Through the Looking Glass: Our World and Hope for the New Jerusalem in The Man Who Was Thursday The apostle Paul once wrote that we currently “see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12). James likewise uses the image of a mirror to … Continue reading Through the Looking Glass (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
Book Blurbs is a series of posts that provide short recommendations of good books in a variety of genres to help get the next great book in your hands. Endo’s Silence is a phenomenal work of historical fiction. Set in 17th century Japan, Silence tells the story of Sebastian Rodrigues, a Jesuit missionary priest who enters Japan with a fellow priest named Garrpe during the … Continue reading Silence by Shusaku Endo (Book Blurbs)
Bilbo, Middle Earth, and the Kingdom of God: Sanctification in the Journey of Life in The Hobbit I have been intrigued at how some books stand the test of time in ways beyond what one might expect. It is no surprise that some books remain a foundational work in a certain genre, or that readers continue to pick up the works of Charles Dickens because of … Continue reading Bilbo, Middle Earth, and the Kingdom of God (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
I have always valued owning books over borrowing them from libraries. The most significant reason for this otherwise terrible financial decision is that learning is worth the cost, and I learn much better by making notes and highlights in my own books and occasionally reading back through those than I do from merely reading a book and returning it. But despite highlights, underlines, notes, and … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 10, 2017): Reading Journals
What’s In a Name?: The Divine Name of YHWH and the Search for Our True Identity in Inheritance In Inheritance, the final volume of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Saga, the main character Eragon and his dragon Saphira go in search of the answer to a prophecy posed by a werecat—“Then, when all seems lost and your power is insufficient, go to the Rock of Kuthian and … Continue reading What’s In a Name? (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
In Christian communities, we commonly study literature with an aim towards assessing the worldview of a particular work. We may look at the characters and their choices in order to determine if they are moral or not and if the author seems to be encouraging or discouraging that behavior. For authors who encourage virtue and discourage vice, we might praise the book as promoting, or … Continue reading Theology through the Eyes of Fiction
I had the pleasure this past Friday of watching two boys of some friends of ours who were preparing to move, then helping our friends load the truck on Saturday as they moved into their first home. I was reminded of what a wonderful thing a home is, and how my memories of my childhood home are still vivid in my memory. Below I have … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 3, 2017): Story, Memory, and Home
Reviewed by Kyle Rapinchuk In Classical Me, Classical Thee, Rebekah Merkle has written a winsome explanation and defense of classical Christian education for students currently enrolled in a classical Christian school. Of course, the book is wonderful for educators and parents as well, but Merkle knows her audience well and does not depart from a focused conversation with that audience. And this ought to surprise … Continue reading A Review of Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
Faithful education at a classical Christian school is a topic of great significance, particularly with the growing number of students in classical Christian education. I have suggested in the previous posts in this series that faithful education in this discipline requires an emphasis on formation that nonetheless takes seriously the importance of communicating information that helps students in this formative process. Second, I proposed that … Continue reading Trudging Joyfully Towards a Future Kingdom (King, Kingdom, and Kingdom People Series #9)
The final area for discussion is joy. Of the many valuable insights from Alexander Schmemann in his book For the Life of the World, one of the most pointed and significant discussions is on joy. Schmemann suggests that “from its very beginning Christianity has been the proclamation of joy, of the only possible joy on earth[…]Without the proclamation of this joy Christianity is incomprehensible. It … Continue reading Joy (King, Kingdom, and Kingdom People Series #8)
In “The Three Columns Revisited,”[1] Mortimer Adler goes into greater detail on the nature of leading seminars in order to help correct some misconceptions about his previous discussion on the three columns from his great work The Padeia Proposal. One of the more interesting discussions in this essay relates to the choice of reading for the seminar. Adler provides four guidelines. First, and what Adler … Continue reading Monday Musings (June 12, 2017): The Choice of Things to Be Read
The first three areas (“Formation vs. Information,” “The Value of History,” and “The Good, the True, and the Beautiful”) discussed foundational aspects of education and the approach of the educator. We must focus on formation in addition to information, we should utilize history and the old books to build up stock responses and help correct errors of our day, and we should point students to … Continue reading Imagination (King, Kingdom, and Kingdom People Series #7)
The Classical Thistle 