“Whoever is a good and true Christian should understand that wherever he finds truth, it belongs to his Lord.”
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2.18.28
🎼 Augustinus Vox Open License
All music, lyrics, and writings by Augustinus Vox are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This means you are welcome to:
- Perform these songs live
- For example you can perform the songs at concerts, churches, schools, or anywhere else like a stadium, a quiet bar or your parent’s home. Keep the mood and rock on. Don’t be a jerk with the music please.
- Record covers or adaptations in your own style
- Whatever style your own band plays is good. I enjoy a variety of styles like classical piano, j-pop, ska (especially) and hip hop at times…even metal. Just please not country…just kidding my friend.
- Remix or sample tracks in new creative projects
- Like for example if you wanted to send opera version into outer space (I may need to do more work to make this possible).
- Share freely online or offline
- Or even through a USB stick in your pocket. Technology is cool Let us share!
All I ask is:
👉 Please credit Augustinus Vox as the original source (and link to augustinusvox.com when possible). It’s as simple as:
“The VOX rocks!”
Here are some examples
Jazzy blues cover of The Order of Love
Metalcore version of The Order of Love keeping lyrics
Bubble-gum pop version of The Order of Love keeping lyrics
Other ways of giving credit would be providing credits like “featuring Augustinus Vox” on song titles or adding my name or Augustinus Vox name into the song credits. Since this is open source, you are able to remix the songs and also publish and redistribute and earn royalties on them. I plan to eventually publish stems and such to make that stuff easier.
I consider the songs gifts to be shared and I’m treating them like hymns of the church that are in the public domain. If you happen to make a version of these songs that’s way better than what I’ve done and it becomes a massive hit so much the better. If you can make a living from republishing the music in a different style or covering them and playing it live with some friends then your fulfilling the mission and helping out the vision. That is awesome!
Final Note
Originally I was making this music for myself and sharing it with friends and family. I found the music very helpful and a great mechanism for learning and tinkering. As I moved into publishing the music and creating this website I thought it made a lot of sense to put the content under an open license so anyone interested could easily benefit from it and use it for free. This seemed in keeping with how Augustine viewed truth.
You can have a different view on music ownership and that is fine. This is just my own personal opinion. Admittedly my view is a bit convenient when it takes significantly less effort to make the music. I imagine if I had to painstakingly craft it from sheet music to instrumentation to performance I’d could feel more bound to it. And if I was making a living doing it probably even more so. As it is I’m simply a music fan who has a full time job who is now able to make some music as a hobby to help me learn and maybe help others as well. I would hope such a perspective would be quite refreshing to folks who value art, the proliferation of art, and the way art can help inspire people but with all the concern around A.I. these days it seems the creativity explosion is getting lost in a concern for people’s livelihoods or in the perceived cheapening of art. Don’t get me wrong you can totally make some slop with these tools and the stuff can be annoying but that’s always been the case with anything. Cheap knock offs always have been a market and always will be a market with folks who enjoy such things. And I must admit I personally am a fan of super cheap computers to see how far I can push them. But also cheap knock offs also make the great versions shine all the more once people experience them.
Another more important topic here is our attitude of thankfulness. Are we fostering such an attitude or are we consumed by fear, pride or envy? To me thankfulness won’t let me take too much ownership for any work as I owe my hands and brain to God. Rather than sit in the muck of fear we can rise above it to the thankfulness of God for all that He has done and is doing in our lives. This is a better way for me to live when I am tempted to be grumpy Kyle.
Anyways enough wandering chatter…if by chance you happen to perform any of the songs do let me know as I’d love to listen to the performance if its available or attend in person if possible.
Appendix
Personal note from Kyle
I was a little shocked when I first came across Augustine’s work On Christian Doctrine in about 2009 as a 25 year old seminarian in Chicago. I had purchased an audio copy of the book some time before but had not gotten around to listening to it. I was in seminary at the time and had a job at a fitness place helping in their rock climbing gym. The traffic was so bad even in the suburb of that city what should have been an 8 minute trip to work often took about a little over 30 minutes. That afforded me quite a bit of time to listen to audiobooks and music. If my 41 year old brain is working I had finished up some science fiction and switched over to Augustine’s work as a professor had recently shared how much he enjoyed reading Augustine. The entire work was fascinating to me but this part in particular has stuck with me.
Augustine in On Christian Doctrine
There are some people who can speak well, but can’t come up with what to say. If they take words that others have written with wisdom and eloquence, commit them to memory, and then share them with the people, they are not doing anything wrong. In fact, it’s a good thing: this way, many preachers of the truth are raised up—even if there is only one true Teacher they all echo, and there are no divisions among them (1 Cor 1:10).
They should not be frightened by Jeremiah’s warning against those who “steal” God’s words from their neighbor (Jer 23:30). Thieves take what doesn’t belong to them. But God’s word isn’t foreign to those who obey it. Instead, the real “outsiders” are those who live badly while speaking well—because the good words sound like they come from their own brilliance, but in reality they are foreign to their lives. So God calls such people thieves of His word: they want to look good by speaking God’s truth, while living only for themselves.
If you look closely, these people aren’t really saying good things at all. How can they be saying with their mouths what they deny with their actions? As Paul says: “They claim to know God, but they deny him by the way they live” (Titus 1:16). So in one sense they speak the truth, and in another sense they don’t—because both are true of them. That’s why Jesus said of such men: “Do what they say, but don’t do what they do” (Matt 23:3). They speak, but don’t live it out. Elsewhere he calls them out: “How can you speak good things, when you are evil?” (Matt 12:34).
So whenever they say something good, it’s not really they themselves who are speaking, since by their will and deeds they contradict what they say. This is why it often happens that a wicked but eloquent man composes a sermon, but it is better preached by another man—one who may not be eloquent, but is good. In that case, the bad man has actually given away what is foreign to him, while the good man has received as his own what came from another. But when faithful believers help each other in this way—good to good—then both truly speak their own words. For God is theirs, and His word is theirs; and even if they could not compose it themselves, they make it their own by living according to it.
So whether someone is about to speak publicly, or preparing something that others will read aloud, let them pray that God will put the right words in their mouth. For if Queen Esther prayed for fitting words to speak before a king for her people’s temporary rescue (Esth 14:13), how much more should those who labor for people’s eternal salvation in word and teaching ask God for that gift?
Even those who are about to speak words they received from others should pray: before they receive them, pray for the one they’ll receive them from—that God would grant the message through them. And once they have received it, pray that they may proclaim it well, and that the hearers may truly take it in. And when things go well, let them give thanks to God, from whom they know the gift came. For, as Scripture says, “The outcome of both us and our words is in his hand” (Wis 7:16).
This book turned out longer than I had intended. But for the one who enjoys reading or hearing it, it will not seem long. If it does feel long, they can read it in parts, if they still want to learn from it. And if someone isn’t interested in learning, they shouldn’t complain about the length.
As for me, I give thanks to our God. In these four books, I have tried, with the little ability I have, not to show what kind of person I am (since I lack much), but rather what kind of person someone ought to be who wants to labor in sound doctrine—that is, in the Christian faith—not only for their own sake, but also for the sake of others.