Kim Davis is out of jail, but she is not out of the headlines. Her name is nearly everywhere in the media. Bloggers, pundits, and even presidential candidates have opined about the Rowan County clerk. Conservatives, Christians, and conservative Christians are deliberating whether Davis did the right thing and whether her jailing was justified. People… Continue Reading
God has a mission, and that mission is to create a people who will draw near to communion with him by faith through the means that he has provided in the sacrificial atonement of his Son. As part of that mission, God has tasked the New Testament Church to help make disciple-worshipers through the proclamation of the… Continue Reading
Ultimately, this book is not meant to address very specific application; rather, I have sought to lay the biblical groundwork that will allow church leaders to make informed, practical decisions regarding the relationship between worship and culture as they seek to reach an increasingly pagan culture. However, I will draw several general conclusions and applications… Continue Reading
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Psalm 137:46 Christians today live… Continue Reading
The following is an excerpt from By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture by Scott Aniol (Kregel, 2015). By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our… Continue Reading
There is a lot of talk today about cultural transformation. This has led to discussions about whether such a thing is part of the mission of the church. Is it a church’s job to transform culture? Well, it depends on what you mean by that phrase, which is why it is necessary to define exactly… Continue Reading
Last week I made the argument that all pastors and church musicians (or “worship leaders”) should give themselves to the study of worship, hymnology, and philosophy of ministry. I had a couple requests to offer a reading list on such topics, so that is what I intend to give today. Here is a basic list… Continue Reading
A primary focus of my ministry is teaching courses in the history and theology of worship, congregational song, and philosophy of ministry to future (and often current) church leaders. Here are some of the courses I have taught just this year: History and Theology of Worship Hebrew and Early Church Worship Seminar in Baptist Worship Arts,… Continue Reading
One of the most difficult passages of Paul’s writings to interpret is 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. In this passage, Paul commands Christian women who are praying or prophesying to cover their heads. At almost every turn, interpretative issues arise. Part of the problem is that we have very little understanding of cultural practices of the time that… Continue Reading
Navigating the difficult relationship between corporate worship and the culture around is is a challenge, but it is one made easier when we recognize the importance of corporate worship for actually forming our behavior. You see, worship is not simply the natural expression of a Christian; corporate worship—the public acting out of the spiritual realities of… Continue Reading
Yesterday I posted some reflections on the idea of “cultural affirmation” in response to another blog post, and a few friends helpfully indicated that I may have read more into the author’s words than he intended. This is entirely possible, and it is because I was “reading between the lines” that I didn’t specifically link… Continue Reading
This post concludes my series on the New Testament implications of the idea that culture is behavior. Here are all the implications: New Testament authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and value. New Testament authors identify people groups (ethnicities, tribes, nations, etc.) as those of common ancestral heritage who share… Continue Reading
Since culture is the same idea as behavior, we have been discussing important New Testament implications from this idea. Here are the previous implications: New Testament authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and value. New Testament authors identify people groups (ethnicities, tribes, nations, etc.) as those of common ancestral heritage… Continue Reading
We have been discussing New Testament implications of the idea that culture is essentially the behavior of a people group. Here are the previous implications: New Testament authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and value. New Testament authors identify people groups (ethnicities, tribes, nations, etc.) as those of common ancestral… Continue Reading
We are in the midst of a series on New Testament implications of the idea that culture is essentially behavior. Here are the previous two implications: New Testament authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and value. New Testament authors identify people groups (ethnicities, tribes, nations, etc.) as those of… Continue Reading
I am writing a series on implications of the idea that culture is essentially the behavior of a people. Last time I asserted that New Testament authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and value. The second implication is that New Testament authors identify people groups (ethnicities, tribes, nations, etc.) as… Continue Reading
Richard Niebuhr’s classic taxonomy in Christ and Culture attempts to articulate various ways of understanding the appropriate response of Christians toward culture: Christ Against Culture Christ of Culture Christ Above Culture Christ Transforming Culture Christ and Culture in Paradox One of the problems with any discussions of Niebuhr’s taxonomy is an equivocation, however, between Christians and churches. In… Continue Reading
Christians have always wrestled with how they should respond to the cultures around them. On the one hand, we recognize the goodness of God’s creation and his common grace upon all people. On the other hand, we recognize that people are sinful and that the world is hostile to God and to Christians. So what… Continue Reading
Quentin Faulkner makes the following assertion about polyphony and the western musical tradition: Polyphony is often cited as the major distinction of Western European art music. The development of complex formal structures could also be singled out for this honor. The attitude toward music that lies behind these accomplishments is, however, a more fundamentally distinctive… Continue Reading
Many Christians are talking about culture these days, but unfortunately few have given any serious thought to what culture is, especially in biblical terms. The term “culture” is a concept that has developed in the last few hundred years as a way to explain different behaviors between groups of people.1 British anthropologist Edward Tylor defined… Continue Reading