A Reflection on a Talk by Tim McIntosh Tim McIntosh recently visited New College Franklin and gave a collegium talk on the division of heart and mind in post-modernity. One of his central premises concerned the role of story in transformation, that is in the metanoia or change of mind which occurs in personal upheaval. … Continue reading Enjambment, Hinges, and Stories
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). This is a difficult verse. If we read it as a proclamation of tit-for-tat justice on earth, or even with the expectation that we can always discern the purposes … Continue reading All Things Work Together for Good?
There is a lot of good literature on shame, but it can be confusing to assess from a Christian perspective. There are three major reasons for this First, many of those with good things to say about shame often dismiss the concept of sin, even treating it as the boogeyman of our psyches. This is … Continue reading On Whether We are to be Ashamed
[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
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?
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
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
It never fails, if a boy should love a girl that he loses some sleep in the bargain. It never fails, when a young women first be a mother, that she be stricken now and again with fear and doubt, and sometime wonder many nights whether the child still breathes and should check on her. … Continue reading It Never Fails
—πολλαὶ μορφαὶ τῶν δαιμονίων, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί: καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ᾽ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη, τῶν δ᾽ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός. τοιόνδ᾽ ἀπέβη τόδε πρᾶγμα.— Euripides, Alcestis, 1160 Many shapes belong to the divine, and many things beyond hope do the gods accomplish: The very things we have expected are not accomplished, but for the unexpected God finds a way. … Continue reading The Concluding Chorus of Alcestis
In the film Moonstruck, Loretta’s mother Rose questions her daughter about her fiance. Their attachment is lukewarm and has an air of convenience and inevitability: Rose: You’re not going to marry him…Do you love him, Loretta? Loretta: No. Rose: Good. When you love them they drive you crazy because they know they can. By the end … Continue reading The Problem and the Promise: Love Hurts
Same & Other 