Genesis 41; Mark 11; Job 7; Romans 11 – For the Love of God

Enjoyed this post from D.A. Carson's devotional today. It ends with the quote below about the interaction of Jesus with the teachers of the law in Mark 11...

Genesis 41; Mark 11; Job 7; Romans 11 – For the Love of God

A pair of pastoral implications flow from this exchange. The first is that some people cannot penetrate to Jesus’ true identity and ministry, even when they ask questions that seem to be penetrating, because in reality their minds are made up, and all they are really looking for is ammunition to destroy him. The second is that sometimes a wise answer is an indirect one that avoids traps while exposing the two-faced perversity of the interlocutor. While Christians should normally be forthright, we should never be naive.

History

It is hard not to be a little frustrated that my education did not make history more compelling. Perhaps much of the problem is that history is often taught without any unifying theme or sense of an eschaton.

I've just been reminded of a series by Susan Wise Bauer that is going to cover world history in four volumes. The first volume is already out, and the next one is coming out later this month. Here is an excerpt from the Books and Culture newsletter I received in my inbox this morning...

Don't ask me how, but Susan Wise Bauer—while raising four children with her pastor-husband in Virginia, presiding over a little publishing enterprise she founded, speaking to homeschoolers and other interested parties, and teaching now and then at the College of William & Mary—is writing the history of the world. Not the history of salt, or the history of the year 1492, or the history of the color blue. No, the whole shebang.

Read the rest (and find a link to an interview with Bauer) here.

Though I'm thinking about getting these for my kids, I have a feeling they would fill in some gaps in my understanding of history.

If you stumble upon this post, I'd love for you to comment below with some of your favorite works of history.