothing to music. They experiencd music in four different idioms: sacred, folk, classical, and pop. (For them, pop music was Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, etc.) Each was accessible, each sounded familiar, and none sounded unfamiliar.

He explains not only why Johnny now has a preference for church music that is often theologically and musically inferior, but he posits how it came abut.- (the determination of the 60's generation - and Johnny is their offspring - to shake off everything to do with the "dead past.") So having shaken off the past we are left with a pop culture that is neither beautiful nor ugly. It is simply banal, trivial, inconsequential.

The author's chief concern is church worship and the jettisoning of centuries of Christian hymnody. For the first time in Christian history we hve churches totally cut off from the worship experience of past believers. - from the "communion of the saints", from parents and grandparents, from "the spirits of just men made perfect" of Hebrews 12. No Apostles Creed. No Gloria Patri, No Doxology - No "Sacred Head Now Wounded.". . . .churchs that are mono-generational.

The book opens with a dedication to "the memory of our
first child, Marian Ruth, who, before leukemia took her at fourteen weeks of age, taught her parents the ancient Christian practice of singing praise through tears.

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou Lord their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle; they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia!"

What will Johnny sing when he faces such loss?. . .

The closing chapter of this book, "Teaching Johnny Hymnody," deals with ways to help Johnny.

This is a very well-written book on a relevant topic. Some might disagree with the author's quote "..how we sing affects how we live." but I think he is right on. As a young Christian 25 years ago, I learned much of my theology from the hymns I sang at church. While I'm not saying that music styles don't change, (it is obvious they do) I agree with the author that we need to make sure the songs we sing in church represent the way we live our lives as followers of Christ. I think this is definitely worth the read!

It's no secret that, in most of today's churches, hymns have given way to "praise choruses" as the predominant form of music used in corporate worship services. Why is this? Is this a conscious choice to not sing hymns, or is it -- as the title suggests -- that the average Christian today can't sing hymns?

These are the type of questions asked in Gordon's book, a sequel of sorts to his previous book Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers. Both books take their title from a 1955 book by Rudolf Flesch called Why Johnny Can't Read: And What You Can Do about It, which showed that changes in society and in the educational methods being introduced to the schools at that time (particularly what has now become known as the "look-say method" of reading) had produced a generation unable to read.

In this latest book, Gordon successfully builds his case that the average Christian today is unable to understand or appreciate either the musical or theological content in traditional hymns. While he also argues for the importance and value of the church's rich tradition of hymnody, he avoids making any sort of legalistic claims that churches must use one form of music over another. As he says in the introduction, this book is intended to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive.

The reasons for our inability to sing hymns are many, but can be more or less separated into two categories: musical and theological.

Musically, "pop culture" has conditioned us to not even recognize -- much less appreciate -- non-pop forms of music. Whereas in previous generations, people were likely to be familiar with (and hear roughly equal amounts of) several different genres of music, today we are surrounded by one genre of music all the time. We hear commercial music while we drive, while we watch TV, while we shop, while we exercise, etc. We hear it so often, "pop" music has become our definition of "music", to the point where other forms of music sound foreign to us.

Furthermore, because almost all music and television programming today is designed to get us to buy stuff (if we won't tune into a TV or radio station we won't hear and be influenced by the advertising), it is produced around a lowest-common-denominator type of thinking. It can't disgust us or make us think too hard. It must be neither beautiful nor ugly, but banal and inconsequential.

This affects our ability to sing hymns in a couple ways. First of all, the general level of musical appreciation and aptitude is greatly reduced from previous generations. Most people today never learn to read music, much less sing harmonies. Neither is required to learn and sing today's popular music.

Secondly, because we have learned to tune out (no pun intended) most music we hear as inconsequential (how often do you actually listen to, rather than merely hear, the music playing while you buy your groceries?), we begin to treat all music in this style as inconsequential. When the songs we sing at church sound just like the music we hear all the time, it becomes very easy to tune them out and treat their content as inconsequential.

This leads into our theological inability to sing hymns. As Gordon states, the form of music is itself part of the content of a song's message. We must be conscious of the "meta-messages" (nonverbal messages that accompany our actual words) conveyed by the music we sing. If Christians say that Christ is of utmost importance, and that the Lord's Day is the time we come together to actually meet with the Lord of the Universe, what message is communicated by singing His praises using a form of music judged to be inconsequential?

Gordon illustrates his point with the example of a wedding. Most Christians demonstrate that we still believe that some events are more significant than others, and that we mark these significant events with significant, formal music (and attire). If weddings, graduations, and other rituals are marked by challenging music and fancy clothes, yet our worship services are marked by inconsequential music and casual dress, which do we communicate is more important: a human wedding, or Christ's wedding to the church?

These meta-messages have also been combined with a mentality (consistent with our society's at-large rejection of things that are old and/or difficult) that churches should be designed to appeal to and attract everyone, even non-believers. One result has been a "dumbing-down" of worship song lyrics. When combined with shorter, pragmatic sermons and a general lack of discipleship, a theologically illiterate congregation is produced, which is unable to comprehend the deep doctrinal truths contained in our hymnals.

There are a few areas where I would disagree with Gordon, or at least ask for more clarity. For instance: though I agree that our churches would benefit much from a greater focus on traditional hymns (distinguished in the book from "old" hymns, as he points out that there are great hymn writers living and working today; Stuart Townend is a specific example given), I do believe that there is a place for "contemporary Christian music", though where that place may be is certainly debatable. Does Gordon object to this style of music even as casual listening in non-corporate worship settings? He doesn't say.

I also believe there is value to setting older traditional hymn lyrics to newer music, which Gordon seems to reject. I think the claim that people will automatically fail to grasp or understand the significance of lyrics simply because of the musical setting is false, and doesn't give today's Christians enough credit... surely we aren't that dumb yet. Of course, without solid preaching and discipleship it won't matter what the music sounds like.

Finally, Gordon seems to have a personal vendetta against the guitar. This is a point which is quite overstated in the book. While many of his arguments against the guitar as an accompanimental instrument are valid, most of his experience seems to be with poor guitar playing and sound mixing. I wonder whether he ever accounts for the possibility of someone taking the guitar seriously as an instrument, and playing it tastefully and appropriately for worship settings. Of course, as a guitarist myself, I have a definite bias in the opposite direction!

Those few issues aside, this is a great book, and one much needed in the discussion of church music. Even on the points when others may not agree with Gordon's conclusions, his questions are the right ones. It is refreshing to read a logical, well-reasoned consideration of worship music. I commend it to anyone, but to pastors and worship leaders in particular.

T. David Gordon makes his position clear and does not deviate from his position assessing the value of traditional hymn forms verses music used in public worship that is influenced if not drawn directly from pop culture. Gordon's introductory chapter places his argument squarely in reality as he voices his experience as a pastor and father. A notable posture is exposed when he writes how his weekly choices of hymns for worship were not only selecting what worshipers would sing, but what they would not sing. Song selection for congregational singing in worship is by nature exclusive of other songs in the church's repertoire.

Gordon's style is persuasive and direct. He boldly challenges present day conventional wisdom that chases pop styled songs for public worship based on the assumption that doing so will draw the unchurched. He values time-honored music expression as well as rich poetic texts and makes a strong case for evaluative measures that result in selecting such material for worship. Those who favor contemporary worship forms for use in congregational singing will be appropriately challenged and confronted through this book. Some may find it difficult to read the essay without becoming defensive. Serious worship planners, nevertheless, would benefit by its reading to consider ways spiritual formation is taking place through worship music among the congregations to which they belong. Gordon's final chapter on "Strategic Issues" sums up the current scenario and his reasoning to push against it very well.

Very interesting reading. a lot of this book is more about culture than music. I would recommend this book as having some interesting ideas to ponder.
The author, who seems like a nice guy, is a high church denominational guy. He really, really, doesn't like guitars in worship (as noted by other reviewers; they weren't kidding!). He also doesn't like the "free church movement" which he didn't really define, but seems to mean nondenominational fellowships. And his idea of a traditional hymn is NOT "Amazing Grace" or "How Great Thou art". It would be interesting to see a list of which songs he specifically approves and disapproves of (disapproves of Gaither and Crosby, it seems).

He notes that this is not a how-to book, although he does give some suggestions at the end. I just have doubts about how to put this in place in a southern, small town congregation of working class people (rednecks, some might say). Still, he has some very useful things to say, and I would recommend it to any church leader - not just music leaders. I don't endorse all his ideas and conclusions.

Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns: How Pop Culture Rewrote the Hymnal

The content of the book is stimulating. While I do not agree with the basic premise, the material raised questions and thoughts regarding worship music I had not previously considered. Material supporting the author's premise is researched well and is appropriate. I just did not accept one of the basic premises - worship music must have stood the test of time (a very long time) to be appropriate for worship. Culture evolves and changes, and worship can evolve and change as well - as long as the message of salvation and redemption does not change and is not watered down.

In this sequel to his book WHY JOHNNY CAN'T PREACH, Gordon expands on his paradigm of "media ecology" whereby the growing pervasiveness and ubiquity of consumer culture is transforming church life in negative ways. In this book, his thesis is that the Baby Boomer generation, which rebelled from its forebears starting in the 1960's, has continued in that tradition and fostered successive generations whose ongoing rebellion causes it to consider any prior musical heritage as "irrelevant". This sensibility has been further exacerbated by the advent of technology and social media that fills itself up with casual, titillating, short attention-span sound bite content in order to keep us listening for the purpose of submitting as an audience for commercial messages. As a result, argues Gordon, new generations are swathed in an aural cocoon of simplistic, emotion-laden pop music and are not even aware that there is any other kind of music because they have never heard it in any venue. And a church that seeks to attract this generation does so by adamantly enforcing a "contemporary-only" edict upon worship, effectively cutting itself off from two millenia of beloved music representing the best of countless generations.

Gordon makes a compelling case that church worship is to be sacred and sublime, a pleasing aroma to God, and that "contemporary" worship, with its casual and shallow sensation-based narcissistic approach, does not achieve that purpose and in fact may be antithetical to it. He also provides a critical examination of the modern movement toward "seeker-sensitive" worship and attempts to "reach" certain demographics by camofluaging the message of the church in faux worldly popular culture. "When the church approaches an individual as a consumer to be pleased, rather than as a recalcitrant sinner to be rescued, the church is no longer doing what it is called to do" (p. 166). Why does a pastor preach to his congregation in an open "grunge" shirt and jeans, while if he were to speak at the Presidential inauguration, he would wear a suit and tie? Is the proclamation and worship of the King of Kings of less sacredness than a Presidential inauguration? Why do people who wear shorts and sandals to church rent expensive tuxedos and buy pricey dresses when they get married? Is the marriage of more sacredness and solemn importance than the weekly "mystic sweet communion" of Christ with His Bride?

I think the topic can be taken further into an analysis of how modern technology is mediating more and more of human discourse in a way that manipulates it for commerical marketing interests, and fostering a culture of discontent and reaction rather than reflection and reasoning. One benefit of this book is that in the copious footnotes I note many other related books which will be worth seeking out on this whole emerging area of study.

I really wanted to like this book. It distresses me to give it only 2 stars. My wife and I have cringed internally for years at the fluffy, almost irreverent worship periods at many evangelical churches. I was never able to fully put my finger on the reason for that, and I looked to this book to help me explore the question. Unfortunately, it only went a very short distance in doing that (hence 2 stars instead of 1, because it did raise a couple of interesting points).

I don't want to judge Mr. Gordon's heart. But I think he sort of stands condemned in this book by his own measure. He uses the term "meta-message" early on to describe the non-verbal, unwritten message conveyed by things like gestures, choice of words, parsing, inflection, etc. His point is: praising the eternal God of the universe through a mechanism that is usually associated with triviality (pop/contemporary music) is conveying an attitude of triviality and flippancy. To a large extent, I agree. But contained with his message is an under-riding meta-message. And it is the nature of this meta-message that is so concerning to me. When one reads the late, great Francis Schaeffer, another famous pop culture commentator, the under-riding meta-message is one of love and passion for the individual people in the culture. There is a genuine sense of pity and love that permeates the stories he relates about personal interaction with the lost (or "lost" Christians) and if that weren't enough, he takes great pains to reiterate the importance of loving interaction with fellow men, even at risk of having his writing read awkwardly at times. None of this is present in Mr. Gordon's book; rather I picked up through several 'aside' comments in the book a profound sense of contempt for others - which is devastating because his audience is those already residing under the umbrella of Christian faith. Many of these "aside" comments about today's culture add nothing to the book - and without knowing the author, I'll grant the possibility that he was trying to be funny. But even with my dry sense of humor and penchant for self-deprecation, I had eyebrows raised. I just can't imagine that it is the way Christ would have us interact with our brothers and sisters in faith, no matter what part of the spectrum they reside in.

The book also felt really rushed. As other reviewers have noted, this is a very easy book to dismantle because so many totally unfounded assertions are made. This is distressing to me again, because I agree with the thrust of it. Ultimately, what could have been a good blog post was inflated to a book: James Boice, who is quoted frequently through the book, once said that hymns are important because they are something you can hang your hat on. You can't hang your hat on a hallelujah chorus midway through the week. Others like Ravi Zacharias have said as much. Hymns are supposed to be thick, meaty truths that you bring back to yourself and meditate on during the week. It doesn't matter what music they happen to be set to. God didn't make only one kind of flower and call it the most beautiful; all of His diverse inspiration is beautiful. We do however rob ourselves dreadfully when we omit hymns that address the entire context of God's glory, human life, and redemption.

For those who are interested in the media analysis part of the book, I'd read instead Neil Postman's excellent Amusing Ourselves to Death; for those who are interested in more thought-provoking and humble writings on the church's relationship to the modern culture, I suggest anything by Francis Schaeffer but particularly The God Who Is There and The Great Evangelical Disaster.

In this slim book Gordon challenges the idea that worship music styles are merely a matter of preference or taste. It astounds him that an aspect of the worship of God can be dismissed as insignificant or unimportant--something not likely to be said about the way the Lord's Supper is observed. Gordon is as much concerned about the lack of thoughtful, theological discussion about the wide-ranging changes in Christian worship as he is about the changes themselves.

At the core of Gordon's argument is the contention that aesthetics are not relative, that form shapes content, and that non-verbal messages often accompany our words. Given these contentions, Gordon argues that Christians must ask what popular musical aesthetics, forms, and meta-messages communicate. Is their communication consistent with or at odds with the Christian message.

Gordon finds pop music culture to be focused on contemporaneity. He finds it commercialized, sentimental, casual, and youth focused. These values are at odds with Christianity. Christianity ought to value tradition and history (which is different from moribund traditionalism). It places a higher value on the wisdom of elders than on youth. It fosters deep sentiments, but it is not sentimental. Christians ought to be reverent, not casual, in their approach to God. He finds pop music too trivial a medium for the worship of the true God.

Gordon does not argue that such music is sinful or unlawful for the church to use (though with certain styles of music, I think such a case could be made). He simply argues that lawful is not enough.

Gordon advocates a recovery of traditional hymn-singing. This does not mean that he wants to sing only old songs. Traditional or sacred music is still being composed in the present. But he does wish the church to make full use of the heritage bequeathed to it. Gordon recognizes that such a recovery cannot happen in a day. It will take time. But for the richness of the church's hymn tradition to be recovered, at the very least the conversation that Gordon has started must continue. The style of worship music cannot be dismissed as unworthy of discussion, as being merely a matter of taste.

I won't make any evaluation myself of this book, though the subject is one that interests me greatly. There already are several good reviews on Amazon.com of Gordon's valuablt work. I commend to those who wish to have an evaluation of this book (one that happens to be positive) to see Michael Howell's review of it in "Forward in Christ" (which is an Anglican Traditionalist periodical), vol. 3, no. 5 (Nov./Dec. 2010), on page 21, stating, in part, that traditional hymnody has not lost its relevance, that it matters, that it still is being written and composed, and that those who dismiss "traditional" hymnody assume too negative an evaluation of youth's and congregations' ability to appreciate it and to profit from how it furthers genuine worship of God.

There is no need to put up with slipshod and shallow music and texts in current worship, be it Protestant, Anglican, sectarian, or Roman Catholic!