For some reason, this morning I woke too early. Even more strange: I was actually rewarded for lying there and scrolling through Twitter before getting up. Legonium had posted their illustrated Bella Stellaria Pars Quarta: Spes Nova. It was nice to have the opportunity read through those gorgeous slides, but this turned out to be…More
Sonic Support Group
These are my favorite albums to play while working from home: Explosions in the Sky, How Strange, Innocence and The Wilderness Pink Floyd, Darkside of the Moon World Harmonic, Chant: The Best of Gregorian Chant I play at least a few of these every day, too: Avett Brothers. I don’t even know where to start.…More
Arguing for Sinners
I like it when either story comes up in class. Whether it is Jonah or the Prodigal Son, we end in the same place talking about how both stories make the same points. God delights to forgive repentant sinners, so we should be the type of people who share that delight and not those who…More
Magic Keyboard for iPad
Last night I received the Magic Keyboard for iPad, which I am using with a 2018, 12.9″ iPad Pro. This iPad is the first one that I have truly used as my primary computer. Over the past year and a half, I have love having an iPad as my primary device, but my hope for…More
Teaching from Experience (Luke 11:1–14)
Two thoughts from Luke 11: (1) It is striking to me how, in this Gospel, Jesus’ teaching on prayer immediately follows a scene where he himself is praying. (2) If you visualize when you read, verse 14 is quite the jolt. Is there a discernable flow to these passages, or is verse 14 supposed to…More
Upside Down Halloween
We have pretty clear images for Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. On Maundy Thursday, you have the last supper or, more prominent to me, images of the garden drama. On Good Friday, we are at the cross. On Sunday, the empty tomb. What about Holy Saturday? The first images that come to mind are iconography. I…More
Isbell and Jesus on Good Friday
I was thinking about what it is I’m trying to do with these recent Jesus posts, and I was reminded of one of my favorite songs. The posts try to do something similar to what Jason Isbell does in “Relatively Easy” (Apple Music). Even though it’s dark at first, listen: I lost a good friend…More
Peter and Jesus on Good Friday
It was the first time they met. Jesus just steps into Peter’s boat and says, “Take the boat out so I can teach these people.” And he did it (Luke 5:3). Why did Peter comply? Remember that Peter is the same one who, at the end of the Gospels, tried to take someone’s head off…More
Seven Reflections on Mark
Here is a collection of recent, more devotional posts on Mark. I put them in order according to the passages they discuss. When Jesus Gets Mad (Mark 3:1–6) Jesus and Disappointment (Mark 3:12; 6:48; 7:18, 24) Imagining the Dead Passages (Mark 10:32; 11:11–12) Fire in His Eyes (Mark 12:1–12) Jesus and Sadness (Mark 14:17–25) Morning…More
Twitter Discussion on the THGNT Ending of Mark
This post on Twitter, the content of which I wrote up and expanded in a blog post on the Ending of Mark in THGNT, led to an interesting discussion. In a conversation with Charles Sullivan, Dirk Jongkind provides links to manuscript images in the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room. Inepti Graeculi asks a question regarding…More
