A New Song

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Ben. Ben lived with his father, and Ben loved to sing. But one day, a terrible thing happened–Ben’s father died. Ben was so sad that he stopped singing. How did he learn to sing again? A New Song is a sweet, moving book that helps children understand dying, foster care and adoption, and grief.

Even as worship wars in the church and music controversies in society at large continue to rage, many people do not realize that conflict over music goes back to the earliest Christians as they sought to live out the "new song" of their faith. In A New Song for an Old World Calvin Stapert challenges contemporary Christians to learn from the wisdom of the early church in the area of music. Stapert draws parallels between the pagan cultures of the early Christian era and our own multicultural realities, enabling readers to comprehend the musical ideas of early Christian thinkers, from Clement and Tertullian to John Chrysostom and Augustine. Stapert's expert treatment of the attitudes of the early church toward psalms and hymns on the one hand, and pagan music on the other, is ideal for scholars of early Christianity, church musicians, and all Christians seeking an ancient yet relevant perspective on music in their worship and lives today.

Pepi loves to sing. But he needs a new song. Readers are encouraged to help Pepi find a new song to sing. Illustrations.

Paul McAllister is an artist, community organizer, author, and arts activist. When Paul isn't organizing music and arts festivals, writing books, or running Monster House Publishing, you can find him hanging with his three quirky dogs, Lupin, Gus, and Bahgeera in their beautiful hometown of Fredericton, NB. Canada.

What happens to the Responsorial Psalm in the Sunday liturgy? How can it help us pray the Sunday readings? How can it help in planning the liturgy? The Responsorial Psalm is the most neglected part of the Liturgy of the Word, yet it can be the key to all the rest. Its intent is to help bring the message of the other readings into our lives. This book addresses the riches of the Responsorial Psalm for every Sunday of the three-year cycle. It explains the psalm genre, offers exposition on the meaning and beauty of the psalm itself, and comments on the relationship of the Responsorial Psalm to the other readings. It is the book for anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the Sunday readings -- preachers, catechists, liturgists and all the people in the pews.

Levine, a graduate fellow at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, explores the Psalms as dialogic speech acts shaped by the conventions of human speech communication and by the particular religious symbolism and discourse traditions of the Bible and the ancient Near East. He draws on critical perspectives such as the anthropology of ritual, speech-act theory, midrashic hermeneutics, and post-Holocaust theology, to reveal the functions of the Psalms in the ancient and the modern world, and the attitudes and roles of the original psalmists. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR