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Towards a figural reading of… To Kill a Mockingbird?
Read more: Towards a figural reading of… To Kill a Mockingbird?This summer, I got to read through Ephraim Radner’s Time and the Word: Figural Reading of the Christian Scriptures. When we flipped the calendar to August, and I traded theology for middle school literature, sharpening the transition from student to teacher, I was surprised to discover how theologically rewarding my experience would be. I want to tell…
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Freedom and Asceticism: Christian underpinnings of Nietzschean friendship
Read more: Freedom and Asceticism: Christian underpinnings of Nietzschean friendshipHappiness on earth, friends, only stems from war! Powder smoke, in fact, mends friendship even more! One in three all friends are: Brothers in distress, equals facing rivals, free men – facing death! In this text, Nietzsche begins with an assertion that war is the only source of happiness. Then, after claiming that the action…
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Why is the bush not burned?
Read more: Why is the bush not burned?Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it saved Israel. As he unwittingly proto-typed Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Moses was distracted by a curious phenomenon: “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” (Ex. 3:3) Read the rest of the story here. Why is the bush not burned?…
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Angelology, Political Division, and a Criticism of Friendship
Read more: Angelology, Political Division, and a Criticism of FriendshipDuring my sophomore year of college, I looked up the entry in a theological dictionary on “angelology.” It suggested that we know very little about angels, and that the best places to get acquainted with the theology of angels were Augustine’s City of God, Anselm’s Why God Became Man, and select writings from Pseudo-Dionysius. That…
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Becoming “fit” for joy
Read more: Becoming “fit” for joyFour weeks ago, I was one of four people standing in front of Biola’s Heritage Cafe, laughing in the low sun of late morning. Before taking a brief walk, Jessica and I had stopped to enjoy some time with Stewart and Erin, two good friends who had met to mull over C.S. Lewis’ essay, Education…
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Becoming friends with God and Abraham
Read more: Becoming friends with God and AbrahamWhy is Abraham called a friend of God? Here are some ideas: Isaiah says it, and James says that “doing good” has something to do with it. (Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23) Augustine describes friendship as a “sharing of the counsels of the heart.” (Edward C. Sellner Like a Kindling Fire: Meanings of Friendship in the Life and…
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DuPriest: “Christian Unity begins in Friendship”
Read more: DuPriest: “Christian Unity begins in Friendship”In 1985, drawing heavily both from Jeremy Taylor’s “Discourse on Friendship” and his own personal experience, the Episcopalian English professor, Travis DuPriest, argued that “Christian unity begins in friendship.” Why is this worth knowing? For one thing, it’s happening. For another, it is true to who we are, both as humans and as humans united…
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The Sacrament of Pokemon
Read more: The Sacrament of PokemonEarlier this week, a friend of mine pulled out his phone and opened what looked like Google maps. Only, it looked more pixelated, and it showed not restaurants but Pokemon. I was introduced then to the new craze that is Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go is a virtual reality smartphone game in which players can find,…
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How to Write a Research Paper in Five Days
Read more: How to Write a Research Paper in Five DaysSystems are great. You should use them for, like, everything. I just realized this summer that there’s a pretty straightforward system for writing a research paper over five days. Identify a category. I like Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, but I had no idea what to write about it. So I picked it up and read the first twenty…
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Sing the Ascension
Read more: Sing the AscensionWe believe what we sing, so it’s important to sing the most important doctrines of our faith. But I don’t think we give Jesus’ ascension the attention it deserves. Here is a beautiful hymn text that considers the Ascension biblically, theologically, and with implications for our lives, below with my comments: The author introduces us to…