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Category Archives: theology
Garver’s Homily …
… for the 1st Sunday in Advent is wonderful and encouraging. Here’s hoping he rolls out some more.
Posted in theology
WWtJD?
What Would the Jews Do? Matt Colvin discusses the potential uses of this arguement in regards to icons and credobaptism. Not that this reasoning is water tight, but it when people propose apostolic teaching on issues that would have struck the contemporary Jews as errors, yet there is no record of a Jewish outrage, perhaps you should question it.
Posted in theology
Updated Geneva Bible
Tolle Lege Press has just released an updated version of the original Geneva Bible. The language, commentary, and cross-reference notes remain the same, but the spelling has been updated. You can compare the 1599 edition of Matthew 1 with the 2006. They have also made the book of Romans available as a free pdf download. While I don’t like breaking the text into verses, the type looks nice.
Presbyterian Bishops
An interesting post on the power structures within the PCA by Jon Barlow. If you’re in the PCA, you may consider giving it a read.
BCP Daily Office from ESV
I know that the ESV isn’t the perfect bible, but I like how ESV is trying to use technology to help Christians in their devotional life. Through the ESV website, you can get the readings for most popular bible reading plans in a fairly manageable format.
They are now making the BCP readings available online. You can go to their website or subscribe via RSS, web page designers can integrate it into church websites, etc…
Anyhow, if this is up your alley, read ahead …
MLS
Posted in technology, theology
Did Mary Suffer Labor Pains?
In anticipation of the upcoming movie, “The Nativity Story”, Taylor Marshall brings up the question of whether or not Mary suffered in her labor. Marshall, quoting Thomas Aquinas, writes that Catholic tradition teaches that Mary “did NOT experience birth pains when giving birth to Christ our Savior.” (emphasis his) Apparently the movie, which will premiere at the Vatican, shows Mary suffering through child birth.
Has anyone read anything about this from a Reformed perspective? My first thought is to lean in the other direction. The writer of Hebrews seems to go at length to show how Christ was ‘just like us’ in our humanity. God did not deliver Christ from the natural suffering coming from crucification, why would we suppose that he spared Mary from the natural suffering that accompanies child birth? Taylor makes the point that Mary could have been delivered from the curse of Eve as was being used to bring the new Adam into the world.
What do you think?
Metaphysical Tradition?
In Henri de Lubac’s eulogy of Hans Urs von Balthasar, he writes that Balthasar “is perhaps the most cultivated of his time. Classical antiquity, the great European literatures, the metaphysical tradition … ”
What is meant by the ‘metaphysical tradition’. I suspect that this refers to a specific corpus of work, but which in particular?
All Saints Day
In honor of All Saints Day, Kate’s favorite hymn to sing.
I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and his love made them strong;
and they followed the right for Jesus’ sake
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.
They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes or at sea,
In church, or in trains or in shops or at tea,
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and I mean to be one too.
— written by Lesbia Scott for her own children
Posted in family life, feasting, theology
The Christian’s Hope Can Never Fail
We travel through a barren land,
With dangers thick on every hand;
But Jesus guides us through the vale;
O, The Christian’s hope can never fail. Continue reading
Posted in theology
Am I a Pharisee?
We have been attending a church that meets late Sunday afternoons. We enjoy the timing because it makes the whole day feel very restful, but not going to church Sunday mornings makes me paranoid. We live in a small town (albeit next to a big city, it is still a small town) where many of our neighbors invited us to church upon meeting us. Both of our cars are obviously home every Sunday morning. Then I took the girls for a walk this morning and I wondered what people thought about me walking around with two casually dressed children at 10:30 Sunday morning. I almost wanted a shirt that said, “I’m not a pagan. I go to church later in the day.” Sunday mornings are just so entrenched in our culture as church time, and I do appreciate the setting apart of a day for the Lord, but I know that 11 a.m. is not intrinsically sacred. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
Posted in culture, family life, theology