The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Theology

  • Desperate for Authority

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    Greg Peters
    in

    I’ve been given many reasons lately to think about the nature of authority, specifically ecclesial authority. Having recently returned from leading twenty-two students to Rome, where I once again saw and heard Pope Benedict XVI, I have been wondering how did the church go from having apostles (where Peter was one of at least twelve…

  • Today Martin Buber was Born (1878)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Martin Buber (1878-1965) was a Jewish philosopher who did a great deal to put classic documents of Hasidic tradition into wider circulation. He is most famous for his 1923 book I and Thou. I and Thou is a remarkable book, a masterpiece of simplicity and direct communication. I don’t know if it will ever seem…

  • Today Hannah Whitall Smith was Born (1832)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    “You Christians seem to have a religion that makes you miserable. You are like a man with a headache. He does not want to get rid of his head, but it hurts him to keep it. You cannot expect outsiders to seek very earnestly for anything so uncomfortable.” When Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) heard someone…

  • Today Photius Died (893)

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    Photius of Constantinople (ca. 810-893) is commemorated on this day. As an influential patriarch of this important eastern city, Photius could boast many educational, administrative, and evangelistic accomplishments. But in both East and West, the name of Photius will always be chiefly associated with that very split, the one between East and West. He excommunicated…

  • Christ Did Something or Other

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    “Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connexion or other with salvation.” This was the judgment of John Duncan on the theology of preacher Fred W. Robertson. It was a rather sharp-tongued remark, and Duncan never put it in print himself. Instead, the comment made it into a…

  • Today Dwight Moody was Born (1837): Why God Used Him

    Today Dwight Moody was Born (1837): Why God Used Him

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    R.A. Torrey
    in ,

    Eighty-six years ago (February 5, 1837), there was born of poor parents in a humble farmhouse in Northfield, Massachusetts, a little baby who was to become the greatest man, as I believe, of his generation or of his century — Dwight L. Moody. [note: Dr. Torrey wrote this in 1923; today it would be 172…

  • Today is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Birthday

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    Fred Sanders
    in ,

    If you were only going to say one thing about theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), you would tell the story that led up to his death in a Nazi prison on April 9, 1945, at age 39. But today is the anniversary of his birth, so here is a reflection Bonhoeffer’s way of living a Christian…

  • The Prayer Meeting That Launched My World-Wide Ministry

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    In 1900, following up on a personal request from Dwight Moody, R. A. Torrey wrote a book entitled How to Pray. It became an international best-seller and was translated into many languages. Here is the story behind R. A. Torrey’s historic world tour as an evangelist and revivalist, as told by Basil Miller in his…

  • Today is Felix Mendelssohn’s Birthday

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    Fred Sanders
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    Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a musical wunderkind, a prodigy who was performing by age 9, composing symphonies by age 12, and publishing works by age 13. He was largely responsible for the revival of interest in Bach after decades of neglect, because it was his conducting the St. Matthew Passion that helped place that composition…

  • Today is Hannah More's Birthday (1745)

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    Fred Sanders
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    Hannah More (1745 – 1833) was, according to the title of a recent biography, The First Victorian. That is, though she died before the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), she was ahead of her time in so many ways that her lifework makes more sense as part of the story of the nineteenth century…

  • The Shack: Four Walls, Five Reviews

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    Fred Sanders
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    The Kids-Book Author: Have you read the Shack of Mack? Have you read this paperback? Would you give it to your friends? Will you spoil how it ends? I have read the Shack of Mack. I have read this paperback. I would not give it to my friends. I might just spoil how it ends.…

  • Today Started Black History Month

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    Fred Sanders
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    February is recognized as Black History Month in America. Why? Because Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) decided it was a good idea to set aside a month for special attention to black history in a month that contained the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. A lot of people agreed, and that’s how traditions get…