Tag Archives: tradition

Discerning the Christian Imagination: Consensus and Canonicity

Discerning the Christian Imagination: Consensus and Canonicity

This entry is part 8 of 9 in the series Christian Imagination You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Determining if a poem, hymn, musical piece, novel, devotional work, painting or other work should be considered a helpful work of Christian imagination is mostly an act of considering its meaning. Does its content agree with the truths of Scripture? Does its form remain consonant with that content, and shape the appropriate responses in us?… Continue Reading

The importance of cultural discernment in Christian education

The importance of cultural discernment in Christian education

If Christian educators are intent upon educating their students with truth, both its factual content and the way the truth is imagined, then they must commit to utilize the best of our classical tradition. We have at our fingertips a rich heritage of cultural forms that have grown within value systems that are fully consistent with what it… Continue Reading

The Path

The Path

It was to be his first journey through the forest. Gram watched excitedly as his grandfather hitched the wagon to the old family work horse. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, the morning sun peaking its rays over the horizon in the distance. He turned and looked at the forest. Daylight would soon paint the… Continue Reading

Democracy of the Dead

Democracy of the Dead

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. -G. K. Chesterton Continue Reading

Article 12: On the Cultivation of Christian Tradition

Article 12: On the Cultivation of Christian Tradition

This entry is part 14 of 17 in the series A Conservative Christian Declaration You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

  This is a series to further explain the articles of “A Conservative Christian Declaration.” . We affirm the importance of beginning our pursuit of sound worship and holy living within the bounds of traditions that we have inherited from the saints of the entire church age (2 Tim. 2:2, Phil. 3:17). Many of these believers,… Continue Reading

Conservative Change

Conservative Change

Those two words don’t seem to fit together, do they? Doesn’t “conservative” imply a reluctance to change? While it is true that conservative people are often portrayed as resistant to any change, and perhaps many conservatives warrant such a portrayal, I’d like to explore here a biblically conservative philosophy of change and demonstrate that often… Continue Reading

Authenticity

Authenticity

There is a cry today for authenticity in worship. This comes in several different forms, but most commonly it relates to worship and music style compared to the prevailing culture and an individual Christian’s tastes, and it is usually used as the foundation for arguments that every generation needs their own songs and that people… Continue Reading

From Palestrina to Pino

From Palestrina to Pino

I think you should watch these. Set aside a few hours, and enjoy. . If you hunt, you might find most or parts of the eight episodes online. Or you might simply splurge and give the BBC some more filthy lucre for the two series on DVD. You won’t be disappointed. If for no other… Continue Reading

Why do we think new is better?

Why do we think new is better?

New and improved! Fresh! The latest! Exciting! You don’t have to go far in our society today to witness claims of having the newest, latest product. One would not think of buying something old, stale, and “so yesterday.” This applies to commercial products that are marketed by clever advertisers, but, unfortunately, it also often applies… Continue Reading

The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk

The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk

This entry is part 9 of 18 in the series Books Every Conservative (and Liberal) Christian Should Read You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

“In the United States at this time Liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition,” Lionel Trilling famously declared in 1950. There was truth in what Trilling said, but not the whole truth. Three years later a young professor from Michigan State University conceded, “For a century and a half, conservatives… Continue Reading

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

This entry is part 8 of 18 in the series Books Every Conservative (and Liberal) Christian Should Read You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Some writers are skilled builders, and it is enjoyable just to watch them work, even if you couldn’t care less what they are building. C. S. Lewis is one of those writers, and the book under consideration is one of those books. Consider: how many books you can think of from the twentieth century from… Continue Reading

Elephant Room 2, Biblicism, and the Importance of Tradition

Elephant Room 2, Biblicism, and the Importance of Tradition

If you aren’t at least somewhat familiar with the recent controversy over T. D. Jakes, James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, and the Elephant Room, you’ve probably been hibernating in a cave somewhere. Others have given helpful responses from various perspectives including ecclesiastical separation, unity, ministry associations, the African American angle, and one from Carson and Keller… Continue Reading

Fostering a Love for Tradition

Fostering a Love for Tradition

This entry is part 31 of 32 in the series Toward Conservative Christian Churches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Fostering a right view towards the Christian tradition is part of true Christianity. Conservative pastors will do their best to see the Christian tradition rightly viewed and used in their local churches. Living in an age which assumes that the latest point in church history is the most advanced point, a respect for tradition may not come naturally to… Continue Reading

Rightly Evaluating Tradition

Rightly Evaluating Tradition

This entry is part 30 of 32 in the series Toward Conservative Christian Churches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

If we are to grow a right view of the Christian tradition within our churches, we will have to overcome the ‘suspicion of tradition’ that pervades many evangelical churches. One way to do this is to teach Christians how to evaluate writings, hymns, prayers, and liturgies from the Christian past. When Christians have a set… Continue Reading

Rightly Viewing Tradition

Rightly Viewing Tradition

This entry is part 29 of 32 in the series Toward Conservative Christian Churches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The religious scene of the country in which I minister is populated by mainline Protestant churches, some of whom place great emphasis on tradition. However, in many of these churches, the gospel itself is all but invisible, an assumed but unseen foundation of the house. The problem is, most of those in the house have… Continue Reading

Conservatives and Tradition

Conservatives and Tradition

This entry is part 27 of 32 in the series Toward Conservative Christian Churches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

A church that is self-consciously conservative has a relationship with both the past and the future. If we are conserving Christianity, we must be conserving the Christianity we have received – from the church of the past. If we are conserving Christianity, we must be doing so for the sake of passing it on –… Continue Reading

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen

This entry is part 2 of 18 in the series Books Every Conservative (and Liberal) Christian Should Read You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

It has been called “the second most important book you will ever read.” Whatever rank of importance it may command, there is no doubt that Christianity and Liberalism is a book conservative Christians must read repeatedly. “The purpose of this book,” Machen begins, “is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but… Continue Reading

Introduction to <i>Recovering Intentional Worship: Some Things to Consider Including in Your Church Service</i> by David de Bruyn

Introduction to <i>Recovering Intentional Worship: Some Things to Consider Including in Your Church Service</i> by David de Bruyn

PURCHASE THE BOOKLET ON AMAZON When your car has broken down for the umpteenth time, you ask yourself the question: do I fix it or replace it? That kind of choice confronts us with kitchen appliances that break, computer gadgets that fail, and never‑ending household repairs. Is it better (and cheaper) to fix what we have or to replace… Continue Reading

A History of Psalm 130 in Music: Part 1

A History of Psalm 130 in Music: Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series A History of Psalm 130 in Music You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Sometimes we really don’t appreciate the continuity of the Christian tradition, especially in that there is, by and large, an approach to the music of worship that can be traced back to ancient Israel itself and its psalmody. Over the next several weeks, I want to trace how a particular psalm, Psalm 130, has been… Continue Reading

The conservatism of the normative principle

The conservatism of the normative principle

At this year’s Conference on Conservative Christianity (which concluded Tuesday), Steve Thomas of Huron Baptist Church made a point in one of his sessions that I found remarkably insightful. Most of those attending the conference would either embrace the regulative principle of worship outright, or would advocate something very much like the regulative principle. The… Continue Reading