Shakespeare Notebook 2023: “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”
Reflecting on Shakespeare with Plato's "Phaedrus", and thoughts on repentance.
“You Can Go Home Again”: The End of Confessions 4
Augustine on going home by finding our selves outside our selves in God inside ourselves.
Philodemus and Aristides
From what I gather, Philodemus’ own ideal for the Christian social ethic is rather different from Aristides’.
Samuel B. Wylie and the Invention of Secular America
1800 saw the invention of a secular America, not a Christian one. There was no need to invent an explicitly Christian founding, largely because…
Free Will, Predestination, and Politics in Early Christianity: Musings for 2023
Prior to Augustine, early Christian intellectuals forcefully stressed human free will over against predestination.
“Cor Novum, Canticum Novum”: A New Year’s Sermon from John Donne
On New Year's Day 1625, John Donne exhorted his hearers to circumcise their hearts.
Herod, Parthia, and Roman Foreign Policy
Herod the Great had more to fear than a newborn usurper.
Rougemont on Christianity and the Nationalities
Older views of church and state do not fit modern American binaries regarding their missions.
Syllables Cannot Hold Him: “In the Bleak Midwinter” and the Grandeur of God
Christina Rossetti's choices of meter and scriptural allusion are no accident.
The Birth of the Immaculate Conception: Mary, Apostolic Tradition, and the Protevangelium of James
How was this famous apocryphon received in the early Christian world?
Confusion and Ambiguity: Constitution and Religion in The Early Republic
The constitutional settlement was never universally celebrated or even understood.
One Note on Confessions 4.8.13
Augustine and Epictetus on death.
A Note on Confessions 4.5.10
In Confessions 4.5.10, Augustine takes up the difficult question of why we often find grief and sadness to be, in a sense, pleasurable, without…
St. Augustine on the Death of His Friend
Some notes on Confessions 4.4.8-9.
That Time the North African Church Excommunicated the Pope
To paraphrase the words of Lady Wisdom to Boethius, “Stuff happens.”
John Girardeau and the Oneness of the Race
"We fully recognize now, the unity and brotherhood of all believers in Christ Jesus—a unity and brotherhood which is not affected by distinctions of…
A Bawdy Theological Joke from C.S. Lewis?
Is a pointed quote from "Pride and Prejudice" carrying double meaning in an overlooked Lewis essay?
Athanasius’ St. Anthony on Relics
According to Athanasius, St. Anthony feared his body would be turned into a relic after death.
“Deep Reliance,” or: What’s in an Adjective?
On David French's adjectival style.
Disestablished But Not Disconnected: Church, Society, and State in the Early Republic
Disestablishment in the newly-independent United States severed the institutional interdependence between the state and the visible church. Virginia’s disestablishment in the 1780s triggered a…
Cyril of Jerusalem and Sola Scriptura
An ancient bishop suggests the Protestant emphasis on Scripture predates Protestantism.
Irenaeus and Apostolic Succession
Irenaeus's view of apostolic succession was no abstract theory, but an appeal to history.
Stretching the Quadrilateral, Pt. 2: Crucicentrism vs. The Doctrine of God
Can the evangelical focus on the cross be reconciled with a classical doctrine of God?
“Uncanny King, Perplexing Priest”: An Epigram from the Greek Anthology
A poetic paraphrase of Greek Anthology 1.66, on Melchizedek and Jesus.
Mike + the Mechanics and Genesis: Sons and Fathers
On the anniversary of two Genesis-related albums.
Bob Dylan: Infidels
On Bob Dylan's Infidels.
Protestant Social Teaching: Law and the Christian
Like all the contributors, I suspect, I was very excited to see Davenant Press’s recent volume, Protestant Social Teaching: An Introduction,((Protestant Social Teaching: An…
Names Writ in Water: An Addendum
More on "writing in water."
Stretching the Quadrilateral, Pt. 1: Biblicism v. Tradition
David Bebbington's famous "evangelical quadrilateral" can make sense of why theological retrieval unsettles some.
Political Economy of the Bible v. Christian Nationalism
On Thanksgiving Day, 1837, Robert Hamilton Bishop–Presbyterian minister and president of Miami University—addressed the gathered townspeople of Oxford, Ohio in the First Presbyterian Church.…
The Two Popes: A Surprisingly Timely Revival
Despite the script's shortcomings, the Queen's death threw this British revival into an interesting new light.
“The Catechesis of the Sign”: An Epigram from the Greek Anthology
A poem on reading Genesis 22 under the Spirit's tutelage.
Protestant Social Teaching: An Introduction
Why the world needs Protestant Social Teaching.
On Making Students Memorize Prose (Again)
I mentioned previously the benefits of making students memorize prose (in Greek) and wrote a little bit on the first passage we worked on.…
The Origins of the Black Protestant Tradition in America
The Black Protestant tradition’s prevalence in 19th century America deserves rediscovery
On Making Students Memorize Prose
Why you should memorize the church fathers. In Greek.
Against British Christian Republicanism
Scripture, history, and wisdom all mean that republicanism remains a non-starter in Britain.
The Quintessential Protestantism of “God Save the King”
On the origins of the British national anthem.
The Kingdom is Not in Our Hands: On the Death of Queen Elizabeth II
The history of Britain is the history of the monarchy, and this must be true of its future.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Meditations 2.4
What work is needful in this life before time runs out? Marcus Aurelius gives his answer in Meditations 2.4.
