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I Will Not Be Shaken: A Songwriter's Journey Through the Psalms
For over twenty-five years, Steve Bell and Jamie Howison have shared a friendship rooted in their common love of words, music, and the stuff of faith. Combining Bell's lyrics and songwriter's anecdotes with Howison's pastoral and theological reflections on the psalms on which these songs are based, I Will Not Be Shaken is a unique expression of a creative and lasting friendship.
Praise for "I Will Not Be Shaken":
" Jamie Howison's tone is wonderfully conversational, gently firm, close to daily trials as well as breathing the psalms themselves. The whole combination of brief, pointed meditations and references to Steve's song-writing has a lively in-touch-with-life, genuine bluegrass feel to it." - Calvin Seerveld, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto
"This is the perfect way truly to HEAR the Psalms - with scholarship and music, with mind and heart, with intelligence and emotion, with our whole unified soul!" - Marva Dawn, theologian, speaker and author of several books on the Psalms
"To hold in my hands such mature and ripened fruit from this creative and pastoral partnership is great gift indeed. In this timely and deeply needed project Jamie & Steve open our hearts to face what it means to be complex emotional humans on a spiritual journey." - Brian Doerksen, JUNO award winning singer/songwriter, professor at Prairie College
"This book is a window into a three-way conversation; the formal tone of the Coverdale translation, Jamie Howison's hospitable way of orienting us to the big picture and Steve Bell's open-hearted storytelling. All the while, the songs play on in the background, renewed and enlivened by the exchange." - Kalyn Falk, Spiritual Director and author of I Am Six Postures of Prayer
"From a priest with a scholarly mind and contemplative spirit, and a masterful songwriter with a pastor's soul, I Will Not Be Shaken is a "behind the scenes" look at some of Bell's much-loved songs and the ancient psalms that inspired them. This book orients a readers towards worship and cultivates wisdom, faithfulness, patience, and hope in God's unending love." - Kurt Armstrong, author of Why Love Will Always be a Poor Investment
This book is a companion to the CD "I Will Not Be Psalms Collection" by Steve Bell, available at www.stevebell.com and www.signpostmusic.com.
DEAR
You’ll notice the order of the psalm-song reflections in this book are not sequential. Rather, they are in the order that Steve wrote them, and so the order itself is somewhat biographical.
Each chapter begins with a psalm, followed by Jamie Howison’s reflection. At the end of each chapter is a brief note from Steve explaining a bit about the process, or circumstances behind his rendering, followed by the lyrics he wrote.
Each chapter, of course, corresponds to the music you’ll find on the Psalms Collection CD by Steve Bell.
The book and CD can be used together as a helpful resource for personal or small group reflection.
JAMIE
I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), with whom I shared two days of great conversation just as the ideas for this book were beginning to percolate.
Also Alfred Bell, who has had such a clear influence on Steve, but who also provided me wise and psalmic guidance at a particularly thorny point in my pastoral ministry.
STEVE
I wish to thank my manager Dave Zeglinski, and our staff Faye Hall and Amy Knight who care for the many behind the scenes details of this work. In particular, Amy Knight carefully shepherded the production of this book.
JAMIE AND STEVE
We wish to thank Gordon Matties for reading the manuscript, attending to the music, and beautifully writing the book’s foreword.
We are also grateful our wives, Catherine Pate and Nanci-Lynne Bell for lovingly sharing the life we live that makes this work possible.
Praise for "I Will Not Be Shaken":
" Jamie Howison's tone is wonderfully conversational, gently firm, close to daily trials as well as breathing the psalms themselves. The whole combination of brief, pointed meditations and references to Steve's song-writing has a lively in-touch-with-life, genuine bluegrass feel to it." - Calvin Seerveld, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto
"This is the perfect way truly to HEAR the Psalms - with scholarship and music, with mind and heart, with intelligence and emotion, with our whole unified soul!" - Marva Dawn, theologian, speaker and author of several books on the Psalms
"To hold in my hands such mature and ripened fruit from this creative and pastoral partnership is great gift indeed. In this timely and deeply needed project Jamie & Steve open our hearts to face what it means to be complex emotional humans on a spiritual journey." - Brian Doerksen, JUNO award winning singer/songwriter, professor at Prairie College
"This book is a window into a three-way conversation; the formal tone of the Coverdale translation, Jamie Howison's hospitable way of orienting us to the big picture and Steve Bell's open-hearted storytelling. All the while, the songs play on in the background, renewed and enlivened by the exchange." - Kalyn Falk, Spiritual Director and author of I Am Six Postures of Prayer
"From a priest with a scholarly mind and contemplative spirit, and a masterful songwriter with a pastor's soul, I Will Not Be Shaken is a "behind the scenes" look at some of Bell's much-loved songs and the ancient psalms that inspired them. This book orients a readers towards worship and cultivates wisdom, faithfulness, patience, and hope in God's unending love." - Kurt Armstrong, author of Why Love Will Always be a Poor Investment
This book is a companion to the CD "I Will Not Be Psalms Collection" by Steve Bell, available at www.stevebell.com and www.signpostmusic.com.
DEAR
You’ll notice the order of the psalm-song reflections in this book are not sequential. Rather, they are in the order that Steve wrote them, and so the order itself is somewhat biographical.
Each chapter begins with a psalm, followed by Jamie Howison’s reflection. At the end of each chapter is a brief note from Steve explaining a bit about the process, or circumstances behind his rendering, followed by the lyrics he wrote.
Each chapter, of course, corresponds to the music you’ll find on the Psalms Collection CD by Steve Bell.
The book and CD can be used together as a helpful resource for personal or small group reflection.
JAMIE
I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), with whom I shared two days of great conversation just as the ideas for this book were beginning to percolate.
Also Alfred Bell, who has had such a clear influence on Steve, but who also provided me wise and psalmic guidance at a particularly thorny point in my pastoral ministry.
STEVE
I wish to thank my manager Dave Zeglinski, and our staff Faye Hall and Amy Knight who care for the many behind the scenes details of this work. In particular, Amy Knight carefully shepherded the production of this book.
JAMIE AND STEVE
We wish to thank Gordon Matties for reading the manuscript, attending to the music, and beautifully writing the book’s foreword.
We are also grateful our wives, Catherine Pate and Nanci-Lynne Bell for lovingly sharing the life we live that makes this work possible.
156 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Howison
9 books13 followersJamie Howison is a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada and the founding pastoral leader of ‘saint benedict's table,’ a church community located in Winnipeg.
Over the years he has authored an array of articles and reviews, and has contributed chapters to "Get Up Off Your Knees: preaching the U2 catalogue" (Cowley, 2003), "Creating Change: the arts as catalyst for spiritual transformation" (CopperHouse, 2008), and "Fresh and Re: Fresh: Church Planting and Urban Mission in Canada Post-Christendom" (Allelon, 2009). As part of the research phase for "God’s Mind in that Music," he spent time as Scholar in Residence at the Burke Library of Union Theological Seminary and as a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at St John’s Abbey, Minnesota.
Over the years he has authored an array of articles and reviews, and has contributed chapters to "Get Up Off Your Knees: preaching the U2 catalogue" (Cowley, 2003), "Creating Change: the arts as catalyst for spiritual transformation" (CopperHouse, 2008), and "Fresh and Re: Fresh: Church Planting and Urban Mission in Canada Post-Christendom" (Allelon, 2009). As part of the research phase for "God’s Mind in that Music," he spent time as Scholar in Residence at the Burke Library of Union Theological Seminary and as a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at St John’s Abbey, Minnesota.
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January 19, 2016
Interesting look at the featured psalms and at the behind-the-scenes of the songs based on them.
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