Up to this point in this series, I have described the essence of conservative Christianity, particularly its philosophy of beauty and culture, and described the… Read More »Differences over philosophy of culture must always affect cooperation
In 2006 an approach to church ministry began to gain popularity. It was called a “two-handed” approach to ministry. One closed hand represented the theology… Read More »The “Two Hands” of Ministry
Some Evangelicals’ credo might be: “There is only one Tolkien, and Peter Jackson is his Prophet.” While there is no denying that the art of… Read More »Why Tolkien Wrote About Middle-Earth
While watching an Olympic medal ceremony a few evenings ago, I remembered a blog post I wrote over ten years ago (on a now extinct blog)… Read More »National Anthems and the Universal Language
Many Christians think about serving Christ as something we do inside the church. If you’re a really good Christian, you’ll volunteer in the church nursery,… Read More »Work that Serves Christ
Christians claim to be concerned with meaning. They debate over the meaning of texts of Scripture, and urge particular hermeneutics, so as to arrive at… Read More »Why Christians Should Care About Meaning in Art
What would ‘Churches Without Chests” look like? To use a strictly Lewisian definition, it would be groups of professing believers without ‘the spirited element’. In… Read More »Chestless Churches
Sentimentalism would not be high on pastors’ lists of threats to the church, were they to be polled for such a thing. False doctrine, lack… Read More »Sweetly Destructive
One of the cornerstones of arguments in favor of musical relativism is that musical interpretation is culturally conditioned and therefore subjective—one may not expect someone else… Read More »The Culture of Humanity
A first-grade teacher does not require, but typically expects the five and six-year-olds that arrive in class to be able to: * understand enough language… Read More »What Churches Take For Granted (But No Longer Should)
Occasionally I listen to the Mortification of Spin (hereafter MOS) podcast. I find the episodes largely helpful and would happily recommend the podcast to others.… Read More »The Mortification of Spin’s Take on Secular Music (or, Calvin vs. the Calvinists)
I’ve heard it said many times, often by people I love and respect: “Christians have always used contemporary music in their worship.” Or, it might… Read More »There hasn’t always been contemporary worship music
In 1 Corinthians 14:7-8, Paul says, ”If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know… Read More »Paul, Plato, and Calvin on Music
Every year about this time we begin to hear again about the “war on Christmas,” and this year is no different. Apparently Starbucks is the… Read More »Is the secularization of Christmas anything new?
Paul’s Words to the Ephesians The beginning of Ephesians 5 is striking. Paul writes to former idolaters and fornicators, reminding them of their new life in… Read More »tobyMac and the state of Evangelical piety
So here are the primary points of my argument: Culture is the behavior of a people. The formation of certain kinds of behaviors falls squarely… Read More »Practice Makes Perfect: Culture and the Liturgies of Life
Over the past several weeks I have been making the argument that in order to shape the behavior–the culture–of a people, we must give attention… Read More »Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi
We saw last week that in order to counteract the negative effects of worldly liturgies, the liturgies of our churches must be shaped by Scripture.… Read More »Reenactment
Last week I mentioned that we are inevitably shaped by worldly liturgies, and so we need something to counteract this. This is where it will… Read More »Corporate Worship is Formative
Our aim over the past several weeks has been to discover how Christians can cultivate higher inclinations toward what is true and good, but we must… Read More »Worldly Liturgies