The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • Cyrus! “Slap into the Bible”

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    Fred Sanders
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    Who was God’s anointed one more than 500 years before the coming of Christ? Who was the Lord’s own shepherd, the conquering servant who carried out God’s plan to bring his chosen people back into the land of promise? Who took a giant leap forward in international religious liberty by letting conquered people worship their…

  • Martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (October 16) is the day when Hugh Latimer (born 1487) and Nicholas Ridley (born around 1500) were burned at the stake in 1555. These Cambridge-trained men are called, with Cranmer, “The Oxford Martyrs,” because they were killed in Oxford under Queen Mary as she undertook to turn England back to Roman Catholicism. The English…

  • "Me First!" Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here is a little two-minute video presentation of the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16). The team at my church’s media ministry put it together, and it features drawings by my kids, accompanying narration by our friend Anna. This video features a child’s voice and children’s drawings, but it’s not…

  • Aimee Semple McPherson's Penchant for System

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (Oct. 9) is the birthday of Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), the bombastic and showy Pentecostal evangelist who made her mark on Los Angeles in the early decades of the twentieth century. At various times in my life, I’ve lived in the shadow of McPherson without knowing it: I grew up in a Foursquare church,…

  • Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Martyrs

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today is the feast day of Sergius and Bacchus. When it comes to saints, I try not to underbelieve or overbelieve. And it’s a hard balance, sometimes. What do you with the story of Saint Sophia and her three daughters Faith, Hope, and Love? It’s entirely possible that these four women, supposedly martyrs in the…

  • Gospel-Driven, Rightly Dividing, and Buzzard

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    Fred Sanders
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    Three more reviews of The Deep Things of God in recent days that are worth pointing out: Pastor Mark Lauterbach at GospelDrivenLife is starting a series of posts, blogging about the Trinity and the gospel in dialogue with the book. He calls my work “utterly unoriginal.” How dare he! Oh wait, that’s a compliment. Okay,…

  • Happy Birthday, Jonathan Edwards!

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (October 5) is the birthday of America’s greatest theologian, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Here are some major events from Edwards’ life, as chronicled here at Scriptorium in the last few years. Before 1723: He wrote a treatise on spiders: “Of all Insects no one is more wonderful than the Spider especially with Respect to their…

  • Robert Barclay

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    Fred Sanders
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    If you want a theological introduction and orientation to the Quaker tradition, then Robert Barclay (1648 – 1690) is your man. Barclay (who died on this day, October 3) was born in Scotland, educated in Paris, and governed a colony in America before returning to his native Aberdeenshire. When he opted for Quakerism in 1667,…

  • Marburg Colloquy

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (October 1) was the first day of the Marburg Colloquy, a 1529 conference that attempted to bring together two streams of the brand-new Protestant movement. On one side were the Germans, led by Luther and his right-hand man Melanchthon, and on the other side were the Swiss, led by Zwingli and supported by others…

  • The Birth of Servetus

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (September 29) is the birthday of Miguel Servet, better known as Michael Servetus (1511-1553), the Spanish theologian who forcefully denied the Trinity, and died for those convictions. Discussions of the execution of Servetus are easy enough to find, usually in connection with John Calvin’s involvement in the process. But on his birthday, let us…

  • The Trinitarian Theology of Keith Green

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    Fred Sanders
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    Trinitarian theology is a great and lofty thing; it’s for trained theologians to do very serious work with. But it is also something that is near to every Christian, even in their mouths. An ordinary believer who has grasped the main outline of the gospel is probably operating with a functional trinitarian theology that is,…

  • Tonight: You Can Understand the Trinity

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    Fred Sanders
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    For readers in southern California (if you can stand the heat! 113 degrees in late September!), come on by the book release event for The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything. Two hours of Trinitarian theology from me and my Biola colleagues Erik Thoennes, Melissa Schubert, and Rob Price. A surreal experience…