This book has been designed to show that music can enable theology to do its job better. When music takes us on its temporal adventures, we enjoy a rich and distinctive involvement with time. Because of this, music can greatly enrich our understanding of the character of time and our time-embeddedness. More than this, it can enrich our theological wisdom about time – time as intrinsic to God's creation, and what it means to ‘live peaceably’ with time by being caught up in the redeemed temporality of Jesus Christ.

I have sought to open up these matters in a few areas only, and in limited ways. For reasons explained in the introduction, with the exception of John Tavener, I have focused on music which has no obvious or over theological links and associations. Even with this restriction, there are many forms of music I have not considered. And I have stayed largely within systematic theology: I have tried to show the benefits of music for exploring and articulating some central doctrinal loci. But rather than attempt to be comprehensive, as I indicated at the start, I have concentrated on a few specific areas in the hope that others will be stimulated to take ‘theology through music’ into other fields of theology and other types of musical expression.