There has been quite a surge on the blogsphere in recent days over debates between so-called “Two-Kingdom” advocates and “Transformationalists.” This post is an attempt… Read More »Two-Kingdom vs. Transformationalism: What’s all this fuss about?
The issue of culture is always of interest to those involved with worship for one obvious reason–the “cultural” aspects of worship, primarily music, poetry, and… Read More »Is culture the same as race?
There’s no question that the issue of race has been and continues to be a matter of severe debate in our country. I am convinced,… Read More »What is race?
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 Modern American evangelicalism has a tendency to augment the preaching of the gospel… Read More »Relevance is Irrelevant (Part 11)
A popular perspective among some evangelicals is that proclaiming morality to unsaved people is a waste of time. As the argument runs, even believers cannot… Read More »Shall We Preach the Gospel or Morality? Part Three: Morality and Gentile Nations
That culture in America is decaying is no secret to conservative Christians. Recent events surrounding homosexual marriage has once again pushed this realization to the… Read More »Why do we assume that music alone is immune from cultural decay?
Some contemporary Christians think it is counterproductive or even sinful to proclaim moral standards to unsaved people. One of the reasons they think this is… Read More »Shall We Preach the Gospel or Morality? Part Two: Natural Virtue and Common Grace
A few weeks ago I wrote about common straw man arguments that make their way into most debates about worship and music, and I cautioned against… Read More »What does race have to do with worship?
Recent kerfuffle over a Christian university changing its philosophy and practice of music has led to much discussion over whether disagreements over music and worship philosophy… Read More »Should differences over music philosophy hinder cooperation between Christians?
Last week I suggested that the basic building blocks of worship worship established in the creation/fall events: (1) God reveals himself and initiates a relationship with… Read More »Distorting the building blocks of worship
I think you should watch these. Set aside a few hours, and enjoy. . If you hunt, you might find most or parts of the… Read More »From Palestrina to Pino
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 I believe that the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians ought to guide our thinking concerning the relationship of our… Read More »Relevance is irrelevant (Part 4)
So far I have argued that neither “race”-related terms and “world”-related terms in the NT approximate the anthropological idea of “culture.” A third category of… Read More »Are NT “Behavior”-related Terms Equivalent to “Culture”?
All cultures and subcultures move through stages, and evangelicalism is, among other things, a distinct subculture of Christianity. In cultural terms, a classical period is… Read More »Why Church Feels The Way It Does
Inherent in the missional church’s insistence upon incarnation and contextualization is the idea that no aspect of culture is inherently sinful, or at very least… Read More »The Missional Philosophy of Culture
A couple weeks ago, I commented on how important it is for Christians in an age of Internet and media distractions to learn to wean… Read More »Doth not the mind often leave them before the Lord?
“It’s like reaching the rich young ruler by throwing money at him,” is the apt comparison of T. David Gordon in response to whether or not… Read More »T. David Gordon: “It’s like reaching the rich young ruler by throwing money at him.”
Our attention spans are shrinking. This is not news, and perhaps I’ve already lost you. Thoughtful people have said that the impressive array of media… Read More »The Internet, Short Attention Spans, and Preaching
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
In my handful of posts this month, I want to give some anecdotes from church history to inform us as to how missionaries, attempting to… Read More »A Humble Request and Prolegomena