Music
A Song for the Lonely Alberto Anguzza is a musician, not a medical professional. Nevertheless, many identified him as a sort of hero in the early days of the global COVID-19 pandemic. While Italy was on strict lockdown, Anguzza, a trumpeter, went out onto the balcony of his apartment in Trapano, Sicily, and offered a […]
TRANSLATED BY JOHN BIRCHENSHA Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638) was a professor of philosophy and theology at Herborn and, late in his life, at the University of Weissenburg. He was also a deputy to the Synod of Dort. More a compiler and codifier, his writings range very widely, including a philosophical encyclopedia and large theological treatises, […]
If it was good enough for Isaac Watts, then it’s good enough for me.” I didn’t come right out and say it, but I came close. I certainly was not going to attempt writing a new hymn; none was needed. Over two decades of writing and speaking about singing and liturgy, I’ve been accused of […]
Producing a printed worship book, including a full psalter, in an era of screens and me-centered “praise” songs could seem like a fool’s errand. Yet, in a bold effort to reclaim and even reintroduce God-centered, Bible-filled, musically excellent, and theologically robust songs to the modern church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the United Reformed […]
“Christians exist in an alternative chronology. The church has its own time.” — Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary Once upon a time, the Christian community did not orient its life around the seasonal calendar of winter, spring, summer, and fall. Of course, daily labors were rightly organized around the planting and harvest times, but […]
On Christmas Day some years ago, a dear saint in her eighties sat at our fireplace and regaled us with stories of what it was like to be a Christian in twentieth-century America. The conversation took a melancholic turn as she described the problems in the Reformed communions of which she had been a part. […]
Ever notice how the latest fad seems to have a shelf life of a year or two? It’s true even of our worship songs. The shocking novelty of introducing ‘I Wish We’d All Been Ready,’ or other choruses from the Jesus Movement, into a worship service has worn off and rock bands are now ‘traditional […]
In the minds of Christians who appreciate classical music, whether as performers or simply as listeners, perhaps no figure so fully epitomizes what it means to be a "Christian composer" or a "Christian musician" as does Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). While Lutherans can most legitimately claim Bach as their own’the composer was a part of […]
Sometimes God's grace is not a pretty sight. We love to romanticize the gospel, but at times, when God lays hold of people who are caught in the grip of the saddest vignettes of human experience, the end product is something we would hardly want to sing about, let alone live through ourselves. So it […]
I find it impossible," says N. T. Wright, "to imagine a growing and maturing church or Christian doing without the Psalms. And that is why (to be frank) a fair amount of contemporary Christian music has worried me for some time" (165). In this latest offering from Tom Wright, both individual Christian devotion and corporate […]
At the time of the Babylonian exile, the people of Israel asked, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Ps. 137:4). This question is still relevant for the church today, because we too are "sojourners and exiles" on the earth (1 Pet. 2:11). God clearly wants his pilgrim people to be […]
Most of the worship music we refer to as “contemporary” has been influenced by rock ‘n’ roll. As a form of art, the meaning of this style of music involves a whole set of assumptions and ideals, something Ken Myers has described as the “rock myth.” Myers explains, “The essence of that myth was that […]
T David Gordon (PhD, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia) is professor of religion and Greek at Grove City College, where he also teaches courses in the humanities and in media ecology. As a media ecologist, Gordon approaches the subject of this present volume intentionally as a sequel to his similarly titled Why Johnny Can't Preach: […]
Music in the Vernacular: The Psalter One of Calvin's early initiatives was to translate music designed for use in public worship into the language of the day. Realizing that what people sing in a holy context has enduring impact on how they act, Calvin wanted worship’in all its aspects’to be intelligible. Shortly after his settling […]
Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage, Rühmet, was heute der Höchste getan! Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage, Stimmet voll Jauchzen und Fröhlichkeit an! Dienet dem Höchsten mit herrlichen Chören, LaÃ?t uns den Namen des Herrschers verehren! Rejoice, exult! Up, glorify the days, praise what the All Highest this day has done! Set aside fear, […]
