In this re-released lecture, Dr. John Ahern explores why music moves us so deeply, arguing that music works not only through text and melody but through deeper structures—harmony, rhythm, form, and repetition—that shape our emotions often before we consciously notice them. He traces the rise of “art music” as a kind of substitute liturgy and contrasts ancient, churchly, and modern ways of understanding music’s power over the soul. Along the way, Ahern shows why debates about worship music run emotionally hot: music is not neutral background, but a force that orders—or disorders—our affections, desires, and imagination.

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John Ahern is the director of the Te Deum Music Fellows Program at Theopolis.

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