Musings, Musical & Otherwise
“A Leaf in the Wind” W. Zeitler Improvisation In the last Music Box I discussed the difference between two Greek words for ‘knowledge’: EPISTĒMĒ and GNŌSIS. (Greek has many more words for knowledge than just these two.) EPISTĒMĒ is knowing all about something, while GNŌSIS is direct personal experience. If EPISTĒMĒ is about knowing…
‘Knowledge’ is yet another English word where Greek has many words making distinctions we too easily gloss over in English. Two words for ‘knowledge’ I’d like to talk about are EPISTĒMĒ and GNŌSIS. The simplest way to explain the difference is with an example: You can study all about swimming, the hydrodynamics of water, the…
“It Is Well With My Soul” William Carol [PIANO] Improvisation The text to “It Is Well With My Soul” was written by Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) after traumatic events in Spafford’s life. First there was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which ruined him financially…
“The Dance of Life and Death” W. Zeitler Improvisation Translation is tricky business, and none trickier than translating Holy Writ — trying to bridge the gap between very disparate cultures. Yet another example of this is translating ‘man’ from 1st century…
As I’m sure you’re aware, there are four gospels in the New Testament, a “gospel” being a story of the life and ministry of Jesus. The standard understanding is that each of these gospels has a different “target audience”. Matthew’s target audience is the Jews — and consequently is concerned with showing how Jesus is…
Last week I mentioned Sepphoris — a city about 4 miles from Nazareth which was a major urban-renewal and pet project of Herod. The excavated areas at Sepphoris have so far yielded public buildings and baths, residential areas, an amphitheater, market building, industrial installations, cisterns, and a complex drainage system. Sepphoris was built on a…
One feature of Judaism is that the name of God is so holy that it shouldn’t even be spoken — ‘YHWH’ in particular. The Hebrew alphabet only has consonants (with a few sort-of exceptions) and you ‘just know’ from knowing the language which vowels to use. Modern Hebrew still works this way. (A system that…
On Memorial Day we remember those who “gave their last full measure of devotion” (as Lincoln so beautifully put it) — who gave their lives for their comrades in arms, their kin back home, and what their country stood for: namely, the ideals of Democracy and the Rule of Law (as opposed to the whims…
“The Name Above Every Name” W. Zeitler [ORGAN] “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” Improvisation After Isaac Watts (1674-1748) finished college and returned home to Southampton, he wrote many of his now-immortalized hymns for the Above Bar Congregational Church. Then, at age 22, he left home for London to become a tutor. Meanwhile,…
It’s no wonder that the palm was extremely important to the desert communities of the Middle East: they played a pivotal role in building and fueling early cultures. They were grown 7000 years ago (at least!) for their shade, high-energy fruit, and construction materials. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has said “few plant species…