Writer | Editor | Artist | Ordinand
Lent. Otherwise known quite often in my mind as six weeks without soda--or something like that. Oh, it starts off well enough. The first few days I'm really into it. I go to my church's early morning Ash Wednesday service. I'm reading the scriptures, prayers, and devotions of the season. I'm challenged by fasting from … Continue reading The Lent Trap
The season of Advent is directly related to the season of Christmas, but it is not Christmas. Christmas itself begins Christmas Day and lasts for twelve days, followed by the also-related season of Epiphany. Often, we confuse Advent for Christmas itself. It's easy to do with manger scenes, Christmas trees, festivities, and such things. There's certainly … Continue reading Advent is Not Christmas
On Good Friday, one man knew Jesus was a king: the condemned thief dying right beside him. Jesus was mocked by Romans, rejected by Jews, and abandoned by his own disciples that day. But for a man at the end of his rope, the only hope was in Jesus being the king he claimed to be.
We long for a restoration like this in our world. We look around and see so much beauty in the world, but we also know that it isn't what it could be, what it should be. It is but a shadow of what once was.
It is a fair inference that experiences of earthly beauty awaken a longing for a beauty that is more permanent and transcendent than anything this life can give – a longing for the beauty of God.
Last week, I posted that the lead pastor of my church, Daniel Montgomery, had given his "top five books" (though the last two ended up being persons rather than books) on art and the church. In response, I think it is time for me to post an initial list of my own. Here goes: For … Continue reading My Top Five Resources on Art and the Church
I grew up in the North Georgia mountains, in the rolling, rural heart of the Deep South, and thus was thoroughly aware of Christianity from a very early age. The beliefs and mores of Christianity have long engrained themselves into that culture. My great-aunt and uncle and would take me to a back-woods independent church … Continue reading My Testimony
(This review is abridged from a critical analysis submitted for a seminary course.) Peter J. Leithart. A House for My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2000. 279 pp. $21.00 Introduction Most Christians struggle to grasp the relevance of the Old Testament and, all to often, fail to see the … Continue reading Review: A House for My Name
Godawa, Brian. Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009. There seems to be a recent movement within the Protestant community to finally start talking about the arts and their role in the Christian life. Numerous publishers in the evangelical and mainline streams have released direct or indirect approaches to … Continue reading Review: Word Pictures
(This paper was originally written for the seminary course Biblical Theology of Worship in Spring 2009) THE GOSPEL IN IMAGES: REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGERY AND WORSHIP by Jacob A. Davis Introduction Throughout the Scriptures, it becomes quickly apparent that God constantly uses symbolism to remind his people of his covenant promises with them or of great things … Continue reading The Gospel in Images: Representational Imagery and Worship
