Something I always hated in Math class was when my teacher(s) would get bent out of shape when I didn’t show my work. From the time I was 13 I had a summer job that required that I do a lot of math, mostly addition and subtraction, very quickly and mostly in my head. I got to a point where I could look at a column of numbers and give you a total sum. So when I got to High School and advanced math classes, I decided to skip the hand cramps of long form math and use my hard bought skills. Let’s just say, my teachers were decidedly not as impressed as I thought they should be.
So when a friend gave me the helpful suggestion that I should actually footnote my blog articles, I was a little less than enthused. Part of me heard Mrs. Hummel’s second favorite axiom after, “I’m not here to teach you, I’m here to guide you”, which was “You always have to show all of your work.(IYKYK) However, this was well intentioned advice from a friend not the bane of my existence in my High School years, and giving it a moment of thought he has a strong point.
First I am not an expert in all things. Not even in all the things that I want to touch on in this blog over time. Just because I have some advanced degrees in theology and Biblical languages doesn’t mean that I am qualified to do anything approaching original research in something like what is currently being called the Enochian world view. What I do have is a very specific set skills. Skills honed over a lifetime of going cross eyed staring at dusty volumes, of how to track down and research reliable sources.
One of the things that lead me to this place now, when I really think about it, was being a part of the “worship movement”1 in the 90s and hearing about things like the “Fallen Tabernacle of David”, how “Satan was heaven’s worship leader”, or the one that used to get me, “true Levitical and Davidic praise.”2 There was this once when I was discussing this with the my undergrad academic advisor, Dr. Raymond C. VanLeeuwen. He said, “Yeah wouldn’t be amazing if we just had like a book of Bible, even the longest book, that was dedicated to nothing but that? By the way I’ll be teaching Psalms next semester.” His dry wit and friendly sarcasm were great.3
Given time I want to talk about how worship4 is catechesis, spiritually formative(or deformative), prayer, and numerous other topics. However, I decided my friend is right. There needs to be footnotes. If for no other reason than the next person who gets inspired by a topic like this isn’t left wondering if what they heard or read were simply myths, or actual areas of study in which they can go deeper. Trust me, as I look at my book shelves with the realization that I have more titles than the famed great library of Alexandria(and that isn’t counting Kindle)5, you really can go deep with any of these topics.
So I hope you enjoy the changes. I also hope that each of you dear readers feels as free as my friend to drop bits of constructive criticism.
- Have you ever wondered why everything has be a movement? I don’t have answers to that one, it just seems rather fragmented. ↩︎
- If you have no idea what those are, God bless you, and don’t worry, I’ll explain each sacred cow before I slaughter it. ↩︎
- This is just me making sure the footnote plugin that I had to hunt down to do foot notes really does work. ↩︎
- I’m using worship as a catchall term for sacred music. ↩︎
- The printing press really was a miraculous thing, as it enabled book ownership. ↩︎
Musical Musings 
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