Welcome to Common Grounds Online. Readers of Common Grounds have suggested a website to continue the explorations they began in the book. In keeping with the interactions of Professor MacGregor, Brad, Lauren and Jarrod, the theme of this site is ‘learning and living the Christian story.’
I have invited friends, and a few friends of friends, to communicate aspects of the Christian story that have been significant in their own lives. We’re all trying to find joy and pleasure in this life and the next, but often we forfeit the joy that could be ours by living out foolish, competing scripts. What distinguishes Common Grounds Online Contributors is not our own goodness, achievement or service, but rather the recognition of our need of God’s grace abounding in our lives.
Nice story. Too bad it's
Sun, 06/22/2008 - 16:01 — John Allen Bankson (not verified)Nice story. Too bad it's 100% bogus.
A lot of traditional music is pentatonic, not just African American spirituals. A lot of Asian music is pentatonic too. The tune JESUS LOVES ME is based on a Chinese tune and it's pentatonic.
Newton wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace," not the hymn tune NEW BRITAIN, to which we commonly sing it. (A hymn is a poem, not a piece of music. A hymn is sung to a hymn tune. The two are not fused together, and rarely is the hymn writer the same person as the composer of the tune.) The association of "Amazing Grace" with NEW BRITAIN is almost universal now, but at one time it was just as commonly sung to ARLINGTON. Newton's text was not paired with the tune NEW BRITAIN until well after Newton's death.
Furthermore, the tune NEW BRITAIN is Celtic in origin, either from Scotland or Ireland, and is suggestive of a bagpipe tune, many of which are pentatonic as well.