Religious worship cannot therefore do without music. Eastern Orthodox philosopher and theologian Nicolas Berdyaev thinks the gospel brings aesthetic justification. The transfiguration of the world is the attainment of beauty. A model of the beauty of holiness runs through the last 1,400 years of western Christian musical history. It is based on the plot of the biblical revelation that begins with Creation and ends with the Second Coming of Christ.
Plots are a type of rhythm, and they have to be harmonious to be beautiful.
Audible sacred music requires the same order and unity. Primal sacred music, whether pagan or biblical, does not turn inward towards the believer's subjectivity. It elevates feelings by trying to imitate the core events that faith holds. The rhythm and harmony of hope that keeps those events do not cloy with sentimentality. The audible musical core of any religion must reflect the sublimity and unity of its narrative order.