Book Reviews

The Eucharist in the New Testament by Jerome Kodell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars Although Kodell is Roman Catholic, it hardly shows in this fine introduction to recent scholarship of the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper). Although conservtive evangelicals will disagree with some of his conclusions, he presents an accessible overview of some difficult questions. For instance, was the Last Supper really a Passover meal or not? Matthew, Mark and Luke seem to say it was, but John seems to say that it wasn’t. Check out the book and see what some of the finest New Testament scholars have approached the problem!

Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism by Alexander Schmemann

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love Schmemann! He combines deep learning with deep spirituality, and communicates it in a practical way. The book reads like a long sermon on the importance of baptism, and the relevance of ancient church traditions to the modern world.

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell D. Moore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fantastic! Moore is a respected Baptist preacher and scholar, but the book is eminently practical. More importantly, Moore writes out of his own experience as an adoptive father. Essential reading for every Christian!

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Book Review – Mother Kirk

Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology by Douglas Wilson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I may be biased (since Wilson was my teacher at New St. Andrews College, as well as my pastor during those four years), but this was my second time through this book, and I still found it incredibly helpful.

Yes, all the theological insights were great, and the writing was typically witty and humorous. But, what was most striking was how Wilson addresses huge theological and Biblical topics with a consistently practical and pastoral approach. The sub-title says it well: “Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology.” This is not a book for armchair theologians. Wilson is controversial at times, but he is also writing to real problems in the modern, American evangelical church. Even if you don’t agree with him, he is a great debating partner! He will challenge you to defend (from the Bible!) your fundamental notions of God, His Word, and what His Church should be doing.

I can also say, because I have some background knowledge of the actual circumstances that led to the writing of some chapters, that Wilson is writing out his own pastoral experience. He has been able, by he grace of God, to lead a large congregation through many major changes in how they understand the Bible, how they worship, how they educate their children, and most importantly, how they live as Christians every day and every hour of the week.

Many things have been said about Douglas Wilson, and many are untrue, or only half-true. Jesus said something helpful: “By your fruits you shall know them.” God has grown some remarkable fruit through Wilson’s ministry. I think many people read him, and are offended by his biting wit and sarcasm. I read him differently because I hear his chuckle in between the lines, and I see the huge grin he would always have when he was saying the most unsettling things. I would encourage other readers to keep that image in mind!

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Ironies of Socrates and Plato

Speaking of Socrates and Plato, Joseph Heller captures the delightful irony in the philosophies of the two intellectual giants and the complexity of Plato’s relationship and portrayal of Socrates: 

“[Socrates] was a dedicated philosopher who had no philosophy, an educator without curriculum or system of education, a teacher without pupils; a professor who professed to know nothing; a sage with faith that a knowledge of virtue exists unborn inside each of us and might, perhaps, be brought to life through persevering search.

“He did not like books, which should have nettled Plato, who wrote so many.

“He had low regard for people who read them.

“He mistrusted books, he said in the Phaedrus, because they could neither ask nor answer questions and were apt to be swallowed whole.  He said that readers of books read much and learned nothing, that they appeared full of knowledge, but for the most part were without it, and had the show of wisdom without its reality.

“He said this in a book.

“The book, though, is by Plato, who denounced dramatic representations as spurious because the writer put into the mouths of characters imitating real people whatever the author wished them to say.

“Plato said this in a dramatic representation, in which he put into the mouth of Socrates and other real people exactly those things Plato wanted them to say”

(Joseph Heller, Picture This, 94).  This novel is fantastic!  That is, if you like history … It takes a painting by Rembrandt of Aristotle contemplating a bust of Homer as its starting point, and then ranges over the vast fields of Greek, Dutch, and modern history, drawing an astonishing number of connections and parallels between the eras.  It’s rough going, if you don’t know much history, but it’s well worth it!

Brilliant Quips from Tom Wolfe

“In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, old people in America had prayed, ‘Please God, don’t let me look poor.’  In the year 2000, they prayed, ‘Please God, don’t let me look old.’  Sexiness was equated with youth, and youth ruled.  The most widespread age-related disease was not senility but juvenility” (Tom Wolfe,  Hooking Up, 9). 

Speaking of the literary philosophy Deconstructionism, Wolfe waxes brilliant:  “They began with the hyperdilation of a pronouncement of Nietzsche’s to the effect that there can be no absolute truth, merely many ‘truths,’ which are the tools of various groups, classes, or forces.  From this, the deconstructionists proceeded to the doctrine that language is the most insidious tool of all.  The philosopher’s duty was to deconstruct the language, expose its hidden agendas, and help save the victims of the American ‘Establishment’: women, the poor, nonwhites, homosexuals, and hardwood trees. 

“Oddly, when deconstructionists required appendectomies or bypass surgery or even a root-canal job, they never deconstructed medical or dental ‘truth,’ but went along with whatever their board-certified, profit-oriented surgeons proclaimed was the last word,” (Tom Wolfe, Hooking Up, 13).

H.L. Mencken Defending Women?

I just started reading H.L. Mencken’s In Defense of Women.  For those who don’t know, Mencken was a terribly witty journalist in the early 20th century.  He was witty, and he was terrible.  He was enamoured of Nietzshe’s philosophy and hated Christianity.  Oddly enough, he could praise a theological stalwart like J. Gresham Machen because Machen was a stalwart.  Mencken hated hypocrisy, but he respected a man who could defend what he believed, even if Mencken could not accept that defense.  All that to say–Mencken was a clever pagan and a talented wordsmith.  We who would defend Christianity can, and should, learn a lesson or two from him.

In the Introduction, Mencken writes, “in the United States, alone among the great nations of history, there is a right way to think and a wrong way to think in everything–not only in theology, or politics, or economics, but in the most trivial matters of everyday life” (xix). 

Mencken was writing in the 1930s, and so he is railing against “traditional morality,” but his words apply equally today–in the realm of political correctness and the holy dogmas of Tolerance.  “For an American to question any of the articles of fundamental faith cherished by the majority is for him to run grave risks of social disaster” (xx).  The difference now is which “articles of fundamental faith” the majority hold to.  Back then it was the veneer of Christian morality–now it is the veneer of Toleration for every belief and moral practice … except for Intolerance and believing that one belief means that others are wrong!

And Mencken had no illusions about the redemptive value of democracy:  “All such toyings with illicit ideas are construed as attentats against democracy, which, in a sense, perhaps they are.  For democracy is grounded upon so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even half-wits would argue it to pieces.  Its first concern must thus be to penalize the free play of ideas” (xxi). 

When was the last time we really had a debate in American politics, rather than slogan-tossing festival? 

Mencken could sound like a Calvinist with no Cross and no Christ.  That is, he understood human depravity, but did not have the hope of Resurrection:  “In truth, I am very suspicious of all remedies for the major ills of life, and believe that most of them are incurable” (xxiv).

The book promises to entertain and infuriate.  I’ll try to post his best observations here (mostly to help me study how he writes!).

Descendents of the Magi?

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is amazing! Bailey lived for 60 years in the Middle East, and has literally lived through the Bible story. The book begins with a stunning study, which presents a convincing case that Jesus was actually born in a house (since many poor, Middle Eastern homes actually have mangers in the house!).   I won’t give away the rest of his argument, but I did want to share another tid-bit that lept out at me.

Speaking of the Magi, and who they might have been, he writes: “In the 1920s a British scholar, E.F.F. Bishop, visited a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. This Muslim tribe bore the Arabic name al-Kokabani. The word kokab means “planet” and al-Kaokabani means “Those who study/follow the planets.” Bishop asked the elders of the tribe why they called themselves by such a name. They replied that it was because their ancestors followed the planets and traveled west to Palestine to show honor to the great prophet Jesus when he was born. This supports Justin’s [Justin Martyr - ca. 165 A.D.] second-century claim that the wise men were Arabs from Arabia,” (Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 53).

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Wise Advice from a Magic Grandmother

I’m reading the The Princess & the Goblin to our boys in the evenings.  It’s a bit over their heads, but it’s full of wonderful little theological insights:

 

The Princess’ Magical Grandmother (talking to the Princess when her friend Curdie can’t see the Magical Grandmother): “But in the meantime you must be content, I say, to be misunderstood for a while.  We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be.  But there is one thing much more necessary.”

 

Princess: “What is that, grandmother?”

 

Magical Grandmother: “To understand other people.”

 

St. Spurgeon on Theosis

The Eastern Orthodox concept of theosis is much maligned and mis-understood.  I was startled to find no less an authority than Charles Spurgeon waxing eloquent on the topic, sounding like an Orthodox church father:

“Partakers of the divine nature.”—2 Peter 1:4.

“To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature. We are, by grace, made like God. “God is love”; we become love—”He that loveth is born of God.” God is truth; we become true, and we love that which is true: God is good, and He makes us good by His grace, so that we become the pure in heart who shall see God. Moreover, we become partakers of the divine nature in even a higher sense than this—in fact, in as lofty a sense as can be conceived, short of our being absolutely divine. Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of Christ? Yes, the same blood which flows in the head flows in the hand: and the same life which quickens Christ quickens His people, for “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Nay, as if this were not enough, we are married unto Christ. He hath betrothed us unto Himself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and he who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Oh! marvellous mystery! we look into it, but who shall understand it? One with Jesus—so one with Him that the branch is not more one with the vine than we are a part of the Lord, our Saviour, and our Redeemer! While we rejoice in this, let us remember that those who are made partakers of the divine nature will manifest their high and holy relationship in their intercourse with others, and make it evident by their daily walk and conversation that they have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. O for more divine holiness of life!”  (Charles Spurgeon, Morning By Morning)

A most apt way to describe what Orthodox Christians mean by theosis!

To learn more about what Orthodox Christians really believe about theosis, I would recommend Light from the Christian East (ch. 8),  Eastern Orthodoxy Through Western Eyes (ch. 6), and Eastern Orthodoxy Christianity: A Western Perspective (ch. 6).

Be Killing Sin

Although John Owen’s treatise on The Mortificaiton of Sin can be tough going at times, it is a stirring call to battle our remaining lusts. 

My favorite quote from today’s reading: “be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”

Through New Eyes

Through New Eyes by James B. Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my second time through this book. Every Christian should read it. We read the Biblical text with so many assumptions and preconceptions. Jordan helps us understand the deep symbolic flow of the Bible, showing how it all harmonizes into a glorious symphony! Symbols are not just literary decoration in the Bible–they are living metaphors that God has written into history and creation.

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The Eucharist & Ecumenism

The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let us Keep the Feast by George Hunsinger

Hunsinger is amazing. Not only is he a top-knotch theologian who finds significant common ground between the Reformed, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodoxy, but he also manages to argue for women’s and gay ordination in a logical and level-headed way. I disagree stridently with him on women’s and gay ordination, but he is still a model for peaceful discussion. There is a time for calling down the wrath of God, but we must also demonstrate that we aren’t frothing-at-the-mouth fundamentalists.

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Covenantal Education

Paul House provides a succint summary of Deuteronomy’s priniciples for covenantal education.  It is both inspiring, as well as humbling, as I consider my role as a teacher and a parent:

“Third, Yahweh commands the people to internalize the covenant and teach their children to do the same (6:6-9).  Each new member of the holy community must be taught God’s ways.  Faith does not occur automatically.  It must be understood and owned (6:6), so each parent must teach his or her children, just as Moses has been teaching them.  Instruction must be purposefule, even to the point of becoming public (6:9).  The idea is to ‘impress, or inscribe’ truth on the heart, not simply to suggest it.  Such careful teaching will help avoid forgetting Yahweh in prosperity (6:10-12), in new settings (6:13-19) or when new generations emerge, uncertain of what the old revelation means (6:20-25).  Only scrupulous intergenerational teaching can keep exclusive love of Yahweh alive in a polytheistic culture” (Paul R. House, Old Testament Theology, 178).

The Primacy of Peter-Review

The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church by John Meyendorff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although this book is a collection of essays by Eastern Orthodox writers, it is useful for Protestants who are rediscovering their family history, namely the history of the Church. The Orthodox churches have preserved many ancient traditions. We should seek to understand them, at the least, and not dismiss them out of hand. There is also much valuable information for countering the claims of Roman Catholics. The Orthodox claim to be “catholic,” but not Roman. There is a plethora of misinformation about Romanc Catholicism, and the authors in this volume write in an irenic and sympathetic tone. They sincerely desire unity among all Christians, and not mere platitudes about “catholicity.” For some, “catholicity” seems to mean that we can all just affirm the Apostle’s Creed, and then go our separate ways. This is not what “catholicity” meant to the Church Fathers, nor do I believe the Apostles would be pleased with our reductionism. Lastly, for those of us in the CREC, I believe this book contains gems of insight into the importance of the “local church,” and how the primacy of the local church relates to “catholicity.” Highly recommended for the stout of heart!

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The Speaking in Tongues Controversy – Review

The Speaking In Tongues Controversy by Rick Walston

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Walston’s book is a basic introduction to this issue, but I respect his detailed examination of the NT evidence, especially in Acts. Walston was a pastor in Assemblies of God churches for 20 years, and so has intimate knowledge of his subject. But, he was willing to change his view, based on where the Bible led him.

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My review

Christian Book Sale!!!

Canon Press is having a huge sale! Many titles on theology and worship are only $1, $2, or $3!!!

The Fruit of Her Hands

The Fruit Of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson

Very helpful! I read this in college, but it went over my head. Now, after being married for a few years, it’s immensely more meaningful. We know the Wilsons personally, and Nancy practices what she preaches.

A Wonderful Image

Wonderful quote from Dorotheus of Gaza, a mystic from the 6th century.  As she imagined, “ the world as a circle on the ground at whose center was God, she wrote, ‘Leading from the edge to the center are a number of lines, representing ways of life.  In their desire to draw near to God, the saints advance along these lines to the middle of the circle, so that the further they go, the nearer they approach one another as well as God.  The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another” (Judith Dupre, Churches, 156). 

(I just finished Churches for a study I’m doing for our local church.  It’s a great coffee-table book.  It’s huge, and you can get it cheaply on Amazon.  You need huge pictures to get some sense of what the magnificent churches of Christendom look, and feel, like!)

Lutheran Sanctification

Two bits from my reading diet caught my eye:

“Nevertheless we still experience sin and death within us, wrestle with them and fight against them.  You may tie a hog ever so well, but you cannot prevent it from grunting.  Thus is is with the sins in our flesh,” (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1, 247).

“Precisely because the totality of the gift, the new being [the one justified by faith] knows that there is nothing to do to gain heaven.  Thus the Christian is called to the tasks of daily life in this world, for the time being.  Students, for instance, are sometimes very pious and idealistic about ‘doing something,’ and so get caught up in this or that movement ‘for good.’  It never seems to dawn on them that perhaps for the time being, at least, their calling is simply to be a good student!  It is not particularly in acts of piety that we are sanctified, but in our call to live and act as Christians” (Gerald O. Forde, ”The Lutheran View” in Christian Spirituality:  Five Views of Sanctification, ed. Donald L. Alexander, 31).

The Church Fathers Knew the Bible!

The Fathers quoted Scripture constantly.  Bruce Metzger notes: “so extensive are these citations that if all other sources for our knowledge of the text of the New Testament were destroyed, they would be sufficient alone for the reconstruction of practically the entire New Testament.”[1]

We might criticize some of the father for this or that doctrinal oddity, but we should respect their deep knowledge, and reverance for, the Scriptures. 

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[1] Meztger, The Text of the New Testament, 3^rd ed., 86, qtd. in Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, 106.

More of Luther on Communion

Commenting on 1 Cor. 10:17, Martin Luther preached: “We eat the Lord by the faith of the Word which the soul consumes and enjoys.  In this way my neighbor also eats me:  I give him my goods, body and life and all that I have, and let him consume and use it in his want.  Likewise, I also need my neighbor; I too am poor and afflicted, and suffer him to help and serve me in turn.  Thus we are woven one into the other, helping one another even as Christ helped us.  This is what it means spiritually to eat and drink one another” (Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1, pg. 213.

Luther on the Fruit of Holy Communion

I love Luther.  He’s so practical and pastoral!  This is from a sermon entitled, “Confession and the Lord’s Supper”:

“But if you feel that you are unfit, weak and lacking in faith, where will you obtain strength but here [the Lord's Supper]?  Do you mean to wait until you have grown pure and strong, then indeed you will never come and you will never obtain benefit from the holy communion” (207).

“It is our duty to let the benefit and fruit of the Lord’s Supper become manifest, and we ought to show that we have received it with profit … Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk the body and blood of Christ the Lord, we in turn permit ourselves to be eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat and drink; and this by no means in jest, but in all seriousness, meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had, in the sacramental words” (208).

“Therefore, when we have received the Lord’s Supper we must not allow ourselves to become indolent, but must be diligent and attentive to increase in love, aid our neighbor in distress, and lend him a helping hand when he suffers affliction and requires assitance.  When you fail to do this you are not a Christian, or only a weak Christian, though you boast of having received the Lord and all that he is, in the Lord’s Supper” (210-11).

- all from The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 1

Tertullian on Sleep and the Soul

Interesting theology of sleep (as a typology of death) – A Treatise on the Soul, chap. 43:

 

If you receive your instruction from God, (you will find) that the fountain of the human race, Adam, had a taste of drowsiness before having a draught of repose; slept before he laboured, or even before he ate, nay, even before he spoke; in order that men may see that sleep is a natural feature and function, and one which has actually precedence over all the natural faculties. From this primary instance also we are led to trace even then the image of death in sleep. For as Adam was a figure of Christ, Adam’s sleep shadowed out the death of Christ, who was to sleep a mortal slumber, that from the wound inflicted on His side might, in like manner (as Eve was formed), be typified the church, the true mother of the living. This is why sleep is so salutary, so rational, and is actually formed into the model of that death which is general and common to the race of man.  God, indeed, has willed (and it may be said in passing that He has, generally, in His dispensations brought nothing to pass without such types and shadows) to set before us, in a manner more fully and completely than Plato’s example, by daily recurrence the outlines of man’s state, especially concerning the beginning and the termination thereof; thus stretching out the hand to help our faith more readily by types and parables, not in words only, but also in things. He accordingly sets before your view the human body stricken by the friendly power of slumber, prostrated by the kindly necessity of repose immoveable in position, just as it lay previous to life, and just as it will lie after life is past: there it lies as an attestation of its form when first moulded, and of its condition when at last buried-awaiting the soul in both stages, in the former previous to its bestowal, in the latter after its recent withdrawal. Meanwhile the soul is circumstanced in such a manner as to seem to be elsewhere active, learning to bear future absence by a dissembling of its presence for the moment. We shall soon know the case of Hermotimus. But yet it dreams in the interval. Whence then its dreams? The fact is, it cannot rest or be idle altogether, nor does it confine to the still hours of sleep the nature of its immortality. It proves itself to possess a constant motion; it travels over land and sea, it trades, it is excited, it labours, it plays, it grieves, it rejoices, it follows pursuits lawful and unlawful; it shows what very great power it has even without the body, how well equipped it is with members of its own, although betraying at the same time the need it has of impressing on some body its activity again. Accordingly, when the body shakes off its slumber, it asserts before your eye the resurrection of the dead by its own resumption of its natural functions.  Such, therefore, must be both the natural reason and the reasonable nature of sleep. If you only regard it as the image of death, you initiate faith, you nourish hope, you learn both how to die and how to live, you learn watchfulness, even while you sleep (emphasis added).[1]

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[1] http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.xi.xliii.html

A Fearful Irony

“It was a fearful irony that the nuclear bombs released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by a Christian nation destroyed the largest concentrations of Christians in Japan” (Edward Norman, The House of God: Church Architecture, Style and History, 300).

Adoption Theology

The Orthodox Study Bible repeatedly emphasizes the theology of adoption in its explanatory notes.  This is laudable, since Protestants generally neglect this important way to understand our own salvation. 

 

We know several adoptees personally, and it is good to meditate on the fact that we are all adopted sons and daughters of the King.  In this regard, the Study Bible’s notes to Luke 3:23-38 (the geneology of Joseph and of Jesus) are particuarly moving: “Jesus was born to bring all mankind into adoption by the Father, and thus He affirms that a lineage of adoption is as binding and receives the same inheritance as a lineage of blood (Gal 4:4-7).”

 

(A good essay on this is C.N. Wilborn, “Adoption:  A Historical Perspective with Evangelical Implications” in Sanctification: Growing in Grace, eds. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. & J. Andrew Wortman, 2001.  Wilborn quotes Robert Smith Candlish:  “The more I think of it, the more I am disposed to regret that the subject of adoption, or sonship of believers, has been so little made account of in our Reformation theology.  It seems to me to be the appropriate crown of Calvinism…”) 

Interesting Typologies

I’m reading through the Orthodox Study Bible this year.  Each year I’m trying to read through a different translation/study Bible.  After a few years of reading the KJV, I read through the ESV last year.  Now, it’s a year in Orthodoxy!  Part of the reason is a research project I’ve been working on.  The other reason is that the Orthodox consider the Septuatgint to be the inspired and authoritative version of the OT.  So, since I teach Greek, I’m trying to become more familiar with the Septuagint. 

 

Truth in Action

“Truth in action–that is wisdom, that is the Right and the Good” (John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching, ch. 5).

Too often, we educators simply focus on downloading information from our brains to our students’ brains.  The students then download said information onto a test, after which the information is sent to the students’ recycle bin, and the miracle of education is complete!  But, from a Christian perspective, the ultimate goal of education is to learn wisdom (Proverbs, ch. 1).  And, as John Milton Gregory writes above, wisdom is not just intellectual head-knowledge.  Wisdom is applied truth.  If Christian education doesn’t impact a student’s life, then we may question whether it is really Christian education.  Truth in action …

The Nature of Marriage

In the latest Books & Culture, Dennis Okholm has a good review of Kathleen Norris’s recent book–Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life, “The very nature of marriage means saying yes before you know what it will cost.  You may say the ‘I do’ of the wedding ritual in all sincerity, but it is the testing of that vow over time that makes you married.”

Peace Like a River

My wife and I just finished reading Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River.  It’s a beautiful book.  The best thing about Enger is that he’s a Christian writer who actually writes well.  The novel is Christian without being preachy.  It’s full of underhanded Biblical allusions and symbolism.  Be sure to read it when it’s cold in order to get the full atmosphere of Minnesota and N. Dakota in the winter! 

Enger has a new novel out, but I haven’t got to it yet:  So Brave, Young and Handsome.  Looks good!

Jesus is a Complete Savior

J.C. Ryle anticipated a number of current controversies as he wrote in the Victorian period.  Of course, this proves that there is nothing new under the sun.  I found the following spot-on in regard to the Lordship controversy (though I’m not sure it’s actually a controversy anymore):

“Jesus is a complete Saviour.  He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin.  He does more–He breaks its power. (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 12:10.)” (Holiness, 49).

Academic Mission Opportunity

I came across an exciting mission opportunity for academics. This organization sends Christian teachers into other countries, finding positions for them in secular universities. A quote on their home-page says it all:

“The university is a clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world. Change the university and you change the world,” declared Dr. Charles Malik, former president of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

Prayer of Jabez–Old School

There are some moments of comfort teaching high-schoolers at large Christian school.  I recently mentioned the Prayer of Jabez book as an example of something or other … and no one knew what I was talking about.  The good news is that Christian fads are a vapor and pass away quickly.  The bad news is that there’s always a new purpose-driven fad to take its place.  Oh well, we’ll keep teaching the classics and wait for each mist to dissipate in its turn.

The Gnostic Next Door

I’m almost done reading Irenaeus’s massive Against Heresies, an exhaustive refutation of the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, and a classic defense of orthodox Christian belief.  It took about a year (though I deliberately took it slow).  Some of it is quite tedious, and I often wondered if the pain was worth it.  But, Gnosticism is alive and well, from the Gospel of Thomas, to Joseph Campbell.  More surprisingly, there are actually Gnostic Catholic churches out there!  Go get a copy of Irenaus–there could be a Gnostic right next door.

Convicting Words for Any Teacher

“The goal of reading is the application, in our lives, of what we read. Not to learn it by heart, but to take it to heart. Not to practice using your tongues, but to be able to receive the tongues of fire and to live the mysteries of God. If one studies a great deal in order to acquire knowledge and to teach others, without living the things he teaches, he does no more than fill his head with hot air. At most he will manage to ascend to the moon using machines. The goal of the Christian is to rise to God without machines.”

     -Elder Paisios the Athonite

HT: Mind in the Heart

Thinking is Messy

Sometimes I wonder if the pain of the intellectual life is worth it.  But, then I was comforted by the words of one of our great thinkers: “Thinking is messy, repetitious, silly, obtuse, subject to explosions that shatter the crucible and leave darkness behind.  Then comes another flash, a new path is seen, trod, lost, broken off, and blazed anew.  It leaves the thinker dizzy as well as doubtful: he does not know what he thinks until he has thought it, or better, until he has written and riddled it with persistence akin to obsession” (Jacques Barzun, Teacher in America, 433-34).

Hugh on Reading

“The servant of God ought to read much.  For the reading of the Divine Word is most beneficial, seeing that our books will tell us what we should guard against, how we should occupy ourselves, and whither we are tending … (Ps. 119:5) … For reading gives light to the mind and to the judgment; prepares us for prayer and work, and disposes us for all the exercises both of the active and contemplative life.  Blessed is the man ‘that shall meditate on the law of the Lord day and night’ (Ps. 1.2).  These, then, are the weapons we have to wield against the devil: prayer, reading, and work.  These are the means of our sanctification, and consequently of attaining eternal happiness” (Hugh of St. Victor, Explanation of the Rule of St. Augustine, 84-85).