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2023-02-13T19:50:28+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
The Importance of Collective Emotion in Worship
Last updated on: February 13, 2023 at 7:50 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
Worship is both a private and communal practice. We are all led individually when communing with the Lord in private, but when we’re together, there is a much enhanced blessing to enter as a group, as the Holy Spirit leads us. During the ongoing debate around contemporary worship, it has often been suggested that such worship is manipulative, manufacturing emotion rather than authentically praising God. There have been confessional articles written by ex-worship leaders, admitting they were forcing and... Read more
General Christian
Religious Music and Entertainment
2023-02-07T17:57:07+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
A Racist Element in the Contemporary Worship Debate?
Last updated on: February 7, 2023 at 5:57 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
Putting aside the back and forth of the contemporary worship discussion for a moment, I want to shine a light on what might be a hidden force behind the many criticisms of emotionally rich, contemporary worship. The voices I’ve been countering are first and foremost desperate to take the emotion out of worship, as if human feeling were somehow unholy, and we, God’s people, are unable to resist being manipulated by music that stirs the heart. The assumption seems to... Read more
General Christian
Religious Music and Entertainment
2023-01-30T17:19:52+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
The real problem with contemporary worship
Last updated on: January 30, 2023 at 5:19 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
In my last blog, titled The Importance of Emotion In Worship, I challenged the slew of current articles here on Patheos criticising contemporary worship, which judge such worship as manipulative, led by celebrities, and carnal. Interestingly, some of those pieces have been written by ex-worship leaders who after years of pretending, admit they were forcing themselves to perform while feeling little or no connection with God – I don’t say this to point the finger at any individual; if a... Read more
Progressive Christian
Religious Music and Entertainment
True worship. emotions in worship
2023-01-14T17:51:20+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
The Importance of Emotion in Worship
Last updated on: January 14, 2023 at 5:51 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
A regular talking point in both Progressive and Evangelical circles is criticism of performed, emotionally rich worship. Apparently a full band and a heartfelt expression of reverence are distracting, manipulative, and a mere whipping-up of emotions. Its leaders are judged by many other Christians as self-serving celebrities, rather than sincere and devoted worshippers. You’ve seen the articles, decrying Hillsong-style, big tent worship, and every time a leader makes poor moral decisions it is waved around as incontrovertible proof that modern... Read more
Progressive Christian
Religious Music and Entertainment
2023-01-08T19:13:41+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
If God Invited You to a Party
Last updated on: January 8, 2023 at 7:13 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
I love sacred poetry, and particularly Persian writings from the Middle Ages. There’s one poet in particular whose words align with the song in my heart, and that is Hafiz of Shiraz, a 14th century Sufi mystic. Though he lived in a different era, his words resonate in me as if whispered for the first time only a breath ago. This is one of his many, wonderful works, translated by Daniel Ladinsky in his compilation, The Gift. If... Read more
General Christian
Religious Art
Re-thinking Christian Concepts
2023-01-04T19:46:35+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
The Good Shepherd
Last updated on: January 4, 2023 at 7:46 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
I’ve been meditating on the words of Jesus in John chapter 10 today, marvelling at the heart of God towards those made in his image. Jesus paints a picture of a profoundly unified state between himself as the Good Shepherd and us as his sheep. Verses 2-5: But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name... Read more
General Christian
Re-thinking Christian Concepts
2022-12-17T18:48:36+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
Be it unto me according to thy word
Last updated on: December 17, 2022 at 6:48 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
There are several moments in the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that bring me to a reflective halt, such as her response to the Angel Gabriel’s announcement that she would carry the Son of God in her womb. Luke 1:38, ‘Be it unto me according to thy word.’ Typically, when we think of the incarnation, the focus is the birth of Christ, with shepherds, magi, and a choir of angels, but for Mary the incarnation happened... Read more
General Christian
Women in Religion
2022-12-11T17:07:32+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
The Demise of American Christianity
Last updated on: December 11, 2022 at 5:07 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
It is commonly believed that the Religious Right emerged as an outraged response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalised abortion. This is a myth, used to rally Evangelicals to vote as a block. At the time, and for years afterwards, Evangelicals were largely ambivalent on the topic, taking a sensible, compassionate view in conservative circles. In 1968, a symposium sponsored by the Christian Medical Society and Christianity Today, offered “individual health, family welfare,... Read more
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
2022-11-15T16:10:01+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
Loving the Other
Last updated on: November 15, 2022 at 4:10 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
One of the Lord’s most consistent, heartfelt commands to the Israelites was that they love the stranger, treating them as they would a native citizen. Another word for stranger is sojourner – one who dwells in a land not their own. Sojourners are people seeking home away from home, often when their ancestral land has become a dangerous place to live. The natural human response to the stranger is suspicion and fear. We have an unfortunate tendency to categorise... Read more
General Christian
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
Relationships and Religion
2022-11-13T17:10:15+00:00
Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.
Exercises in self-value part 2 – breaking free from conditions of worth
Last updated on: November 13, 2022 at 5:10 pm By Duncan Edward Pile
How do we determine our worth? The world has an ugly method, describing a person’s ‘net worth’ as a simple measure of wealth. Some would say that’s just a turn of phrase, but there are reasons we choose and use the words we do. To me, the term ‘net worth’ is a Freudian slip, revealing an idolatrous addiction to greed and wealth. How about as individuals? What gives each of us value? Unless the answer is that value comes... Read more
Progressive Christian
General Christian
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