page_title: Protestant church music during and after the Reformation
section_title: Regulative principle of worship, and John Calvin
hierarchical_section_title: Protestant church music during and after the Reformation / Emergence of Protestant church music / Regulative principle of worship, and John Calvin
context_page_description: Church music during the Reformation developed during the Protestant Reformation in two schools of thought, the regulative and normative principles of worship, based on reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther. They derived their concepts in response to the Catholic church music, which they found distracting and too ornate. Both principles also pursued use of the native tongue, either alongside or in place of liturgical Latin.
context_section_description: Many Protestant reformers, drawing from the Bible and the concept of Sola scriptura, Latin for by scripture alone, argued that worship music ought to be derived directly from the book of Psalms in the Old Testament. This concept came to be known as the regulative principle. Its adherents asserted that “worship is by divine warrant#Noun|warrant]]", and that God intended mankind to worship Him through Scripture only, since the Bible serves as God’s revelation to man on how He is to be worshiped. For instance, in the Heidelberg Catechism, the author, German Reformed theologian Zacharias Ursinus states, “Q. What does God require in the second commandment? / A. We are not to make an image of God in any way, nor to worship Him in any other manner than he has commanded in His Word.” Followers of the regulative principle vehemently opposed worship music containing text not from Scripture verbatim, and thus their worship services contained only hymns arranged from the Psalms (hence the term "psalmody"). Regulative principlists were often firm and intransigent in their beliefs, as is seen in the Belgic Confession, where the author decrees, "The whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in it [the Bible] at length. It is therefore unlawful for any one [sic], even for an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in Holy Scripture: yes, even if it be an angel from heaven, as the apostle Paul says."
  There were many prominent theologians and church leaders during the Reformation who adhered to the regulative principle. On one extreme, Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), a Swiss priest, rejected all forms of music within worship. He “removed all art works from the church... [and] destroyed organs and other musical instruments… because according to him, they promoted self-indulgence.” However, most regulative principle advocates still promoted the use of worship music in the church, only in the sense that only Scripture could be used in songs. 
  John Calvin (1509-1564) was a regulative principle supporter who encouraged worship music. A Frenchman, Calvin studied civil law in Paris and Orléans, but was soon pressured to leave France due to heavy opposition to his Protestant sympathies. He eventually relocated to Geneva, where he further synthesized his doctrine and continued to aid the reform movement, especially through his theological dissertations. Calvin’s attitude towards music in the Church was complex. Like all who followed the regulative principle, he was extremely cautious about how worship music was utilized, because he believed God laid out very specific directions in the Bible on how one could worship. For example, Calvin initially allowed the use of instruments in worship music, but “advocate[ed] a careful and skillful use” of them. In fact, he later banned instruments from being used in his congregation, claiming that they were too strongly tied to antiquated and unorthodox methods from before the Reformation. Calvin also asserted that “There could be no worship of God without the proper preaching of the Word.” In selecting hymns for church services, Calvin avoided anything that may have invited “sensuality and self-gratification.” To this effect, many of the songs which received his approval were simple in nature and lacked the melodic and harmonic complexities of many Catholic masses. They were “sung syllabically,” and the melodies moved primarily by conjunct motion, avoiding large and uncomfortable intervals.
  One element which Calvin added to worship music was children’s choirs. Calvin was deeply concerned for the piety and religious devotion of parishioners, and posited that children could "teach adults simplicity, childlike devotion, and a sincere heart when singing, even though there might be problems with intonation and the like." While many Protestants, including followers of Martin Luther, objected to Calvin’s rather staunch approach to music, Calvin did much to develop a new form of music separate from hundreds of years of Catholic doctrine and ritual. His use of the vernacular in the recitation
caption: John Calvin
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