Author: Greg Peters
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The Need to Work
Another school year has come and gone and summer is now in full swing. In fact, I write this before I head home to swim with my two sons. Nothing is better in the summer for a university professor than sleeping in, doing some reading and writing and going for a late afternoon swim with…
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An Invitation to Education
Most people, if they think about it, probably live their life around some kind of rhythm. As a kid I remember my dad working seven days a week at the paper mill with a week off in the spring to do some home maintenance and a week off in the summer so that we could…
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Lenten Asceticism
As most of you know, we are nearly two weeks into Lent, that forty day period that we set aside before Easter to prepare ourselves for the remembrance of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s an important season in the church calendar and should be an important time of preparation for all…
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Evangelical Retreats and the Local Church
Over the past twenty years (or perhaps more) it has become common for American evangelicals to go “on retreat.” In the mid-nineteenth century if an evangelical Christian went to a monastery or retreat house they would be suspected of being Roman Catholic. Retreats were what monks, nuns and priests did, not what Protestants were expected…
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Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent
After the long “green season” Advent is finally upon us! Today marks the beginning of that season in the church year when we anticipate and await the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the words of the apostle Paul that we read this morning, we “wait for the revealing of our Lord…
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Thomas Traherne: Educating the Whole Soul
Thomas Traherne was born in England in 1637, educated at Oxford and ordained an Anglican priest. During his short life he served as a parish priest and as a private chaplain. He died in 1674 at only 37 years old. During his lifetime he published only one work, the Roman Forgeries but just after his…
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A Wedding Homily for Brian and Katie
I was privileged this past weekend to give the homily for the wedding of Brian and Katie Manchester. Perhaps it will be of interest to others too. *** Brian and Katie, this day has been a long time in coming. Your parents have been thinking about it for years, your friends have watched it develop…
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Peter of Damascus: Making the Old New Again
The anonymous preacher of Ecclesiastes once said, “Of making many books there is no end…” and I bet he’s right. As long as there are readers there will always be books, and not just old books but new ones too. Sometimes, however, new books are about old topics, thus helping to make something old new again.…
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Being Hopeful
It is tempting to think that we have it hard. That our lives are particularly difficult. That is, the sense that life is not always fair and that no matter what we do things just do not seem to get any better. As well, in this season of Lent, for those who have entered into…
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Review of John Jefferson Davis' Worship and the Reality of God
As an Anglican, what drew me to this book was Davis’ subtitle: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence. I imagined that the book must be about the Eucharist (and it is) but as it turns out, it is so much more. The book is a kind of tour de force – a primer on pre-modern,…
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The Importance of Church History and the Christian Tradition
When I’m asked what I teach or what my area of expertise is, I am often unsure of how to respond. I have a Ph.D. in theology but I focused on the medieval period. I teach in a great books program that includes texts in philosophy, theology, history, literature, etc. I often write books and…
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Brief Notice: Scott Bessenecker's Living Mission
I recently finished reading a new book edited by Scott A. Bessenecker entitled Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of New Friars (InterVarsity, 2010). Given my propensity toward all things monastic, I was mostly drawn to this book by its subtitle and was eager to read up on these so-called new “friars.” This designation is…