**Paul Westermeyer**

**Abstract:** Music and spirituality in a Christian view start with faith in the Word of God in response to the initiative of God who, as personal being through the Word revealed in Christ, seeks out persons even when they do not seek God. This mystery finds its goal in what is beyond expression in music from a variety of musical styles and syntaxes, from various times and places, in praise and prayer, and in relation to all of life. Matters like memory, health, emotion, time, silence, and community are involved. Paradoxes and a dark side are noted.

Reprinted from *Religions*. Cite as: Westermeyer, P. Music and Spirituality: Reflections from a Western Christian Perspective. *Religions* **2013**, *4*, 567–583.

#### **1. Double Paradox**

Anthony Ruff begins a book on sacred music with the assertion that music is powerful ([1], p. 4). Quoting Edward Foley that "from time immemorial, the belief has persisted that music contains power to alter the moods and actions of gods and people" [2], he notes that philosophers have attributed powers and ethical influences to certain modes and that modern empirical evidence has gauged the physiological effects of music. Susan Palo Cherwien has delineated some of these ([3], pp. 3–8). Ruff wonders if "our reactions to music are "innate or learned" ([1], p. 5) and quotes Nicholas Wolterstorff who, though some might challenge his assessment as he works with a larger swath of aesthetic stimuli, says that "the extent of intercultural agreement on these matters is astonishing" [4]. Ruff continues by pointing to music's communicative, communal, and ritual character. If only one of these characteristics were true, music and spirituality would still be connected; with all four it is no wonder that the connection has been so common. This does not make the connection easy to define. As John Bowden says, "That *de facto* [music] has a place [in relation to spirituality] may be hard to dispute; to define that place more closely verges on the impossible" [5]. This article is one person's tiny vignette about what verges on the impossible.

For the Christian church, the connection has been especially interesting because, in the Christian vision, God creates and addresses humanity. Music's power and other capacities live with the rest of the creation under God, not as magic controls in human hands. The connection is still more interesting because it involves a double paradox. The dictionary defines "spirituality" as relating to the immaterial and incorporeal as opposed to the material and physical. Christians who confess God as spirit and taking flesh in Christ embrace both the immaterial and the material. Music itself comprehends the same embrace: what is perceived as intangible or immaterial sound consists of physical vibrations heard through material bodies that pulsate. This double paradox lies at the heart of music and spirituality for Christianity. Susan Palo Cherwien summarizes it when she says that "singing hymns to worship God . . . unites body with spirit" [6].
