Jun 29
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John Calvin | Faith and Works

We dream neither of a faith devoid of good works nor of a justification that stands without them. —John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, III.xvi.1.

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 25
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The Wind Through the Keyhole | Stephen King

The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel © 2012 Scribner: Simon & Schuster, Inc viii+309 pages They’re back—almost. Sure, Stephen King manages to insert his Dark Tower oriented multiverse into most of the novels he writes, but this one’s different. In the introduction, King suggests shelving it between Wizard and Glass and Wolves [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 22
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What the Bible Really Says | John Howard Yoder

If we may be freed by self-critical scholarly objectivity no longer to have to assume that the authority of the Bible resides in its saying things that we agree with, we may be free as well to hear more clearly what it really says instead of giving it credit for saying what we already think. [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 18
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The Empire of the Ants | H. G. Wells

The Empire of the Ants and Other Stories © 1977 Scholastic 152 pages In high school I became infatuated with the fathers of science fiction: Jules Verne & H. G. Wells. After having read many of his famous works (The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Time Machine to name a few), [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 15
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Church as Sample Humanity | John Howard Yoder

The church must be a sample of the kind of humanity within which, for example, economic and racial differences are surmounted. Only then will it have anything to say to the society that surrounds it about how those differences must be dealt with. —John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, 150-1.

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 11
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Creation and Fall, Temptation | Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies © 1955, 1959 Touchstone: Simon & Schuster © 1997 144 pages Don’t let the mere 144 pages of girth fool you—this book’s a workout. The first study, “Creation and Fall,” was originally delivered as lectures at the University of Berlin in the Winter semester of 1932-33. In them [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 08
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The Final Confidence | Carl G. Howie

Here, then, is the final confidence for the life of faith: seeing only in general terms the dimensions and details of our future, we go our way. God will cause us to stand up in our true being in the end-time. This confidence is the ground for hope when there is no hope. —Carl G. [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 04
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The 4% Universe | Richard Panek

The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality © 2011 Mariner Books: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt xviii+297 pages It turns out physicists and astronomers are not exempt from the squabbles and power-struggles of office politics. That’s Panek’s take-away in The 4 Percent Universe. It’s sad, really. I [...]

Author: Stephen Barkley
Jun 01
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Where Real Battles are Fought | Carl G. Howie

The ultimate issues of history are not decided in the realm of history but above history. The real battles are not the ones we see, nor are the actual powers the ones we behold. —Carl G. Howie, “The Book of Daniel” in The Layman’s Bible Commentary, vol. 13, 134.

Author: Stephen Barkley