The real problem with praise music

I listened to a wide-ranging interview with D.G. Hart conducted by Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church while translating Proverbs 7 this afternoon. Hart made the observation that his real objection to praise music is not so much the songs themselves as the liturgies in which they are imbedded; that is, most would be pretty much okay in the context of a traditional Protestant service, serving particular functions and alternating with Scripture readings, offerings, confessions, and so forth. Instead, (and this is just me talking) they usually are found in evangelical services whose "liturgies" consist of about a half hour of music followed by an inspirational lecture.

In other words, modern worship music is about as bad and as good as worship music has ever been at any given point in Church history. Protestant liturgy, however, is at perhaps its lowest point since preachers abandoned Latin in the pulpits.