for me, music is the most powerful medium for shaping me emotionally, intellectually and theologically. music has been powerful in shaping the way i see the world and how i form theologies. at various points in my life, music has caused me to radically rethink certain theologies and begin the process of completely ditching others.

i set forth to create a list of songs that have been particularly theologically significant for me over the years and i discovered something: i am obsessed with derek webb. i listed somewhere in the vicinity of 25 songs and i more than 10 were derek webb songs. the truth is that derek webb has truly been phenomenally significant in my emerging theologies over the last 5 or 6 years. so, i thought it was only appropriate to simply make a list of derek webb songs. at the end, i decided to make a quick list of other theologically significant songs. here goes…

10. i repent (i see things upside down)
most impacting lyrics: i repent judging by a law that even i can’t keep/of wearing righteousness like a disguise/to see through the planks in my own eyes

9. this world (the house show)
most impacting lyrics: And the least of these look like criminals to me/So I leave Christ on the street

8. i for an i ( the ringing bell)
most impacting lyrics: I’ve got a killer instinct bringing out all of my best/I’ve got a poison conscience telling me to go with that/this may not work and I don’t guarantee that it will/but I’ve got no choice unless you tell me who Jesus would kill

7. this too shall be made right (the ringing bell)
most impacting lyrics: I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door/I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore/I’m trading comfort for human life/and that’s not just murder it’s suicide/this too shall be made right

6. name (the ringing bell)
most impacting lyrics: there’s no categories just long stories waiting to be heard/(if there’s love in your heart)/don’t be satisfied when someone sums you up with just one word/(if there’s love in your heart)

5. nobody loves me (she must and shall go free)
most impacting lyrics: Well I can always tell a liar and I always know a thief/Well I know I’m like my family because brother I’m the chief/Well I’m a dangerous crusader ‘cause I need to tell the truth/So I’m turnin’ over tables in my own living room

4. a king & a kingdom (mockingbird)
most impacting lyrics: there are two great lies that i’ve heard:/“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”/and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican/and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

3. wedding dress (she must and shall go free)
most impacting lyrics: So could you love this bastard child/Though I don’t trust you to provide/With one hand in a pot of gold/and with the other in your side

2. my enemies are men like me (mockingbird)
most impacting lyrics: peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication/it’s like telling someone murder is wrong/and then showing them by way of execution

1. faith my eyes (40 acres)
most impacting lyrics: But if I must go/Things I trust will be better off without me/But I don’t want to know/Life is better off a mystery

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7. leave me alone by don chaffer (what you don’t know)
most impacting lyrics: Leave me alone/I just need a moment/To myself to quiet down to quiet down and grieve/And be alive/And miss her being so nearby she’s gone

6. doubting thomas by nickel creek (why should the fire die?)
most impacting lyrics: Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face/Then I beg to be spared ’cause I’m a coward/If there’s a master of death I’ll bet he’s holding his breath/As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power

5. loving a person by sara groves (add to the beauty)
most impacting lyrics: There’s a lot of pain in reaching out and trying/It’s a vulnerable place to be/Love and pride can’t occupy the same spaces baby/Only one makes you free

4. why i don’t believe in god by everclear (so much for the afterglow)
most impacting lyrics: I know the truth about you/I know the truth/Mama they woke me up/I was just eight years old/Sometimes it gets so hard I feel like letting it go/Letting it all go

3. roll to the middle by sara groves (the other side of something)
most impacting lyrics: No matter how my pride resists/No matter how this wall feels true/No matter how I can’t be sure/That you’re gonna roll in too/No matter what, no matter what/I’m going to reach for you

2. fix you by coldplay (x&y)
most impacting lyrics: And the tears come streaming down your face/When you lose something you can’t replace/When you love someone, but it goes to waste

1. what if i stumble by dc talk (jesus freak)
most impacting lyrics: Father please forgive me for I can not compose/The fear that lives within me/Or the rate at which it grows/If struggle has a purpose/On the narrow road you’ve carved/Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar