Jodocus van Lodenstein had two things going for him: 1) a Harry Potter-esque name that no doubt hipster parents will shortly be rediscovering; 2) a desire to see true revival sweep through the Netherlands in the 17th century. This desire pours out of the nine sermons collected in A Spiritual Appeal to Christ’s Bride. This book is a part of the “Classics of Reformed Spirituality” series. As noted in an earlier blog post, the goal of this series is “the publication and... Read more
A review of Joel Beeke's 'How Do We Plant Godly Convictions in our Children?' Read more
I’ve blocked out roughly twenty years of my life (give or take, and should the Lord keep me here that long) to reading the roughly 40 volume set of Church Fathers. I do not recommend this. I mean, I recommend reading the Church Fathers. For all their failings (and there are many of them–as there are with any generation) they are mostly devout examples of holding fast to the inspiration and authority of Scripture under some of the most difficult... Read more
'Annihilation' tackles big questions—without pat answers. Read more
A few brief reflections on the death of Billy Graham Read more
Audiences can enjoy grim humor. But is there a limit? Read more
As I’m continuing to read through the Redwall series, Mossflower, Mattimeo, Mariel of Redwall, and Salamandastron all drive home themes raised in the first books: good guys like/create delicious food; bad guys don’t eat; there’s always more than one villain–one of which is often more of a force of nature than an actual bad guy; the heroes have to go somewhere to get a sword; the solution to the problems of the present is found in the past; there’s nothing particularly religious about Redwall... Read more
Short thoughts on Sally Lloyd-Jones 'My Merry Christmas.' Very, very short thoughts. Read more
Over at the ISI site, Jessica Hooten Wilson from John Brown University has put together a list of ten of the books that undergraduates should have read before they graduate. It’s a fine enough list, including some that should clearly make any such list–Augustine’s Confessions, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, e.g. And there are some that are clearly great works, but which I wouldn’t put on such a list–such as Shakespeare’s Richard III, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and... Read more
Despite enjoying short stories, I’ve never been much of a fan of essays. A good essay leaves you wanting more without providing it. A bad essay is, well, a bad essay. I’ve got to make an exception, however, for Charles Krauthammer’s collection Things that Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics. Drawing primarily on his long-running Washington Post column, Krauthammer has assembled some of his best (and some of his mediocre) from the last three decades in this volume that... Read more
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