Before I get too many weeks into my studies, I want to post some of the things I am marking and/or highlighting in the many texts, papers, and articles I am required to read.
I counted, and this week alone I have almost 200 pages to read, plus 3 essays to write and a quiz to study for!!! Anyway, the workload is heavy, but so is the enrichment of my theology and spiritual life! :-)
My favorite so far has been Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.'s (cool name, huh?!?) book Engaging God's World. Plantinga served for a time as president at Calvin Theological Seminary, a Reformed bastion. He starts out the book with a dedication to Chuck Colson, one of my Dad's most beloved modern writers and apologists. I liked it already! ;-)
"The Holy Spirit authors all truth." (Calvin) Pg. x
"Well-instructed Christians try not to offend the Holy Spirit by scorning truth in non-Christian authors over whom the Holy Spirit has been brooding, but this does not mean that Christians can afford to read these authors uncritically (Calvin, in his Institutes). After all, a person's faith, even in idols, shapes most of what a person thinks and writes, and the Christian faith is in competition with other faiths for human hearts and minds." Pg. x
"Thoughtful Christians know that if we obey the Bible's great commandment to love God with our whole mind, as well as with everything else, then we will study the splendor of God's creation in the hope of grasping part of the ingenuity and grace that form it. One way to love God is to know and love God's work. Learning is therefore a spiritual calling; properly done, it attaches us to God. In addition, the learned person has, so to speak, more to be Christian with." Pg. xi
"Getting educated is an excellent way to prepare for service in the kingdom of God. It's not the only way, but it is an excellent way." Pg. xii
"Educated Christians therefore need to 'know their Bible' in order to lead a life that fits in with the purposes of God." Pg. xii
"Shalom- restoration of peace, justice, and harmony,; the coming of the kingdom." Pg. xii
"There is not a square inch on the whole plain of human existence over which Christ, who is Lord over all, does not proclaim: 'This is Mine!'" (Kuyper), Pg. xiii
"A holy life means a whole life." Pg. xiv
"Only the Holy Spirit can start Pentecost. On the Holy Spirit can blow across your bow (as in ship bow) strongly enough to turn you around for good, but your (Christian) college can help you hoist your sails." Pg. xvi
"Our final joy lies 'beyond the walls of the world.' (Tolkien)
Ultimate beauty comes not from a lover or a landscape or a home, but only through them. (C. S. Lewis) Pg 6
"Our 'inconsolable secret' is that we are full of yearnings, sometimes shy and sometimes passionate, that point us beyond the things of earth to the ultimate reality of God (Lewis, Weight of Glory) Pg 7
"Genuine hope always combines imagination, faith, and desire." Pg. 8
"Without the lens of Scripture to correct and enlarge our vision, we see the world with self-referential bias." Pg 10
"But the person who keeps her head up so that she can lookout toward the future of others- this is a person with some range to her hope. This is a person who has been enlarged by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17)." Pg 12
"Without costly action, hope can soften into sentimentality. With costly action, hope may harden into reality." Pg. 14
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