Posts by Proclaim and Defend
“A New Song for an Old World” (excerpt 4)
More excerpts from Calvin R. Stapert’s book, A New Song for an Old World. Previous excerpts: One • Two • Three “The church fathers recognized music’s power to calm the passions (negative sense). But Evagrius meant something more profound than what ‘easy-listening’ or dentist-office music calls to mind when he said, ‘Psalmody lays the passions…
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web–2013/1/30
A few stories from around the web that might be of interest: Re: Louis Giglio With Ousting Of Pastor, Media Engage In Anti-Christian Witch Hunt “I’m not complaining about this depressing turn of events. But something seismic happened at the beginning of this week: as a country and culture we’ve crossed a Rubicon. “And that’s…
Read More“A New Song for an Old World” (excerpt 3)
This week we offer a bit more of Calvin R. Stapert in his book, A New Song for an Old World. Previous excerpts can be found here and here. “Several themes that we have heard somewhat faintly in the second and third centuries become very strong in the fourth. Two of these will be prominent…
Read MoreMore from “A New Song for an Old World”
Last week we offered some comments from Clement of Alexandria on music, as quoted by Calvin R. Stapert in A New Song for an Old World. For your Monday morning, we offer a bit more of Stapert, addressing the modern music wars with thoughts from the ancient world.
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web–2013.01.17
Eclectic: “composed of elements drawn from various sources” (M-W Thesaurus). The Eclectic Web is the fruit of your editor’s wanderings around the web and is offered as a matter of possible interest to others. Persecution: Islamic extremism dominates persecution list “Eight of the top 10 persecutors of Christians — and 24 of the top 30…
Read More2013 Northwest Regional Fellowship
March 11-13, 2013 Northwest Regional Fellowship First Baptist Church 511 State Street Sedro Woolley, WA 98284 360.855-1100 Host pastor: Richard Coursen Keynote Speaker: Pastor Mike Harding First Baptist Church of Troy Troy, Michigan Meetings begin with the evening meal, Monday, March 11. Contact the host church to register for the meal.
Read MoreClement on the music wars (an excerpt)
The battle over music in the church is an old, old battle. Calvin R. Stapert writes about it in his book, A New Song for an Old World. We publish an excerpt here: “Clement [of Alexandria] affirms music that he describes as sober, pure, decorous, modest, temperate, grave, and soothing, over against music he describes…
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web–January 4, 2013
Your Bible Reading Plan Do you have a Bible Reading Plan? We are encouraging our church members to adopt a plan of regular Bible reading. I’d like to share some good options for you – some are more rigorous than others. From NavPress and their Discipleship Journal, three variations with flexiblity and ‘catch-up’ days. Here’s…
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web–2012/12/30
More on school shootings: Game Theory: A Year When Real-World Violence Crept Into Play The author denies a connection between real world violence and video games (certainly a debatable proposition), but the article reveals some interesting insight into human nature as the author, a young dad, considers what to do about his video games and…
Read MoreThe Eclectic Web: Dec 21, 2012
Two miscellaneous items of interest: How the internet is changing language “There are now thought to be some 4.5 billion web pages worldwide. And with half the population of China now on line, most of them are written in Chinese. “Still, some linguists predict that within 10 years English will dominate the internet – but…
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