Country Music and Shootouts at High Noon

[kenhonken]

“Although young, David has a reputation already as a musician and a fighter, two ancillary skills of shepherds.”

This quote caught my attention due to my ongoing thesis that cowboys are the American analog to ANE shepherds. To me, it is no accident that American cowboys are both renowned fighters and musicians like David himself. We have an entire genre of American folk music--country music--distinctly associated with cowboy hats and their instrument of choice, the guitar. Additionally, the genre of Western movies is well known for its portrayal of six-shooter duels on Main Street and other armed conflict.

I think American pastors should consider how they can use the cowboy motif to communicate the biblical idea of shepherding to themselves in their understanding of their calling and to their congregations in their congregation's understanding of their work.