Konner Johnson - Van der Leeuw on Art: Music

Van der Leeuw is a Dutch theologian who writes a lot about how art is a form of worship. He speaks about five types of art specifically and how they are a means of worship for praising God. I will be writing a blog on each of the five types with this being the fifth type.

Van der Leeuw said that “music is the echo of the eternal Gloria.”  By this statement alone. The power of music in worship can be seen. Music is an “echo” it takes the form of the eternal Gloria.  Not the exact form as it is an echo, meaning a similar form. Van der Leeuw then goes on to say that “Spiritual music is music, which is not only a revelation of the beautiful, but also of the holy, not through the subject matter of the text or the occasion for which it was composed, but through the fact that holiness and beauty have mutually interpenetrated.”  What Van der Leeuw is saying in this quote goes back to what he said previously. Music is an “echo”, but it also is a revelation of beauty and the holy. Van der Leeuw says that both holiness and beauty have been interpenetrated. They have come together and permeated one another. This is what happens through spiritual music. You have both the beauty but also the holy. This is the greatness that comes from music. It brings you this experience, or inward journey, that is vastly different than any other experience, because it allows for you to experience the beauty of art and music in its purest form, combined with the holiness of the God you are worshiping. Music is beauty. “We seek in beauty both the friendly countenance of God and the terror of the Lord.”  Both fear and fellowship is achieved through worshiping God through music. There is a connection that is made with the Divine when worshiping him through song. It is a connection that instills fear because you are before the Almighty God, the creator of the universe. But there is also an overwhelming sense of security and fellowship, as he is a loving and merciful God who is wi