Teach Them to Sing
by Rebekah Talbot Alabama summers: hot, humid days where there’s little left to do than to sit under a fan, staring at the heat waves hovering over the sizzling pavement. By the time night fell, this curly-headed girl and her sisters were stir crazy to say the least. These were times when my wise mother would sit down at our antique, upright piano and pull out her childhood hymnal. We’d hear the melody from a distant room, and one by...
Augustine on Desire and Music
The role of desire has received much attention in recent Christian thought. Largely this turn stems from James K. A. Smith’s writings. Smith wrote in 2009, “[W]e are primarily desiring animals rather than merely thinking things.”[1] He contends that we are primarily lovers and not knowers, thus churches should aim to shape and form the congregation’s desires by appealing to them. He intends to draw the congregant into a gut-level,...
Book Review: Resounding Truth
by M. Grady Calhoun Music is everywhere. It has infiltrated almost every culture, especially modern Western culture, from all sides. One scarcely enters a coffee shop, mall, airport, or arena where music isn’t belted from a sound system. Music is present to help manage our moods for whatever everyday task with which we find ourselves engaged. It so surrounds us that we often forget its presence. This may leave us wondering: “How is...
What Language Shall I Borrow?
Steve Jobs, the man who revolutionized the way we listen to music, was asked by his 2011 biographer what was on his iPod. In his answer, Jobs related a musical experience that had nothing to do with an mp3 player. Jobs had desperately wanted virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma to play for his wedding. Though scheduling conflicts would not allow it, they soon developed a friendship. One day Ma visited Jobs’ home to play the J. S. Bach piece he...
Churches Aren’t Radio Stations
In Herman Melville’s classic work Moby Dick, the main character Ishmael tells of the last chapel service he attended before setting out on a whaling vessel. He details the odd pulpit used in the small chapel, which resembled a large ship’s bow. To further the nautical impression, the high pulpit could only be reached by use of a velvet rope ladder akin to the rope ladders used to reach a ship’s masts. Ishmael eventually concludes,...
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