Morgan Bethuel từ Gorinja, Gujarat, India

mo_bil

05/09/2024

Dữ liệu người dùng, đánh giá và đề xuất cho sách

Morgan Bethuel Sách lại (10)

2019-03-12 22:31

Những Đền Thờ Bác Ở Tây Nam Bộ Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Nhều tác giả

Frame’s work is both a relic and a roadmap in the debate on worship that still smolders in certain circles of Christendom to this day. Frame’s work is a relic in the sense that it views the scene of the worship wars from the perspective of the mid 90’s. Although the span of time that separates this review from the writing is relatively short, the strides that have been made in contemporary worship have been great. Frame looked out at the burgeoning contemporary worship of his day with some weaknesses and challenges, and pronounces that it is worthy for the worship of God. At times the writer struggles with the evidence as to the repetitiveness or shallowness of the music, and finds creative answers to these critiques. The author struggles with the connection of contemporary worship to the burgeoning “church growth” movement of his day by attempting to find a balance on the issues at hand (e.g. pragmatism). Arguments such as these have, thankfully, faded into the past as contemporary worship has moved from its infancy into maturity. Frame’s work also serves as a roadmap. One of his most insightful contributions in the work is his critique of contemporary worship. His valuable points made at the end of chapter 10 (126-127) have, whether wittingly or unwittingly, served as a roadmap for contemporary worship over the last decade. It has become more “thoughtful” with better texts and melodies (e.g. Townend and Getty). It has broadened and deepened its doctrinal content. It is being used less as entertainment and more as worship. Its defenders are fairer to those who still retain traditional worship. In these and many other ways, contemporary worship has thankfully reached a much more mature state in the manners laid out in this work. The work begins in chapter 1 by offering the reader a helpful glimpse into the life of the writer. As Frame summarizes, “although I am not a professional musician, I don’t think I can be regarded as a musical ignoramus or a cultural Philistine” (4). Most traditionalists will likely find much in the life of the writer that resonates with their own background. What becomes most clear in this introduction is that Frame is not a radical. He is not an anti-traditionalist, per se. He respects and values traditional worship for some rather objective reasons, but definitely not simply for traditionalism’s sake. In turn, his support for contemporary worship also appears to spring from objective biblical concerns. And it is to these concerns to which Frame turns after defining his terms. Chapter 2 lays the foundation upon which the remainder of the work is laid. These principles will be expounded and expanded upon in various specific arguments throughout the book, but if the reader grasps these principles and the arguments in the following two chapters, he or she need not wrestle much with the remainder of the work. The principles in this chapter are (cf. 28): worship must not focus on God’s transcendence to the exclusion of His nearness; worship is God-centered but must not exclude the worshipper; worship should not be anti-traditional, but should evaluate traditions by Scripture; worship music is not limited directly by Scripture, so creativity is fine “within the limits of general biblical standards;” worship must is critical in worship and to be intelligible it must communicate to a contemporary worshipper; worship is not designed for the unbeliever, but should communicate in a way in which the believer can understand the message; worship must be done in recognition of the unity of the church around the Gospel, but the diversity of the worshippers; worship must be done in a manner in which believers are edified. Chapter 3 points out the qualities of the contemporary worship which was popular in 1997. Frame argues that it is God-Centered, Scriptural, and fresh. Chapter 4 summarizes the critiques of contemporary worship music; however, prior to listing these points, Frame gives the reader an explanation of the history and current milieu from which these arguments spring. In the author’s mind, most of these arguments spring from critiques of the now aging “church growth” movement. The arguments that Frame notes are “subjectivism, humanism, anti-intellectualism, ‘psychologism,’ professionalism, consumerism, pragmatism, and temporal chauvinism” (46). These arguments certainly encapsulate a number of the concerns of the traditionalists, but others exist and have evolved over the last decade. Some of these arguments are dealt with in the following chapters, but several others aren’t (e.g. the morality of music). In spite of this omission, the author deserves much credit for attempting to fairly portray the (mostly properly motivated) concerns of his opponents. Chapter 5 tackles the sticky issue of culture. Frame argues that the statement that some contemporary worship sounds like some pop music mistakes the biblical idea of “likeness.” In fact, the worship music of today is actually unlike pop music in the most important manners. This supposed likeness is not to be interpreted as caving to the culture, but as uniquely counter-cultural (58). He also rejects the notion that just because one may be saved from the pop music of culture that Christians must reject any similarity to it in their worship by arguing that churches do not adopt the same standard for those saved out of high class culture or Roman Catholic culture. But have the churches using contemporary worship forms caved to culture by turning worship into entertainment? The writer answers by reminding his readers that traditional churches are just as quick to entertain the congregants with high and lofty choral virtuosity as contemporary churches which often can focus too much on lead singers and praise bands. The true challenge is that neither must allow their style to become the idol, but should turn all affection to God alone. Chapter 6 responds to the attack that contemporary worship is just about bringing in lots of money and people. In this chapter, Frame suggests that the “church growth” movement is not all wrong, but seriously questions a number of the more pragmatic elements of the approach. Chapter 7 responds to attacks related to the authenticity and reverence of contemporary worship. The writer responds well here and essentially calls out some of the traditionalists as being very unfair in their criticisms in this area. Chapter 8 deals with the claim that contemporary worship does not edify, but simply evangelizes. Chapter 9 confronts the idea that contemporary worship “dumbs down” worship. Frame responds that the critics have elevated the role of the intellect over the emotions and the will. Chapter 10 is an excellent (pun intended) counterpoint to the argument that contemporary worship does not meet the standard of excellence to be worthy of worshipping God. The author makes two excellent points that this reviewer had not seen to this point. First, if aesthetic excellence is what God expects in worship, then should Christians all be singing Bach chorales in German? Clearly, excellence is not simply a matter of aesthetic quality, but of communication and intelligibility to the worshipper. Second, if aesthetic excellence is what God expects, then one should only offer the very best. With this paradigm in mind, all worship music should be analyzed in terms of bad, worse, worst, good, better, and best. By all music, Frame expects not just genres in general, but specific songs and hymns. Once this paradigm is constructed, one song must necessarily be the “best” (e.g. “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”). Once this is established, then singing anything else would be offering God less than ones’ best! In regard to challenges about the doctrinal depth of contemporary worship music, Frame points out by using several examples that traditional worship music is perceived to be much deeper theologically because it presents numerous theological truths in rapid-fire succession (e.g. “Arise My Soul, Arise” presents 15 different aspects), while contemporary worship music tends to just focus on three or four truths. Moving from this point to the argument regarding repetition, the writer explains the biblical and didactic importance of repetition. He then closes the chapter with his critiques of contemporary worship. Chapter 11 approaches the argument that contemporary worship is an implicit rejection of tradition and denominational distinctives. Frame points out that the Reformers stressed that traditions were only to be held as they upheld sola Scriptura. He then moves on to present some suggestions for helpful contemporary worship in chapter 12. Two appendices are also included that primarily deal with works that deal with the contemporary worship debate (appendix 1) and the “church growth” movement (appendix 2). Below are several great quotations that the reviewer found significant: "Luther and Calvin...were respectful of tradition, as all Christians should be. But they were not bound to it, only to the God of Scripture" (4). "There is no contradiction between the vertical and the horizontal, between the God-centeredness of worship and the benefits available to the worshipers" (15). "We do not glorify God in worship if we fail to communicate on the human level" (18). "Sometimes it is hard to draw the line between a legitimate concern for appropriateness and...aesthetic snobbery" (20). "The New Testament...does encourage the church (1 Cor. 14:24-25) to plan its worship with the unbelieving visitor in mind" (21). "When sophisticated members of the church insist that worship employ only the most sophisticated music of their culture, what happened to their love for those who are poorly educated or of a different cultural stream? Or, from the opposite side of our musical wars: when advocates of contemporaneity want to set the traditions of the church completely aside and replace them with something largely meaningless to the older generation, are they acting in love?” (24-25) "Music is an area in which we have little explicit scriptural direction, and in which, therefore, human creativity should be encouraged, within the limits of general biblical standards" (28). "Both sides, then, need to learn from one another, to gain a better grasp of the application of Scripture to the difficult situations of the present day. The dialogue will demand more, not less, intellectual effort. It will require us to make some distinctions that we have overlooked in the past. And it will require a greater determination to live and worship according to biblical principle rather than by either the human traditions of the past or the innovations of the present" (52-53). "When one listens to the God-centered content of [contemporary worship] songs, the counter-cultural thrust of them is obvious" (58). "Antiquarians who love Gregorian chants and attend churches that use such music need to ask God to guard their hearts, lest they get so absorbed in the aesthetic qualities of the music that they lose grip on the higher purpose of the worship" (60-61). "It is wrong to govern worship either by the criterion of popularity or by the tastes of those who love high art and tradition" (112). The work is not without its flaws. As noted in the introduction, the most glaring deficiency is the age of the work. Frame ends up fighting fires for page after page because of the deficiencies of the infantile contemporary worship of yesteryear. His terms are at times too nuanced and his perspective on the history of the debate seems a little skewed at times (e.g. he argues that his opponents are making these points because they are hyper-intellectual, but describes all fundamentalists, who are some of the most ardent adherents to traditional worship, as anti-intellectual). Finally, and related to the prior point, the work is primarily focused on the challenges being dealt with amongst the Presbyterian denominations at the time of the writing. Readers outside the spectrum will have no difficulty with the majority of the work, but there are occasions where the discussion lapses into areas in which the outsider will have little familiarity. But for these minor flaws, the book still serves as a helpful and fair analysis of the “worship wars” from the less-prolific contemporary side of the spectrum. Frame’s arguments and groundwork serves as a foundation for those who would discuss the topic in the years going forward. The contribution of this work to others more modern works is abundantly obvious. This reviewer would note specifically Bryan Chappell’s “Christ-Centered Worship,” which takes Frame’s methodology and demonstrates how it can be done with the Gospel at the center and with the use of some of the excellent new contemporary literature. Any believer who is willing to wrestle with the debate should certainly read this work in order to gain a measure of clarity and fairness in the discussion.

2019-03-12 23:31

Đàn Bà Xấu Thì Không Có Quà - Tái bản 03/2014 Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Y Ban

Not a bad overview of the main pieces of what it takes to run a business. However, this definitely serves more as an introduction than it does of any decent details. The examples were of successful businesswomen/entrepeneurs, which were inspiring and comforting. However, the chapter on "The Scary Stuff" - aka the legal, financial, etc. pieces - simply gave advice to hire someone to do it. Bootstrapping seemed an entirely unfamiliar concept to the authors, especially on the cheap. Also, there are many websites today (e.g. legalzoom.com)that weren't in existence when this book was written. It'll be time for an update soon. Again, though, if you're looking to familiarize yourself with a comfortable intro/overview of what it will take to start your own business, this is a pretty good one. Regardless of gender.

2019-03-13 00:31

Thú Dữ (Tái Bản 2017) Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Nick Arnold

"the thing [the reader:] never knows... is what s/he is at the exact moment that s/he is. And this moment is the only thing in which I am at all interested. I love my fellow creature. Jesus, how I love him: endways, sideways, frontways, and all the other ways — but s/he doesn't exist! all art has been especially designed to keep up the barrier between sense and the vaporous fringe which distracts the attention from its AGONIZED APPROACHES TO THE MOMENT."

2019-03-13 01:31

Kiến Thức Học Sinh Trung Học - Tập 2: Điện Ảnh - Nghệ Thuật Thứ Bảy Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Cao Thụy

3.5 Dagnabit! I was expecting more! There's a lot of sex in this one; sex that I found needless at times. And honeslty, I skimmed some here parts because Elena and Rappael do end up in bed half of the time. Formula: A Situation. A Face-off. Someone is hurt either physically or emotionally. A tell me/show me. Then an "Oh, you're hurt" or a "How dare you get hurt!" Then bed. So, yeah... it got boring at times. But all that aside, I cannot find it in myself to consider Archangel's Consort a complete let down. (a.)The source of conflict was pretty intersting (an awakening "Ancient.") (view spoiler) (b.)There's the seven. We find out more of the Seven's background. (Do these guys get novels of their own.. or do their stories develop as a secondary plot to Elena and Raphael.)(c.) And not surprisingly, we get to know more of raphael. in the previos installments we saw into Ellie's history, her family, her father and sisters. It seems to be Raphael's turn. AC could have been better BUT I'm still a fan.

2019-03-13 02:31

Friendship - Tình Bạn Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Hà Mi

Interesting approach to development. Its main argument is that development is to provide capabilities and enhance individual freedoms, which I strongly agree. All of his "rationalist reform" talk and overemphasis in Adam Smith's free market made it a quite an exhaustive - if not repetitive - combination of chapters.

2019-03-13 03:31

Xuyên Mây Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Lê Thành Chơn

A friend of mine read this book and recommended it so I ordered it through the Goodreads book swap*. Then it sat on my coffee table for months. I finally picked it up last month and I loved it. There are numerous points of view within the book, or rather characters and their storylines, so it seems to jump around a bit. But it didn't take me long to keep up and their lives all converge around a puzzling phenomenon so all the dots connect at some point. The encounter of a pair of extraordinary creatures never seen before are the center of the story. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat as the mystery of their origins unravels. I was intrigued through out the whole book and it definitely got me thinking more as the story began to reveal more possibilities. I keep saying this...I want to read more of Dean Kootnz's books. I love how he has a scientific supernatural mystery spin on things. *Unfortunately the Goodreads Book Swap is now closed.

2019-03-13 04:31

Sắc Màu Tổ Ấm 2016 - Tập 8: 15 Năm Nhà Vui Tiên Phong Kiến Tạo Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Nhà Vui

Fantastic reading if you love the comedic children's writers. Marcus interviewed 12 well-loved children's authors who are respected for their "funny": Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Sharon Creech, Christopher Paul Curtis, Anne Fine, Daniel Handler, Carl Hiaasen, Norton Juster, Dick King-Smith, Hilary McKay, Louis Sachar, and Jon Scieszka. He sought out Daniel Pinkwater, but received a funny rejection letter, instead, which was printed (with permission) in the book. Marcus first asked "What kind of child were you?", and the interviews blossomed from that germinal question. A good read if you are interested in how these authors think and write, i.e., how they grew into their craft.

2019-03-13 05:31

Mộng Hoa Xuân Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Hắc Nhan

The first collection by an amazing writer. All of the stories are impressive, but "Relief" is the one that I find myself thinking about long after I've put the book down. At first it appears to be a story about farting--and then, as you read farther, it's also a story about fear, pride, vulnerability, and being human. How does Peter Ho Davies DO this? I want to know.

2019-03-13 06:31

Vẽ Vật Thực - Chân Dung Nhân Vật (Cho Người Mới Bắt Đầu) Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi:

Couldn't put it down.

2019-03-13 07:31

Tăng Tốc Đến Thành Công - Tập 1 Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Lâm Minh Chánh

Too much po-mo theory and not enough iron for me.

Người đọc Morgan Bethuel từ Gorinja, Gujarat, India

Người dùng coi những cuốn sách này là thú vị nhất trong năm 2017-2018, ban biên tập của cổng thông tin "Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn" khuyến cáo rằng tất cả các độc giả sẽ làm quen với văn học này.