Category: Blog
-
Knight Lowering Visor
Freddy continues his tireless pursuit of his current favorite subject. Here is another knight, this one reaching up to lower his visor.
-
Prayer to a Unitarian God?
Can a merely unitarian God answer prayer? Andrew Murray said no. In the 17th chapter of With Christ in the School of Prayer: Thoughts on our Training in the Ministry of Intercession, Murray considers “Prayer in Harmony with the Being of God,” and poses these questions: One of the secret difficulties with regard to prayer,—one…
-
Big & Little again
“When matters of great moment are inquired into by men of little ability, they usually make them men of great ability.” — Augustine, Contra Academicus I.ii.6 (trans. by Denis J. Kavanagh as “Answers to Skeptics” in Writings of St. Augustine, volume 1, in the series Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (NY: Cima Publishing,…
-
Big Thoughts, Little Thinkers
The hardest questions I ever get about the Trinity are from kids. From “where is Jesus and why can’t we see him?” to “are God and Jesus the same person?”, I have learned to fear the kid questions more than anything the graduate students can muster. So I’m grateful for any help I can get…
-
The Life of Leisure
Occasionally, I am a little self-conscious of the fact that I have what some would call academic “guilty pleasures.” I like to read for pleasure works by and about Winston Churchill. I also enjoy books on 18th and 19th century British naval history. There have been times that I feel I should apologize to people…
-
Rudy Carrasco at Biola
On Monday Feb 20, Rudy Carrasco spoke at Biola about his ministry of Christian community development. We actually invited him to speak on the wide-open topic of “social justice,” but he immediately confessed that that term carries too much baggage. Carrasco, who attended Biola for two years in the 8o’s, spent much of the time…
-
Heaven Opened.
Richard Alleine wrote a little book in 1665 called Heaven Opened: or, A Brief and Plain Discovery of the Riches of God’s Covenant of Grace. It is high on my list of current favorites. Just look at this opening gambit: Good news from heaven! the day-spring from on high hath visited this undone world! After…
-
Roadrunner Knight
I credit Narnia with my son Freddy’s sudden awakening to all things medieval, armored, and sword-wielding. Ever since he got his first look at Sir Peter Wolfbane, the knight obsession has spread: Playmobil knights, Spenser’s Faerie Queene, books on fencing, etc. Susan and I let him know that, according to the book 100 Things You…
-
Divine Freedom & Immanent Trinity
Paul Molnar’s book Divine Freedom and the Doctrine of the Immanent Trinity is now available in paperback. I just wrote a review of it for Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture. If you haven’t seen this journal, check it out: it’s new, so ask your school library to pick it up. Editor…
-
Vigen Guroian at Biola
On Thursday Feb 16, Dr. Vigen Guroian spoke twice at Biola. At 5pm he spoke on “The Office of the Child,” and presented a reading of Carlo Collodi’s Pinnocchio that emphasized, in a touching way, the theme of filiality. “Child,” on this account, is not equivalent to “young person,” but carries the whole relational weight…
-
Chivalrous Valentine’s Day
After days of reading aloud the St. George vs. the Dragon story (from a kid’s version of Spenser’s Faerie Queene), I asked Freddy to make a valentine card. Here’s what I got. Open this card and it says “LOVE” inside.
-
Mohler at Biola: Transcendentals
Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spent a few days at Biola University last week. He spoke in chapel a few times, and he also shared at a luncheon for faculty, hosted by Biola president Clyde Cook. I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets from his inevitable next book if I…