The Way of Holiness and the Way of Hedonism Holiness and happiness, purity and pleasure, benevolence and blessedness, virtue and vivaciousness, faithfulness and fulfillment, character and contentment: what do these seemingly contradictory concepts have in common? What do these ideas—often pitted against each other as mutually exclusive—have to do with one another? Is this some kind of paradox?   There are some Wesleyan principles that I will take with me wherever I go, and one of these is the idea that holiness is the way to happiness. Believe it or not, the idea that the moral life is ..read more

How is it that a catchy melody, solid groove, or infectious hook can make you want to dance to even the darkest and most nihilistic of thoughts? Prince’s “1999” is a certified banger that just so happens to be set on the edge of nuclear armageddon. “Everybody’s got a bomb / We could all die any day,” he sings. Nevertheless, he’s still going to dance his life away with the help of some funky guitar licks. Modern English’s “I Melt With You” is one of the best-known new wave hits from the ‘80s, so much so that it once appeared in a Burger King commercial. According to singer Robbie Grey, however ..read more

Thanks to Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, et al., it’s easier than ever to find music to suit every possible interest and mood. And while that’s great for finding new music, 2023 was notable for the return of several beloved artists in the form of surprising new material, concert performances, reunions, and reissues. Of course, 2023’s musical landscape was dominated by the phenomena that is Taylor Swift. Her ongoing “Eras” tour became the first tour in history to earn $1 billion in revenue, generating widespread cultural and economic impact, and shows no signs of slowing down as Swift heads to ..read more

Nineteen eighty-three was an amazing year, chiefly because my wife was born in it. Less notable happenings—like a barely averted nuclear war, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and The A-Team’s debut success—made the news. And yeah, Fraggle Rock, the world record high dive, and Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign were pretty cool, but there was also an impactful focus on religious revival. God’s will, or “God’s way,” means that how He asks people to join Him and when He decides to bring revival is up to Him. In that same year, films like WarGames introduced people to AI while entrenching their ..read more

If my life were a movie, popular music would be its soundtrack. It would be an eclectic release as my tastes are rather expansive, including classic rock, heavy metal, folk, punk, funk, classical, and even a show tune or two when the occasion calls for it. There’s a tune for every moment and a playlist for every season. During Lent, however, I’ve made it a tradition to limit my listening to music that helps fix my eyes on Jesus, him being the reason for the season and all that. My seasonal playlist brims with classic hymns, CCM favorites old and new, Aretha, and the like. Last year, I even sam ..read more

I have a sliding scale to determine how severe my depression is at any given moment: the more power metal unironically inspires me, the more depressed I likely am. Now, as a metalhead of old, I love taking a jaunt through a Grailknights, Theocracy, or Dragonforce album. Interlacing arpeggiated guitars sprint alongside breakneck drumming while the lead singer yodels over the entire thing about dragons, days of yore, and various types of good and evil magic. It’s as if some enterprising guitarist listened to a few Dio records and said to themselves “Gosh, this could be much, much nerdier.” I acc ..read more

Judy Garland refused to sing the song as it was. Songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine wrote “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” as one of the central pieces of the now classic 1944 movie musical Meet Me in St. Louis. It was to be sung when Garland’s character mournfully comforts her sister on Christmas Eve, just as their family discovered that they will be moving cross country after the holidays. The original lyrics read: Have yourself a merry little Christmas It may be your last Next year we may all be living in the past Have yourself a merry little Christmas Pop that champagne cork ..read more

With the release of Midnights, Taylor Swift’s refrain of life awake at midnight is finally culminating in a curated anthem. Over 16 years, Swift has refined her motif of sleeplessness. In “Mary’s Song” she’s awake at “2 a.m. riding in your truck,” but six years later, “the lingering question kept me up, 2 a.m., who do you love?”  In “All Too Well,” she’s “dancing ’round the kitchen in the refrigerator light,” but seven years later, “in the night, I pace like a ghost.” Now, Swift invites us on “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.” Insomniacs are welcomed into camaraderie ..read more

Well, I was borned a coal miner’s daughter / In a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler… We know her story because we know her songs. Born into Appalachian poverty during the Depression. Married at 15, a mother the next year. Young Loretta Lynn lived a life circumscribed by grindingly hard work and spousal abuse. That is, until her husband, Doolittle, struck by her singing talent, bought her a guitar. And the rest is musical history. By the time she passed away on October 4 at the age of 90, the voice of that young housewife from Kentucky had been burned into the American consciousness. The Countr ..read more

Chances are, you’ve never heard of John Mark Heard. Don’t worry, it’s not because you live under a rock—most, it would seem, have no idea who the Georgia-born folk rocker was, nor how indebted the modern music industry is to his body of work. And when I write, “the modern music industry,” I don’t mean the pop singers who hog the limelight and the headlines, I’m talking about the real movers and shakers, the songwriters and producers who have raised the bar and built the pedestals on which many of those pop icons stand. People like Phil Keaggy, who is consistently ranked among the greatest guit ..read more