The Scriptorium Daily

Year: 2009

  • Doddridge Day

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Philip Doddridge (born this day, June 26, 1702; died 1751) is remembered today, if at all, for his book The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. This book was very famous in its time, and was translated into seven languages. William Wilberforce pointed to it as the book that made him take Christianity…

  • Everything You Think About Contentment is Wrong

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    Tim Challies hosts a “Reading Classics Together” blog event, and the book he’s working through now is The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs (1600-1646). This week’s reading is the second and third sermons in the book. In Philippians 4, Paul says “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content,”…

  • Bernard Founded Clairvaux

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    June 25 is the day, according to tradition, that Bernard (1090-1153) founded a new Cistercian monastery in Clairvaux in the year 1115. The monastery was such a success, and he was so linked with it, that “of Clairvaux” is now his last name. He was not the first Cistercian, but he was the perfect one.…

  • Beza’s Birthday is Worth Celebrating, Too

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Not long ago, theology fans celebrated Calvin’s 500th birthday. But let us not overlook the birthday of Theodore Beza, born this day, June 24, 1519. Sure, a 490th anniversary isn’t as festive as a 500th, and Beza’s not Calvin. But since it’s his day, consider Beza for a moment. Beza carried out what John Calvin…

  • Ernest Renan’s Life of Jesus

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    According to the Christian History Institute, June 23 was the very day in 1863 when French philosopher Ernest Renan (1823-1892) published his Vie de Jesus. Renan’s book was not the first attempt at a critical biography of Jesus, but it was the first best-seller in the genre. It is written in purple prose that nineteenth-century…

  • Staggered by Bible Trouble

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Q: I want to believe in every word taught or inspired by the Holy Spirit, but I am simply staggered when I read statements of I Kings 20:30 and I Samuel 6:19. Can you give me any relief? If the figures are incorrectly translated why did not the revisers make the necessary alterations? A: The…

  • Jonathan Edwards, You’re FIRED

    Jonathan Edwards, You’re FIRED

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    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    June 22 is the anniversary of Jonathan Edwards’ dismissal from his pastorate in 1750. The great awakening had gone through his town a few years before, but once it was over, plenty of people wanted to go back to sleep. Edwards had tried to raise the standards for church membership and communion in his town,…

  • Fundamentalism

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    Greg Peters
    in

    “Fundamentalism” is a bad word in most circles and, perhaps, rightly so. No one minds being called “orthodox” or even “conservative” but being called a “fundamentalist” is like having the neighborhood bully call you names while you walk home from school. It’s derogatory and, most often, demeaning. Of course, some own up to the title…

  • How My Dad Built an Illegal Bridge, and It Was Good

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    This Father’s Day, I’m remembering something my dad did back in the summer of 1991. He illegally repaired a county bridge and became a local hero. For his neighbors in Missouri, it became the story of a determined small businessman beating city hall with a bulldozer and a few tons of gravel. Dad owned a…

  • Ask Dr. Torrey

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Are we in the time of which our Lord speaks when He says, “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh?” (Luke 21:28). There are many things that would seem to indicate that we are. Certainly men’s hearts are “fainting for fear…

  • Q&A Dr. Torrey: Soul and Spirit, The Mark of Cain, This Generation

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Q&A Dr. Torrey: Please explain the difference between soul and spirit. The Bible clearly teaches that man possesses not a two-fold nature as it is ordinarily put but a three-fold nature, not merely soul and body but Spirit, Soul and Body (1 Thess. 5:23), though in some instances what is true of the spirit seems…

  • Introducing the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    About twenty years ago I saw for the first time “The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.” I was interested in the book at once, and commenced to use it in my daily study of the Word of God. I went through book after book of the Bible, verse by verse, with the aid of “The Treasury.”…