Style and Substance Revisited

Lex Orandi Lex Credendi, or the principle that style and substance are related and feed into one another, doesn’t need to be proven. It is axiomatic. It is self-evident. There are incongruities that are not a matter simple of cultural diversity.

This is why there are universals in the human experience. And while there is certainly variation in what is considered appropriate and beautiful, there are values that humanity shares that transcend tribe and tongue. The idea that style and substance are anything other than intertwined - and that there are things that are objectively wrong or incongruous - is ridiculous.

And even in matters of secular music this is true.

It is also true that some performers and some songs can cross over and translate into different genres, such as a rock song sung in the country style, a classical song played by heavy metal instruments, an aria performed as an instrumental, etc. But it is equally true that there are also those instances in which the style and the substance are so divergent that the results are cringe or laugh-worthy - and in the sanctuary, become a kind of blemished sacrifice.

By way of examples from the secular world, consider these illustrations of stylistic-substantive incongruity. And if this kind of mismatch of style to substance is possible and demonstrable in pop music, how much more so is the sacred capable of being desecrated by such a mismatch?

Before we begin, I recommend a Lutheran beverage of your choice. And try not to spew your keyboard. You have been warned.