Date
9-17-2026
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in History - Thesis (MA)
Chair
Martin I. Klauber
Keywords
Protestant, Reformation, Reformed, Presbyterian, Scotland, Scottish, Puritan, Nonconformist, Dissenter, England, English, Anglican, Episcopal, worship, sing, psalmody, music, instrument, organ, precentor, Calvin, Knox, Perkins, Ames, Owen, Burroughs, Mather, Goodwin, Rutherford, Gillespie, Dickson, Westminster, Watts
Disciplines
History | Liturgy and Worship
Recommended Citation
McDonald, Sean Patrick Michael, ""I Will Not Hear the Melody of Thy Viols": Opposition to Instrumental Music in Historic Presbyterian and Puritan Worship" (2026). Masters Theses. 1536.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1536
Abstract
The parallel movements of Presbyterianism in Scotland and Puritanism in England began and developed in the 1500s. Early on, both of these movements established their opposition to musical instruments in the public worship of God. This was not merely incidental to their worship, as though instrumental music could be added without any significant alteration to Presbyterianism or Puritanism as such. Rather, the rejection of musical instruments (usually organs) was essential to their worship, and inseparably tied to key theological principles.
