The Doctrine of the Grateful Dead

Let me guess. You’ve never heard of the Doctrine of Ethos? Before you resort to Google, let me explain. This is not some new declaration Peggy Post put together because of the complete lack of ethics in today’s society, nor is it some new environmental propaganda. In fact, it hearkens back to ancient times, but I didn’t know about it until just a few months ago.

From a young age I have believed that there is a difference between good music and bad music. This difference has less to do with whether the song is performed with perfect pitch or is screeched than whether the song honors God. As I have grown older, my understanding and opinion on this controversial but important topic has grown as well. Therefore, there are certain kinds of music that I will not listen to, because I believe that they are not God-honoring.

And then I discovered the Doctrine of Ethos.

It was formulated before electric guitars and rock music were even a twinkle in the Beatles’ eyes—the Doctrine of Ethos is over 2,000 years old, and it is life-changing.

The Doctrine of Ethos is the Greek belief that music could be either moral or immoral and that it has a powerful affect on behavior. Aristotle’s writings on this subject reveal that“Music…imitates the passions or states of the soul, such as gentleness, anger courage, temperance, and their opposites. Music that imitates a certain passion arouses that same passion in the listener. Habitual listening to music that rouses ignoble passions distorts a person’s character. In short, the wrong kind of music makes the wrong kind of person, and the right kind tends to make the right kind of person.[i]”

Plato took the idea even further and insisted that music must be included in education in order to produce a balanced person. He even recommended that men who were being trained in leadership must avoid songs of weakness and indolence, for such music would tend to influence them in that direction.

I found this idea fascinating. How could the pagan Plato and Aristotle realize that some music is inherently wrong in the days when all they had was the lute and aulos? How could they come to this conclusion when Americans today so diametrically disagree? It boggles my mind, but modern science only supports their doctrine, as demonstrated by many of the popular “Mozart Effect” and “Hard rock makes killer mice” studies. Plato and Aristotle were onto something.

As fascinating as it is, I also have to realize that our sin nature and sinful choices lead to wrong behavior, and simply listening to good music can in no way get a person to heaven! However, does music affect behavior in positive and negative ways? Absolutely!
(My violin teacher agreed with me, proclaimed the beauty of classical music, and in the same breath told me of a “Grateful Dead” concert he just went to. I’m still working on him! :-)

While Plato and Aristotle were certainly not “all-wise” and were in many ways immoral, they make a powerful point, and one that is supported by God Himself. Scripture speaks of fallen music: “Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your stringed instruments….How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son off the morning! (Is. 14:11b-12)” Or what about Ecclesiastes 7:5? “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.” Psalm 40:3, on the other hand, says, “He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

The Greeks’ insightful understanding of music led them to coin the saying, “Let me make the songs of a nation and I care not who makes its laws.” We have mistakenly dismissed music as entertainment, but the Greeks knew that music was communicating its own doctrine. We give music power over our emotions, but we disagree with the Greeks that it is only a small step from there for music to affect our behavior. We label music “amoral” but still God holds us accountable for the music to which we listen.

It only takes a glance at the top ten list of songs to know exactly the state of our nation.

[i] Grout, Donald Jay. A History of Western Music. p. 6

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