The Scriptorium Daily

Year: 2010

  • Frederick Douglass Learns to Read

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    Matt Jenson
    in ,

    I’ve just finished reading the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Our seniors read it in the Torrey Honors Institute as part of a semester of books on America. Douglass’ is one of hundreds of slave narratives, narratives which played a key role in the abolition movement and offer a movingly…

  • Evangelicals and the Deep Things

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    It’s time for another report on the ongoing discussion prompted by my new book, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. There have been several developments in the past few days, as the book is finding readers hither and yon. Doug Wilson at Blog & Mablog gives Seven Reasons Why “The Deep…

  • War is Swell: Crispin’s Day

    War is Swell: Crispin’s Day

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Okay, war is not really swell. But today (October 25) is the anniversary of two battles that live on in our memory because of the martial virtues conspicuously displayed in them. These battles conjured poetry from two of the greatest poets in the history of the English tongue. First, the Battle of Agincourt, on the…

  • California's Bestseller, and Its Author

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    What’s the most popular and influential book in the history of California? An 1884 romance called Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson. It’s a longish book that follows the misfortunes of a beautiful young orphan who is half Scottish and half native American. She is raised by the Spanish rancheros of Alta California in the days…

  • Nonconformist Droid

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    It’s not all Psalmtooning around the house these days. The artists known as Freddy Age Ten and Phoebe Age Eight are nothing if not prolific, and their work cannot be confined to any single medium or genre. The resident curators (also known as parents) are constantly finding art scattered around the studio/gallery area. Here are…

  • The Trinitarianism of the Fundamentals

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    One of the most important ventures in religious publishing and theological education in the twentieth century was The Fundamentals, an interdenominational publication that marked the conservative evangelical revolt against modernism in the early years of the century. Published serially in twelve volumes over the course of five years, they were sent free of charge to…

  • Workin’ for the Weekend

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    Greg Peters
    in ,

    No matter your taste, Canada has given us some good music over the years. If you want to make a political statement you listen to Bruce Cockburn. Wanna rock like it’s the summer of ’69? Then there’s Bryan Adams. Riding in an elevator? Listen to Céline Dion. If you’re feeling ironic, turn to Alannis Morissette.…

  • Cyrus! “Slap into the Bible”

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Who was God’s anointed one more than 500 years before the coming of Christ? Who was the Lord’s own shepherd, the conquering servant who carried out God’s plan to bring his chosen people back into the land of promise? Who took a giant leap forward in international religious liberty by letting conquered people worship their…

  • Martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Today (October 16) is the day when Hugh Latimer (born 1487) and Nicholas Ridley (born around 1500) were burned at the stake in 1555. These Cambridge-trained men are called, with Cranmer, “The Oxford Martyrs,” because they were killed in Oxford under Queen Mary as she undertook to turn England back to Roman Catholicism. The English…

  • "Me First!" Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Here is a little two-minute video presentation of the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16). The team at my church’s media ministry put it together, and it features drawings by my kids, accompanying narration by our friend Anna. This video features a child’s voice and children’s drawings, but it’s not…

  • Aimee Semple McPherson's Penchant for System

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Today (Oct. 9) is the birthday of Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), the bombastic and showy Pentecostal evangelist who made her mark on Los Angeles in the early decades of the twentieth century. At various times in my life, I’ve lived in the shadow of McPherson without knowing it: I grew up in a Foursquare church,…

  • Literally, Plato

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    “This is intended to be a literal translation,” says Allan Bloom in the preface to his 1968 edition of Plato’s Republic. And it is, famously, or infamously, literal. Bloom puts his head down and digs out as word-for-word a translation as he can. What drove him to do so? He explains his motivation in the…