The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Blog

  • Something of My Very Own

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    Janelle Aijian
    in

    This article contains spoilers for Rian Johnson’s Looper (2012). How far would you go to protect those closest to you, the things you hold most dear? The tiresome rhetoric of Hollywood is very often to go “as far as it takes”, but Rian Johnson’s new film Looper gives a host of reasons to call that ethos into…

  • The Best Bible Institute in Los Angeles

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    I teach classes at the best Bible Institute in Los Angeles. I also work at Biola University, but that’s different. Biola was founded as a Bible Institute, way back in 1908. The founders of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles knew all about colleges (Lyman Stewart supported many colleges financially) and seminaries (R.A. Torrey was…

  • Bayard: How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Pierre Bayard’s 2007 book How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read is a real page turner. The best I can tell, it’s an elaborate joke in which the authorial voice is a kind of fictional character. This character –I’ll call him Bayard while remaining agnostic about how he relates to the historical Bayard who…

  • McClymond & McDermott: The Theology of Jonathan Edwards

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    Matt Jenson
    in

    Michael J. McClymond and Gerald R. McDermott, The Theology of Jonathan Edwards (Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2012), 757 pp. (review copy courtesy of OUP) “Imagine a Christian dialogue today that included adherents of ancient churches–Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic–with various modern church bodies–Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Disciples of Christ–as well as an ample representation from…

  • Theology for the Great City: Los Angeles Theology Conference

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    I’ve lived in California for more than fifteen years now, working as a professional theologian and flying off every year to academic conferences here and there. But mostly there: we west coast theologians have to head east to tap into any significant academic theological culture. Much as I enjoy travelling, I have often wondered why…

  • REVEALED: How Cats Land on Their Feet

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Phoebe Age Ten is an artist whose finest work occurs in her sketchbooks. It is in these small, impromptu productions between major artworks that she makes real progress as an artist, and indeed, makes real progress as an observer of the natural forms that animate her drawings. Consider today’s sketch, “how cats land on thier…

  • Rally and Radiate

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    Fred Sanders
    in , ,

    Here’s a diagram (click through it to view a larger version) that the founders of Biola kept close at hand when they needed to explain the variety of activities the early Bible Institute was engaged in. It’s a scratchy copy, and the graphic design isn’t great even by 1910 standards. But the message is exactly…

  • Thousands of Pages of New Trinitarian Theology

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    Fred Sanders
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    There are always books about the Trinity coming out, because it’s a perennially important doctrine. All roads in Christian theology lead to it in one way or another, and from this doctrine you can get to any other doctrine without taking too many steps. But in any given year, the two or three new Trinity…

  • Wesley & Puritan Spirituality

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    Fred Sanders
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    Earlier this week I wrote a guest post for Seedbed, the online resource center of Asbury Theological Seminary. I got a wonderful education at Asbury in the early 90s, and was glad to contribute a few thoughts to this high-volume resource center. Seedbed (one of the many good signs at Asbury since Tim Tennent took the…

  • Our Triune God & The Pastor: Adoption Conference

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Astute theological observers should have noticed by  now that there are two important things happening with regard to adoption. On the theological front, including biblical studies, systematic theology, and pastoral counseling, the doctrine of adoption is becoming more prominent and getting more attention. There are more books and articles devoted to various aspects of it,…

  • Sermon: The Trinity as Surprise Ending

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    Fred Sanders
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    Last weekend I guest preached at Del Rey Church, on the Trinity. The sermon is available online, and you can view it below or at their site (where you can also download the audio). I’m warning you, it’s 50 minutes long (pastor Matt Jones has that congregation prepped for substantial sermons!) and it’s only on one…

  • God the Father's Sons and Offspring

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    Fred Sanders
    in

                      I’ve been reading about the doctrine of God the Father, a doctrine which has no handy name. Following the model of christology (the doctrine about Jesus Christ) and pneumatology (the doctrine about the Holy Spirit), we ought to call it patrology, but that word is already…