The Scriptorium Daily

Author: Fred Sanders

  • Today Jogaila of Lithuania was Baptized (1386)

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    Fred Sanders
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    “The last pagans of the Western world,” said Czeslaw Milosz of his Lithuanian ancestry, adding that “Europe too, had her redskins.” With that politically incorrect comment, Milosz underlined how late Lithuania was to join the rest of Europe as a national member of Christendom. It was 1386: As historian Stephen Neill points out, Dante was…

  • Today is Richard Allen’s Birthday (1760)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Richard Allen (1760-1831) was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His life story is remarkable (born into slavery, he bought his own freedom; rejected by the religious establishment, he distinguished himself as a minister of the gospel), but the best thing is that his story is available in his own words: The Life,…

  • Today Hugh of St. Victor Died (1141)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Hugh (1096-1141) taught theology at St. Victor, which was the abbey of the Augustinian Canons Regular in Paris. Hugh began teaching there in 1125, just a dozen years after its founding by a disciple of Anselm of Canterbury. “Cathedra doctoris sacra Scriptura est,” said Hugh (an oft-quoted aphorism from his Miscellanies 1:75), which means literally…

  • Faith and Works Got Married (Hannah More)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Hannah More was a wildly popular author in her day because she had the common touch and a style that perfectly suited the tastes of her time. Here is one of her doctrinal poems (from volume 5 of her collected works), in which she carries out a homey reconciliation of faith and works in less…

  • Today Wesley Fell for His Wife Molly (1751)

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    Fred Sanders
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    He really fell for her, and I wish it were a wonderful love story, but it’s not. On February 10, 1751, John Wesley slipped on the ice on London Bridge, and hurt his ankle so badly that his next few sermons had to be delivered sitting down or kneeling. He chose to convalesce at the…

  • Today John Hooper was Burned (1555)

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    Fred Sanders
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    They burned him at the stake, and he knew it was coming. John Hooper (born around 1500 – martyred February 9, 1555) was the bishop of Gloucester in the sixteenth century. When the Church of England pendulum swung back towards Roman Catholicism under Mary, Hooper was predictably high on the list of people who would…

  • Best Bits from the Religious Affections

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    Fred Sanders
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    Every believer interested in making discerning judgments about spiritual experiences ought to read Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections. It is a balanced, careful, and mature work by the man known as America’s greatest theologian. Edwards had defended the Great Awakening against its detractors, and then he had watched abuses and weirdness spread and had warned enthusiasts…

  • Playmobil Creator Hans Beck Dies

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    Fred Sanders
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    The weekend news carried the report of the death of Hans Beck, the man behind the Playmobil toys. Born May 6, 1929, Beck died on January 30, 2009. Left to my own lights, I would be a lifelong Lego nerd. But my kids have very clearly expressed a greater love of Playmobil. Hans Beck said…

  • Today Martin Buber was Born (1878)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Martin Buber (1878-1965) was a Jewish philosopher who did a great deal to put classic documents of Hasidic tradition into wider circulation. He is most famous for his 1923 book I and Thou. I and Thou is a remarkable book, a masterpiece of simplicity and direct communication. I don’t know if it will ever seem…

  • Today Hannah Whitall Smith was Born (1832)

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    Fred Sanders
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    “You Christians seem to have a religion that makes you miserable. You are like a man with a headache. He does not want to get rid of his head, but it hurts him to keep it. You cannot expect outsiders to seek very earnestly for anything so uncomfortable.” When Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) heard someone…

  • Today Photius Died (893)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Photius of Constantinople (ca. 810-893) is commemorated on this day. As an influential patriarch of this important eastern city, Photius could boast many educational, administrative, and evangelistic accomplishments. But in both East and West, the name of Photius will always be chiefly associated with that very split, the one between East and West. He excommunicated…

  • Christ Did Something or Other

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    Fred Sanders
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    “Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connexion or other with salvation.” This was the judgment of John Duncan on the theology of preacher Fred W. Robertson. It was a rather sharp-tongued remark, and Duncan never put it in print himself. Instead, the comment made it into a…