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Writing? Close Your Laptop. Use Pen and Paper.
Here is one of the most important writing habits I have learned over the past couple years: I avoid using my computer until I know exactly what I’m trying to say. I have wasted hours staring at a blank Word document, waiting for inspiration from the blinking cursor, or–this is my personal weakness–obsessing over the…
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Six Things You Would Have Noticed About the First Christians
It’s easy to miss the incredible nature of what was happening in Jerusalem following Pentecost. We’ll never be able to fully put ourselves in the shoes of a first-century Jew living in that city, but from Luke’s record in Acts, here’s what would have stood out to us about those first Christians: 1. They were radically…
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Choosing a Worldview
Right inside the front cover of the book The Universe Next Door (5th ed.), James W. Sire has written these words: For any of us to be fully conscious intellectually we should not only be able to detect the worldviews of others but be aware of our own–why it is ours and why in light of so…
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A Clash of Worldviews
Does it really matter what we believe about the origin and destiny of humans? Yes! Whether or not we consciously think about it, our beliefs about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going impact every decision we make. Compare the atheist’s view of the world with the Christian’s view of the…
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Seven Disciplines of the Christian Scholar
In a previous post, I discussed six convictions to guide Christian scholarship. By “disciplines,” I mean habits that spring from these convictions and require determination to maintain. These habits will not be easy. As Sertillanges put it, “The life of study is austere and imposes grave obligations. . . . The athletes of the mind, like…
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Six Convictions of the Christian Scholar
At the outset of my PhD program, my professor assigned a paper with the topic “faith and scholarship.” Due to the word count limitations, what I’ve posted here never made into the paper I actually submitted. But writing that paper compelled me to think through the convictions that would guide me as I began my…
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Why God’s Triunity Should Confound our Intellect
Is it possible to arrive at the idea of the Trinity apart from divine revelation? A few philosophical theologians have thought so, including Richard of St. Victor, G. W. F. Hegel, and Richard Swinburne. Richard of St. Victor, followed by Richard Swinburne, argues that “if God is loving, then he must share (hence the Son);…
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Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility
In the enormous book Tough-Minded Christianity: Honoring the Legacy of John Warwick Montgomery, Vernon Grounds has an essay entitled “Evangelicalism and Social Responsibility.” I found his main points to be helpful, which I quote here: The Church’s primary task is that of personal evangelism. The Church has the responsibility of nurturing and judging the ethos of our…
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How to Write a Lot: Advice from Paul J. Silvia
For an introductory seminar on academic research, my professor assigned us to read How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia. In this hard-hitting little book, Silvia sounds like a fierce training coach: if you want results, you’re just going to have to put the time and effort in. Make a writing schedule,…
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How I Use Evernote to Index Sermon Illustrations
Shortly after I opened up my Evernote account in 2011, I realized it could be a powerful tool for capturing, indexing and retrieving sermon illustrations. Here’s how I do it. First, I use Google Chrome’s Evernote web clipper to capture articles, pictures, or anything think I would serve as a fitting illustration for a particular…
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Jonathan M. Threlfall 