Category Archives: Songwriting

Observations on the New Hymns Movement, part 3

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

This is part three of a series of posts looking at the resurgence of hymns in the past 10 years through the “re:tuned” movement that has coalesced around Indelible Grace, Red Mountain Music, BiFrost Music, Sojourn Music, and many more.  … Continue reading →

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Observations on the New Hymns Movement, Part 2

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

This is part two of a series of posts reflecting on the new hymns movement that has developed in the past ten years as we get ready to join Kevin Twit and Sandra McCracken of Indelible Grace, Mike Cosper of … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology – The Incarnation

Posted on December 5, 2011 by

Why is it that we love the songs of Christmas so much?  No matter what your style of worship is I bet you’ll find yourself singing the choice Christmas carols like O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Come, Thou Long … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology – Cosmic Scope of Salvation

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

This week in Songwriting and Theology we are reading through a collection of texts (Orthodox Holy Week Text) taken again from the Orthodox church’s celebration of Holy Week. Specifically we are looking at texts for Holy Saturday.  The day between … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology – Romanos the Melodist

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

This week in Songwriting and Theology, a course I’m taking at Duke Divinity in Durham, NC we are studying the “kontakion’s” of Romanus the Melodist, a 6th century deacon and poet of the (eastern orthodox) church who served in both … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology Ephrem 2

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

In this weeks assignment we continue to look at the hymns of St. Ephrem.  Examining the hymnody of this early orthodox saint is helpful because the historical distance forces us to really read and reflect on his hymns with less … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology – full song

Posted on October 27, 2011 by

Each week in our Songwriting and Theology course we look at a specific theme in the history of hymnody and attempt to write something ourselves that mimics this topic.  Last week however we were asked to write a complete song … Continue reading →

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Song and Theology Wk 5 Hymns on Paradise

Posted on October 18, 2011 by

In week five we delved into the deep history of hymnody to examine the texts of Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem was born around the year 306 in the city of Nisibis (the modern Turkish town of Nusaybin, on the border with … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology Week 4 Trinity

Posted on October 4, 2011 by

In week four we examined the hymn texts of Charles Wesley and how he spoke of the Trinity. This topic is a particular passion of Dr. Ruth’s.  Some years ago he published an article examining and lamenting the general absence of the … Continue reading →

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Songwriting and Theology Week 3

Posted on September 27, 2011 by

In week three we discussed hymn texts that place the writer or ‘us’ into the narrative.  In class Dr. Ruth called these “Inside-Out” poems. If you have never taken the opportunity to approach a biblical text in this way then … Continue reading →

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