By Bob Burroughs There is a wonderful, thought-provoking text by the hymn writer Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863) titled “There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy. It speaks to this generation perhaps even more powerfully than to his own. It is not…
Mumford & Sons sing of grace and life
By Darrell Gwaltney I have been listening to Mumford & Sons’ new album Babel. Its deep biblical allusions and challenging lyrics about relationships and redemption invite repeated listenings. There’s enough in the album to keep my attention for a while….
Beautiful City
As I’ve been doing some writing today I’ve been listening to music on my computer. I’d loaded some new songs and I smiled as the opening notes of “Beautiful City” from “Godspell” began. It’s always been one of my favorite…
Don’t count out the church organ just yet
By Jeff Brumley There are times, Shaun King says, when worship music should be energetic, light or joyful. That’s when instruments like pianos, drums and guitars do the trick. But then there are times when the sound needs to be…
Prof: Kitty Wells wasn’t a feminist
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist seminary professor and country-music devotee is challenging eulogies portraying recently deceased singer/songwriter Kitty Wells as a feminist icon. Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology and vice president for academic administration at Southern…
Don’t forsake the old hymns
By Bob Burroughs I am becoming very burdened about what I am seeing, feeling and experiencing in worship these days in many churches. Things are different, even unusual, and for a lot of people, very uncomfortable. One such area is…
The Eschatology of ‘Young Love’
Six months ago I couldn’t have imagined writing an appreciative review of an album by an artist whose music is frequently described as a unique blend of folk, hip-hop, and Brit-pop (think Coldplay for the latter genre). The Coldplay connection…