Teaching children hymns: recommendations
Last week I argued that, if we are committed to conservative worship, it only follows that we should be committed to perpetuating conservative worship in… Read More »Teaching children hymns: recommendations
Articles
Browse articles on various topics below.
Tobias Clausnitzer, "Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word"
“Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word” makes an outstanding musical call to worship. The text is superb, and the tune LIEBSTER JESU is a good fit.… Read More »Tobias Clausnitzer, "Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word"
Cultivated, Commercial, and Communal Music
Church music in nineteenth century America can be summarized very simply with one word: reform. In many ways, the influential writers and composers of the nineteenth century… Read More »Cultivated, Commercial, and Communal Music
Some Things to Consider Including in Your Worship – Singing the Psalms
The singing of psalms has all but disappeared from many congregations, unless you count the “As the Deer” chorus as a singing of a psalm.… Read More »Some Things to Consider Including in Your Worship – Singing the Psalms
The Sola Scriptura trump card
Some recent internet discussions, some sprung from Ken Brown’s very fair review of my book, have once again led to all sorts of folks slapping… Read More »The Sola Scriptura trump card
Truth and the Moral Imagination
If, as I argued in the last post, truth is more than factual correspondence—if it has an aesthetic aspect to it—then both the apprehension and the… Read More »Truth and the Moral Imagination
Teach children hymns
We believe that the great Christian tradition of hymnody should be perpetuated. We treasure the invaluable contributions of the saints to our corporate and private… Read More »Teach children hymns
The Christian and Nakedness in Art
Recently, I came across an article entitled “Art, Nakedness, and Redemption” by William VanDoodewaard, a church history professor at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. In this… Read More »The Christian and Nakedness in Art
Three Cultural Streams in 19th-Century American Church Music
The development of American church music during the nineteenth century has important implications for the philosophy and practice of church music in the twentieth century… Read More »Three Cultural Streams in 19th-Century American Church Music
Some Things to Consider Including in your Worship – A Call to Worship
In this series, I hope to highlight the benefits of certain worship practices that are sometimes missing from the free-worship traditions. I do not mean… Read More »Some Things to Consider Including in your Worship – A Call to Worship
Preserving the Truth in our Worship
My argument in this series will be that conservative worship is essential to the preservation of truth for this reason: we will have preserved truth successfully… Read More »Preserving the Truth in our Worship
Come Down, O Love Divine
The hymn “Come Down, O Love Divine” is a worthy one if you do not yet know it. I was first introduced to it several… Read More »Come Down, O Love Divine
Wesley on prayer in "Soldiers of Christ, Arise"
This month, our pastor preached through the Ephesians 6 passage on spiritual warfare. We used Wesley’s “Soldiers of Christ, Arise” (to the usual tune DIADEMATA),… Read More »Wesley on prayer in "Soldiers of Christ, Arise"
The importance of distinguishing between folk and pop culture
Recognition of a difference between folk and pop music may perhaps seem inconsequential, but for a composer like Ralph Vaughan Williams the distinction was at… Read More »The importance of distinguishing between folk and pop culture
Multiculturalism and Cultural Prejudice
The act of judging a foreign culture for meaning and moral value is attacked by post-modern critics as an example of bigotry. After all, what… Read More »Multiculturalism and Cultural Prejudice
A Distinctly Christian Culture
So is there a distinctly Christian culture? Is there a distinctly Christian music? Yes, there is—it is culture and music that expresses Christian values. In… Read More »A Distinctly Christian Culture
Does contextualization heighten the likelihood of a positive response to the gospel?
Conversations about missions and music often revolve around an insistence that in order to reach unbelievers in a target culture, we need to contextualize the message… Read More »Does contextualization heighten the likelihood of a positive response to the gospel?
All Things to All Men
Few passages of Scripture are more popular among contemporary Christians than 1 Corinthians 9:19‐23. Especially fashionable is Paul’s line in verse 22 about becoming “all… Read More »All Things to All Men
The superiority of folk culture to pop culture
The motivations behind Vaughan Williams’s use of folk idioms in his music also clearly demonstrates the distinction between folk and pop music in his thinking.… Read More »The superiority of folk culture to pop culture
Multiculturalism and Judging Culture
One of thorniest issues facing Christian missions is the propriety and possibility of judging other cultures. Since all cultures are affected by both human depravity… Read More »Multiculturalism and Judging Culture