Month: September 2009
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“Preach the Gospel at All Times; When Necessary, Use Stigmata”
One of the most famous things St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) never said was, Preach the Gospel at All Times. When Necessary, Use Words. It certainly sounds like the kind of thing Francis would have said, and you can buy it on plaques and bumper stickers to your heart’s content. But he never actually said…
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Dante Smelled of Smoke, They Say
Today (September 14) is the day Dante Alighieri (ca. 1265 – 1321) died. Dante, author of the three-part Divine Comedy, was proud to be Italian: he wrote about the politics of Italy, chronicled his love-hate relationship with Florence, and perhaps most significantly, he wrote his masterpiece in Italian. That was a major decision in the…
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Arrogant or Thankful?
A great many people idolize professional athletes. Watching a professional athlete drive a golf ball 300 yards to the pin, dunk a basketball, serve a tennis ball at over 120 miles an hour or pass for a touchdown is impressive. But, why do world-class athletic abilities so often lead to world class arrogance? Does athletic…
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Internet Ministry: Can the Church Effectively Gather Together Through the Internet?
As the internet grows more influential, its use in the church has increased as well. What are the benefits, as well of limitations, of doing church completely online? While its accessibility and ease of use may seem enticing to participate in a service from the comfort of your home, what is the effect of neglecting…
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Year of the Priest or (for Evangelicals) Year of the Pastor
I’m no Roman Catholic but I can certainly appreciate many of the things that come out of the Vatican. So much so, in fact, that I subscribe to the daily e-mail update from the Vatican Information Service. Nothing like knowing what Benedict XVI is up to each day! More importantly, I find out about events…
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A Gigantic Conspiracy of Misdirection
We have been brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities straight. From current Christian publications you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or…
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Happy Birthday, Peter Martyr Vermigli
Today (September 8) is the birthday of Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562), a Protestant Reformer born and trained in Italy, later active in England and Switzerland. Though he was forced to move from city to city and was sometimes in danger, Peter did not in fact become a martyr. “Martyr” was not a title, but was…
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“G. K. Chesterton, We Love You!” – Brazil
There’s something funny about professors who teach old books being involved in new media. That’s what Scriptorium Daily is, of course — people talking about old stuff in a new venue. It’s funny because of what conventional wisdom leads us to believe – that the more old books we read, the more inclined we are…
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What’s a Nice Christian Girl Like You Doing Reading Homer?
Two sisters sit at home, talking. The younger sister does needlework and arranges flowers picked from the garden, as she passes the time until her boyfriend comes to visit. The older sister, on the other hand, is trying to make some kind of sense out of her wasted life, having an emotional crisis brought on…
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Henry More on Creation
Today (September 1) is the day Henry More (1614 – 1687), one of the Cambridge Platonists, died. More wrote a lot of very difficult theology, some of it in extended poetic form. He was a strange mix of rationalist and mystic. He was an important interpreter of Descartes, and probably a major influence on Newton.…