Author: Joe Henderson
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Christmas Thought
December is always a strange time of year for Christians at a college. With the end of the semester approaching, it’ a very busy time in the academic calendar when the work can begin to seem unendurable and our energy is almost spent. It’s also Advent, the time in the Church calendar when we’re…
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Dennis Kinlaw and Christ-Like Love
Last week during Holy Week, God called home one of his followers, Dennis Kinlaw (June 26, 1922—Monday, April 10). (Read the announcement here.) During the 1970’s and 80’s, Dr. Kinlaw served as the president of Asbury College, a Christian liberal arts school with roots in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition. Soon after he became president (in…
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Torrey Christmas Card, Interpreted
This year for our Christmas card, the faculty and staff of the Torrey Honors Institute chose a winter theme. This sent us all to our closets and garages to find coats, scarves, and hats that don’t get much use here in Southern California. One of our art students, Katya Austin, gave us some instructions and…
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The Suffering of the Christ in the Psalms
As soon as Jesus had confirmed to his disciples that he was “the Christ, the son of the living God,” he went on to tell them that it was necessary that he would suffer and die at the hands of the leaders of his people (Mat 16:16, 21). Peter was taken aback, and his disciples…
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Sitting Just Quietly in God’s Light
One the happiest parts of my life at present is the view out my office window. My second-story window in Sutherland Hall at Biola University looks down on a little sunlit courtyard with a fountain. The branches of a tree touch the window, and through-out the day, the sunlight filters through the leaves illuming and…
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Ashes and Life
This summer a neighbor of mine died. I had gotten to know Jim and his wife, Teresa, during the last ten years I’ve lived on their street. I had the privilege of offering a tribute at his memorial service. The service was unlike any I’d ever been part of because instead of burying his body,…
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Schleiermacher was Wrong
As I celebrated the graduation of the Torrey Honors Institute class of 2013, I took some time to think back on significant times I had shared with them. I thought of the Christmas party at my house their freshman year and the camping trip their sophomore year, when we read the entire Divine Comedy around…
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Reminding God of the Brevity of Human Life
I’d like to suggest an alternative to the common understanding of a well-known verse. Verse 12 of Psalm 90 is translated: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (ESV). The verse is usually taken as a prayer for God to give us the wisdom that comes from…
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Hebrews: The Mind-blowing Finale
The book of Hebrews is the grand finale of the first semester in the Torrey Honors Institute. After the freshman fall, the curriculums for Torrey’s two houses take their separate ways: the Morgan House following a roughly chronological path to bring them up to the twentieth century in senior spring and the Johnson House dwelling…
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The Wily Work of the Gibeonites
Several years ago I preached a sermon on Joshua 9, a chapter my Bible titles, “The Gibeonite Deception.” The story tells how the Israelites, fresh from their initial victories over the Canaanites at Jericho and Ai, were tricked into making covenant with the people from the city of Gibeon. The Gibeonites were Hivites (Josh 9:7),…
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General Honors 1920 and Torrey Honors 2012
In the Torrey Honors Institute we read Western classics; then we sit in a circle and talk about them. This peculiar form of education (and the list of classic books) can be traced back to the General Honors course offered at Colombia University beginning in the fall semester of 1920. It’s remarkable how many of…
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Happy Birthday, Robert Lowth
Robert Lowth (1710-1787) was born this day, November 27. Lowth (his name rhymes with south) was Bishop of Oxford and later London. He was best known his works on Biblical poetry and English grammar. In the 1740’s he delivered a series of lectures at Oxford that were published in 1753 as De sacra poesi Hebraeorum…