The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Fred Sanders

  • Word Balloons for Psalm 52

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    Fred Sanders
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    A quick doodle that I made during class to chart who’s talking, and to whom, in Psalm 52: “Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?” The diagram could be cleaned up, of course, and could be improved by arranging the word balloons so that the eye naturally picks up verse 1 at the…

  • Needy and Rational: Existential Reasons for Belief in God

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    Fred Sanders
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    Once you’ve encountered solid evidence for belief in God, it’s hard to settle for anything less. That is, if you think you have reasons for affirming that the Christian God is real, and that believing in him means having actual knowledge about reality, it’s hard to listen to people who say things like “I believe…

  • Shel Silverstein's Annunciation Day Poem?

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here is the Shel Silverstein poem entitled “Merry…” No one’s hangin’ stockin’s up, No one’s bakin’ pie, No one’s lookin’ up to see A new star in the sky. No one’s talkin’ brotherhood, No one’s givin’ gifts, And no one loves a Christmas tree On March the twenty-fifth. I mention it today just because it’s…

  • Most Popular Kindle Highlights from Deep Things of God

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    Fred Sanders
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    I’m planning to be up to speed with the Kindle just about the time it’s being phased out in favor of the next big thing. Call it my new media strategy. But I certainly see the benefits of e-books, and am looking forward to a trans-Atlantic flight this summer without 30 pounds of books in…

  • Leo Steinberg Looked at Art

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    Fred Sanders
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    Leo Steinberg (1920-2011) died earlier this week (NYT obit), leaving behind a rich legacy of writing on art, both criticism and history. There are some great art historians out there, but it’s hard to imagine who can fill the void left by a Steinberg. Steinberg is probably most famous for his critical revolt against mere…

  • Deep Things of God in Snohomish, WA

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    Fred Sanders
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    This weekend I’ll be in Snohomish, WA (way up there in the northwest corner of the country, just above Seattle) speaking on the Trinity and my book The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. I’ll be at The Bridge Church in Snohomish, for a Friday evening message (6pm) and then a Saturday…

  • Eureka: Interview about California Theology

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    Fred Sanders
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    Joe Gorra at the Evangelical Philosophical Society blog interviewed me and co-conspirator Jason Sexton about our project called Theological Engagement with California Culture. Here are a couple of excerpts from the interview. On how the project got started: The basic idea developed from a summer class that I taught a couple of times over the…

  • There Will be Trinitarian Hip Hop…

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    Fred Sanders
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    but have no fear, it won’t be me doing the rapping. I’m doing a workshop on the Trinity (why to love it, how to defend it) at the first-ever Los Angeles-based event for the Legacy Movement. It’ll be an all-day event on Saturday, April 9 in Compton, combining training workshops with a main speaker (Shai…

  • Augustine's Worst Sin

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    Fred Sanders
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    Augustine sets out, in Confessions, to confess his sins to God comprehensively. He analyzes his life story minutely, and when he brings it all the way up to date, he makes the great leap into the present tense and confesses all that is within him. “May I know you, who know me,” he says to…

  • Broken Like Brooklyn: Duke Snider Dies in California

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    Fred Sanders
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    Baseball player Duke Snider died this weekend in Escondido, California, at age 84. If you’ve got baseball in your soul, the headline is all you need to read to know that his death symbolizes more than just a personal loss to his family and friends. The death of the Duke of Flatbush means something. It…

  • What Augustine Confessed

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    Fred Sanders
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    For Augustine, writing the Confessions didn’t just mean telling (confessing) all his sins. He took “confession” as the title of his work precisely because it has such a wealth of meanings: It means to speak forth the praise of God (“confess that you are great”); it means to acknowledge something (“confess the Lord Jesus,” see…

  • The Thirteen Centers of Augustine's Confessions

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    Fred Sanders
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    Augustine’s Confessons is a uniquely rich book, so deeply felt and so carefully constructed that it beggars description. It exhausts the critical resources of centuries of commentators, and keeps on drawing new admirers who find new things there. Most well-constructed books have one central section, whether it comes early or late, whether it’s a turning-point,…