[He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The priesthood of Christ not only presents us with a sympathetic mediator, with a minister of mercy, but makes possible a new sort of holiness, a different kind of sanctification then we might imagine. In approaching this Great High Priest, I come nearer to … Continue reading On the Priesthood of the Wounded
For Aristotle, place or topos is not the abstract, absolute points expressed by a Cartesian grid extendingout into infinity. Rather place is that which holds and contains; it has a sense of rightness and belonging which every being innately knows. The proper place for the heavy is down (or in the center) as all earthy … Continue reading No Place Like Home: Aristotle and Topos
Occasionally, I tell certain students that they can be right or they can be happy. They have usually been eristic, more clever than kind, critical or corrective of their peers in ways which are not fruitful. More in love with their own rightness than is meet. In other words, they are like me, writing checks … Continue reading Would You Rather be Right or Happy?
From Measure for Measure ISABELLA Yet show some pity. ANGELO I show it most of all when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall; And do him right that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied; Your brother dies … Continue reading On the Liberal Arts and the Third Use of the Law
Listening to the Little House series, following the lives of Laura and her family, has not been without its challenges. They are so strict, so obedient, so sufficient and skillful. They are themselves a kind of law that I will never live up to. Further, Laura always seems a bit hemmed in by her Ma, … Continue reading Mercy in Little House on the Prairie
What is it for a teacher to teach the texts and lessons of old, to revisit each year such things with new faces. It is to visit upon old friends with new; it is to find that in a community of genuine learners and learning, indeed all things are made new. It is to prepare … Continue reading Behold, All Things are Made New by A Child in the Midst
I think I know how to speak the truth, that it is easy to do so. The first chapter of Henry Clouds book Changes that Heal served as an excellent reminder that speaking the truth is not easy. Not because it is so hard to so those tough things, but because I often think of truth as … Continue reading Grace & Truth: Thoughts on Changes that Heal, Chapter 1
Grace Alone Conquers This is the motto of Trinity House from the Latin Sola Gratia Vincit. What does it mean. Is it a strategy? Shall Trinity House win the Cup at New College Franklin this year by means of grace? Shall we through grace rise up triumphant over our brothers and sisters? Is grace the master … Continue reading Sola Gratia Vincit: A Charge to Trinity House
The Heavens declare the glory of God and the skies showeth his handiwork (Psalm 19:1) When we step outside the walls of a school, when we walk about in a park, when we look up at the sky, as we are about to, we observe. We take in and experience the world. And we all … Continue reading An Address on the Eclipse to the Christian Student
Image Courtesy of David Joyce at Clarke University There are several ways that one might produce a line equal to a given line. A carpenter might use a tape measure or a story-stick. A story-stick is an unmarked object of equivalent length to another. Its advantage lies in that it eliminates measurement. There are no … Continue reading Mechanical Art vs. Science: Euclid, Book I, Proposition 2
Same & Other 