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 into their language, be it spoken, acted, or sung. Here are some helpful words from an excellent journal article by Mark Snoeberger that I think get to the heart of… Continue Reading
Musical form shapes content in very similar ways to poetic form, yet it is a bit more abstract and thus considerably more difficult to readily recognize. But because music communicates by mimicking natural human expression, anyone can discern the basic meaning of music by simply listening closely and asking a few penetrating questions. Music contains… Continue Reading
Word/Phrase Choice There are several different ways that content can be shaped within a hymn. The first is simply with what words are chosen to communicate the message. Words are important. How we put them together into phrases is important. Words and phrases are important because different words and phrases have different connotations—different “feelings” attached… Continue Reading
Today we finally arrive at a discussion of the nature of rap itself. This post will be beneficial for you, however, only if you accept the following assertions on made on Monday: Man is completely depraved and thus cannot trust his own preferences implicitly. Music is a medium of human communication and thus must be… Continue Reading
Are “Christian” and “rap” mutually exclusive? Mark Dever’s answer after a 9Marks interview with Shai Linne and Curtis Allen (Voice): “Hardly.” This from one of the most conservative evangelicals alive today. It is primarily for that reason that I’d like to make a few comments about the interview. If this is what one of the most… Continue Reading