Music was integral to the daily life of ancient Israel. It accompanied activities as diverse as manual labor and royal processionals. At key junctures and in core institutions, musical tones were used to deliver messages, convey emotions, strengthen communal bonds and establish human-divine contact. This book explores the intricate and multifaceted nature of biblical music through a detailed look into four major episodes and genres: the Song of the Sea (Exod. 15), King Saul and David's harp (1 Sam. 16), the use of music in prophecy, and the Book of Psalms. This investigation demonstrates how music helped shape and define the self-identity of ancient Israel.

Life is a pilgrimage. For the Senufo of C™te d'Ivoire, life consists of following the kologo, that is the path, the road, or the way. As such, kologo is a key Senufo term that speaks of the directions people choose to follow in life. A central aspect of following the Christian pathway among Senufo believers occurs through music. Music serves as a major communication vehicle that speaks profoundly into the people's lives. Thus, Pathways in Christian Music Communication addresses the problem of contextualization of Christianity in Africa via the use of a people's indigenous music. It focuses on the significance of culturally appropriate songs for effective communication of the Gospel within the African context. In providing a history of the development of Christian songs among the Senufo, a musical analysis of the songs and music culture, identifying communication theory at work within the music-making process, and a content analysis of an emerging Senufo lyric theology, King shows the pivotal role that a people's cultural music plays in integrating a people's worldview and daily lives with biblical teaching. Finally, King examines the influence and effect of songs in communicating the Gospel by showing how the pathway of a song leads to changes of allegiance to the living God and transformed lives. Although set in West Africa, essential principles and guidelines for doing ethnomusicological studies within missiology lies at the heart of this work.

There is a paradox in American Christianity. According to Gallup, nearly eight in ten Americans regard the Bible as either the literal word of God or inspired by God. At the same time, surveys have revealed gaps in these same Americans' biblical literacy. These discrepancies reveal the complex relationship between American Christians and Holy Writ, a subject that is widely acknowledged but rarely investigated. The Bible in American Life is a sustained, collaborative reflection on the ways Americans use the Bible in their personal lives. It also considers how other influences, including religious communities and the Internet, shape individuals' comprehension of scripture. Employing both quantitative methods (the General Social Survey and the National Congregations Study) and qualitative research (historical studies for context), The Bible in American Life provides an unprecedented perspective on the Bible's role outside of worship, in the lived religion of a broad cross-section of Americans both now and in the past. The Bible has been central to Christian practice, and has functioned as a cultural touchstone From the broadest scale imaginable, national survey data about all Americans, down to the smallest details, such as the portrayal of Noah and his ark in children's Bibles, this book offers insight and illumination from scholars across the intellectual spectrum. It will be useful and informative for scholars seeking to understand changes in American Christianity as well as clergy seeking more effective ways to preach and teach about scripture in a changing environment.

Many churchgoers will recognize the name William Bradbury, a nineteenth-century American composer of popular hymns still sung at Sunday services. Bradbury’s name may also bring to mind Esther, the Beautiful Queen, his choral setting of a text based on the biblical Book of Esther. The uncomplicated score became enormously popular almost immediately after its initial publication in 1856. In From Biblical Book to Musical Megahit: William B. Bradbury’s “Esther, the Beautiful Queen,” Juanita Karpf traces the work’s rich performance and reception history. Bradbury emphatically stated that he intended Esther to be sung as an unadorned religious and educational piece. Yet many music directors exploited the potential for his score, producing elaborately staged events with costumes, scenery, and acting. Although directors retained Bradbury’s original music, they nonetheless facilitated Esther’s rapid entrée into the realm of music theater. This stylistic transformation ignited a firestorm of controversy. Some clergy and religiously pious citizens condemned theatrical representations of biblical texts as the epitome of debauchery, sacrilege, and sin. In contrast, more tolerant and open-minded theater enthusiasts welcomed the dramatic staging of Esther as wholesome entertainment and as evidence of a refreshingly enlightened approach to biblical interpretation. However heated this debate seemed at times, it did little to quell the continued rise in popularity of Esther. In fact, by the late 1860s, Bradbury’s score had worked its way across the continent, north to Canada and, eventually, to Great Britain, Australia, Asia, and Africa. With performances recorded over a century after Bradbury published his score, Esther became, by any measure, an international megahit.

A history of 28 hymns along with an explanation of each one in terms of Christian faith. Book includes a score of each song, and a CD of 17 of these songs.

Nearly every form of religion or spirituality has a vital connection with art. Religions across the world, from Hinduism and Buddhism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, have been involved over the centuries with a rich array of artistic traditions, both sacred and secular. In its uniquely multi-dimensional consideration of the topic, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts provides expert guidance to artistry and aesthetic theory in religion. The Handbook offers nearly forty original essays by an international team of leading scholars on the main topics, issues, methods, and resources for the study of religious and theological aesthetics. The volume ranges from antiquity to the present day to examine religious and artistic imagination, fears of idolatry, aesthetics in worship, and the role of art in social transformation and in popular religion-covering a full array of forms of media, from music and poetry to architecture and film. An authoritative text for scholars and students, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts will remain an invaluable resource for years to come.

Most Bible teachers say a Bible dictionary is the first reference tool a fledgling student of the Bible should acquire. The Holman QuickSource Bible Dictionary is a perfect tool for those who are beginning to study the Bible. It's definitions are both carefully researched and accessible. Definitions are designed to give the user a quick understanding of a term right up front and then, in many cases, go into more detail for those who want this level of description. Clear, concise definitions are enhanced by the large number of colorful maps, photos, and reconstructions of biblical objects. The size of the dictionary strikes the right balance making it both easy-to-carry and easy-to-see and use. The lay flat binding keeps the dictionary open at the page being consulted during personal study or group activities.

Annotation Christian authors in late antiquity frame their retellings of saints' lives as implicitly saintly acts, holy rituals that would lead to salvation.