Farewell to the "father" of Christian rock

Yesterday morning, Sunday, February 24, Larry Norman passed away at his home in Salem, Oregon. He has been rightly called the father of Christian rock.

The music of Larry Norman, his ideas, his principles all helped me see that Christianity was and should be a vital force in our world. And despite his other-worldly theology, his commitment to excellence in music and to Christian creativity is what largely sensitized me to Reformational thinking. I doubt Larry Norman had read or heard of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd, but his musicianship and his call to the church to be relevant in the world clearly reflected their principles.

In this way, Larry Norman's life and music prepared me to attend Dordt College and made me receptive to the philosophy being taught there.

http://www.larrynorman.com/

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/februaryweb-only/109-22.0.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8365594

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman

"All I wanna know is why should the Devil have all the good music?"

The Church Digging Its Own Grave

I've recently been re-reading The Gravedigger Files by Os Guinness. This Screwtape Letters-esque book argues that the church of the West is being duped on several levels by diabolical schemes in which the church digs its own grave. Long out of print (I first read it in the 80s), this volume offers detailed and trenchant analysis of the problems the church in North America faces today. Unlike books such as The Late Great Planet Earth, The Gravedigger Files' prophetic vision is, unfortunately, being fulfilled before our very eyes. It is striking to read it more than 20 years after its initial publication, look back, and see how accurate Guinness was (and is).

Next post: How James Dobson's actions with regard to global warning fits the "Fossils and Fanatics" syndrome described by Guinness.

Be a Friend of Kuyper

Can Kuyperianism work in and with the Emergent church? Perhaps the answer is here.

In asking the question, I don't mean to imply a necessary or even likely chasm between the two. In fact, I am troubled by the connection which is often made between "conservative" and "reformed." Reformed, at its best, has always expressed itself as obedience to the Word of God. Conservative Reformed thinkers often reflect that obedience to God's Word, but are also often led by their conservative commitments (which are not necessarily the same thing).

Fundamentalist Hermeneutic Proves Evolution!

I've heard it argued that Psalm 139 demonstrates DNA: "you knit me together in my mother's womb" (v. 13). But by the same fundamentalist interpretive logic, the psalm also proves evolution: "When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body" (vv. 15-16).

"The Academy"

Does the antithesis cut through "the academy," or to one side of it? To hear many conservative theologians talk, I must be tainted or think certain things because I'm part of the academy. Just a few weeks ago a visiting minister in our church launched into an adult Sunday school class aligning ideas of multi-authorship of the Pentateuch with liberal thinking and the academy. To me this is a classic case of confusing structure with direction.

The Church

In the midst of what I consider very compelling definitions of the Bible, Seerveld comments on the church:

That scholarly discovery in the Bible sparked a new-old idea of "church." Church is not the clergy, the administrative clerics, or the popes in charge because they are the only one single, true apostolic authority succeeding from Simon Peter. The "church" is the communion of ordinary, sinful saints who have repented! It is faithful people (ho laos, the laity) of God, the believers sealed in the baptism of Jesus Christ and stamped, anointed by the Holy Spirit, ordained to live out and mediate the gospel to others.

What is the Bible? (IV)

And finally Seerveld writes,

"The Bible [is] God-speaking literature with its true story of the Lord creating the whole world, of our historical fall into sin, and of Jesus Christ's making redemption graciously available for those who respond by faith to discipleship as they live in love, sorrow, and hope for the completion of Christ's kingdom Rule a-coming."

Tomorrow, the church . . .