Leonard Cohen, Religious Alchemist
by Sean CurnynCohen is an Old Testament poet who can comprehend the New Testament without great strain or contradiction. Continue Reading »
Leonard Cohen, the Christ-Haunted
by Joe HeschmeyerThough he would often protest that he “wasn’t really a religious man,” Cohen seemed unable to sing or speak for very long without bringing up God. Continue Reading »
If It Be Your Will
by Douglas FarrowThe famous Montreal poet and songster, Leonard Cohen, died earlier this week. Continue Reading »
Dylan’s Nobel in Perspective
by Stephen SchwartzThe Swedish Academy has a strange idea of what “the great American song tradition” is. Continue Reading »
Suzuki Method Uberparenting
by Betsy VanDenBergheSpiritually as well as emotionally, childhood years require not only joy and nurturing, but also suffering and growth, if the young person is to face adulthood maturely. And fortunately (or ironically), our musically obsessed phase never ended up shielding my kids from anything. Continue Reading »
Learning to Play
by Elizabeth C. CoreyMy piano tuner is well over eighty years old. Each time I call him, I fear I’ll learn that he has died. So far he is still with us, though at each visit a little more white-haired and frailer than before. I worry that he will hurt himself when he lies under the instrument or takes out the . . . . Continue Reading »
Alone in the Garden?
by Richard J. MouwOn Evangelical hymns: Can I really sing about a relationship with the Lord that is so joyous that no other person has ever experienced it? Doesn’t this go beyond the bounds of hyperbolic spiritual enthusiasm? Continue Reading »
Music Man
by Peter J. LeithartReaders often find the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles stultifying. These pages contain list after list of names, with occasional mini-biographies thrown in to break up the monotony. Chronicles is hardly the first place we turn to for deep insight into human nature. Yet the fact that Chronicles . . . . Continue Reading »
Songs of Exile
by Alexi SargeantWhere has all the dark Christian music gone? It doesn’t take much listening to notice how blithe and breezy popular Christian music has become. At the data journalism site FiveThirtyEight, Leah Libresco has run the numbers and found that the lyrics of recent Christian hits skew towards life, . . . . Continue Reading »
Christian Pop, Minus the Pep
by Eve TushnetDoes your soul need a lay-me-down instead of a pick-me-up? Harrison Lemke's Fertile Crescent Blues is a deep Biblical meditation expressed through feel-bad indie music. Continue Reading »
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