Nearly four-hundred feet inside a sandstone mountain on the far northerly Norwegian island of Spitsbergen lies the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Housing four-hundred-thousand seed samples, the purpose of the vault is to provide a storehouse of plant species in case of loss of agricultural biodiversity. Literature curricula have served similar purposes in history. One thinks, […]
(PART ONE OF A FIVE-PART SERIES) My grandfather was a boxer. He was never good enough to be a professional, but he did a good deal of amateur boxing when he was a young man and always loved “the fights” (as he called boxing matches) throughout his long life. The biggest compliment he ever paid […]
The doctrine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a Pauline emphasis in the New Testament—the major passages being 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12—but key passages are also found in Peter’s and Luke’s writings (1 Pet. 4:10; Acts 2). Much concern over this topic has been aroused in this […]
Something is afoot today in the Protestant theological world. Thirty-five years ago in his JETS article, “Giving Direction to Theology: The Scholastic Dimension,” Richard Muller noted that much of Modern theology—and, I add, a good deal of evangelical theology—witnessed the rejection of what it considered to be an “outdated” traditional school theology (i.e., Scholasticism) for […]
by Herman BavinckTRANSCRIBED BY GREG PARKER JR. The following piece was found written on a scrap of paper (dated March 6, 1906), on the back of a death announcement (dated July 22, 1908), and on a list of American cities (e.g., Hotel New York, Asbury Park, Boston, Cambridge) and people (e.g., Longfellow and Emerson). (1) […]
We have more leisure time today than in any period in history. We also have more options for spending that leisure time. For most people (unless you are an English professor, like me), reading fiction is easily seen as purely a leisure activity. And for many, watching sports, streaming movies, or scrolling Twitter seem like […]
Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. [1] April is the cruellest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.Winter kept us warm, coveringEarth in forgetful snow, feedingA little life with dried tubers. [2] Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in […]
Someone said: “The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.” Precisely, and they are that which we know. ―“Tradition and the Individual Talent” [1] “How can they whip cheese?” ―Death of a Salesman [2] Speaking at a conference on “T. S. Eliot and the Literary […]
Theology seems to have a rather bad reputation these days. By the late Middle Ages, she was the “queen of the sciences,” but today she is no longer the queen. In fact, theology is no longer even in the royal family but a kind of awkward stepsister to subjective personal opinion and a third cousin […]
The OverstoryBy Richard PowersW. W. Norton, 2018502 pages (paperback), $18.99 It has long been known that powerful storytelling helps us become more sympathetic toward others. Thousands of years ago, Aristotle demonstrated the importance of using drama to create compassion in us toward the plight of others through what he called “catharsis”—a purification of our emotions. […]
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolutionby Carl R. TruemanCrossway, 2020432 pages (hardcover), $34.99 “For all intents and purposes, I am a woman.” That was Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner, the 1976 men’s decathlon Olympic gold medalist, announcing in a 2015 interview with Diane […]
The Wonderful Works of God: Instruction in the Christian Religion according to the Reformed ConfessionBy Herman BavinckWestminster Seminary Press, 2019695 pages (hardcover), $49.99 Here’s a secret: I don’t much like one-volume systematics, and my sentiment is harshened when I turn and see how much they weigh down my bookshelves. I ask myself what volume I […]
Seeing by the Light: Illumination in Augustine’s and Barth’s Readings of JohnBy Ike MillerIVP Academic, 2020248 pages (paperback), $35.00 If one has read only the Institutes of John Calvin, it may come as a surprise when Calvin writes in his commentary on the Gospel of John that in his exegesis “Augustine . . . is […]
In 2016, The Economist Espresso asked an intriguing question on April 23, Shakespeare’s birthday: “Would you agree that you find Shakespeare relevant today?” The survey found that in Brazil (85 percent) and Mexico (82 percent), the answer was yes, followed close behind by India, China, Turkey, and South Africa. Yet only half of British and […]
