80’s rock music gives us unity and completion
just like the Bible’s book of Genesis.
Watch our Truth in Two and find out why (2 min vid + text). And don’t miss the AFTERWORD!
Dr. Mark Eckel is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University. Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website) and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point through Truth in Two videos (here).
Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
80’s rock n’ roll exactly mirrors beginnings and endings. I love a strong, driving downbeat that repetitiously provides the rhythm, the baseline of the song. Melody must grab my attention, giving my toe, tap-ability. Harmonic complements introduce variation, adding tension. The final musical moments make every part satisfying, tying them together with a concluding flourish. Once I asked my son why I liked 80’s music. “That’s easy Dad. You like unity and completion. Eighties’ Rock is a straight line from the beginning to the end.”
I like to think that 80’s Rock mirrors the book of Genesis which announces a beginning and an end. In Greek the words are “arche” and “telos,” the start and finish of something. According to John 1, Jesus is the original Word of God, an exact representation of Genesis 1. Not only that, Colossians declares that Jesus created all things by His very words. And, of course, Revelation declares Jesus is the “alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.” Jesus is the original intention of The Godhead; He will bring everything back to creation’s completion.
The application of beginning and end impacts every aspect of our being and living. Understanding our origins gives meaning to our physical world. Orientation to where we live and how we live allows us to create personal goals. Our world makes sense. Sensibility and meaning hold out a standard for right and wrong. Purpose gives a historical orientation. If there is a first thing, there must be a permanent thing. Eternal boundaries give us markers outside of ourselves, helping us to live uprightly. Everyone is looking for answers to the very issues Genesis presupposes.
I appreciate 80’s rock ‘n roll for the same reason I love Jesus, who is the unity and completion of all things. For the Comenius Institute, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.
AFTERWORD
Missionary scholar Lesslie Newbigin has said, “To have discovered the cause of something is to have explained it. There is no need to invoke purpose or design as an explanation.” [Lesslie Newbigin. 1986. 1990. Foolishness of The Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture. (Reprint, Eerdmans): 24.]
Some of you will note that even the construction of this paragraph reflects a structured order, a beginning and an end. The explanatory lines about music have two complementary ideas, completed in each case by a gerund phrase. Literature is about meaning seen through the method together giving a message. References for the quotes include: “License Plates,” I Just Need Time to Think; John 1.1-18;; Nehemiah 9:6; Note the strong genealogical connections of place and vocation in sections like Genesis 10; Psalms 147 and 148; 1 Timothy 6:10 where money is said to be “the root” or “origin,” “the very beginning of” evil; Matthew 19:4, 8; John 8:44; Psalm 119:91; Jeremiah 31:35-37; 33:2, 20-26.
This Truth in Two is taken verbatim from my own writing, first published at WarpandWoof.org, “License Plates,” 9 September 2009 https://warpandwoof.org/license-plates/ later included in my book I Just Need Time to Think: Reflective Study as Christian Practice.