Just one more sad, sad quote from Nothing to Envy: Dr. Kim staggered up the riverbank. Her legs were numb, encased in frozen trousers. She made her way through the woods until the first light of dawn illuminated the outskirts of a small village. She didn’t want to sit...
Mark Ward
The Great Vituperator
A sadly funny excerpt from Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea: Mi-ran’s mother later told her that four of her father’s buddies in the mines, fellow South Koreans, had been executed for minor infractions, their bodies dumped in mass graves. Being a member...
New E-mail Subscription Option
You can now subscribe to my blog via e-mail and get each post in its entirety instead of only an excerpt. If that interests you, click here. My old e-mail subscription option has been turned off.
Chronological Snobbery
I don’t want to be, but I think I’ve been stuck in what C.S. Lewis calls “chronological snobbery.” I pick up an old book—most recently, Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics—and I can’t really read it without my fingers crossed. I can never shake the...
International Microsoft OneNote Appreciation Month is This Month, from April 2 to April 13th!
Limerick: There once was a big dissertation Filled with fact after asseveration. But the skull of the writer Was getting much tighter: No outlets for his cogitation! Ode: Oh, OneNote, perfect system of filing! Your skills are oh so beguiling! I end all my study...
Interesting News Item
The Wholly Holy Bible Diet has been a hit with Charismatics since it began releasing its series of Bible-themed foods and beverages in 1998. “All our ingredients come wholly from the pages of the Holy Bible” has been its slogan—and its practice—since the beginning....
North Korea
I took one day out of my paternity leave for pleasure reading. I selected a new Kindle book I bought after hearing the author interviewed on NPR: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. It was utterly fascinating. I devoured it. Demick weaves a gripping...
The Christian Science Monitor on the New Calvinism
The Christian Science Monitor (which, by the way, has little to do with Christian Science and is a respected mainstream news source): Much of modern Christianity preaches a comforting Home Depot theology: You can do it. We can help. Epitomized by popular titles...
Seminary Survival Labs
Half of the readers of this blog, Duncan Johnson, will be giving a series of lectures you should attend if you’re in the Greenville area. Here’s the info: Saturday, April 3, 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m. Computer Classroom, Mack Library Turning in quality seminary...
Why Study Greek?
I have always enjoyed languages, especially English, because my father did for me what I hope to do for my son: he insisted that I express myself and he created a welcoming environment for that expression. I took Latin in eighth grade, and my eyes were opened not only...