In Episode 200 of Theology In Particular, Dr. James Renihan joins me to talk about historiography, particularly how our reading of history can affect our theology. Announcements: IRBS OTR Grace BC, Rangely CO, June 14, RBC Fort Worth, June 21: IRBS OTR Melbourne Australia, June 28 IRBS OTR Palmerston NOrth, NZ; July 12 IRBS OTR SYdney Australia Con…

Sound Pedagogy: Radical Care in Music (University of Illinois Press, 2024) is a collected edition about Pedagogies of Care edited by Colleen Renihan, John Spilker-Beed, and Trudi Wright are experienced music history educators working in the United States and Canada. They have curated a collection of essays that explore what it means to prioritize c…

By Hayden Mills

Bands like R.E.M., U2, Public Enemy, and Nirvana found success as darlings of college radio, but the extraordinary influence of these stations and their DJs on musical culture since the 1970s was anything but inevitable. As media deregulation and political conflict over obscenity and censorship transformed the business and politics of culture, stud…

In Episode 199 of Theology In Particular, I’m joined by Dr. Ryan Davidson to discuss the homiletics courses he teaches at IRBS. Contact: For information about International Reformed Baptist Seminary, go to irbsseminary.org. For feedback, questions, or suggestions, email Joe Anady at [email protected].…

By Sergio Lozano

By Campbell Colledge

By Campbell Colledge

By Campbell Colledge

In Episode 198 of Theology In Particular, I’m joined by Drs. James Renihan, Ryan Davidson, Daniel Scheiderer, and Jeffery Riddle to discuss the 2025 faculty conference, among other things. Contact: For information about International Reformed Baptist Seminary, go to irbsseminary.org. For feedback, questions, or suggestions, email Joe Anady at tip@i…

By Campbell Colledge

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

Elton John is not only "still standing," he is a living superlative, the ultimate record-breaking, award-winning survivor of the great era of pop and rock music that he helped to shape during his six decades in the music industry. Yet few of his numerous biographies and song guides take him as a historical subject worthy of scholarly study. In cont…

Covering her life and sixty-year career from Sonny & Cher to show-stopping solo performer, award-winning actress, fashion icon, and beyond, this is a glorious retrospective of one of the world's most enduring entertainers, Cher. Featuring a foreword by Cyndi Lauper! Commemorating six decades since her first #1 hit in 1965, I Got You Babe (Running P…

Gospel singer and seven-time Grammy winner Andraé Crouch (1942-2015) hardly needs introduction. His compositions--"The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power," "Through It All," "My Tribute (To God be the Glory)," "Jesus is the Answer," "Soon and Very Soon," and others--remain staples in modern hymnals, and he is often spoken of in the same "genius" panth…

In Episode 197 of Theology In Particular, I interview two 2025 IRBS Graduates, Samuel Medina & Benedict Allmand-Smith. Announcements: May 16, 2025: IRBS Faculty Conference On Church Planting, Mansfield, TX May 17, 2025: IRBS Commencement, Mansfield, TX Contact: For information about International Reformed Baptist Seminary, go to irbsseminary.org. F…

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

By Campbell Colledge

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

How are David Lynch's films as much in dialogue with literary and musical traditions as they are cinematic ones? By interrogating this question, David Lynch’s American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2025) broadens the interpretive horizons of Lynch's filmography, calling for a new approach to Lynch's films that goes beyond cinem…

Leonard Bernstein, in his famous Norton Lectures, extolled repetition, saying that it gave poetry its musical qualities and that music theorists' refusal to take it seriously did so at their peril. In Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts (MIT Press, 2025), Samuel Jay Keyser explores in detail the way repetition works in poetry, music, and pai…

From the Shadow of the Blues: My Story of Music, Addiction, and Redemption (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025) is powerful memoir of redemption from the son of blues legend John Lee Hooker. Born in Detroit and exposed to the music world from an early age, John Lee Hooker Jr. began singing as a featured attraction in his father's shows as a teenager. His f…

In Episode 196 of Theology In Particular, Dr. James Renihan joins me to discuss congregationalism, especially the power that belongs to church members. Announcements: IRBS OTR, May 10 Unity Baptist Church near Memphis, Faculty conference on Church Planting May 16; Commencement May 17; IRBS OTR, Grace Covenant BC, VA Beach May 24; IRBS OTR, Iglesia …

Liz Pelly has been closely following the evolution of Spotify and other music streaming services and the effect they have had on the music sector and musicians themselves for several years. Her book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (Atria, 2025), paints a depressing picture of how the company has exploited th…

By George Thomason

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

By Dr. Samuel Renihan

Transatlantic Drift: The Ebb and Flow of Dance Music (Reaktion, 2025) by Dr. Katie Milestone & Dr. Simon A. Morrison explores the emergence and evolution of nightclubs and electronic dance music from the 1950s onwards. It traces the rhythmic journey of dance music, following the pulse as it bounced between Europe, North America and the Caribbean. M…

Mixing the spirit and energy of punk with synths. electronic body music (or EBM) took off in the early 80s in Germany, Belgium, and the UK – with bands like DAF, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. In their new book - Electronic Body Music (published by Mionaetti) - Yuma Hampejs and Marcel Schulze chronicle how this hybrid of heavy beats and basslines, shout…

In Episode 195 of Theology In Particular, I’m joined by Dr. Enoch Adekoya to discuss his testimony, ministry, and directorship of IRBS United Kingdom. Contact: For information about International Reformed Baptist Seminary, go to irbsseminary.org. For feedback, questions, or suggestions, email Joe Anady at [email protected]. Links: Website: IRBS …

By Campbell Colledge

By Campbell Colledge

Music was an integral part of statecraft and identity formation in the Third Reich. Structured thematically and semiotically around the Wagnerian tetralogy of the Ring cycle, Hitler’s Twilight of the Gods: Music and the Orchestration of War and Genocide in Europe (U Toronto Press, 2025) provides a sonic read of the Second World War and the Holocaus…

In Episode 194 of Theology In Particular, I’m joined by Dr. Joshua Wilson to discuss his article, Genesis 1:1–2 and the Doctrine of Creatio Ex Nihilo (Part 1): A Lexical Analysis of the Phrase The Heavens And The Earth. Contact: For information about International Reformed Baptist Seminary, go to irbsseminary.org. For feedback, questions, or sugges…

By Campbell Colledge