Scott Aniol
Ministry, Worship, Culture, Aesthetics
Audio
This sermon on Mark 7:1–13, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on January 10, 2021, in the series “Fundamentals of Worship,” argues that corporate worship must be governed by the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Aniol uses Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees’ traditions to argue that the elements, content, forms, and order of worship should come from God’s Word, and he presents a biblical pattern for worship drawn from Isaiah 6.
This sermon on Psalm 2, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on August 16, 2020, continues a short series on the opening psalms. Aniol contrasts how the wicked see God’s rule as a burden with the blessing of those who take refuge in the Lord’s anointed King. He draws on Genesis, Israel’s history, and the apostles’ use of Psalm 2 in Acts 4.
This sermon on Psalm 11, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on August 23, 2020, asks how the righteous should respond when society’s moral foundations seem to be crumbling. Drawing on the surrounding laments in Psalms 10–14, Aniol urges believers not to flee but to take refuge in the Lord, trusting that he still reigns and will judge rightly, and points to Christ as the anointed King.
This sermon on Psalm 1, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on August 9, 2020, opens a short series on the Psalms about life amid cultural upheaval. Aniol notes how the Psalter moves from lament to praise and contrasts the apparent prosperity of the wicked with the lasting blessedness of those who delight in and meditate on God’s Word.
This audio recording of Scott Aniol’s lecture “Was Isaac Watts Unitarian?” comes from the 2018 Metropolitan Tabernacle School of Theology in London. Addressing charges that Watts was unorthodox on the Trinity, Aniol weighs where Watts left himself open to criticism alongside his commitment to the Trinity. The lecture draws on his article in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (2017).
This audio recording presents Scott Aniol’s address on the regulative principle and hymnody, given on October 20, 2018, at the Reformation Worship Conference hosted by Midway Presbyterian Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
This audio recording presents Scott Aniol’s address on the last half century of worship music, given on October 19, 2018, at the Reformation Worship Conference hosted by Midway Presbyterian Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
This sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:12–26, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on October 14, 2018, considers the diversity and unity of the body of Christ. It was part of a fall series on the church’s priorities and addresses the members’ ministry to one another.
This sermon on Psalm 96, preached by Scott Aniol at Christ the King on July 29, 2018, examines the psalm as a call to sing in corporate worship. Aniol argues that singing expresses the heart’s affections in response to God’s worthiness and works, and that it shapes believers to live in light of future realities, especially the Lord’s coming to judge and reign. He connects the “new song” to the songs of the redeemed in Revelation.
An audio recording of Scott Aniol’s session “Citizens and Exiles: Christians, the Church, and Culture,” given at the 2018 Knowing, Loving, and Ministering conference on the substance of conservative Christianity, hosted by Religious Affections Ministries.
An audio recording of “Citizens and Exiles,” a lecture by Scott Aniol at the Metropolitan Tabernacle Theology Conference in London (2018).
An audio recording of “A Biblical Definition of Culture,” a lecture by Scott Aniol at the Metropolitan Tabernacle Theology Conference in London (2018).
This message on repentance through singing in corporate worship was given by Scott Aniol at the National Center for Family Integrated Churches conference in Asheville, North Carolina, whose theme was “Repentance: The Reformation Continues.” Aniol preached from Psalm 130, one of the seven penitential psalms, to show how song can express true repentance, and introduced Martin Luther’s paraphrase of the psalm, “Out of the Depths I Cry to Thee.”
This sermon on Psalm 137 explores worship in exile, tracing how Israel’s idolatry led to the Babylonian captivity and what the psalm’s lament meant for God’s people by the waters of Babylon. Aniol argues that this often-neglected psalm is deeply relevant for Christians, who are called to seek the welfare of the culture around them without compromising pure worship while longing for the new Jerusalem. Preached at Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 12, 2017.
This conference address asks whether differences over philosophy of culture and worship should affect cooperation among Christians. Aniol defines a conservative philosophy of culture by two pillars, belief in transcendent absolute principles and the importance of aesthetic form, then distinguishes the gospel as the boundary of Christian unity from secondary matters. He argues that philosophy of culture and worship ranks high among secondary issues and must shape the extent of cooperation. Delivered at the Conference on the Church for God’s Glory in Rockford, Illinois.
This sermon on 1 Kings 18:1–40 draws lessons from Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, read as a worship war recorded for a people in exile. Aniol warns against syncretism, pragmatic compromise, and borrowing from pagan worship, and calls believers to worship God alone, confront idolatry even at personal cost, and seek the Lord with all their heart. Preached at Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 29, 2016.
In this conference address on the regulative principle of worship, Aniol develops the thesis of his book By the Waters of Babylon that the aesthetic forms God inspired in Scripture should inform and regulate the cultural forms churches use in worship. Responding to reviewers who asked for clarification, he grounds the argument in verbal plenary inspiration, contending that biblical truth includes the affections and imagination conveyed through inspired literary forms. This audio recording is from the 2016 Religious Affections conference at High Country Baptist Church, Colorado Springs, and includes discussion.
This sermon on Revelation 3:14–20 addresses communion with God, the first of the three priorities that shape the ministry of Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas. Aniol argues that Christ’s words to the lukewarm church in Laodicea are primarily an invitation to believers, picturing communion with God as table fellowship, and he calls listeners to renew that fellowship through Scripture, prayer, corporate worship, and the Lord’s Table. Preached September 4, 2016.
This sermon on Acts 5:12–42 considers what Christians should do when the commands of God and the commands of human authorities conflict. From the apostles’ reply that “we must obey God rather than men,” Aniol urges believers to distinguish genuine persecution from the loss of comforts, and to respond to conflict with courage, respect, and continued proclamation of the gospel. Preached at Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas.
This sermon on John 15:1–11 introduces the first of three priorities that describe the church’s philosophy of ministry: our relationship with God through Christ. Aniol expounds Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches, stressing that fruitfulness depends on abiding in Christ, and shows how the Lord’s Table unites all three priorities. Preached at Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 4, 2015.
This audio recording presents Aniol’s talk on Christian education, which builds on Douglas Wilson’s Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning to ask how educators can teach children not only to know what is lovely but to love it. Aniol proposes the Christian tradition of beauty, or rightly ordered loves, as the missing link between right thinking and right action, aiming at students formed in mind, will, and emotions.
This Thanksgiving-season sermon on 2 Corinthians 4:15 examines the place of gratitude in worship. Aniol argues that thanksgiving for grace received is a central expression of worship that brings glory to God, drawing on the Psalms and Jonah 2:9 to show how Scripture links praise with humble acknowledgment of undeserved salvation. Preached at Christ the King in Fort Worth, Texas, on November 23, 2014.
This audio recording presents Scott Aniol’s paper assessing the missional church movement’s impact on evangelical worship philosophy and practice, delivered at the 2013 national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. Aniol traces the movement’s history and theology and evaluates its views of culture, contextualization, and the relationship between worship and evangelism.
An audio recording of a sermon by Scott Aniol on John 17:1–26 concerning the mission Jesus has given his people.
An audio recording of a sermon by Scott Aniol on drawing near to God in worship from Hebrews 10 (2013).
This audio recording presents “God Is Really Among You: The Evangelistic Impact of God-Centered Worship,” a session Scott Aniol gave at the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center Music Conference in early January 2012. Aniol noted that the session drew on his paper “Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture.”
This audio recording presents “Train Up a Child: Teaching the Next Generation to Worship,” a workshop on children and worship that Scott Aniol taught at the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center Music Conference in early January 2012.
An audio recording of Scott Aniol’s lecture “Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture.”
This audio recording presents Aniol’s conference paper on what God said about worship, given at the Conference on the Church for God’s Glory in Rockford, Illinois. Aniol argues that worship is rooted in God’s own speech: his self-revelation is the basis of worship, his word through his Son is its means, and what he has said regulates the elements of corporate worship.
This audio recording presents “Conservative Christianity 101,” a session Scott Aniol gave at the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center Music Conference, held in early January 2012. Aniol posted the notes and audio from this and his other conference sessions on the Religious Affections Ministries website.
This audio recording presents Scott Aniol’s talk “Preserving the Truth in Our Worship” (2011), on conservative worship and the preservation of biblical truth. In the companion paper of the same title, Aniol argues that truth is preserved only when it is rightly imagined, and that the forms of corporate worship a church uses shape how its people imagine the truths of Scripture.
This audio recording presents Scott Aniol’s paper “Was Isaac Watts a Proto-Dispensationalist?”, published in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal (2011). Aniol compares Watts’s hermeneutic and his view of Israel and the church with the distinctives of dispensationalism and concludes that Watts was not a proto-dispensationalist, while noting the convictions he shared with dispensationalists.
This audio recording is the second of two lessons on the hymnody of the Christian church. Aniol argues that cultural forms are cultivated over long periods, then surveys hymnody in the Judeo-Christian tradition from Old Testament and early church song through medieval and Reformation hymns to the Enlightenment and the new tradition that followed. He urges churches to cultivate forms that nurture noble affections and to pass that tradition to their children. Recorded at Bethany Bible Church in June 2010.
This audio recording is the first of two lessons on the hymnody of the Christian church, focusing on function and form. Aniol surveys the biblical mandate for congregational song and the purpose and power of hymns, then examines how word choice, poetic meter, melody, rhythm, harmony, and performance shape a hymn’s content and the affections it expresses. Recorded at Bethany Bible Church in June 2010.
This audio recording presents Aniol’s talk on how conservative Christians can preserve biblical worship and pass it to the next generation. Following Paul’s charge to deliver the whole counsel of God, he proposes four commitments: worship regulated by the Word of God, forms that foster ordinate affection toward God, forms nurtured within the community of faith, and transmission of those forms to future generations.
Undergraduate, 15 hours
International Baptist College, 2007
01 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
02 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
03 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
04 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worshi
05 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
06 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
07 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
08 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
09 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
10 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
11 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
12 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship
13 Aniol Seminar in Theology of Worship