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Category Archives: Commonplace Book
Good News, Not Good Advice
From N. T. Wright’s Simply Good News: In many churches, the good news has subtly changed to good advice: Here’s how to live, they say. Here’s how to pray. Here are techniques for helping you become a better Christian, a … Continue reading
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The John Who Loves
From Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What: The way John writes about Jesus makes you feel like the sum of our faith is a kind of constant dialogue with Jesus about whether or not we love Him. I grew … Continue reading
Let the Took Decide
From The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien: As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts … Continue reading
Forgetting, Losing, and Finding Ourselves
One last selection from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together concerning reading the Bible together: Consecutive reading of Biblical books forces everyone who wants to hear to put himself, or to allow himself to be found, where God has acted once and for … Continue reading
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“Too Profane a Purpose”
Again from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together: Do not object that the purpose of common devotions is profounder than to learn the contents of the Scriptures, that this is too profane a purpose, something which must be achieved apart from worship . … Continue reading
“More Than Light for Today”
From Bonhoeffer’s Life Together: Almost all of us have grown up with the idea that the Scripture reading is only a matter of hearing the Word of God for this particular day. That is why for many the Scripture reading … Continue reading
Giving Attention, Beyond Demanding Attention
From Simone Weil’s “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies”: Happy then are those who pass their adolescence and youth in developing this power of attention. No doubt they are no nearer to goodness than their brothers working in … Continue reading
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With Advent in Mind
From Bonhoeffer’s Ethics: In Jesus Christ we have faith in the incarnate, crucified, and risen God. In the incarnation we learn of the love of God for His creation; in the crucifixion we learn of the judgment of God upon … Continue reading
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The Challenge of Admiring C. S. Lewis
From Alan Jacobs’ “Lewis at 100”: Many years ago V. S. Naipaul noted a peculiarity of the Indian attitude toward Gandhi: everywhere in India Gandhi was venerated as a saint, but the social conditions against which he railed for so … Continue reading
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On Thinking Christianly
From an interview with Francis Spufford, author of Unapologetic: That music you hear in the distance? It’s St Augustine, St Teresa, Teilhard de Chardin, Pascal, Kierkegaard and Simone Weil all singing together, and what they are singing is that, as … Continue reading
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Space Enough, and Time 