Category: Blog
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Born This Way (so Raise Your Glass, All You Fireworks)
Three hit songs in the last few months have pushed the same message: You are awesome. You’re awesome just the way you are, even –no, especially– if you don’t fit in. The three songs are “Firework” by Katy Perry, “Raise Your Glass” by Pink, and “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga. I don’t know who…
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Dante, Illustrated by Boccaccio
I did not know this existed until today. I knew that Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75), author of the Decameron, admired Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). I knew Boccaccio had written a short Life of Dante, and I even knew that Boccaccio had studied Dante’s work intensely and lectured on his poetry. But I didn’t know that Boccaccio had written…
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What You Can Learn from Calvin and Hobbes about the Message and the Medium
Anybody who has a message that they care about communicating should pay attention to the great lesson taught by Calvin and Hobbes: The lesson is that not every message can be communicated in every medium. Yes, I mean Bill Watterson’s comic strip about the tiger and his boy, not the theologian and the philosopher. The…
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Layers and Layers of Biblical Witness
I recently ran across a helpful list of layered biblical passages; passages that are themselves summaries, or theologically-informed overviews, of previous sections of Scripture. Some of them you can recognize from a glance at the chapter and verse; others you’ll need to look up. Here’s the list w/links and memory-jogging snippets: Deuteronomy 6:20-25 What to tell…
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We Can See the Meaning, Though We Cannot Exhaust It
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: ~Ephesians 1:8, 9 Verses 8-10 take us into very deep water, but the water is clear and we can see the meaning though we cannot…
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Surfers Defeat Strunk & White!
The New York Times called Strunk & White’s Elements of Style “as timeless as a book can be in our age of volubility.” It is a strong book, written with the same economy and sturdiness it calls forth from would-be writers. It is even a delight to read, at once funny and sage. But once, it is wrong. In…
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20 Things I Have Learned as a College Professor
As the start of the fall semester is almost upon me I have been diligently trying to complete my summer projects and prepare for my classes. As I was working it dawned on me that I am looking forward to the beginning of the year. Yes, I make the same jokes all of my colleagues…
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Gnostic on Purpose (Austin Farrer)
Anglican theologian Austin Farrer (1904-1968) was brilliant and/but/because idiosyncratic. The book A Hawk Among Sparrows: A Biography of Austin Farrer by Philip Curtis (London: SPCK, 1985) documents a volatile early phase of his thinking that is instructively peculiar. During this phase, Farrer played with a few ideas that he never directly published about, so Curtis’ detailed intellectual…
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Scriptorium Daily Classics: Celebrating our Ten Year Anniversary
Scriptorium Daily is officially ten years old….and we want to throw a party. A decade ago, “blogs” were a new medium that (we were told) was going to revolutionize the news industry by enabling anyone with expertise to broadcast their opinion. The effects of the new mode of communication are still unwinding, of course, and…
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James Gray on Mastering the Bible
James M. Gray (1851-1935) was one of the most famous Bible teachers of the early 20th century. He was a key player in the generation that established the Bible institute movement, serving as dean/president of Moody Bible Institute for more than two decades. He had worked alongside Dwight L. Moody, and was academically qualified to…
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Our Redemption Cost Us Nothing
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; ~Ephesians 1:7 In this Beloved One “we have our redemption,” i.e., deliverance, first from the guilt of sin, and afterwards from its power and its penal consequences. The primary thought of the word “redemption” is deliverance…
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The Father Gives Life to the Son
Here is one big idea about the resurrection for you: The Father gives life to the Son. We know it happened when Christ left the tomb behind. He emerged from darkness and death into everlasting life because the Father had given him life. Christ is risen because the Father gave life to him so fully, so…