Consider these two really odd “Sayings of the Desert Fathers.” Both are from the chapter on “Self-Control” in Benedicta Ward’s translation. They said of one hermit that he sometimes longed to eat a cucumber. So he took one and hung it in front of him where he could see it. He was not overcome by […]
Read Faster and Better with Book Reviews (Letters to a Young Pastor)
Dear ______: I’m glad to hear that you are seeing the pattern inside my recommended reading strategies. For all those I’ve told you about so far (primary sources, textbooks, and scholarly studies) the pattern is to get a clear big picture, and then moved toward the details. Think of it as the concentric circles that emerge […]
Why is Christ Seated at the Right Hand of God? (Heidelberg Catechism Q50)
Why “Seated at the Right Hand of God”? I’ve been back to blogging on the Heidelberg Catechism of late. Recently I worked through what these 16th-century Reformed theologians thought about the Ascension. In their line by line commentary on the Apostles’ Creed they took each obvious and not-so obvious issue in turn: Q46: What does Christ’s Ascension into heaven mean? […]
Upcoming Webinar on Lectio Divina
As I write, it is mid October. From my kids’ perspective two things stand between now and Christmas: Halloween and American Thanksgiving. (In our house we have already celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. Multiple cultures make for extra thankfulness.) For the Church, though, there is another whole season between now and Christmas: Advent, the four week period when […]
Reading Scholarly Studies (Letters to a Young Pastor)
Dear ______: Sorry for the delay in writing back. What can I say? I was swamped. I’m glad to hear your classes are also requiring you to read things that aren’t primary sources, and aren’t introductory text books. The interesting stuff in any field is happening in the current scholarship: the monographs and articles. These […]
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