Pattison's Insight on Music 20 Years Later

20 years ago 2 books were written (actual publishing dates were 1987) that took diametrically opposed points of view about music. The two books I am thinking of were Allan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind” and Robert Pattison’s “The Triumph of Vulgarity.”

Bloom critically blamed the rise of rock music for the decline and fall of classical studies and the life of the mind during his tenure as university professor. The interesting thing about the two books was that they agree about nearly every point about Rock music except the conclusion. What Bloom lamented Pattison rejoiced in. Pattison considered all of Bloom’s “high minded” scholarship essentially worthless to the modern person. Yes, its true that disciplined, transcendent-based thinking has (largely) died, but Pattison says that we do not need to mourn the loss, but should celebrate it.

It doesn’t take much insight to see that, even though Bloom’s got the most attention back in the late 80’s, it was Pattison’s book that represented the majority and (then and subsequently) triumphant position. What Pattison described was not only about secular culture but was also a prophecy about the church. Here are two quotations from Pattison’s book about Rock’s influence on religion:

….Which is not to say that rock is not a threat to organized religion. It is, but not in the crude sense of demanding a choice between Baal and Jehovah. Rock knocks the props out from under religion, first, by shifting the locus of faith from God to self, and secondly, by depriving sects and churches of their claim to exclusive revelation. By forcing churches to compete on the basis of their ability to titillate the instincts of their worshippers, vulgar pantheism compels the champions of organized religions to abandon their pretension to superior truth and thus turns them into entrepreneurs of emotional stimulation. Once God becomes a commodity for self-gratification, his fortunes depend on the vagaries of the emotional marketplace, and his claim to command allegiance on the basis of omnipotence or omniscience vanishes in a blaze of solipsism as his priests and shamans pander to the feeling, not the faith, of their customers.” (Robert Pattison, Triumph of Vulgarity, p. 186)

…But rock is useless to teach any transcendent value. The instigators of these projects merely promote the pagan rites they hope to co-opt. Rock’s electricity as much as its pantheist heritage gives the lie to whatever enlightened propaganda may be foisted on it. The rocker is simultaneously alone with himself and at one with the universe. No intermediate state of transcendence such as Christianity or schoolbook morality preaches is likely to appeal to him. He takes his pantheism neat. (Robert Pattison, The Triumph of Vulgarity, p. 137)

The typical evangelical response to these quotations is first, “What do we care what a pagan like Pattison says about the church and religion?” and second, “We do not appeal to ‘self’ or ‘pander to the feeling, not the faith of… customers.’”

In response to the first objection, I believe Pattison shows a deeper understanding of how philosophy of life and music interact than many Christians in our time. We should care because we can learn from even pagans who have good understanding of certain matters. This is especially relevant since many Christians are unwittingly following the program Pattison outlines in his book, even though they may not have read his book.

The second objection is more difficult since there has been no small protest that churches are still preaching what the church has always preached in content, but has only exchanged neutral forms and styles. But this protest misses Pattison’s point and in fact seems to succumb to it.

Pattison recognized there are different “sects” within the religion of Rock – each with it own set of lyrics – some more thoughtful than others. His point was that the overarching religion of Rock holds sovereignty over and relativizes these sects and binds them together as only one religion – that Rock is the true universal religion that “brings us to God” and the “sects” are only personalized lanes on this universal path.

Again, I believe Pattison had more insight into us than we have about our selves. At least I sense this in my own ministry. I frequently feel the pull and tension of people who are relatively unmoved and bored by the doctrine they say they believe and their desire for emotional experiences generated through pop music. I have had few critics tell me they wish our church was clearer on doctrine and had more emphasis Biblical teaching, though we many regular members who do delight in and are content in sound Biblical teaching. I have encountered many who want more upbeat services and a more informal atmosphere to help people feel more like themselves. We are routinely told, from a variety of sources, that a church cannot grow by appealing to faith and that growth can only come from appealing to the sensibilities of modern people. I fear for a generation of church attenders that believes that pop music gives them access to God - or gives access to what gives access to God.