24 Jan 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, the Pequod's journey gets underway on Christmas Day. Captains Peleg and Bildad accompany the ship out of harbor. Bildad takes the first watch. As he does so, he sings. Ishmael, the narrator, describes it, in Chapter 22 ("Merry Christmas"): Lank Bildad, as pilot, headed...
Read more → 22 Jan 2019
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
John Calvin was what you might call “a fan, bigly” of the proper use of the motif of the imitation of Christ. He mentions it in various places; but one that is particularly illuminating is found in his comments on 1 Corinthians 11.1, where Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (ESV). Calvin...
Read more → 17 Dec 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
A little over a year ago, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, I commented in a short piece on the salutary effect that event had on education. The general historical picture is clear enough without detailed statistical analysis; but statistical evidence can help to contribute...
Read more → 05 Dec 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Philip Melanchthon is nothing if not consistent in the way in which he handles the appropriation of classical, and particularly Aristotelian, thinking about virtue for the benefit of Christians (a topic treated recently at Mere Orthodoxy). Melanchthon finds Aristotle (or an eclectically ressourced...
Read more → 24 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Talk of the supposed "disenchantment" of the world of "modernity" continues apace, providing (as it has always done) a cottage industry for academics and connoisseurs of Angst--and little else. I thought it might be useful to have a quick look at the history of the word, and what it means--or, at least,...
Read more → 19 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
I'm reading Alan Jacobs' recent book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. I'm more persuaded by some aspects of it, less so by others, and stimulated by all. I likely will not have time to write up a full review, which would in any case probably be longer than the book...
Read more → 03 Oct 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In response to yesterday's post on Benjamin Rush, a colleague in History, Matt Gaetano, points to more on this issue among early Americans as recorded in Ellis Sandoz's book Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America. Today we'll look at one brief episode in the drama. John Adams, a frequent...
Read more → 13 Sep 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
God changes us over time. That change begins with the lesson--which may take a lifetime to learn in the way that it really needs to be learned--that the first thing we must do is to give up trying to justify, or vindicate, ourselves. Abandoning the desire for self-justification is the necessary precondition...
Read more → 11 Sep 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Augustine talks a lot about moms in the Confessions: particularly his own mother and the church as the mother of the faithful--though not Mary. This is unsurprising, because Augustine knows nothing of Marian devotion. But it is not only the church who is the mother of believers; Scripture is, too....
Read more → 10 Sep 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In response to the question, "What was God doing before he created the universe?," one frequently encounters the claim that Augustine said, "He was preparing hell for those who ask such questions." In other words, Augustine was owning the confused. But Augustine had more sense than to use such a strategy avant...
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