Writing: Words
In Francis Bacon’s essay entitled “Of Studies” he gives the now well known dictum that “Reading makes a full man; Conference a ready man; and Writing an exact man.” The axiom is a good. Clear writing not only testifies to…
Tag Faith
Writing: Writer’s Block
“You probably won’t have much to say until you are forty.” The words passed easily enough over the breakfast table into my ears. Then they went deeper. Their sanctifying force was acute and penetrating. They have haunted me, in the…
Elisabeth of Brandenburg – Staunch Reformer, Heartbroken Mother
Just before Easter 1527, Elisabeth of Brandenburg, who had become Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg by marriage, received some shocking news. Her mother Elisabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg, had stunned her court by taking communion after the Protestant rite: both bread…
The Decalogue and the Sabbath Discrepancy
The Ten Commandments, given by God at Sinai, have played a vital role in both the Jewish and Christian faiths ever since. Indeed, given that they reflect God’s character and enshrine is perfect will for the ordering of the human…
The Old Man Crucified: An Essential Book
At the end of this week’s outstanding podcast on the Historical Adam and Crucifying the Old Man, the question was asked about which books should be considered essential reading when it comes to the doctrines of our union with Christ,…
Vincenzo Paravicino and the Valtellina Massacre
Vincenzo Paravicino was one of the many Italians who lived in today’s Swiss Canton of Grisons. He was born in 1595 in Traona, in a scenic valley on the Italian side of the Alps, known as Valtellina. After completing his…
The Old Man Crucified: The Basics
In Romans 6:6, the Apostle Paul writes, “We know that our old self [or old man] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved…
The Old Man Crucified: Free to Struggle
Struggling to be Free or Free to Struggle? I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by…
The Rhythms of the Lord
My Problem I’m not sure why I have such a hard time resting and heeding the fourth commandment. Maybe I’m still trying to silence my grade school teachers, who constantly berated me for laziness (Actually, I was lazy). Or…
The Old Man Crucified: Putting Off & Putting On
The terms old and new are like the terms high and low, tall and short and big and little; they are relative terms; we know what they mean as they are used in relation to a fixed measurable standard. I…