The God of the Bible anointed Cyrus, heard the cry of the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar, sent a prophet to save a Phoenician woman in a drought, was worshipped by magi, and healed Romans and other pagans. Are atheist prayers answered as often as Christian prayers? What if only two nations existed, one of Atheists (only) and the other a nation of Christians (only). Would the cure rate for disease be higher in either nation?* Since I am a Christian, I might... Read more
Thus died Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, a president of the United States; a man distinguished as the author of the Declaration of American Independence, and one of the first statesmen of that country. So William Wells Brown begins the wind up to his novel Clotel. This is a pathetic scene: stirring pity. Only the soulless or a Confederate could read the story of Clotel and not sympathize with her. Clotel was not a living soul, but an icon picturing... Read more
This guest post is by Ms. Emma Meine of The College at The Saint Constantine School and is an informal reflection (not her college work). The opinions are her own. ——————————————- The new Doctor Who is not very good, which is particularly frustrating this season, because we have finally been granted a female Doctor. It seems that the actress who now plays the new Doctor works hard at her role, but has been told to imitate David Tennant to her utmost. This... Read more
We should act reasonably driven by love. To do something that is unreasonable ignores wisdom and God is wise. Exactly what is reasonable in any given situation is not easy to find, awash as we are in contrary data, weakness of will, and people selling us lies. As a result, the best of us may fail to be reasonable, while the rest of us may often fall short of the perfect logic of God. We live by mercy and learn... Read more
We need more projects that are positively Medieval. If that shocks you, stop being a bigot. Those who lived before you do not deserve condemnation merely for envy that they are already in Paradise and you are not. Those who don’t know history are doomed to chronological snobbery: thinking the calendar determines the worth of an idea, person, or artifact. The chronological snob tosses about words like “primitive” and “native.” This is the sort that cannot value science, as we... Read more
Read enough books, listen to enough smart people talk about those books and certain obvious truths are hard to remember. Teach a freshman class in college and sometimes the younglings remind you of what you have forgotten. The obvious, foolishly forgotten, brings back into the well-read mind basic truth and unites years of thought about the whole book all over again. Here are ten obvious facts I sometimes forget: Beowulf is a Christian book. Did the person who gave us... Read more
Some books are a revelation. If you have not heard of the best selling novel, published before the Civil War, that more or less accused Thomas Jefferson of fathering a child, Clotel, with an enslaved woman, then you have learned something about who won Reconstruction. The North won the Civil War, but African Americans lost much of the peace when white Northerners reached out too quickly to the white rebels and slavers. The heroes of abolition and their works, especially those... Read more
Grief is a lifelong process until we slip into the place where death is no more. I have family members who have died that I think about every week. I cannot even name them in this post as their memory is so sacred. As I get older, the list of such memories grows longer. The lesson of a grandparent who wanted to go on to Glory to see her friends, who were mostly already there, grows greater. This last year... Read more
I write informally about history all the time. I am not, however, a trained historian. As a result, I try to base what I write on the work of real historians and ask questions of my historian friends with different perspectives. Training matters. While a good, sound, general education can make you fit to follow the arguments experts make, this does not make you an expert! Modesty about what one knows well is a must. Even in a field where... Read more
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is greater than “I Have a Dream,” he is more than any single image, he is greater than his monument—yet he is not perfect. His every word is not sacred, but his each word is serious. We must pause over him, because he is great. He got one big thing right, though you cannot pretend he got everything right. No American should criticize his views of the race struggle in America: he was right, deeply... Read more
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