It is time to complete our discussion of Psalm 137 by looking through stanza 3, verses 7–9: Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of… Read More »Looking through Psalm 137, Stanza 3: Worship that Trusts in God
We have considered our experience as God’s people in exile through stanza 1 of Psalm 137; now look at stanza 2, verses 5–6: If I… Read More »Looking through Psalm 137, Stanza 2: Worship that is Pleasing to God
In our study of Psalm 137 over the past several weeks, we have looked at the historical context of the psalm, the analogical relationships between… Read More »Looking through Psalm 137, Stanza 1: Worship in a Pagan Culture
Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at Psalm 137 and its relevance for Christian today. I have presented the historical background of… Read More »What Psalm 137 Does
Last week, as part of our study of Psalm 137, I pointed out the striking similarities between the conditions in which the Hebrews exiled in… Read More »Dual Citizens
Last week I presented the historical context for Psalm 137, a context of the people of God living in exile among a pagan people. Now once… Read More »A People in Exile
Last week I began a series looking at Psalm 137. I am going to do two things with the psalm; first, I will look at… Read More »The Historical Context of Psalm 137
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.… Read More »God’s People in Exile
Too often, contemporary Christianity sees all emotions or affections as essentially equal. For this reason, many conclude as long as some kind of religious emotion… Read More »Augustine on that which deserves the name “love”
Last week I argued that if we believe in verbal-plenary inspiration, then the meaning of the aesthetic forms we employ in our contemporary worship must accurately… Read More »Fittingness
In this series of essays, I have argued that Scripture presents God’s truth to us, not merely in didactic propositions, but also (in fact, mostly!)… Read More »Aesthetic Correspondence
Roger Olson asks, “Why are we afraid of emotion in worship?” The short answer is that we–as in we at Religious Affections Ministries–aren’t. Not in… Read More »Afraid of Emotion in Worship?
Some Evangelicals’ credo might be: “There is only one Tolkien, and Peter Jackson is his Prophet.” While there is no denying that the art of… Read More »Why Tolkien Wrote About Middle-Earth
For the past five years I have had the privilege of teaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. It has been a… Read More »Receive a MA or PhD in Worship Studies without Relocating
When we tacitly assume that we are the primary actors in worship, then we also assume that worship is basically an expressive endeavor. This is why we… Read More »Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us.
Over the past several weeks, I have been demonstrating how the theology and practice of worship has historically divided Christians into various denominations, provided the… Read More »Maintaining appropriate unity and necessary disunity through worship
Here is a sermon I preached yesterday at our church that’s relevant to matters we discuss often here. Read 1 Kings 18:1-40 The Rise and… Read More »Lessons from a Worship War for a People in Exile
Last week I discussed how the Praise and Worship movement has blurred important doctrinal distinctives between churches and denominations by making musical style the predominant… Read More »Blurring doctrinal distinctives with Church Growth
The watering down of doctrine in evangelicalism, evidenced perhaps most acutely in the minimizing of important denominational distinctives and the growth of the “Nones,” is… Read More »Worship and doctrinal disctinctives
In the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul rebukes the church for its chaotic worship. It seems that the problems included women teachers (14:33b-35), the… Read More »The Holy Spirit and decent and orderly worship