Pastor's Blog

"Music, in particular, is not a tool for theological dissertation; it's a tool for helping us feel what we know." Great way to put it, J.R.

I didn't really understand The Big Idea back then, and then later rejected it. But it's all coming back around now, isn't it? Maybe I really do have a clue to ponder...

Excellent point about the role of music. Poetry, in general, is almost opposite in its use of language to exposition. Poetry compresses language, tries to say more in fewer words, relies on suggestion and implication rather than logic and reason--which is why Psalms doesn't read like Romans. That is not to say that the truths it contains are less profound than those contained in a doctrinal treatise, but they will certainly be expressed differently.

I wonder how many people who sing older hymns (that are supposed to carry so much more doctrine) are actually conscious of the doctrinal content that they are singing? How many people, for example, are aware that in "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," the line "on earth is not his equal" is referring to Satan? I'll bet a lot of people unconsciously assume it's an expression of God's greatness. We tend not to logically think about the words of songs that we sing.

On the issue of using initials--if you were named John Ronald Reuel or Clive Staples, wouldn't you use initials? Lewis hated his name so much he went by "Jack" his whole life.