During the Sundays of Advent this year, the Emerging Scholars Network will be posting works by Christina Rossetti. As a thoughtful poet who engaged deeply with faith, Rossetti wrote a number of poems about the church calendar. In the Advent poems we share here, she engages with the traditional idea of Advent as both remembering Christ's first coming and waiting for His second. Her imagery is rich and thoughtful, and we hope this poetry helps you to reflect on what it means to wait for Christ. For material from our … [Read more...] about Come: First Week of Advent
Advent
Science In Review — Christmas Craft
At a neighborhood Christmas party, I had a lively and stimulating conversation about some of the technical elements of filmmaking--editing, cinematography, action choreography, and the like. Neither my neighbor nor I work in the field, and we don't have serious aspirations of movie careers. We just find that our appreciation of the movies we enjoy is enhanced by understanding the processes involved. … [Read more...] about Science In Review — Christmas Craft
Scholar’s Compass: Sir Gawain Seeks Christmas
David Russell Mosley delves into Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a poem that starts at Christmas. Mosley draws on an argument by Tolkien, not coincidentally one of the translators of Sir Gawain, that fairy tales and mythical figures point beyond themselves to the truth of the Gospel. David will share more about Faerie and the Gospel in future Scholar's Compass posts. Reading Quotations from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in this post. … [Read more...] about Scholar’s Compass: Sir Gawain Seeks Christmas
Common Grace and Extra-Biblical Knowledge: An Advent Reflection (Scholar’s Compass)
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” - Hebrews 2:17, ESV Reflection As you study the creation narrative in Genesis, you'll notice that in the five days leading up to the creation of humanity, the result was good, whereas the result of the sixth day was very good. This suggests that humankind was God's crowning achievement. We, as humans, are made in God's … [Read more...] about Common Grace and Extra-Biblical Knowledge: An Advent Reflection (Scholar’s Compass)
Cur Deus Homo. An Advent Devotional
In the eleventh century, Anselm and theologians like him began to interact with a larger world of ideas, specifically the Muslim theologians who were challenging some of the central tenets of the Christian faith. In the centuries previous, theology had largely been an increasingly ad intra discussion among the theologians of Christendom. As Muslim writings (and even the occasional Muslim thinker) began their movement into Europe, they began to challenge theological positions which had been taken for granted. It is in … [Read more...] about Cur Deus Homo. An Advent Devotional