Essay / Misc.

Dr. Johnson's Cat

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the literary giant behind Rasselas and the first truly great English dictionary, had a cat. He actually had several cats over the course of his life, actually, but the only one we have information about is a black cat named Hodge. Johnson’s

Essay / Education

A Noble Risk: The Making of a Wheatstone Conference Theme

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.  1 Peter 4:19 No sensible man would insist that these things are as I have described them, but

Essay / Education

What John Mark Founded

Today Biola held a special farewell reception for John Mark Reynolds, who is becoming provost of Houston Baptist University after 18 years as director of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola. The Dean of Humanities emceed the university-wide event, at which the president gave Reynolds

Essay / Misc.

Metathon 2012 – Dante’s Inferno

After about a decade of close readings, late-night discussions, pizza, cake, and camaraderie, the Torrey Metathon is in the last year of its current iteration, and we’re going out in style–with Dante for company. If you’ve never been to a Metathon, the formula’s pretty simple: get

Essay / Misc.

It's Been Said.

There was a sweet, confusing couple of years when the Inklings et al. suddenly spoke straight at me, with megaphones. All my bookish Christian friends felt it too, at one time or another. We felt like they were pointing out our intellectual thirsts by quenching

Essay / Misc.

5 Things I Learned at Torrey From John Mark Reynolds

In the previous post, John Mark announced that he was leaving the honors program he founded to become the new head of academics at Houston Baptist University. He’s continuing, of course, to be an essential member of the team at Wheatstone Ministries through insight at

Essay / Misc.

The Old Order Changes

Outside my family, Torrey Honors is the best thing to happen to me so far. The chance to start Torrey and work with the chums has been the greatest honor of my life. Jesus built Torrey and it was a miracle that I could be

Essay / Misc.

Finishing Up With "On This Day" In This Year

Since 2009 I’ve been noodling away at the “On This Day” essays here at Scriptorium Daily. I started them on a lark during Christmas break 2009, got around to describing my goals for the series sometime in March, and kept at it whenever time permitted.

Essay / Misc.

Christmas Playlists 2

The annual Sanders family playlist/mix tape/CD this year is advent-focused. But in previous years (see this post) we’ve done the genres of country, big band, and even new age. Here’s the new advent mix. And below that you’ll find three mixes from Christmas past: brass,

Essay / Culture

Twelve Days of Christmas Jollification

For many, the famous English carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is lost on them. This became clear to me one rather cold evening on January 2 of last year, when I was at the checkout stand at a CVS drug store. After I made

Essay / Misc.

Remembering the Honored Dead

They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are