Today there is no suggestive music anymore, because "suggestive" implies a measure of subtlety.
Music
The Artistic Theologian
Check Out The Artistic Theologian, a new journal put together in part by my friend Scott Aniol and, in its first issue, featuring articles by Scott, Kevin Bauder, and T. David Gordon. I was given the opportunity to submit a review to its inaugural volume.
Perceptive Comment on Worship
We need to ditch the false belief that cultural forms are neutral. Every enculturation of Christianity highlights some elements of the faith and obscures others. We must be vigilant and creatively compensate for what gets lost in translation when we use the language...
Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet Anointed Solomon King, and All the People Rejoiced!
I'm writing now about the ascent and demise of King Solomon, and I found this magnificent accompaniment for my writing.
Spotify: Not Sharpest Knife in Drawer, But Close
This review was supplied by little Mikey Wood, a ten-year-old technology reviewer I have hired to do kid-appropriate reviews of new tech. Mikey is a distant cousin of Rodney Trotter, of Reformation 21 fame. I like Spotify. It is good. It's kind of weird, though,...
Love the Lord with All Your Heart
Several years ago our outreach pastor asked me to write some music for words by our church's resident lyricist, Eileen Berry. The purpose was to have a "theme song" for our church's Bible clubs. Because I worked at the weekly teen club, it also landed in the rotation...
It Doesn’t Get Much Better than This
It doesn't get much better than this... ...except that my alma mater's own Warren Cook did it better in 1998 (?) on one of the only two cassette tapes I still treasure. I don't know how he did it—some passages aren't even as clear as those of the great choir (Canada's...
That’s Why They Call it Pop
Very interesting! Does anybody in New York listen to classical music? The closest we got was Sinatra! (Or Terry Gross, I suppose.) HT: Jason Kottke HT: Alan Jacobs
Preserving the Truth Almost-Live Blog (Friday, Jan 7)
Instead of writing the last few pages of my dissertation, I’m at the Preserving the Truth Conference at First Baptist Church of Troy. Here are my notes from last night: Breakout Sessions Scott Aniol argued this, if I could boil it down: we can't have a-cultural church...
Hallelujah Flash Mobs
If you have not yet seen the following videos (I put the better one first), then forget for once all that useless stuff I just posted about being distracted by the Internet, and just watch. I was moved to tears by both videos. It is so powerful to hear such beautiful...
Farmteam Community Church
American Idol's amazing popularity makes it a very interesting subject for cultural criticism. This year's win of a former worship leader over an androgynous rocker raised the following question on GetReligion, an insightful blog: Has Sunday morning in megachurch...
Words of Controversial Wisdom from Someone Else Don’t Blame Me I Just Repeated It But I Do Think They Are Wise So Take Them Under Advisement and May the Lord Grant You Wisdom
Here are two arguments I took down from a conversation I had with a musically oriented older man who has significant seminary training. I offer them for your consideration; I thought they were wise: When people are dancing and acting without inhibition at a rock...