This week I launched a Substack newsletter, devoting my first two issues to Frederick Douglass and Holocaust commemoration. Then I added a sequel here to the latter, reporting on several spots on Berlin. Elsewhere: • Singing hymns is probably my favorite spiritual discipline, but I had never thought about that practice originating in early Christian expectations of the Apocalypse. • Nor I … More That Was The Week That Was
A very Christmasy first week of December for me, as I extended a special Christmas offer for my Lindbergh bio — then received the gift of a great review! — and joined with Anxious Bench colleagues to suggest some other gifts for history buffs. Elsewhere: • If you needed any more reason to order a copy of … More That Was The Week That Was
…Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 If you want the Christian life in a nutshell, I’m not sure you could do much better than this famous verse from Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, which ascribes two related but distinct actions to Mary. She ponders. That doesn’t mean that … More Twelve Days: Ponder and Treasure
Coming out of a year as scary as 2020, fear doesn’t sound all that Christmasy. After all, one of the great canticles of Advent celebrates that Christ’s coming fulfills God’s promise that “we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (Luke … More Twelve Days: The Fear of the Lord
Welcome to the start of another in my occasional attempts to blog through part of the daily lectionary. I’ll start this run of twelve Christmastide meditations on Christmas Eve, then resume on the 26th. My favorite moment in my current favorite TV series involves my favorite words from one of my favorite Christmas carols. In … More Twelve Days: Amid Bleak Winters
This week I reflected on what I learned from Esau McCaulley’s book, Reading While Black and celebrated the publication of our own book, Faith and History: A Devotional. Elsewhere: • We have one more week of fall classes remaining, which makes this a good time to think about the importance of how we end a semester. … More That Was The Week That Was
This week I continued my “With-God Life” series of lectionary devotions (from John 9 to John 11, with psalms, apocalypses, and more in between) and recorded a podcast about teaching sports when COVID-19 has shut down sports. Over at The Anxious Bench, I recommended some virtual field trips for home-bound kids and considered the significance of … More That Was The Week That Was
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26-28) I … More The With-God Life: Annunciation
A wonderful new World War I documentary from Peter Jackson got me thinking about the magical qualities of history, and a Twitter spat over the history of evangelicalism made me realize that I’m not much of an expert in anything. Elsewhere… • Not everyone liked Jackson’s documentary. (H/T Karl Nelson and Tim Johnson) To that … More That Was The Week That Was
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him … More Fourth Sunday in Advent
The Pietist Schoolman 