The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Fred Sanders

  • Tintin Top Ten

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    Fred Sanders
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    Now that there’s a blockbuster movie based on Tintin, the characters and situations from the classic comics will become even more famous. I don’t care very much about the movie; I only hope it (with any sequels) proves good enough to serve as an advertisement for the comic books. The comics are the thing. Belgian…

  • The Christmas Presence

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    Fred Sanders
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    It’s not leftovers, it Scriptorium Classic! Reposted from Dec 24, 2010. Christmas is a big deal, and Christians know that they should celebrate it in a big way. In fact, there is something strange about how big a deal we are supposed to make of it. The most important things Jesus Christ did for our…

  • Where Ox and Ass are Feeding

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    Fred Sanders
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    It’s not leftovers, it Scriptorium Classic! Reposted from Dec 25, 2008. No manger scene is complete without an ox and an ass in the picture. There also need to be sheep, of course, and there can be horses and cows and mice and birds and barncats and whatever else you’ve got space for. But the…

  • Christmas Playlists 2

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    Fred Sanders
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    The annual Sanders family playlist/mix tape/CD this year is advent-focused. But in previous years (see this post) we’ve done the genres of country, big band, and even new age. Here’s the new advent mix. And below that you’ll find three mixes from Christmas past: brass, CCM, and the dreaded lounge/crooner. I reckon this time next…

  • "Fear Not:" The Moment Linus Drops the Blanket

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    Fred Sanders
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    It’s not leftovers, it Scriptorium Classic! Reposted from 12/23/2008. My church is preaching its way through Advent, spending one sermon each on those descriptions of the promised one in Isaiah 9: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and last week we made it to Prince of Peace, a title so comprehensive that it will take…

  • Hark! The Herald Angels… Do They Sing?

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    Fred Sanders
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    It’s not leftovers, it Scriptorium Classic! Reposted from 12/17/2008. Christmas carols are usually pretty reliable teachers of theology. Of the sacred songs that we tend to hear a lot around Christmas time, we have a lot of great doctrine to sing in “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Joy to the World,” and “Hark the Herald…

  • Phantastic Imagination

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    Fred Sanders
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    Freddy Age Six provides an illustration for George MacDonald’s Phantastes, the truly bizarre Faerie Romance of 1858. The main character, improbably named Anodos, leaps smiling from his bed to find the floor of his room divided by a creek, complete with fish swimming in it. All of that creek-in-the-bedroom stuff is in the book, except…

  • Look Here, Martian Grubs

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    Fred Sanders
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    This is your planet. Not the one with the rocky islands floating on a sloshy sea, but the nice, solid, red one. Kltpzyzxm, you listen to me! Sit up at your learning stump and read aloud from your info-slab. How do you expect to make it out of larva grade if you don’t even know…

  • "Nothing God Says Shall Be Impossible"

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    Fred Sanders
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    In the story of Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, there’s a bit of wordplay that doesn’t show up well in English. It’s a little Greek punning between the angel and the virgin. He says to her, “the child to be born will be called holy –the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her…

  • Gollum Diagrams a Sentence

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    Fred Sanders
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    When your main line of dialogue is “my precious,” it’s not easy to diagram your sentences. But Gollum will try. And Freddy Age Eleven will take a break from his English homework to illustrate it. Crumpled papers litter the floor, with “papers about to be crumpled” on their way. Meanwhile, the page taped to the…

  • Excerpts & Essays: The Great Books Reader

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here’s a 656-page grand tour of some of the greatest moments in Western civilization: The Great Books Reader, edited by John Mark Reynolds. I highly recommend it. Then again, since I contributed to it, work with or for many of the contributors, and already like all the classic authors and modern writers in the volume,…

  • Behold the Cat Card

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    Fred Sanders
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    The artist known as Phoebe Age Nine has been working on this piece for a while. Every few days her friends, fans, and gallery agent have been asking, “Is the Cat Card done yet?” The terse but unworried answer has been, “Not yet. There’s still space on it.” We were beginning to worry that the…