Essay / Misc.

Gratitude

Gratitude is free. That’s not because it doesn’t cost anything for us to become more grateful people. It does cost us. Nor because we can idly expect it to be handed around by everyone. We can’t (or shouldn’t). No, it’s free because it’s unnecessary. We

Essay / Misc.

How to Give an ETS Conference Paper

The Evangelical Theological Society is having its annual meeting next week. As a veteran of a dozen ETS conferences and a bunch of other scholarly gatherings, I offer here a few tips about how to present a paper. I have heard, and I have delivered,

Essay / Misc.

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

Essay / Misc.

Hogglecroggles

John Wesley grew up in Epworth, Lincolnshire, before going to boarding school in London and then up to Oxford. At some point he drew up a list of Lincolnshire dialect terms. Richard P. Heitzenrater prints that list on p. 155 of The Elusive Mr. Wesley.

Essay / Misc.

Prayer for the Class of 2011

Father in heaven, Lord of hosts, God of Israel: you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are the God, you alone, who made these students and gave them to us for a season. We pray for them today

Essay / Culture

Royal Duty: The King Behind the Speech

St. Joseph, spouse of the Virgin Mary and Foster-Father of Christ, has always fascinated me. He comes on the scene, plays his role, and then is never mentioned again in the gospel narratives. He is a man who is called to do one task, difficult,

Essay / Culture

Bach as Theologian

I couldn’t let the 326th birthday of the great Kappelmeister go by without some short reflection on my favorite choral piece, the great St. Matthew Passion. As a devout Lutheran, Bach heavily meditated on the passion of Christ, influenced heavily by Martin Luther’s theology of

Essay / Education

Data-Wise

You should assume as a matter of course that at least once in your college career you will behold the blue screen of death or that your laptop will be either stolen or dropped down the fire escape or forgotten in Starbucks and that it

Essay / Misc.

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

Essay / Education

A Letter to My Freshmen

To My Freshmen: Okay, so that may be premature. We’ve only just met, after all. Five months ago you were a sea of undifferentiated faces only loosely attached to names (but great names—names like Bustos and Magness, Tonti and Duarte, Mendelson, Zilka, and Van Vlear).

Essay / Misc.

Mostly Right, Partly Wrong

The first 2011 issue of The Examined Life from Wheatstone Academy is online now, and it includes several things that Scriptorium readers are likely to be interested in. John Mark Reynolds has a piece about what he learned from Plato’s Phaedrus (and, as he says,