Reading

I've updated my sidebar with a link to my reading list on Allconsuming.net. The old reading list I had posted there hadn't been updated since last December or so, and I figured it was time for a change.

Disclaimer: The times associated with my beginning and ending the various books are not necessarily accurate. That's a list containing books I've been working through for months, as well as some that I've started in the last couple of weeks.

Reformation History

If you have never studied or read much about the Protestant Reformation, It would be an invaluable way for you better to understand the origins of the various strands of Protestantism that are around today, and a wonderful look at the way God has preserved the witness of the Gospel in His church. Right now I'm reading Diarmid MacCulloch's excellent The Reformation: A History. It's a hefty volume, at 864 pages, but it's excellent. I'm about two hundred pages into it so far, and I'm amazed at MacCulloch's evenhanded treatment of the events, and more importantly the ideas, of the Reformation. Unlike many secular historians today, he takes seriously the idea that people are often moved to do extraordinary things because of what they believe--not simply because of political, social, economic, or psychological factors under the guise of religious belief.

One key selection:

The old Church was immensely strong, and that strength could only have been overcome by the explosive power of an idea. The idea proved to be a new statement of Augustine's ideas on salvation. That is why there is so much description of apparently abstract thought in my account of the Reformation, and why the discussion of this abstract though sometimes has to get extremely intricate. Monarchs, priests, nuns. merchants, farmers, labourers were seized by ideas which tore through their experiences and new memories and made them behave in new ways, sometimes admirable, sometimes monstrous. Social or political history cannot do without theology in understanding the sixteenth century.

Goals

Like many people, I believe that having goals and intentionally working to achieve them is important. It's a useful way of ordering my life rightly for meaningful ends. The Bible clearly paints a picture of the Christian life that is ordered, disciplined, and working toward one great goal--knowing and loving and glorifying God in Jesus Christ. This is the great end that every Christian is called to, and in some sense all our other goals should be things that aid us in the task of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

One interesting and potentially useful web tool for keeping track of goals and desires is 43 Things. It allows you to see how many others are working on the same goal (to a limited extent; they have to be phrased in exactly the same way). I've made a list of goals--some great and all-encompassing, many smaller and less weighty--that you can find here. They appear in no particular order. Whether I use this tool for keeping track of my goals or not, at least the process of thinking through what I want to do and writing some of it down was very helpful.

The Gifts of God for the People of God

You scored as Calvin. You are John Calvin. You have a Nestorian Christology and separate the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus. You believe only those who have faith are united to Christ, who is present spiritually, yet you call this "Real." Calvin 88% Zwingli 69% Luther 50% Catholic 13% Unitarian 0% Eucharistic theology created with QuizFarm.com

I don't know about Nestorian Christology--in fact I reject attempts to separate (rather than distinguish) Jesus' humanity and divinity. I have found Calvin's commentary on the Lord's Supper helpful, though.

Wonder Woman?

Wanna see something funny?

Ok. Go to Technorati.com.
Search for my blog's URL--"http//jeffcavanaugh.blogspot.com"--and see all the blogs that Technorati finds linking to mine.
Now go to page two, and look at the last entry.

Wonder woman? Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman? What on earth does a blog about an upcoming film adaptation of a comic book by the director of such small-screen classics as Buffy the Vampire Slayer have to do with me or my blog?

I'm confused. And, even more frustratingly, I can't find a single reference to my blog on the whole site, not even in its source code.


Maybe Baus can help me out here--he seems to be pretty good at philosophical analysis of comic-book characters.

One Book...

Last week I saw a book meme on Gideon Strauss' blog, and wondered if it would make it around to me. Looks like it has--I've been tagged byThabiti Anyabwile.

1. One book that changed your life: Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology, R.C. Sproul. Credit for this one goes to my dad, who lent me the book when I asked him as a teenager what this "Reformed" thing that I'd been hearing about meant.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: 1984, George Orwell

3. One book I’d want on a desert island: The biggest collection of Spurgeon's sermons available

4. One book that made me laugh: Right Behind, Nathan Wilson

5. One book that made me cry: A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis

6. One book that you wish had been written: On Baptism, by Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle John)--in which he explicitly settles the question of whether the church under and immediately following the Apostles baptized infants or not

7. One book you wish had never been written: The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, John Maynard Keynes

8. One book that you are currently reading: The Reformation: A History, Diarmid McCullough

9. One book that you’ve been meaning to read: Biblical Theology, Geerhardus Vos. Own it, read the first few chapters last summer, never finished it.

Now I tag...Emily O'Neal, Kyle Newcomer, and John Letoto.

Broken

This has got to be one of the greatest sites ever: This Is Broken

Generosity Added to Love

"She went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love--which is always a tremendous task, dear friends, a mammoth task."

~ O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi.

That phrase--"the ravages made by generosity added to love"--is one of the most beautiful and profound things I've heard in a long time. It stopped me in my tracks when I heard it, and I was so startled by its simple beauty that forgot what I was doing. O. Henry's short story about a young husband and wife who each sacrifice what is most dear to them so they can show generosity to one another is, likewise, one of the more delightful things I've read recently. It's an amazing picture of the generosity and wisdom of love, and a tremendous encouragement to display the sacrificial love of Christ. You can find the text of the story online here, and an audio recording here.

Seersucker Style

At the risk of being censured for self-promotion, I refer you here for a story in the Washington Times on the popularity of seersucker suits in Washington which quotes me. It's not a bad article, all things considered.

God's Grandeur

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.


And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

~ GMH.

Bavinck on Calvin on Common Grace

"[Because of God's common grace], not only is an orderly civil society made possible among men, but arts and sciences develop, which are not to be despised. For these should be considered gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is true the Holy Spirit as a spirit of sanctification dwells in believers only, but as a spirit of life, of wisdom and of power He works also in those who do not believe. No Christian, therefore, should despise these gifts; on the contrary, he should honor art and science, music and philosophy and various other products of the human mind as praestantissima Spiritus dona [most outstanding gifts of the Spirit], and make the most of them for his own personal use."

~ Herman Bavinck, Calvin and Common Grace, tr. Geerhardus Vos

Consumer Worship

John Parker, a priest in the Orthodox Church in America, has an excellent article on church worship services in this month's issue of Touchstone Magazine. Therein, he discusses the increasing market-driven commodification of many modern Christian worship services. Churches today are determining what they do in their public services (and when and where they hold the services) by what the consumers--baptized, believing members or not--want, rather than by the Word of God and tradition. As a result, they have forgotten that the audience of worship is the triune God, and that the purpose of the church's public gatherings is primarily for God's people to worship Him corporately and to be built up in faith by Word and sacrament. Though Rev. Parker and I would undoubtedly come to significantly different conclusions regarding the details of the worship service, we share the fundamental perspective that it is for the Church, not "seekers" or "consumers" or "the unchurched." And it is God who determines how his people are to approach him--not the latest fad or gimmick that will get people in the doors.

Redemption Through Christ

THE second Adam, sov'reign Lord of all,
Did, by his Father's authorizing call,
From bosom of eternal love descend,
To save the guilty race that him offend;
To treat an everlasting peace with those,
Who were, and ever would have been his foes.
His errand, never-ending life to give
To them, whose malice would not let him live;
To make a match with rebels, and espouse
The brat which at his love her spite avows.
Himself he humbled, to depress her pride,
And make his mortal foe his loving bride.
But, ere there marriage can be solemniz'd,
All lets must be remov'd, all parties pleas'd.
Law-righteousness requir'd, must be procur'd,
Law-vengeance threatned, must be full endur'd,
Stern justice must have credit by the match,
Sweet mercy by the heart the bride must catch.
Poor Bankrupt! all her debt must first be paid,
Her former husband in the grave be laid:
Her present Lover must be at the cost,
To save and ransom to the uttermost.
If all these things this Suitor kind can do,
Then he may win her, and her blessing too.
Hard terms indeed! while death's the first demand:
But love is strong as death, to take the upper hand
To carry on the suit, and make it good,
Though at the dearest rate of wounds and blood.
The burden's heavy, but the back is broad,
The glorious Lover is the mighty God.

~The first part of one of several "Gospel Sonnets" by Ralph Erskine [1685-1752], an 18th-century Scottish preacher and pastor. The son of a Puritan minister who was forced out of his living by the 1662 Act of Uniformity, Erskine pastored--first Dumferline Abbey, then Queen Street Church--for over forty years. Throughout his life, Erskine was dedicated to expositional preaching and considered it the most important work of his ministry. He was also a gifted poet, and was fond of setting forth systems of divinity and engaging false doctrine in verse.

Visually Speaking

This is my blog's source code, rendered graphically. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it looks pretty cool. Get your own here.

Hymn

Come, let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne.
ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
but all their joys are one.

"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"to be exalted thus!"
"Worthy the Lamb," our hearts reply,
"for he was slain for us!"

Jesus is worthy to receive
honor and power divine;
and blessings more than we can give,
be, Lord, forever thine.

Let all that dwell above the sky,
and air, and earth, and seas,
conspire to lift thy glories high,
and speak thine endless praise!

The whole creation join in one,
to bless the sacred Name
of him who sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb.

~ Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Watts’ fa­ther was Non­con­form­ist im­pris­oned twice for his re­li­gious views. Isaac learned Greek, Latin, and He­brew un­der Mr. Pin­horn, Rec­tor of All Saints, and head­mas­ter of the Gram­mar School in South­amp­ton. Isaac’s taste for verse showed it­self in ear­ly child­hood, and his prom­ise caused a lo­cal doc­tor and other friends to of­fer him a un­i­ver­si­ty ed­u­ca­tion, as­sum­ing he would be or­dained in the Church of Eng­land. How­ev­er, Isaac de­clined and in­stead en­tered a Non­con­for­mist Acad­e­my...

Writing

When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write, if the copy is right. If however, your copy falls over, you must right your copy. If you write religious services you write rite, and have the right to copyright the rite you write. Very conservative people write right copy, and have the right to copyright the right copy they write. A right wing cleric would write right rite, and has the right to copyright the right rite he has the right to write. His editor has the job of making the right rite copy right before the copyright can be right. Should Jim Wright decide to write right rite, then Wright would write right rite, which Wright has the right to copyright. Duplicating that rite would copy Wright right rite, and violate copyright, which Wright would have the right to right. Right?

Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore

Whew. 

Blogging Apostasy?

A disgrace to humanity no more, David Cooper is back on the blogging wagon. He's covering events within the Episcopal Church (USA), which in the last couple of weeks has been continuing to pursue apostasy hand over fist at its annual General Convention. It seems the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians (USA) are competing for the honor of being the least recognizably Christian denomination in the US.

My heart and prayers go out to all the local churches (to say nothing of individual members) who are fighting to preserve an orthodox witness to the Gospel within their denominations. Don't stop fighting heresy--whether you elect to do it from within or without.

Hymn

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly hosts;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Praise God, to Whom all blessings be;
Praise Him, who stand on His decree;
Praise Him Who hath redeemed thy soul;
Praise God, His virtues now extol.

Praise God, in Whom all blessings rest;
Praise Him, His faithfulness attest;
Praise Him with joyful, rev'rent tune;
Praise Holy Godhead, all triune.

~First verse, Thomas Ken, 1837-1711. Ken trained at Win­ches­ter and New Coll­ege, Ox­ford, and was or­dained an Ang­li­can priest in 1662. In 1663, he be­came Rec­tor of Lit­tle East­on, and Rec­tor of Wood­hay and Pre­ben­da­ry of Win­ches­ter in 1669. He pub­lished a Man­u­al of Pray­ers, for the use of the schol­ars of Win­ches­ter Coll­ege, in 1674. He was brief­ly chap­lain to Prin­cess Ma­ry, and lat­er to the Brit­ish fleet. He be­came Bi­shop of Bath and Wells in 1685. He was one of sev­er­al bi­shops im­pris­oned in the Tow­er of Lon­don for re­fus­ing to sign James II’s “De­clar­a­tion of In­dul­gence” (hop­ing to re­store Ca­thol­i­cism in Eng­land); he was tried and ac­quit­ted. Ken wrote much po­e­try, pu­blished post­hu­mous­ly in 1721.

Second and third verses, my own.

Well Said

Judah gets it.  So does Kevin.  So do Missy and Galen. There's a pattern here.

Why doesn't Patrick Henry College's administration get it?