Category: Blog
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Christ and the Prophetic Mountain Range
This month I got to preach on Mark 13:1-27 at my church home, Grace Evangelical Free Church (La Mirada and Fullerton). We’re preaching through the gospel of Mark, and behold, the time had come for the Olivet Discourse. Though most of the commentaries I consulted on this text are not what I would call encouraging…
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“Homer is Like Sirens… His Myths are Not There for Fun”
Bishop Eustathius of Thessalonica (1115-1195) wrote a long, Greek commentary on the Iliad, which he introduced with this commendation of Homer. He thinks everybody should read Homer, but his strategy seems to be making the poet seem deep, dark, and dangerous: Homer is like Sirens. Perhaps it would be best if you kept clear of him…
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Head Held High: A Glimpse into the Heart of Education
A student gave me a beautiful reminder of the heart of a liberal arts education last semester. And it wasn’t because she got good grades. In fact, her grades were pretty poor. Having done the vast majority of the work for the semester, she found herself buried in commitments at the end of term, and…
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Pastoring with Gregory of Nazianzus
I recently read The Pastor as Public Theologian by Kevin Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan in which they rightly recognize that the role of the pastor-theologian has gone by the wayside, replaced, for example, by the pastor-CEO, pastor-therapist and/or pastor-social activist. Should pastors be all of these things? Sure, but not primarily. First and foremost pastors…
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A Theology of Ice Cream
Americans eat more ice cream than any other country – a whopping four to five gallons a year per person! A good chunk of that is eaten by a much smaller portion of the population, present company included. I love ice cream and I eat a lot of it! To justify, perhaps, this nearly sinful…
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“Learn Again How to Discern” (Kavin Rowe)
In the Torrey Honors Institute, our students study the Bible (along with classic theology texts) and the great books (including literary, philosophical, and political texts). The two sides of this education are constantly informing each other. I was recently reminded of one of the ways this happens by a commentary on Luke that includes an…
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Basement of the Museum
On the second page of a long book about the plays of Aeschylus, critic Thomas Rosenmeyer explains how he intends to proceed. He wants to help modern non-specialists, readers who are getting their Aeschylus in English, by showing them how to avoid “some of the more common errors of perspective that tend to put the…
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Wedding Homily for Brett and Lydia
For Brett Stroud and Lydia Plett, July 18, 2015. Brett and Lydia, this is it. Today, you will be married. After long years of dating, more miles logged in LA traffic than anyone would care to count, dueling grad school schedules, and plenty of conversations about the future, here you are. Look around at all…
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The Story of Monasticism; or, What Monastics Can Teach Us
NB: This blog originally appeared as a series of blogs at Baker Academic Blog. Why wouldn’t everyone want to be a monk or nun? These days you will get your own room, never have to overthink the daily “What will I wear?” debate, be allotted plenty of time with God and, if you choose wisely,…
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Wedding Homily for Daniel and Victoria
for Daniel Castle and Victoria Van Vlear, June 5, 2015 Well, Daniel and Victoria, this is it. You’ve arrived on the long-awaited day, your wedding day. Take a good look around you. Look at all these people who love you—who have led and listened to and looked out for you… When Daniel and Victoria and…
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The Metaphysics of Candlelight
Nature’s Distilled Sunlight Have you ever wondered why you loved candlelight? And what is so mesmerizing about the embers of a campfire? It is as though the depths of wisdom were contained in the spectrum of reds, oranges, yellows and blues, glowing and pulsing with life. John Muir, the patron saint of America’s National Park system,…
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“The Holy Round of Creeds and Chants and Mysteries”
I spent much of the summer in England, and perhaps that prepared me to notice this poem when I happened across it. I found it in an issue of The Churchman’s Companion from 1858. CATECHISING A True Incident And can it be the holy round Of creeds and chants and mysteries, That from the Church’s watch tower…