Worship

A Comparison Review of Proposals by Robert Webber and Robert Dickie

Webber, Robert E. Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. Grand Rapids, MI: 2008. Softcover. 192 pages. ISBN: 978-0-8010-6624-5. $14.99.

Few words are as apt to elicit a passionate response as the words worship music. Churches, institutions, and homes have been rocked (pun intended) by debates over what is—and more often, what is not!—acceptable music. While I understand the debate and tend to land on the conservative side of it, the fact that the term worship is heard by many as a call to arms instead of a call to prayer grieves me.

I Surrender “Some”

When I came to Christ at age nineteen, my life was dramatically and irreversibly changed. Many of those changes were immediate. I stopped doing and selling dope. I cut my hair. I burned my rock albums (no CDs then!) and shaved my mustache, the final vestige of my worldly life, before going to Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC).

by Greg Howlett

Music is a lightning rod for controversy on SharperIron, and I am hopeful that this article will lead to some thoughtful discussion and introspection. However, I have challenged myself to write about music in a way that is relevant to the average fundamentalist church while avoiding the normal debates about CCM and stylistic preferences.

Reviewed by Todd Wood.

Harline, Craig. Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Hardcover, 450 pages. $26.00.

by Todd Wood

I am a devoted pursuer of this topic. Sure, I like ice cream, oak furniture, running shoes, fast bikes, tuned skis, ocean beaches, and exotic cultures. I drink Mountain Dew. I enjoy good mountaineering. I sprint after my kids for some fun tickle-tag, and I smooch my wife (an absolute blast). But it is God at the center who brings everything into true joyous harmony.