Soundness
Last week I was in a small group that included Ed Seely, discussing a list of goals for CICW that included an item on “theologically sound” music in worship. One member questioned whether “sound” was the right word (not just because it can be a pun in relation to music!), but Ed thought the word was apt. I asked him afterwards if he would be interested in writing his reflections on the word “sound,” and he agreed:
Logic, a subfield of philosophy, distinguishes between validity and soundness. Validity refers to the premises of a deductive argument providing irrefutable logical evidence for the conclusion of the argument. A deductive argument is valid if the premises necessarily require the conclusion, regardless of whether they are true or false. In fact, a deductive argument may contain all false premises and a false conclusion and still be logically valid. A well-known illustration is provided by University of Michigan professor of philosophy, Irving M. Copi: “All spiders have six legs. All six legged creatures have wings. Therefore all spiders have wings.” (Introduction to Logic , p. 11) This argument is valid, because even though all the statements are false, the (consequently false) conclusion is required by the premises.
Soundness refers to a valid argument that has a true conclusion and true premises. An argument that contains any false premises cannot be sound. Thus, an argument can be valid but not sound.
A logician is more interested in the logical relationship between and among the propositions of an argument than in whether or not they are true. In our work in the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, we are interested in truth as well as logic. This reality is why soundness is vital for us in regard to theology and in the other aspects of our work in worship. It is one reason why CICW urges worshiping communities to “sing more theologically sound songs,” using the word sound. Truth has always been a nonnegotiable imperative for God’s people (e.g., John 4:24, 2 Thessalonians 2:10). Especially in this postmodern age, which disregards claims of universal truth, we need to be very accurate, sound, in our witness to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6)
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