The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • Christian Imagery

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    This is an article that appeared in the Christmas Day edition of the Orange County Register back in 2001. It was written by award-winning religion reporter Carol McGraw (now of the Colorado Springs Gazette) and featured a large illustration by the Register’s staff illustrator Lisa Mertins. It was a fun Christmas morning piece, and is…

  • The Day After Christmas

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Here’s a song, here’s a gift for the day after Christmas When the presents have been opened And your spirit has crashed. When all the colored lights are turned off And the yule log is an ember And you’ve returned that crap to K-Mart And the tree is in the trash. You’ve got to hold…

  • A Silent Night, in the Fulness of Time

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    And I Joseph was walking, and was not walking; and I looked up into the sky, and saw the sky astonished; and I looked up to the pole of the heavens, and saw it standing, and the birds of the air keeping still. … And I saw the sheep walking, and the sheep stood still;…

  • Saint Nicholas / Santa Claus Songs

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    Santa Claus, bless his heart, may be a corporate shill who is constantly used to elbow Christ out of Christmas, but he is based on a historical figure who had a different agenda. St. Nicholas of Myra, a bishop in what we now call Turkey, lived in the fourth century. He must have been quite…

  • Sing Carols: Nothing Can Vex the Devil More

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), somewhere deep in his American epic poem Christus: A Mystery, puts these words in the mouth of Martin Luther (1483-1546): Nothing can vex the Devil more Than the name of him whom we adore. Therefore doth it delight me best To stand in the choir among the rest, With the great…

  • The Wisdom of Wyschogrod: On Being Biblical and Historical

    —

    by

    Matt Jenson
    in

    Michael Wyschogrod is an American Orthodox Jewish theologian. He writes a piece asking the question: ‘Why Was and Is the Theology of Karl Barth of Interest to a Jewish Theologian?’ Wyschogrod resonates with the theology of divine initiative and the theology of the Word that both play such central roles in Barth’s theology. Of particular…

  • A Christ Worth Christmas

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    The Glory of the Manger is a great little book of Christmas meditations by Samuel M. Zwemer (1867-1952), the “Apostle to Islam.” The whole book is available online (a 730k pdf here, and a bunch of his other writings here) Zwemer’s most famous book was called The Glory of the Cross, and this Manger book…

  • Charles Wesley 300

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    Charles Wesley was born on December 18, 1707, making today his tercentennial. Let the welkin ring with Wesley hymns today –he wrote well over five thousand, and you can check out about 370 over at the Wesley Center. Good congregations are never far away from a Wesley hymn, and at Christmas time we’re all hearing…

  • The Happiest Time of the Year

    —

    by

    Scriptorium Admin
    in ,

    Do you want to be happy? If you are an American, it is overwhelmingly likely that you do. Americans are preoccupied with being happy, especially during the Christmas holiday season. This creates false expectations and can easily lead to depression. People are also terribly confused about what happiness is and how it is obtained and,…

  • Examinations as Evangelization

    —

    by

    Greg Peters
    in

    Having just completed about thirty hours of oral examinations with approximately sixty students, I am tired. Yet, the process is always rewarding. What a joy to see how students are growing intellectually, emotionally and in every other way. And today, I also learn from an unexpected source that these examinations were also missional. “Huh,” you…

  • The Pope on Hope

    —

    by

    Fred Sanders
    in

    On Nov. 30, Pope Benedict XVI issued the second encyclical of his pontificate. Spe Salvi, “saved by hope,” is a thoughtful and stimulating document by this elderly bishop of Rome. We shouldn’t expect anything less from Joseph Ratzinger, who would have been one of the major theologians of the 20th century even if he hadn’t…

  • Come, Thou Long Expected Servant

    —

    by

    Matt Jenson
    in

    Advent is upon us, and as God’s good timing would have it, I spent all Tuesday last week reading and many hours throughout the week discussing Isaiah with students. Often spoken of as a ‘fifth gospel’, the book of Isaiah is a feast for Old Testament Jesus-watchers. That’s helped by Handel, whose Messiah teaches us…