Those who call for ‘authenticity’, ‘realness’, and ‘sincerity’, are not always sure what they mean, if you press them for a definition. Some mean honesty,… Read More »The Colloquial, the Casual, and the Crafted
This is the final post in a series I’ve been writing over the past couple months in order to more thoroughly develop an idea I… Read More »Worship forms regulated by Scripture
In By the Waters of Babylon, I make a brief statement about how the aesthetic forms of Scripture should guide and regulate worship forms today. In… Read More »Translating the Aesthetic Forms of Scripture
I’d like to take a few posts over the next several weeks to respond to one criticism of something I wrote, but did not develop,… Read More »Biblical Authority and the Aesthetics of Scripture
Last week I briefly summarized what I consider the first pillar of conservative Christianity–affirmation of transcendent truth, goodness, and beauty–and spent a bit of time… Read More »The Importance of Form
I read a post yesterday from a blog of a popular ministry that attempted to answer a question from a reader: “How important is the… Read More »How important is the style of music a church sings?
There are many factors that have contributed to problems in worship today, but I believe one of the most significant is the fact that very… Read More »Until fairly recently, every educated person would have known this
Debates over worship usually center on the issue of form. “Don’t elevate form over content,” the progressives cry. “Content is what is important; it really doesn’t matter… Read More »Form and content are not easily separable
Conservative evangelicals admirably repudiate emergent leaders who argue that both content and form must be contextualized; evangelicals insist that since God’s Word is inspired and… Read More »Aesthetic correspondence
Imagine yourself in a nice restaurant with your sweetheart, seeking to impress him/her. The ambiance is nice and romantic, there is soft classical music playing… Read More »Does Form Matter?
I defend a conservative philosophy of worship not because I want to protect old in the rejection of new, but because I believe “traditional” forms… Read More »On the flexibility of form in worship
I received an email a few days ago asking what I thought about a few particular contemporary Christian songs. The individual mentioned that he thought… Read More »Culture doesn’t just change
In part one of this series, we investigated what Isaiah describes as heartless worship. God was not pleased with that worship, nor did He accept… Read More »Godless Worship
Having first recommended books which expound the strong foundation of our faith, I have moved on to recommending books which reflect upon the milieu in… Read More »Culture Counts: Faith and Feeling in a World Besieged by Roger Scruton
I thought today would be a good day to make a few comments about the relationship between race and culture. Often the idea that cultures… Read More »On racism, ethnicity, and culture
Richard Weaver’s book Ideas Have Consequences is one of the more demanding reads you’ll encounter. I’ll confess it took me more than one reading to begin to… Read More »Unformed Expression
Christians’ affections are greatly shaped by the moral imagination. The moral imagination is largely shaped by the meaning of the various media it encounters. This… Read More »Form and Meaning
An interesting online discussion has emerged in the past few weeks about the issue of not singing a particular song in a service when that… Read More »To sing or not to sing, that is the question
Nicholas Wolterstorff, the Noah Porter Emeritus Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale University, confronts the common trends in aesthetics in 1980 with his engaging Art… Read More »Review: Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic by Nicholas Wolterstorff
What becomes apparent when studying worship in Hebrews, as exemplified by this central idea of faith, is that all of these continuities between OT and… Read More »Continuities between OT and NT Worship