The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • We Must Act Part II

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Read Part I here. Athens and Jerusalem Break Apart For centuries, these two cities, Athens and Jerusalem, provided the boundaries for intellectual and cultural growth. They formed one new kingdom. Tensions between the rationalism of Athens and the faith of Jerusalem always existed, but each recognized the contributions made by the…

  • Hostage Becomes a Beacon of Hope in Atlanta

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    Greg Leith, 2005. The story of Atlanta suspected killer, Brian Nichols, age 33, is an interesting commentary on our day. Nichols was a jailed defendant in a rape trial who had overpowered a guard while being escorted to the courtroom. Later he took Ashely Smith, a young woman, hostage for 7 hours. During their sometimes…

  • The Pursuit of Happiness

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Virgil forces the reader to visit the place of the dead. Homer did the same. Dante begins his trip that ends in Paradise with a journey through Hell. Plato begins and ends the Republic with visions of a downward journey, the last to the place of the dead. Why do so…

  • Heaven In Her Eye

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Milton famously describes Eve as having “heaven in her eye.” As a young adult, I loved that line, because it seemed such a perfect description of the beloved when I found her. She would have heaven in her eye. Her gaze would promise paradise in the raptures of two folk in love.…

  • O Death

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. I never liked going to funerals. In my childhood, they were sad affairs and fairly formal. Later they became full of false cheerfulness and endless speeches about the departed. Secular funerals were the worst of all. Such events are full of courage, but not much else. Death is a bad thing…

  • Old like Simeon

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Sometimes, some days, I feel very old. It happens when a student talks about classic films from the nineties or when my freshman can only dimly recall the Clinton administration. It makes me a bit sad. It seems like just a few days ago that I was teaching an experimental on-line…

  • Playing Piano with Jane

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Today I was working on a book project while my daughter Jane had her piano lesson. She decided to fool Dad by announcing that she was going to play a song for me. What followed was no longer “Lightly Row” or “Twinkle” or any other piece with which beginners delight parents.…

  • Other gods?

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2004. I am sometimes asked how I know my God is the true God. How do I know the Aztec god or the gods of Olympus are not real gods?Here is a short (blog length!) response. People curious about more information should read Scaling the Secular City. First, we must ask ourselves…

  • Two Frequent Secular Charges

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Frequently when I chat with friends who do not believe in God they will insist on two things. I find both things odd. First, some secularists assert that religious people “cannot question,” but scientists must. Of course, there are some religious people who are dogmatic (in the bad sense). I have…

  • A Simple Argument Against Secularism

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Frequently, internet atheists argue that the American Constitution is a secular document. In one way, they are of course right. From a Christian point of view the Constitution governs the “secular authority.” It is for the City of Man and not the City of God. This is just a traditional Western…

  • Atheism, Spiritualism, and Me

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Lately, secularism has fallen into name calling as a substitute for argument. After the election, secularists have been active in calling believers bad names. They simply refuse to acknowledge that most people are theists for sensible reasons. First, people have experiences of the divine that they try to understand. They are…

  • Can a Christian love the dialectic?

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    John Mark Reynolds, 2004. I am a Christian and not just any kind of Christian, but the most robust kind: a Christian who believes the creeds are true and that the Bible is infallible. I don’t think much of modernity and tradition seems a better guide to behavior than the front page of the LA…