The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Fred Sanders

  • Literary Nicknames

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    When a nickname really fits somebody, it catches on and comes to mind easily. But when somebody doesn’t have a good nickname, it’s no good forcing things. I was recently leafing through a fun book, Asa Don Dickinson’s 1931 list of classics called The Thousand Best Books (see it here). Dickinson was a world-class bibliofanatic,…

  • Wedding Sermon: What God has Joined Together

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    Fred Sanders
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    For Mark Makin and Carri Javier, July 18, 2008 Part I: A Thing Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here today because we want to witness the creation of a new thing. This thing is a new family, this new household consisting of Mark and Carri, this Makin family, this couple, this one new reality,…

  • Oscillating, Not Vacillating: Simeon at Both Extremes

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    Fred Sanders
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    Charles Simeon knew the secret of staying centered on the Gospel even when the centrifugal forces of controversy conspired to knock him off balance. His approach was classically described by HCG Moule in his Simeon biography (starting around page 96). Simeon’s main goal in all his preaching was to emphasize what God wanted emphasized, and…

  • Charles Simeon of Cambridge

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    Fred Sanders
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    The history of the church is filled with great pastors and teachers. Even if you skip over the church fathers, the medievals, and the reformers, confining yourself to recent times–say these past two and a half centuries– there are more than enough great theologians and devotional writers to keep you busy, well-fed, informed, and inspired.…

  • Be In These Things: I Timothy 4:15

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    Fred Sanders
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    “Let no one despise you for your youth,” Paul told Timothy in the letter we know as First Timothy. “But set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Paul encouraged Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, and to teaching, not neglecting his…

  • Christian Ideas, Pagan Language

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    Fred Sanders
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    In the sixteenth century, Desiderius Erasmus found himself under intellectual attack from all sides. He probably deserved most of those attacks: he constantly criticized the medieval church, but when a real Reformation broke out, he decided he didn’t really mean it, or at least that he didn’t mean for anything to happen as a result…

  • Beautiful Isle of Somewhere

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    Fred Sanders
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    Do you know the hymn, “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere?” Written by Jes­sie B. Pounds in 1897, it was apparently a very popular hymn for funeral services in the early twentieth century. It was sung at President William McKinley’s funeral, for instance. Google it along with words like “funeral” or “burial,” and you’ll find plenty of…

  • A Very Decent College

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Salvo magazine is all about being feisty, and the latest issue, on education, is no exception. Every article is sure to start a fight of some kind. Check out, for example, the article “Pick Your Poison,” by Les Sillars and John Basie (it’s not one of the free articles available at the website, so you’ll…

  • Two Lost Dogs in Berkeley

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    Fred Sanders
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    Thursday afternoon in Berkeley there was a small concert by Terry Taylor and Mike Roe, who are the two members of the Lost Dogs who live in northern California. Terry Taylor has been recording music since the 70s, Mike Roe since the 80s, and the Lost Dogs since the early 90s. These guys are, in…

  • Prayer for the Class of 2008

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    Fred Sanders
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    Father in heaven, We bring these graduating seniors of the Torrey Honors Institute before you today with thankfulness, joy, and relief. We present them to you with their Torrey educations completed. And in this sweet moment of successful accomplishment, we admit to you that we do not completely understand the meaning of what we have…

  • The Antics of Aimee

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    Fred Sanders
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    PBS’s American Experience did a show last year on Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), the Pentecostal evangelist so archetypal that her whole life read like a movie script. The PBS documentary movie was surprisingly good, featuring interviews with most of the leading scholars responsible for major publications on McPherson in the past decade (Edith Blumhofer, Anthea…

  • Theological Saint-Watching

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    Fred Sanders
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    Advice to anybody who wants to think well about theology: Find a holy person and watch them closely. Good theologians are good saint-watchers. They pay attention to the believers they know, and devote time to describing what they see taking place in the lives of the people around them who are conspicuously Christ-like. They should…