Year: 2009
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Andrew Murray’s Birthday
Andrew Murray, Reformed pastor who worked chiefly in South Africa, was born on May 9, 1828 and died at a ripe old age in 1917. He wrote scores of books, most of them having 31 chapters and intended to be read a chapter at a time for one month. They are devotional books, and if…
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Handley Moule, Evangelical Bishop of Durham
H. C. G. (that’s Handley Carr Glyn) Moule was born in 1841 and died on May 8, 1920. He served as the Bishop of Durham from 1901-1920. He was an acute scholar and a powerful communicator. He wrote great Bible commentaries, an outline of Christian doctrine, and many sermons and poems. When the editors of…
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Kierkegaard’s Birthday
There must be some significance to Soren Kierkegaard’s birthday falling on Cinco de Mayo, but it escapes me. An admonition from the great Dane, from his book For Self-Examination: If you are a scholar, remember that if you do not read God’s Word in another way, it will turn out that after a lifetime of…
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Evan Roberts Does Not Know When Jesus Will Return.
How should premillenialists regard the revelation of translation of Evan Roberts, published in England (in the December issue of “OVERCOMER”) and the message, “Be ye ready”? All well-balanced students of the Word who understand the clear teaching of the Bible regarding the time of our Lord’s return, namely, that “It is not for [us] to…
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Augustine’s Praying Mother
This is the traditional day when Monica is commemorated; Monica the mother of Augustine. Lots of people having praying mothers, but Augustine’s mother was really serious about praying for her son. By the way, Mother’s day is just a few days from now. Monica has an important role in Augustine’s world-famous autobiographical book The Confessions.…
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To the Johnson House Class of 2009, Thanks
Four years ago this fall the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University implemented a curriculum of the great literary classics that was thematic in its approach as opposed to being a chronological reading of the texts. My job as professor in Torrey was the result of the creation of this new “house,” named after the…
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Flourishing in Singleness
In an overly-sexualized society in which about 97% of people will be married at some point, how should a Christian (and the church in general) think about the devout single life, in comparison to the devout married life? What does a whole and meaningful life look like in both contexts? Join John Mark Reynolds, Paul…
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Donald Bloesch’s Birthday
Donald Bloesch is a theologian whose name rhymes with “keep it fresh,” “nativity creche,” and “word made flesh.” Born on May 3, 1928, Bloesch has been an important theological voice for decades. He published the widely-used two-volume Essentials of Evangelical Theology back in the early 1980s, and his Christ-centeredness has been a lodestar for evangelicals…
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Athanasius: Battle on Ten Fronts
Athanasius of Alexandria (born around 293, died on this day, May 2, 373) stands out from the great crowd of witnesses that make up the early history of the church. If you’d like to begin reading the church fathers but don’t know where to start, consider starting with Athanasius. Anybody who understands the work of…
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April: An Argument in Poems
April is the cruellest month. So begins, famously, T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, a prophetic and incisive poem (albeit abstruse and alienating), capturing in word and image some of the losses and decadences that marked the modern world. April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out the of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire,…
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3 Pithy Remarks on Handling the Doctrine of the Trinity
Not very helpful: The Trinity: Try to Understand It and You’ll Lose Your Mind. Try to Deny It and You’ll LOSE YOUR SOUL! –mercifully anonymous but sadly widespread Much better: Nowhere else is a mistake more dangerous, or the search more laborious, or discovery more advantageous. –Augustine Sweeeeet: It is rashness to search too far…
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A Smattering of Greek is Worse than None at All
Do you think it is wise for a man who is a pastor in charge of a church to study Greek? Do you think the practical help that would be derived from it would compensate for the valuable time spent upon it when there are so many other important things to do? I most certainly…