1 Peter 2:9–17 (ESV) "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had … Continue reading A Strange Liberty
Category: Blogs
This page is host to a growing number of blogs, essays, and other collections of words.
"If I hate you it is because you have hated goodness. And if I like you...it is because you are good." –Evan MacIan, character in The Ball & the Cross by G. K. Chesterton
"Adoption...is the highest priviledge that the gospel offers: higher even than justification.... Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves...Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law and viewing God as judge. In justification, God declares of penitent believers that they are not, and never will be, liable … Continue reading Adoption: The Highest Privilege
"A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of … Continue reading The Contemplation of Love in Suffering
From Reading Augustine On Education Formation, Citizenship, and the Lost Purpose of Learning by Joseph Clair "Ordered love within the context of liberal arts education moves in three directions. First is the inward ordering of the soul that happens as one acquires the moral and intellectual virtues necessary for disciplined study. Second is the upward … Continue reading Education and the Order of Love
The Commonplace Book is a specific kind of literary journal-meets-scrapbook. It's a place to record and remember those passages that you've highlighted in your favorite books, thinking "this is good, I'll want to return to this someday." The Commonplace Book is a method for compiling what the ancient rhetors called a copia. The word copia … Continue reading The Commonplace Book
Why was the world so fascinated with the Heard-Depp trial? Was it a global exercise of rubber-necking at a bloody car-wreck on the international virtual highway? Was it honest concern over the direction of domestic violence cases? Was it, as Kate McKinnon said on SNL's cold open, because it's "nice to watch a news story … Continue reading Who Holds the Reins of Our Restless Hearts ?
by Brian Allred Because the Great Commission assigned to the church in the last recorded words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew is to make disciples, it’s important to have some sense of what a disciple is. This is also important for the Alcuin Study Center as we seek to be a place where … Continue reading Understanding Discipleship (pt. 3 of 3)
by Brian Allred It’s not uncommon for Christians to pick up certain words that are frequently used in church circles without really knowing what they mean. I would posit that one of those words is disciple. Given that to make disciples is the final command that Jesus gives his followers in the Great Commission in … Continue reading Understanding Discipleship (pt. 2 of 3)
by Brian Allred If you tell someone in Germany that you’d like to give her a gift, she might feel insulted. The word gift in German doesn’t mean present – it means poison. If you order biscuits in London, you’re going to get cookies. And if someone in Argentina invites you to play football, they’re … Continue reading Understanding Discipleship (pt. 1 of 3)