Photo credit: Shannon Leith. Check out her website. She’s incredible. After about a decade of close readings, late-night discussions, pizza, cake, and camaraderie, the Torrey Metathon is in the last year of its current iteration, and we’re going out in style–with Dante for company. If you’ve never been to a Metathon, the formula’s pretty simple: get a bunch of people with a commitment to honest discussion, an avid desire for knowledge, and a single common text; put them in a very... Read more
There was a sweet, confusing couple of years when the Inklings et al. suddenly spoke straight at me, with megaphones. All my bookish Christian friends felt it too, at one time or another. We felt like they were pointing out our intellectual thirsts by quenching them. We felt like they had looked at our little journals to inspire their seventy-year-old books. How does that happen? Take Chesterton. A love and assessment of absolutely anything just rolls off his quick red... Read more
Today (April 29) is the day Catherine of Siena died in 1380. Catherine was a Dominican Tertiary, that is, not a nun, but a layperson so associated with monastic life that she participated in many ways, and wore the habit. The Roman Catholic Church has identified her as a saint (1461), as a patron saint of Italy (1940, sharing the honor with Francis), and as a Doctor of the Church (1970, along with Teresa of Avila). The Catholic Church recognizes... Read more
Draco Haiku, by Freddy back when he was Freddy Age Ten: Cute Bearded dragon Or Pogona Various The best lizard pet This simple haiku floats on the page beside a drawing of its subject, Draco the bearded dragon. The drawing features a few long, powerful lines that trace the distinctive curves of the bearded dragon’s form. But those long sweeps are festooned with rickrack, jagged lines that indicate the dragon’s spikes and suggest the reptilian texture of its skin. Freddy... Read more
On this day, April 28, in 1772, a goat died. But not just any goat. This goat had traveled twice around the world, providing a steady supply of milk for the sailors on two long journeys. A good, well fed milk goat will give a quart or two of sweet milk per day, and this goat apparently kept producing, to the delight of her shipmates. She had sailed on two important ships: first with Captain Wallis on the Dolphin, when... Read more
Peter Böhler (b. 1712) died on this day (April 27) in 1775. Böhler was a pastor and missionary from the Protestant group called the Moravians. About the Moravians, and their founder Hus, and their leader Zinzendorf, and their ancient ecumenical entanglements, much could be said! But as for this particular Moravian, Peter Böhler, his theology and spirituality can be described as a kind of Lutheran pietism. He and his associates were conspicuously filled with joy and confidence on the basis of... Read more
Today (April 26) in 1518, Martin Luther engaged in a public debate now famous as the Heidelberg Disputation. The occasion was the General Chapter meeting of the Augustinian monastic order in Germany. It would have been just another meeting, but in late 1517, Luther had posted the 95 Theses for debate. The general meeting in 1518 was the first opportunity for Dr. Luther to explain his views to his brother monks. So the event is famous because of its place... Read more
I’m glad to see that Baker Academic has released Kelly Kapic and Bruce McCormack’s Mapping Modern Theology: A Thematic and Historical Introduction. This is a great textbook for understanding what’s happened in systematic theology over the last couple of centuries. I was honored to be invited to contribute a chapter (on the Trinity, of course). There’s a sweet spot here in the shared space between evangelical and mainline scholarship. The two editors, I think, symbolize this: Kapic is professor of theological... Read more
Today (April 25) is the day when Charles E. Fuller was born in 1887. Fuller is famous for the classic radio show The Old Fashioned Revival Hour, and for founding Fuller Theological Seminary. Charles Fuller started broadcasting in 1925, and the Revival Hour started in 1937, but it already sounded intentionally old-fashioned then. And Fuller Seminary started up in 1947, but somehow maintains an image too self-consciously contemporary to have had a mid-century origin. As a result, Charles Fuller’s 81-year... Read more
Puritan theologian William Ames (1576-1633) wrote the Medulla Theologiae, which is available in English as The Marrow of Theology (trans. John Dykstra Eusden). It’s a fine little systematic theology for many reasons. But in this age of Twitter, I’m struck by how Ames chose to express his thought. He wrote out the whole system of doctrine as a series of short, focused, carefully-worded theses. There are many appropriate ways of writing theology. Sometimes a writer needs to go on at great... Read more
The Scriptorium
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In