“Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority,” said Francis Bacon. This line is behind the title of what many consider to be the best detective novel of all time, The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey (1951). The plot develops Bacon’s maxim from the location of a hospital bed. Alan Grant, an injured
Announcement! July 1-5 ST 740L (WTS London): The Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love (Dr. Garcia) Purpose: To acquaint students with the exegetical, historical, and theological dimensions of the three theological virtues in Scripture and tradition; To instruct students in the integration of biblical and systematic theological labors with questions in ethics and apologetics; To
On this side of the empty tomb and looking for the Day to come, we are caught up in the mode of waiting, that state of existence in which lived (rather than mathematical) time retards and screeches and grows prongs and barbs. Waiting is hard. As we tumble homeward in faith, hope, and love, we
“Patience, hard thing!” So begins a stirring poem by the great Victorian Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins. Patience: it sure is a hard thing. Here is a brief meditation on a topic I'm waist-deep in these days. Peter the Apostle knew this hard thing called patience all too well, and in one place he addresses the problem in
I am fascinated by the way accounts of people lost and alone at sea tap into a unique complex of deep human fears of abandonment and isolation, the unknown future and unseen dangers, and the prospect of slow, painful death. Reflecting on them has prompted the question more than once: What of all those biblical
Surely one of life’s greatest pleasures is a worthwhile volume that fits in a coat pocket. John Calvin’s so–called Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life qualifies as a most worthwhile volume, though the fit in the pocket is, in its most recent printing at least, snug.[1] A devotional classic to be placed alongside (but
(N.B. The following was originally written for a publication reaching a general Christian audience.) An Assembly of Divines As I write, a major publication is rolling off the presses. The five-volume Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly (143-1653) (OUP, 2012), edited by Chad Van Dixhoorn, a publication with which I am honored to have had
How should we understand biblical passages in the Pentateuch which prescribe family involvement in the execution of covenant judgments/sanctions of fellow family members? What does this say about the relationship of family relations to the covenant community as family? About family violence? Note the important new book by Caryn A. Reeder, The Enemy in the
"Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem
Part 1 of 2 is here. A sketch of some conclusions from my month at the Center: 1. The prevailing narrative for explaining the transition from pre- to post-Enlightenment thought and culture is a story of maturing from ignorance to knowledge and, even more condescendingly, myth to science. Particularly when it comes to shifting perspectives on