Scriptorium Archive
for July, 2007

Making an Idol of the Artist

John Mark Reynolds | Culture, Art | 07.31.2007

An artist produces beauty and beauty naturally rouses love in human beings. In gratitude for the Vision of the Divine brought to us by the great musician, poet, or even beautiful person, we are tempted to worship. In our dusty modern lives full of noise, entertainment, and work, the artist might have brought us our first glimpse of the Other World of Beauty. It is a great temptation for the actor, writer, artist, or s... Read More...

The Mind of William Burt Pope (1822-1903)

Fred Sanders | Theology | 07.31.2007

William Burt Pope (1822-1903) was a great British Methodist theologian of the nineteenth century. In fact, I am coming to believe that he was the greatest doctrinal theologian ever to take up the task of teaching Christian theology from the point of view of the Wesleyan revival movement. A few months ago I found his 3-volume Compendium of Christian Theology for sale at a used book store at a good price. I've been dist... Read More...

Additional Scriptorium for July, 2007

Temptations of Government: What Homer Can Teach Modern Americans

John Mark Reynolds | Culture, Philosophy, Politics | 07.31.2007

Bottom Line: Homer teaches that merit, birth, and popular opinion are, by themselves, inadequate to govern a people. Each has a role and conservatives would do well to remember this in the present War. Commentary (Iliad Book I, II) Homer, the poet and not the cartoon character, in his Iliad describes a people in constant war. The stress of the conflict is beginning to f... Read More...

Sermon on the Mount Comix #4: Gimme a Hundred

Fred Sanders | Art, Theology | 07.31.2007

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Republicans and the New Media: In YouTube Not Of YouTube

John Mark Reynolds | Politics | 07.30.2007

Bottom Line: Conservatives and Republicans (not always the same thing) need to embrace new media and the greater access to the folks that comes with it. They can do so without losing their dignity . . . though it will be an easy thing to lose. Romney and other candidates should agree to a "You Tube" debate with proper advance rules. Commentary: There was a time when cons... Read More...

Sermon on the Mount Comix #3: Left-Handed

Fred Sanders | Art, Theology | 07.30.2007

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Dollars Have Wings (Prayer for the Offering)

Fred Sanders | Theology | 07.29.2007

Lord, dollars fly away. Wealth makes wings for itself. We put money where we want it put, but it doesn't stay put. Our money blows away, rolls away, goes up in smoke, and vanishes. We try to keep control of it, but we keep finding it beyond our control. This money is not up to us: it's up to what somebody decides to pay us; it's up to the kind of job we can find; it's... Read More...

Giles: “Fred Thompson Needs to Get Into this Race!”

John Mark Reynolds | Politics | 07.29.2007

Bottom Line: Is Fred Thompson a dabbler with an eccentric past who takes nothing very seriously? Giles thinks Fred (!) is a sound conservative with great communication skills who will secure the base and can win the next presidential election, but Fred's (?) long non-run and campaign problems are starting to make Giles worry that more people are going to accept the first image... Read More...

Sermon on the Mount Comix #2: The Law, Dude

Fred Sanders | Art, Theology | 07.28.2007

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Reading Books: Quantity or Quality?

Greg Peters | Culture | 07.27.2007

Well, Harry Potter has once again hit the stores, to the rowdy "Hurrah!" of millions of devotees (one of whom blogs frequently about the boy wizard on this website). I imagine that Amazon.com employees have really racked up the overtime this week while the US economy has likely stayed steady given that profits from Potter book sales are likely offset by the thousands of absente... Read More...

Sermon on the Mount Comix #1

Fred Sanders | Art, Theology | 07.27.2007

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) was the first passage of Scripture that ever grabbed ahold of me in a way I couldn't ignore. In this message, Jesus breathes the pure spirit of grace even as he applies the law with a strictness that only the author of the law could accomplish. In the first months after my conversion, I couldn't get enough of these three chapter... Read More...

Emergent Allergies: Bigger is Better

Matt Jenson | Culture, Theology | 07.26.2007

If anything, for emerging churches, smaller is better. But why? Like any renewal movement in the church, the emerging church movement hearkens back to the good ol’ days of Acts 2. These were days of community, economic simplicity and radical discipleship, days when the church was the church and the world was the world. But, these were also days when ‘the Lord was adding dai... Read More...

Lovingly Opposed to Sin and Evil: A Petition and Organization

John Mark Reynolds | Culture | 07.26.2007

Bottom Line: For those concerned that Al Gore's concert is over, that a long dead atheist may ban religious broadcasting, that the United Nations has passed too few resolutions this year, that Congress has established too few days celebrating important vegetables, or that too few Christians are joining Internet campaigns against bad things, I have found the answer. Recogni... Read More...

Too Much College-World and Too Little Other-World Experience

John Mark Reynolds | Education | 07.25.2007

Bottom Line: There is a danger of getting trapped in one "slice of reality" and become blind to the rest. Getting involved in different enterprises helps jar us loose. As the pretty-young editor of The New Republic flails about dealing with the outrage regarding stories he published regarding the American military, it is hard not to see him as a product of a too narrow-set... Read More...