The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • Review of Morey’s Embodying our Faith

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    Greg Peters
    in

    Tim Morey’s Embodying our Faith: Becoming a Living, Sharing, Practicing Church (InterVarsity, 2009) is an enjoyable read. As a reworking of his Fuller Theological Seminary D.Min. thesis, Morey’s text is engaging, his writing style friendly and his content engaging. In seven chapters, Morey gives a well-reasoned defense for what he calls an “embodied apologetic,” that…

  • “All Our Works, O God, Thou Hast Wrought In Us” (Wesley)

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    John Wesley (1703–1791) launched a religious movement, but he didn’t write a theology. Instead, he preached a lot. His masterpiece is the Standard Sermons, and that’s where you have to look to find out what he was about as a world-changing preacher. Just look at the first paragraph of his first sermon, and you can…

  • Pannenberg Trinity Sermon: Transcendence in the Midst of Our Lives

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Kent Eilers at the Theology Forum blog recently posted part of a 1972 sermon by Wolfhart Pannenberg. As Eilers points out, Pannenberg has a public image as a high-level academic theologian who cultivates dialogue with the most rigorous contemporary thought, so it’s hard to picture him going to the pulpit and speaking to a non-academic…

  • Cajetan’s Birthday

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (February 20) is the birthday of Thomas Cardinal Cajetan (1469-1534), an Italian Dominican cardinal active during the Renaissance and early Reformation era. His birth name was Giacomo de Vio, but when he became a Dominican he took the name Tomasso (perhaps after the famous Dominican Thomas Aquinas, whose work he would devote himself to…

  • Love is a Noun

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    One of the many clichés of book titling is the “____ is a verb” trick. It’s supposed to grab your attention, be a little disorienting, and suggest that _____ is full of unexpected action and energy. For example, a quick search shows that “Life is a Verb,” “News is a Verb,” “Friendship is a Verb,”…

  • Cotton Mather, the Cistern of Nature, and Pressing After Piety

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Cotton Mather, American Puritan, was born yesterday and died today. That is, he was born on February 12 in the year 1663, and died February 13 in the year 1728. Mather kept a voluminous diary which would be worth reading just for its historical value, since he was on the scene for so many important…

  • Lawrence of the Resurrection on Practicing the Presence

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    Fred Sanders
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    Today (February 12) is the day in 1691 that Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection died. He is remembered for the spiritual writings which have been published as The Practice of the Presence of God, and he is famous for describing how to commune intimately with God while working hard in the kitchen. He was born…

  • Ryrie The Communicator

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    Fred Sanders
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    The name Charles Caldwell Ryrie calls to mind a very conservative theologian who has specialized in dispensationalism, insisted on inerrancy, and gotten involved in theological dust-ups like the one between “lordship salvation” vs. “free grace.” One could easily get the image of hard-headed fundamentalist fighter. I’ve never met Ryrie, and don’t know anything about his…

  • Yourself and the Air Around You

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    Fred Sanders
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    Charles C. Ryrie has a hundred object lessons for teaching the young. No, really, a hundred. They’re all good for making doctrinal points clear to kids, and Ryrie tells you exactly what object to show the kids in each case: a chair, a comb, a sealed letter, a map, etc. But when he tries to…

  • Scott Bessenecker on Leadership

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    Greg Peters
    in

    I just finished reading Scott Bessenecker’s new book How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting Ourselves to a Servant Savior (InterVarsity Press, 2009). Overall it was a good book, easy to read and understand. According to Bessenecker, most leaders in today’s church have bought into the “MONOPOLY” mindset of leadership. Simply put that means most leaders…

  • “We’re on a mission from God.”

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    Matt Jenson
    in

    In the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, Dan Akroyd deadpans: “We’re on a mission from God.” He and his partner are in the process of putting their band back together and are enlisting an old bandmate, and Akroyd’s character flatly insists that the divine origin of their project is sufficient warrant for the man to…

  • What are We Preparing For? (Lessons from Justin Key)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here at the beginning of a new academic semester, all the students and professors are full of big plans. We’re going to cover so much material, learn so many new skills, and develop so many relationships. We’ve got a long semester ahead of us, and since it’s a Spring semester, there’s a big graduation at…