The Knowledge of the Holy and The Pursuit of God are A.W. Tozer’s most popular titles and understandably so. Those who read them find genuine spiritual insight, heartfelt piety, and an invitation to worship from one in the very act of doing so. They are different works, that came about in different ways. The Pursuit… Continue Reading
The first duty of man ordained and brought forth into this world for that end, — my most dear Valerian! — is to know his Creator, and being known, to confess Him, and to resign or give up his life — which is the wonderful and peculiar gift of God, — to the service and worship of… Continue Reading
Brother Lawrence, born Nicolas Herman in Hériménil, near Lunéville in the region of Lorraine, in 1611, was a former footsoldier and valet who entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris as a lay brother, taking the name “Lawrence of the Resurrection”. His serene piety drew attention, and he was eventually interviewed in person, and through… Continue Reading
Winner of “Best Book Subtitle of the Last Decade” must surely go to John McWhorter’s Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Music and Language And Why We Should, Like, Care. McWhorter is witty, disarming, and generally enjoyable (if, unfortunately, lewd in places) while arguing a serious and convincing thesis. He is no grammar-maven, writing… Continue Reading
Who knows how many volumes have been written by Christians through the centuries? Spurgeon’s works alone are 63 volumes, which are equivalent to the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Unlike Spurgeon’s works, not every Christian’s writings have been preserved, or been worth preserving. Wesley said we ought to be people of one book, but students… Continue Reading
And the most notable era of Scottish preaching was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they had great power. In fact, the strongest reformational preaching going on in Europe at that time was in Scotland, the great preaching of the Reformation in Scotland. For two centuries it lasted. And Blakey writing in 1888 points out… Continue Reading
I read, with a chuckle, that some of the writers here have been called Beethoven-only, a tongue-in-cheek, but ironically inaccurate nick. Actually, some of us believe Western music began to go wrong with Beethoven, but let me not divert matters. I understand the idea behind the title. Scott has dealt elsewhere with the straw-man argument that we represent… Continue Reading
Dear saint, You have been reading about orthopathy and ordinate affection, and perhaps it all sounds rather perplexing and intimidating. The controversy around these matters is unnerving and unsettling, and you wish it would go away. It has caused you some real anxiety. You are close to real distress, or worse, to dismissing the whole… Continue Reading
Unless you believe in orthopathy as essential to Christianity, the worship wars are much ado over nothing. They represent the dying thrashes of hide-bound traditionalists, raging against the waning popularity of those songs most familiar to them. They represent the immature clamor of people who do not understand the Romans 14 principle, and want to… Continue Reading
In the past week or so, we’ve seen some of the happenings at Northland expose (at least as far as the Internet can demonstrate) the fault-line that exists in Fundamentalism over music. Of course, the battle over music is by no means limited to Baptist Fundamentalists. It remains a matter of contention in Reformed, Presbyterian,… Continue Reading
Thus far in this series, we have seen several truths about manners and their relation to worship and worship forms: All cultures have manners. All cultures recognize the importance of appropriate responses. The expression of these appropriate responses differs greatly between cultures. These differences do not relativize the affections of reverence or honor They demonstrate that meaning comes… Continue Reading
A post like this may seem to some like those who call evil good and good evil. Can there be anything edifying in ridicule? Is ridicule an exercise in saying what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous and praiseworthy? Our aversion to ridicule may not be because we side so strongly with principles of… Continue Reading
What do widely varying manners tell us about ordinate affection? Some reason this way: since some cultures regard eye-contact as respectful, and others regard eye-contact as impudent, these opposite understandings of reverence show the relative and subjective nature of manners. These outward expressions are adiaphora – indifferent, neutral things. The morality lies in the person… Continue Reading
My Lord, my Master, at Thy feet adoring, I see Thee bowed beneath Thy load of woe: For me, a sinner, is Thy life-blood pouring; For Thee, my Saviour, scarce my tears will flow. Thine own disciple to the Jews has sold Thee, With friendship’s kiss and loyal word he came; How oft of faithful… Continue Reading
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” This command is universally understood to mean that God’s name is not to be used as a curse-word, or as a mere exclamation. And who would deny that? To use the very name of God to express irritation or surprise, to add… Continue Reading
Manners are strange and wonderful things. Every culture has them, and yet they often vary widely between cultures. In Western culture, ‘ladies first’ is a way of expressing deference and honour to women, while in some black cultures in South Africa, a man is to enter every space first to demonstrate his protection of those… Continue Reading
As Kaplan concludes, he considers the social functions of popular art. He sees its appeal in finding a common denominator among people. It is popular because it appeals to almost universal tastes. As to its function, popular art is no longer associated with serious cultural concerns, such as religion, love, war and politics, and the… Continue Reading
Popular art is accused of being escapist. Kaplan agrees and disagrees. He argues that popular art seeks to escape the ugliness or troubles of this world, but it does so differently to serious art. Art may give us an idealized depiction of the world, but it seeks to transform the reality of the world. Real… Continue Reading
Kaplan disputes the idea that popular art provides relief from boredom. In one very real sense, it perpetuates it. The key difference between serious or useful art and popular art is that popular art provides an emotional experience without perspective. The consumer feels, but he feels without understanding. He has little perspective on his feelings,… Continue Reading
You can recognize popular art not only through its form (or formlessness), but through the feelings it evokes, according to Kaplan. He disagrees with the common objection that popular art is mere entertainment. All art, Kaplan argues, has intrinsic interest and intrinsic value, giving joy to the beholder without regard to more serious interests. That… Continue Reading