Julian of Norwich (1342 - c.1416) "Julian of Norwich is the first writer in English who can be identified with certainty as a woman. . . . Apparently at the point of death from a severe illness, for which she had earlier prayed as a means to be 'purged by he mercy of God and afterwards to live more to God's glory' (chapter 2), she received a series of 'showings' . . . so compelling and so rich in meaning that Julian understood them to come directly from God and to be messages not just to herself but to all … [Read more...] about Christian Devotional Classics: Revelations of Divine Love
Love
Receiving from the Christian Devotional Classics: Thomas Merton & the Desert Fathers
No, I'm not creating a Dead Theologians Society Reading List, another version of The Best Christian Book of All Time March Madness, or even another book review/discussion series per se. Instead I'm in the process of completing the final exam for my summer class on Christian Devotional Classics (Evangelical Seminary). Really, a final exam? Yes, Laurie Mellinger, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Christian Theology, Dean of Academic Programs), has us wrap-up the roundtable presentation/discussion … [Read more...] about Receiving from the Christian Devotional Classics: Thomas Merton & the Desert Fathers
Late Have I Loved You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxaCs3vRpG0 In last night's Christian Devotional Classics (Evangelical Seminary) a fellow student shared how much he appreciated Gungor's "lifting" of the words of Augustine's Confessions in Late have I loved you. As you may remember Augustine's Confessions won ESN's Best Christian Book of All Time and this is a beautiful selection from the text. Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I … [Read more...] about Late Have I Loved You
Is Your Academic Work Governed by the Law of Love?
Last month, I had dinner with Tom and the rest of the Faculty Ministry Leadership Team in Columbus, Ohio. At Graeter's (the best ice cream in the world!), they surprised with several gifts to thank me for my time as Associate Director of ESN. Among these were several books, including Alan Jacobs' A Theology of Reading: The Hermeneutics of Love. Jacobs, an English professor at Wheaton College and author of some very good books, raises an interesting question in A Theology of Reading. Jesus, among many others, … [Read more...] about Is Your Academic Work Governed by the Law of Love?
Finding Calcutta: I’m not called to be Mother Teresa, but . . .
What do you think about . . . The nature of calling in the formal work of the church? Our need to recognize God's call and act in faithful response to it: in personal actions and obedience? in ways modeled by Mother Teresa as recorded by Mary Poplin in Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service (InterVarsity Press. 2008)? Calling to Formal Ministry with the Church Mother Teresa's special calling to start the Missionaries of Charity in ministry to the … [Read more...] about Finding Calcutta: I’m not called to be Mother Teresa, but . . .