The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Blog

  • Bernard Founded Clairvaux

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    June 25 is the day, according to tradition, that Bernard (1090-1153) founded a new Cistercian monastery in Clairvaux in the year 1115. The monastery was such a success, and he was so linked with it, that “of Clairvaux” is now his last name. He was not the first Cistercian, but he was the perfect one.…

  • Beza’s Birthday is Worth Celebrating, Too

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Not long ago, theology fans celebrated Calvin’s 500th birthday. But let us not overlook the birthday of Theodore Beza, born this day, June 24, 1519. Sure, a 490th anniversary isn’t as festive as a 500th, and Beza’s not Calvin. But since it’s his day, consider Beza for a moment. Beza carried out what John Calvin…

  • Ernest Renan’s Life of Jesus

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    According to the Christian History Institute, June 23 was the very day in 1863 when French philosopher Ernest Renan (1823-1892) published his Vie de Jesus. Renan’s book was not the first attempt at a critical biography of Jesus, but it was the first best-seller in the genre. It is written in purple prose that nineteenth-century…

  • Staggered by Bible Trouble

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Q: I want to believe in every word taught or inspired by the Holy Spirit, but I am simply staggered when I read statements of I Kings 20:30 and I Samuel 6:19. Can you give me any relief? If the figures are incorrectly translated why did not the revisers make the necessary alterations? A: The…

  • Jonathan Edwards, You’re FIRED

    Jonathan Edwards, You’re FIRED

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    June 22 is the anniversary of Jonathan Edwards’ dismissal from his pastorate in 1750. The great awakening had gone through his town a few years before, but once it was over, plenty of people wanted to go back to sleep. Edwards had tried to raise the standards for church membership and communion in his town,…

  • Fundamentalism

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    Greg Peters
    in

    “Fundamentalism” is a bad word in most circles and, perhaps, rightly so. No one minds being called “orthodox” or even “conservative” but being called a “fundamentalist” is like having the neighborhood bully call you names while you walk home from school. It’s derogatory and, most often, demeaning. Of course, some own up to the title…

  • How My Dad Built an Illegal Bridge, and It Was Good

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    This Father’s Day, I’m remembering something my dad did back in the summer of 1991. He illegally repaired a county bridge and became a local hero. For his neighbors in Missouri, it became the story of a determined small businessman beating city hall with a bulldozer and a few tons of gravel. Dad owned a…

  • Ask Dr. Torrey

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Are we in the time of which our Lord speaks when He says, “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh?” (Luke 21:28). There are many things that would seem to indicate that we are. Certainly men’s hearts are “fainting for fear…

  • Q&A Dr. Torrey: Soul and Spirit, The Mark of Cain, This Generation

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    R.A. Torrey
    in

    Q&A Dr. Torrey: Please explain the difference between soul and spirit. The Bible clearly teaches that man possesses not a two-fold nature as it is ordinarily put but a three-fold nature, not merely soul and body but Spirit, Soul and Body (1 Thess. 5:23), though in some instances what is true of the spirit seems…

  • Introducing the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    About twenty years ago I saw for the first time “The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.” I was interested in the book at once, and commenced to use it in my daily study of the Word of God. I went through book after book of the Bible, verse by verse, with the aid of “The Treasury.”…

  • Compare Scripture to Scripture

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Study your Bible comparatively. What do I mean by this? Simply this, compare Scripture with Scripture. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. A verse in Deuteronomy will oftentimes shed a wondrous light on a verse in the Four Gospels. A verse in Daniel or Ezekiel will oftentimes shed a flood of…

  • Otterbein’s Birthday

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Today (June 3) is the day Philip William Otterbein was born in 1726. Otterbein was a German Reformed pastor who moved from Prussia to the American colonies in 1752, where he ministered until his death in 1813. Otterbein presided over a conference of ministers in 1800 which led to the formation of the United Brethren…