By popular demand I append more wisdom from every TR’s favourite spiritual mentor, Nicholas `Don’t call me Nicky!’ Mauss, the big pastor of that even bigger church in Montana. Such is the depth of his wisdom that, in a recent reader’s poll in Reformed Man Today his writings came second only to the Gospel of Thomas as the extra-canonical literature most likely to be added to the canon should the ETS ever decide it should be re-opened. Here’s a recent exchange:
Dear Dr Mauss,
I am disturbed by the presence on Reformation 21 of this character Trueman. Numerous aspects of his unfunny, immature and mediocre writings distress me, but most upsetting of all is his constant promotion of worldly rock music. What do you think his alleged great hero, John Owen, would have thought of The Who concert which Trueman recently attended in Philly? Would he not have been highly critical of such worldliness?
Yours,
Theo N. MacStoner (Rev)
Nuremberg
Dear Rev MacStoner,
As the pastor of a big church, I often face such questions from my people (who, incidentally, should appreciate that, as pastor of a big church, I have better things to do than deal with the tiny problems of little people of no consequence -- but let's set that aside for the next Session meeting).
Anyway, back to your question. I would say that the answer depends, of course, on where one might imagine Owen, were he alive today, to stand stood relative to two dominant modern schools of rock apologetics. On the one hand, there is the approach of the medieval theologian, St Osiander of Osbourne who, in his major work, Summa Metallica, developed what is now known as `heavydentialism.’ Heavydentialism argues simply that volume is the basic measure of rock greatness. The louder it's played, the better it is, regardless of lyrics, musical talent or musicianship.
The other approach, drawing on the writings of the Dutch-American apologist, Cornelius Van Halen, argues that, by building simply on a common ontology of volume (sometimes known as `going up to eleven'), heavydentialism dissolves the antithesis and erodes the distinction between mediocrity and greatness; Van Halians also typically emphasizes the move from rock to great in history. This Van Halian approach, known often as `prezeppelitionalism’ presupposes that great rock depends upon original band line-ups established prior to the death of John Bonham in 1980.
Personally, I am persuaded that, were he alive today, Owen would be a prezeppelitionalist and thus would indeed be very critical of Trueman's promotion of the concert: he would surely say that, while Zack Starkey covers Keith Moon’s stuff well on drums, John Entwhistle can never be replaced on bass.
Yours,
Nicholas Mauss