The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Fred Sanders

  • Marburg Colloquy

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Today (October 1) was the first day of the Marburg Colloquy, a 1529 conference that attempted to bring together two streams of the brand-new Protestant movement. On one side were the Germans, led by Luther and his right-hand man Melanchthon, and on the other side were the Swiss, led by Zwingli and supported by others…

  • Jerome

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    For St. Jerome (347-420). His full name was Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus, and he died on this day (September 30); A bit of jangly rhyming from Phyllis McGinley’s Saint-Watching: God’s angry man, His crotchety scholar, Was Saint Jerome, The great name-caller, Who cared not a dime For the laws of libel And in his spare time…

  • Psalmtooning 2: Serve With Fear

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Phoebe Age Seven draws her way through the second Psalm. In her earlier psalmtoon work, she showed a strong commitment to unifying the entire page composition. In the second Psalm, for whatever reason, she has apparently abandoned the quest for a unified composition in favor of a looser assemblage of images. The page’s only unity…

  • The Birth of Servetus

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (September 29) is the birthday of Miguel Servet, better known as Michael Servetus (1511-1553), the Spanish theologian who forcefully denied the Trinity, and died for those convictions. Discussions of the execution of Servetus are easy enough to find, usually in connection with John Calvin’s involvement in the process. But on his birthday, let us…

  • The Trinitarian Theology of Keith Green

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Trinitarian theology is a great and lofty thing; it’s for trained theologians to do very serious work with. But it is also something that is near to every Christian, even in their mouths. An ordinary believer who has grasped the main outline of the gospel is probably operating with a functional trinitarian theology that is,…

  • Tonight: You Can Understand the Trinity

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    For readers in southern California (if you can stand the heat! 113 degrees in late September!), come on by the book release event for The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. Two hours of Trinitarian theology from me and my Biola colleagues Erik Thoennes, Melissa Schubert, and Rob Price. A surreal experience…

  • Ask Solomon Stoddard

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Today (September 27) is the birthday of Solomon Stoddard (1643-1729), the puritan pastor in colonial New England. Three hundred years ago, if you wanted to tell somebody who Jonathan Edwards was, you’d say “He’s Solomon Stoddard’s grandson,” and they’d say “Wow!” But now the shoe is on the other foot, and we say: the largely…

  • Happy Birthday Adolph Saphir

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), born today (September 26) was a highly-regarded nineteenth-century preacher and Bible expositor. His entire family converted from Judaism to Christianity when the Scottish Free Church sent missionaries to Hungary in 1843. Saphir studied in Berlin, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. He entered the ministry in 1854, and after time as a missionary to…

  • Meet Lancelot Andrewes

    Meet Lancelot Andrewes

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Hear T.S. Eliot: The Right Reverend Father in God, Lancelot Bishop of Winchester, died on September 25, 1626. During his lifetime he enjoyed a distinguished reputation for the excellence of his sermons, for the conduct of his diocese, for his ability in controversy… and for the decorum and devotion of his private life. Eliot goes…

  • Jesus in Your Heart, Yes.

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” says the risen Lord to the Laodicean church (Revelation 3:20). There is an evangelical tradition of using this verse’s imagery in evangelism, and Dan Wallace recently gave some attention to this notion of telling unbelievers to ask Jesus into their hearts. The bottom line is, according to…

  • Lose My Wits? Unhinge My Brains? Ruin My Mind? Pursue Distraction?

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Last year I tried to find the source of the oft-quoted but seldom footnoted saying, The Trinity: Try to Understand It and You’ll Lose Your Mind. Try to Deny It and You’ll LOSE YOUR SOUL! Rooting around in a large collection of Trinity books, I couldn’t find a source any older than 1953. It seemed…

  • The Trinity in a Nutshell

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Biola’s website editor recently asked me a few questions about my new book, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, as part of an announcement for the upcoming book release event (Monday, Sept. 27). The first question was, “In a nutshell, what is the doctrine of the Trinity, and why is it…