The aim of my research for the PhD has been to explore the possibilities of sacred music composition beyond liturgical contexts. Although the bedrock of Western sacred music has traditionally been vocal music, I have attempted to broaden the boundaries by delving into the feasibility of instrumental sacred music. The word ‘sacred’ has been used in this thesis in the context of the Christian faith. Chapter I explains the reasons behind choosing sacred music composition as the objective of this thesis. In Chapter II, details of three different approaches are discussed, along with analysis of the individual pieces. These approaches are: application of modern musical language to sacred music; composing sacred instrumental music without pre-existing references; composing sacred instrumental and vocal music with pre-existing references, such as quotations from the established canon of sacred music or derivations of the system for change-ringing English church bells.