Monday, January 30, 2012

Really?

No kidding . . . seen on NBC Sports web site:

Cheating material?
A website poll shows married women would rather have an affair with Eli Manning than Tom Brady.

Really? Why ask such a question? Have we degenerated that far?

Friday, January 27, 2012

An Interesting Luther Quote

[A]fter the children of Israel had entered into the land of Canaan, killed absolutely all the kings and destroyed their power, there still remained a natural and genuine part of the annihilated peoples of the Canaanites, Jebusites, and Amorites (as is written in Judges 1). They did not rule, nor were they equal to, the children of Israel, but were tributaries and servants, until at last David, having established the kingdom, wiped them out. So also we, having been called into the kingdom of faith by the grace of baptism, gain the rule over sin, for all its powers are smitten. Now only grumbling remnants, possessing the nature and character of what was destroyed, remain in the members. These we ought to extirpate by our own exertion, but this will happen only when Our David, having established the kingdom, will be enthroned in his majesty.

from: Against Latomus, Luther's Works, Volume 32, p 203

Monday, January 16, 2012

School and Stuff . . .

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. School started up again last week. Both my classes look rigorous, so I'm really going to have to stay on top of things.

My first class is "Justification and Grace" with Dr. Michael Root, a former ELCA theologian for 39 years and now Roman Catholic. This is looking at the 16th century disputes and modern ecumenical attempts to come to agreement. With his background, knowledge, and perspective, this should be quite interesting. A big class - 11 of us, so the discussion should be good. I'm the only Lutheran (of course), but there are a couple of Reformed guys too.

My second class is "Sacramental Treatises" with the former dean of the school, Kevin Irwin. We'll be reading various treatises from church fathers, I'm assuming on *various* sacraments. This prof will expect a lot, so I'll have to be on my toes. A smaller class, only 5 or 6 of us.

The good news is that with both these classes, I believe I'll be able to research and write about Private Absolution, which is what I want to write my dissertation about. So these classes should be quite helpful in my investigation and framing what I want to ultimately write.

In other news, we had some new birds at our feeder these past few days: some Bluebirds and a Cedar Waxwing. This picture shows a male and female bluebird. We actually had two pairs. Very cool to watch. Don't have a picture of the Cedar Waxwing yet . . .

My son is also working on a science project, to determine if the length of parachute cords have an effect on how quickly they drop. So yesterday afternoon, a cold day indeed, I was outside timing his drops as he performed his trials. Boy were my hands cold at the end! But he got some interesting results. Once he firms up his conclusions and figures it all out, I'll have to report what he found.

And finally: reading late Medieval philosophical writings still makes my head explode!  :-)

Monday, January 9, 2012

No.

Well, its appears that in yesterday's playoff game, Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards. So guess what appeared on the Fox Sports web page? 316 . . . 3:16, as in John 3:16! Uh, no. Please. There is no divine significance whatsoever in the number of yards TT threw for yesterday. Stop it.

Friday, January 6, 2012

An Epiphany Thought

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged . . . Had a good break after Christmas visiting family and have been using this week to work ahead on a number of things (like Lent!) before my classes start up again next week.

But here's an Epiphany thought for you all: Why did a star appear to lead the Magi to Jesus? Some have opined that it is because the Magi were astrologers or astronomers. Perhaps that is true. But how about this: When God promised Abraham that one of his descendants would be the Saviour, the one through whom all nations would be blessed, he also said that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. So when that great descendant unlike any other descendant comes, so a great star unlike any other star appears.