Monday, March 16, 2009

FALLIN' IN LOVE WITH JESUS

Kirk Whalum is one of my very favorite Christian jazz artists, not to mention he does a lot of jazz Gospel and so I have some samples here, and you will see he brings the heavy hitters with him--- see which version of this song you like the best, involving Jonathan Butler, Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, as the singers. Wow. Jonathan Butler not only wrote this song, I have watched him walk the walk for 30 years. He is a Christian from South Africa. I would highly recommend to you the Gospel according to Jazz I,II, III which is Kirk Whalum's response to being dropped by Columbia Records-- he decided to praise the Lord in a bolder strain. BW3





6 comments:

Unknown said...

A few years ago you included your OPUS MAGNUM. May I have your permission to send this to people who have completed my seminar on workplace ministry? For more on my background, go to www.calledintowork.com.

Ben Witherington said...

Sure, why not....

BW3

RickMcKC said...

I love these musicians. Kirk Whalum is one of my favorites. I wasn't aware that Natalie and Stevie were believers. Awesome!

Wyatt Roberts said...

Ben: I'm a longtime fan of Kirk Whalum. (Got "The Gospel According to Jazz" DVD for Christmas) -- KW is awesome (Also Larry Carlton's sax man). What a cool brother! Ditto for Jonathan Butler.

On a TOTALLY unrelated matter, my brother and I are studying through Romans. We're also big fans of N.T. Wright. I was reading your commentary on Romans online (google books) and saw where you take the Jewish interlocutor in 2.17 to be a "Judaizer," rather than representative of Judaism as a whole (Wright's position). I tend to agree with you, and found your arguments compelling.

However, I'm also trying to figure out your take on what Wright generally views as Christ's recapitulation of Israel. On Page 92, you say that the problem with Wright's position is that "Israel is taken over by the Church as Christ's story or its story or both." How does your view differ from his on this? Or have you changed your view?

BTW, I'm new to you, and have enjoyed reading whatever I've been able to find of your writing (as well as the three presentations(audio) you gave at Baylor.

Ben Witherington said...

Wyatt: Among other things, I find that Wright's view, at least as he used to formulate it, does not make sense of the Jesus tradition. For example, why would Jesus choose 12 disciples either representing Israel or as representatives to Israel if he saw himself as the culmination of Israel and its mission? This makes no sense. Furthermore, are we really to think that Israel was meant to die for the sins of the world--- I don't find this anywhere in the OT, including not in Is. 53.

BW3

Wyatt Roberts said...

Ben:

Okay. Why *did* Jesus choose 12 disciples? Why not 9, or 17? What is the symbolism of the twelve, if not as representative in some way of Israel? And what did he mean when he claimed to be the "true vine" in John 15:1?

Which of your books would come closest to fleshing out the points where you disagree with Wright on these points? Personally, I have found N.T. Wright's ideas very helpful in understanding the Bible as a whole. Since your view is so (apparently) at odds with his, I really want to understand your perspective.