Confessional Gentility

In his The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present , Jan de Vries notes connections between the “Confessionalizing” movement of the seventeenth century and the rise of “genteel” standards of taste and consumption: “While . . . . Continue Reading »

Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION Throughout the first half of his prophecy, Isaiah addresses the Assyrian threat and its geopolitical consequences (Isaiah 1-12). In a series of six woes in chapters 28-35, he deals the temptation for Judah’s kings to rely on Egypt for protection (e.g., 30:1-5). Then, Yahweh . . . . Continue Reading »

Eucharistic Meditation

Deuteronomy 6:7: You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. We don’t worship simply by putting a service on the calendar and showing up. We put the service on the . . . . Continue Reading »

Exhortation

We don’t offer animals on altars, but the Christian life is more sacrificial than the ancient Jews’, not less. For us, the world is a temple, our lives a continuous offering, our actions moments of a daily liturgy. Paul’s rapid-fire series of instructions in today’s New . . . . Continue Reading »