UM Honors Blog 2020-2021

Seeing Augustine move from merely being annoyed by Faustus' fancy words to trying to process the mind-numbing relationship between free-will and evil was one heck of an evolution! In Book V, Augustine talks about how, initially, he admired Faustus' humility in not speaking about the things which he did not understand. However, the philosopher later becomes all together unimpressed with most everything the Manichee has to say! Finally realizing the importance of quality over quantity, Augustine begins to question everything that he has ever been taught by Faustus and his many followers. Reading about Augustine's initial conviction greatly reminded me of my high school biology teacher. When we moved into the human anatomy section of our textbook, our teacher explained to us how she came to doubt evolution through her college anatomy and physiology course. She explained to us how she found it less and less believable that our entire existence was simply one big coincidence whe...

Augustine brings up the point that how you choose to use your time can either be honourable to the Lord or be sinful. This is something I have been studying for years now. I used to have a bad habit of procrastinating and being lazy. After reading Every Good Endeavour , I realised how spiritually detrimental it is to put things off. So, I have come to the conclusion that procrastination is a sin. When we are prolific we are honouring the Lord, and our work is "fruitful work". It is important to understand and know that jobs (or education) are not for self fulfillment, but rather service for something beyond. Work is a gift from God that gives purpose. God's good plan always included human beings working.  Genesis 1:28 "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." He ...

  “An individual who does not have a focus or direction to pursue with their precious time will never know what it is like to live their best life.” - me. Augustine shows an uptick in his mindset as it begins changing between books V and VI. For a couple of decades, he pursued what he thought was the truth of life in various other pleasures and/or philosophies. In Book V we see him take his search of the truth to Faustus, a renowned speaker and communicator of Manichean philosophy and teaching, who is said to have known and read about the different views on life and how exactly it is that the Manichean view is different from other “false” teachings. What Augustine finds however, is a disappointing revelation: "As soon as the opportunity arose I and some of my friends claimed his attention at a time when a private discussion would not be inappropriate. I mentioned some of my doubts, but soon discovered that except for a rudimentary knowledge of literature he had no claims to schola...

  Reading Book 5, we begin to see Augustine's internal change become more external. This is obvious by 1) his constant roaming that is determined by his intolerance of the students and peers around him, almost as if he outgrows them like a pair of pants and 2) his relentless pursuit of the opinions of various philosophers and religious leaders including Faustus and Ambrose the Bishop of Milan. By the end of it, Augustine basically considers himself a Christian that just isn't baptized yet.  But as we dig deeper into Books 6 and 7, Augustine is almost in danger of talking himself out of the faith. Because of his analytical mind, he lets a lot of material things get in the way of an immediate salvation. First, he worries about his sexual history and how it will fit in the new life of being a Christian. Secondly, he gets into the vicious cycle of trying to "picture" God, from things such as the ocean to a ray of sunlight. All of it just made me want to facepalm. He neede...

 Name a sin. The first sin you think of would probably be pretty heinous. It might be murder or theft, but I would bet that you didn't think of not doing homework. Yes, you read that right. Not doing homework is a sin. Augustine mentions it offhandedly, but it brings a good point to the surface. In book nine, Augustine recounts his memories of going to school and goofing around with his fellow students. "But we sinned by reading and writing and studying less than was expected of us." God gives us all a role in life. This can be our career, but it is also what we are doing currently. We are currently charged with being students. Some of us are charged with being single, while some are charged with upholding Godly relationships. Some are charged with being siblings, while others fulfill the role of only child. These are our roles that are set by God. I can say that everyone in this Honors class is charged with being a student, and by Scriptural standards, that means that we...

 Well, it's that time of year again, and blog posts are due. I'm sleep deprived at this point so I'm not going to mince words and just get straight to the point. In section (chapter?) 3 of book 2, Augustine recalls that both of his parents were eager for him to continue his studies and learn. What I find mildly funny about the situation is that it was for completely different reasons. His father wanted him to study for Augustine's success, paying no heed to God. His mother on the other hand, wanted him to continue his studies in the hopes of Augustine becoming closer to God. Now, hindsight is 20/20, but obviously, his mother was right in this situation. Augustine does of course go on to become a Christian. Another thing I find funny in this situation, is the fact that marriage was not in the cards for Augustine, at least according to his mother. Despite his 'escapades,' Augustine's mother felt marriage would make Augustine's studies worse, and as a resul...

How often have I gotten so caught up in the musicality of worship that I miss the meaning of what I'm singing? I can't count the amount of times, which is mildly concerning considering how Augustine considers such behavior to be a sin. To quote him in his Confessions, "However when it happens to me that I am moved more greatly by the song than by what is sung, I confess that I am sinning and deserve punishment, and then I would rather not hear the singer". I agree with Augustine's statement that such behavior should be marked as sin, as it is more important to focus on what is being sung than it is to relish the music. This is where I disagree with Augustine, however, as I believe that the musicality of worship can be enjoyed to an extent, as long as the person enjoying the music understands the meaning of what they are singing and sings to God with true intent.  I commented on Lily and Haley's posts.

             As most of you know by now, I am a Worship Leadership major. My life revolves around music and learning to use music in a way that honors the Lord and draws others to Him. So, I was intrigued as I read "The Growth of the Christian Church and it's Music." I quickly found interesting parallels to an issue that continues to grow in worship music today. Page 13 quotes St. Augustine as he admits his battle with feeling "sensual pleasure" from worship music. He says, "However, when it happens to me that I am moved more greatly by the song than by what is sung, I confess that I am sinning and deserve punishment." This is not a conviction that many of us feel. Maybe you do from time to time, but I believe so many musicians try so hard to make sure their worship songs are heard that the line between worship music and secular music begins to blur. Obviously it is important for a song to sound good... who wants to sing a worship song they don't ...

Augustine shed light on a very important idea that worship is not supposed to be just like every other kind of music. I used to have friends who went to an extremely restrictive church where the pastor believed and constantly proclaimed, "If during worship your toe starts tappin' before your heart starts movin' then it ain't Christian!" While this statement may be kind of excessive, it does reflect the same truth that Augustine touches on. Worship is meant to teach and to help one grow closer to God. It is not about trying to reach an emotional or spiritual high, it is a time a place where we, as Christians, should be striving to focus intently on the words we are singing. This leads to my second point. Our intent and heart posture when worshiping God is always going to be a necessary thing when it comes to truly worshiping, but if the songs we sing don't necessarily reflect the truths that we are trying to live out and apply to our lives, then we are never go...

  I grew up in your stereotypical non-denominational mega-ish church. I always said, "my mom grew up baptist and my dad grew up catholic so I guess that makes me non-denominational." My dad never formed a close relationship to music as a teen within the context of church but found a majority of his music intake coming from radio either the local jazz station or general secular pop station. My mom played flute in band and occasionally piano at the little Shalimar baptist church she grew up in. My mother had a deep connection to music and has used it in many ways as her prayer. The first song that made an impact in my life was Awesome God by Rich Mullins the 1995 version. That was the first song I consciously remember singing and knowing the words to, because we had the cd in our blue chevy venture. Returning back to the topic, My mom shared the influence of good Christian Music with my father and the cd collection grew. As I got older songs like Dive by St...

I’ll say this now: I am arguably a better piano player than a singer. However, I love to express myself through song, especially in church. And something I’ve noticed over the years is that I prefer the older traditional hymns to the modern contemporary songs that you hear on K-LOVE. I feel like they have more of the truth about who God is but I am not saying that the newer songs don’t have that, it’s just that as a whole, the older hymns are better. Psalms are the same way. Psalm 23, 27, 90, and 91 are just a few of my favorite psalms simply for the fact that they declare who and what God is. I really like how St. Basil says that the “singing of psalms brings love, the greatest of good things, contriving harmony like some bond of union and uniting the people in the symphony of a single choir.” I’ve always believed in the power of music and that hymns can bring people together. “Revive Us Again”, “Amazing Grace”, “Jesus Paid It All”, and so many more all have such powerful messages tha...

  “I need not tell all this to you, my God, but in your presence, I tell it to my own kind, to those other men, however few, who may perhaps pick up this book” (Augustine, page 45).  This is from the second chapter of  Confessions  when Augustine is only beginning to tell all of his sins. Based on this quote, Augustine knew his book would be read by others. Still, he showed no regret in telling all of his misdeeds, and- despite the scorn he may have received from his community- Augustine published a book containing every sin he could remember from his lifetime. I hate to be the person who brings up  Hamilton  in every conversation, but I can’t help but to see a parallel in Augustine’s  Confessions  with  The Reynold's Pamphlet . Alexander Hamilton wrote out- in fine detail- his acts of adultery against his wife. He went on to publish the pamphlet and even give a copy to every person in Congress. Like Augustine, Hamilton aired his crooked...

       Augustine robs a pear tree, but not because he wants the pears. One may ask, and Augustine does ask, what's that about? Augustine robs the pear tree, not for the need nor the want of the material possession of the pears, but because of the pleasure which he finds in the sin. He says, "Our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden" (Augustine 47). From Augustine's writings, it appears that humans are naturally evil. Humans desire to sin. They possess a rebellious nature. On the other hand, Desmond Tutu, among others, would argue that humans are naturally good. However, I believe Augustine is right; humans are naturally evil, meaning they have a tendency to sin. In Romans 7:18 Paul writes, "For I know that nothing goods lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it." Even if man desires to do good, he tends to do evil; he has a tendency to sin. I see it this way, whe...

 St. Augustine makes it perfectly clear that the purpose of worship is not to sing, though many Christians get caught up in that. The purpose of worship is to learn and praise, the music is simply a vessel. Oftentimes Christians seem to get caught up in the performance of worship, not the benefits of the words being sung. Worship, specifically the Psalms, is said to be an "Arbitrator of souls, restraining the disorder and turbulence of thoughts.. it softens the passion of the soul and moderates its unruliness" (St. Basil par 2).  Worship is meant to provoke thought and peace, it is not meant to be performative. While worship is meant to provoke thought, it is not, however, meant to be glorified and it is not meant to be a source of theology. Worship and the accompanying music is a vessel for God's word and love, not vice versa. Music was, and still is an essential medium of worship, but it is not everything. Music is a means of communicating worship, and it should not tak...

  Is music in the church a distraction from God? Is music, instead, a thing that points us to God? This struggle is evident in the church today as it was in the time of Saint Augustine. Common to worship services today, are hymns or contemporary music. We have accepted music as an integral part of our worship rituals. But have we allowed this expression of our worship to become more centered around ourselves than God?  This is a problem that Saint Augustine is faced with in his Confessions. Similar to his issue, we are caught in the conflict between responding to the warm, fuzzy feelings music evokes, and responding to the meaningful truth behind the music.  Saint Augustine says it best: "When it happens to me that I am moved more greatly by the song than by what is sung, I confess that I am sinning and deserve punishment, and then I would rather not hear the singer..." There should be a balance between allowing music to remind us of the beauty and goodness of God, and al...

     The act of worshipping is something we do to honor, glorify, and praise God. In todays church worship is one of the main points of a service and time is set aside to worship. There is often teams and leadership positions just for worship. Music is built into the program the church often goes by. At what point though does worship become not about the words but about the music?     The music in the church has changed over time to better suit the world around. Although some churches still sing hymns, a lot of  churches have worship teams. The music has gone from being in a Hymn Book to being on a screen. There is no longer just one genre of Christian music but multiple different genres such as Contemporary Christian and Southern Gospel. As music in the church as changed has the focus been taken off the words. I think it could be argued that this is not the case because when the words are stripped away from the music the words still move people. I do ...

 Ever since the establishment of the Church there has always been the question, "What should worship look like?". Whether it be meditative worship, voice-led worship, or instrumental worship, there has always been the argument of what constitutes worship. I think we have to understand that all things were created by God and for God, including music. Music is another one of God's tools to speak to us and interact with us. Worship was used all throughout the Old Testament to soothe the soul and influence emotions. With that in mind, I must critique St. Augustine for thinking that being moved by the music used for worship is a sin. The people who use their talents to worship the Lord through voice or instrument are using those avenues to worship just as equally as we, the crowd, are using our voices to worship. It is nonsense to think that finding pleasure or beauty in the worship of a brother or sister to be a sin. Worship is not a static, emotionless action but a vibrant o...

Many times, Christians (not saying we as a class), but most Christians love to over glorify worship more than it should be. They like to receive their theology from Christian music instead of the word of God itself. So I love to read the Bible and ask myself, "What is True Worship?" Well, a definition of worship is giving God the glory and obedience he deserves. In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah warns the people of hypocritical actions, "Yet they act so pious! They come to the temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws if its God" (Isaiah 58:2). He wanted them to know that true worship was more than a religious ritual, going to the temple everyday, and listening to scripture readings. It involved authenticity and an honest confession of wrongdoing. Where we worship is not as important to God as how we worship. A church may be beautiful, but if its people don't sincerely follow God, it...

    I love music, as I'm sure most of you do. I would much rather play on my guitar or listen to music than read about the history of music, but I did enjoy reading about how the early church viewed music. I believe that there is something we can learn from the way the early church approached the issue they were having with music.      They early church saw that there was a danger to music because they knew that there was power to it. They knew that music had powerful ties to paganism which the early church leaders knew could draw people away from the church and back to paganism. They realized that they needed to be very careful with the type of music they chose because it can distract people from God and not focus on Him.      I believe that we need to have this kind of carefulness in our lives about things that we do or things we have. We need to look closely at ourselves and if something is distracting us from God then we need to get rid of it....

Music is a form of entertainment. As Christians, we seem to have difficulty separating entertainment and performance from reverent and selfless worship. I see this as a major issue in the Church. If you watch a modern worship team, oftentimes you can tell if they are being genuine or if they think Sunday morning is simply their time to shine. Music, as a form of worship, is not meant to be a chance for us to elevate ourselves and show off our talents, but rather an opportunity to elevate God and use our gifts as tools to glorify Him. For some, singing worship music is a ritual or a traditional activity that you just do because, well, you just do. This is also dangerous. Music in the Church has become a means of emotional manipulation, a chance in the spotlight, or a mindless practice. Worship music is important in our walk with God, just as Augustine began each book with a prayer of praise. Even when he had questions, he said he would praise God for what he did know. One of my fav...

Starting off this semester with a look back at the origins of music was honestly a much needed refresher. When Dr. Abernathy told us that bad music can, quite literally, harm one's soul, I felt an immediate sense of guilt. Since coming to college, I have really neglected listening to worship music and have instead surrounded myself with many popular, secular songs. That said, the St. Basil reading could not have arrived at a better time! I love how most of our early music was created with the sole purpose of helping people to better understand deep theological messages and ideals. The wording that St. Basil uses when describing how worship music should work is absolutely beautiful and incredibly clever! By packaging important truths within joyous songs, we are both learning and memorizing key facts about Christianity. By subconsciously hiding these truths within our hearts, we are all the more prepared to, as St. Basil would say, educate our souls. In addition, we can cling to thes...

 Is it ironic that I am listening to music while writing a blog post about music? I find music to be an essential part of my life. It is essential in both my spiritual life and everyday activities. Ever since middle school, I have used music as a tool to focus on my work. I cannot seem to think in silence. While I think silence is important, I prefer to listen to music when I can. Music is very prominent in my life. It is something that I can make conversation with, it is the topic that starts almost all of the fun conversations with my brother, and participating in musical activities I have created friendships that I would not trade for the world.  Whenever we want to remember something important for school there are several ways that we can remember. One option is to use a song as a mnemonic device. When I was a small child, we had a CD that had bible verses paired with songs. Because of that CD, I learned several important bible verses and if I ever need a refresher I just ...

People use music for many aspects of life. Arguably, one of the most important places to have music is in the church; however, when the Christian church was first growing into a major religion, music was put into questioning. Pagans have used music before, and the leaders of the new upcoming world religion did not want to be anything but the complete opposite. Early Christians feared that God would be lost within music, and sadly, the early Christians were right to fear such a thing.    When someone sings, they experience an increase in endorphins as well as the hormone called oxytocin. All of these give a person a feeling of please, and they can “alleviate anxiety and stress” according to Time Magazine. This could be a natural process that God has given us where our bodies are rewarded by praising Him with songs. However, this natural process is abused like many other things God has given us. We lose sight of God when we are singing. We play songs so much that we become desen...

            Although I couldn't carry a tune even if it had handles with my voice, music has always been very special to me. There's not a moment that I don't have it playing-driving, doing homework, walking around campus, you name it. Whenever there's an empty gap of silence in my life, I fill it anyway I can with music. It's how I understand other people and how other people understand me. Society has taught me that music is for us. However, after reading St. Augustine's take on specifically making music to God, I realize just how much of a snare it is singing in church with an attitude like this. There's a fine line that needs to be drawn when it reaches this point-we aren't singing along for our entertainment, like all the other secular songs we sing during car rides or girls' nights. Rather, we are singing along for God's entertainment. Worshipping in church or anywhere else to God was never about us. This isn't to say that we can't ...

     In this week's reading, we talked about Confessions by Saint Augustine. The second chapter made me think about how he questioned every little sin he ever committed (like stealing pears). At first I thought, "Why is he writing about even the small, 'insignificant' sins?" I thought he would focus on the "big" sins (like murder, prostitution, rape, etc.) In contrast, I did not realize that Augustine had the right mindset. I believe Augustine strived to uncategorize sin. I find this is important since our human nature likes for us to separate people based off our personal rating of what sins are worse than others. To God all sins are equal, so stealing pears is not any worse than murder. I want to strive to be like Augustine and be less judgmental and more accepting of others regardless of their past mistakes.      In conjunction,  Augustine was having an open relationship with God and others since he was confessing all of his sins. God tells us to h...

 We are just two books in to Augustine's Confessions and I already see the similarities this book shares with King David in Psalms. An open and honest dialogue for God and whoever else may be present to hear. This week, I want to put a focus on how vulnerable Augustine is about how he views his younger years as a wasted opportunity to live a truly meaningful life. He recounts tales from his youth involving stealing pears to chunk at pigs with, the circumstances that created an unhealthy environment for him to find spirituality in, and others in similar fashion. The common theme of living with a lack of focus, and therefore, a direction in life, caused Augustine to suffer for years before he learned the lessons that caused him to think about deeper things than the everyday motions we all go through. The summation of this point is reiterated by Augustine towards the end of Book I when he says: "Therefore, the God who made me must be good and all the good in me is his. I think hi...

        I recently had a conversation with a friend, Lydia Walker, discussing various opinions on Contemporary Christian worship. In my friend's mind, CCM (Christian Contemporary Music, I'm not spelling it out every time) is focused exclusively on modern discipleship, appealing to new Christians by constantly focusing on the redemption received through salvation. Granted, discipleship is one of the most fundamental doctrines of Christianity; Jesus explicitly tells us "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19 HCSB). The message of modern songs, however, often oversimplify Christianity to appeal to a "new age". Although the repetitive actions of songs such as "Surrounded" by Michael W. Smith provide a good reminder of the protection of Christ, it does little to remind us of God's autonomy outside of our own problems, thus reducing the message of J...