I've always been a strong advocate of patristic studies. That's not an easy advocacy in Evangelical Christianity, but it's one that needs to be made. It's not always easy in Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy either, because the Fathers of the Church--or more precisely those who wrote and, as we learn here, preached, during the Roman …
Month of Sundays: Devotions for Men, and an Announcement
From time to time I'll promote a book of mine. For many of you, some of these books are, as my Russian math professor used to say, "just too much." But this one is on the light side: A Month of Sundays. A 31-day devotional book for men, it seeks to break out of the …
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Trustworthy People Are Scarce: A Christian View
Helen Fealy at the Shiny Sheet observes the following: Who knew I had so much in common with the iconic Dr. Freud, the Father of Mental Heath and the pioneer of sexuality and gender behaviors. I share his opinion on humankind and ethics. To prove his point, we have Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, …
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Augustine on the Temptations of Jesus and the Three Major Lusts
Linking the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness with the three major lusts outlined in 1 John 2 has a long history in Christian preaching. Here is an example from Augustine's second homily on 1 John, with some bullet points for clarity: These three (temptations) there are, and you can find nothing whereby human …
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The Greatest Ambition: Jerome on Psalm 84
Another gem from Jerome's Homilies on the Psalms, this time Psalm 84 (from here): “How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” The sole ambition of some people is to possess property; others long to be enriched with the wealth of the world; still others wish to hold prominent places at conventions and be …
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The Tree of Life, Psalm 1 and Jerome
The Tree of Life has been a topic of special interest to me since I made the connection with the lignum vitae (The Tree That Grows in Heaven.) Here is Jerome's linkage of Psalm 1 with the other allusions to the tree, from his Homilies on the Psalms (from here): “He is like a tree …
Christians Will Be Unpopular
From J. Vernon McGee's Through the Bible, commenting on John 15:18-19: Notice what will happen if you are a child of God. The world will hate you. I believe that a Christian's popularity can be an indication of how he is representing Christ in the world. I do not believe a Christian can be popular …
If Christians are in the Global South, Why Aren't the Leaders?
Gary L'Hommedieu asks this question--and answers it--in an Anglican context: "If over 80% of Anglicans live in the global south, why is this not reflected in communion structures?" writes Indian Ocean Primate Ian Earnest in an April 12 letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury in which he protests, among other things, the illicit transfer of …
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Book Review: History: Think for Yourself About What Shaped the Church
History is, for Americans especially, a problematic business. There are those who want to transmit history, and others who want to redefine it. But for most people history is something that gets ignored. For Evangelicals, the common attitude that "between Apostles and us, people weren't saved" only makes matters worse. But the history of the …
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The Year Passover Was Late
This is Holy Week. When Jesus and his disciples gathered together, the Eucharist was instituted, but what they were coming together for (Tyndale's "Easter lamb" notwithstanding) was the Passover. Tonight the Passover is celebrated by Jews all around the world, and some Christians even have a Seder meal. Thus the two events are intertwined, both …
Positive Infinity 