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Showing posts from April 12, 2020

"Chrysostom's Devil" by Samantha L. Miller. A Review

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Chrysostom's Devil: Demons, the Will, and Virtue in Patristic Soteriology Samantha L. Miller There is a rich value to reading and engaging with the earlier church pastors and theologians. They served and spoke into a premodern pluralistic context, and they have much to give us as they coach us in our postmodern pluralistic climate. Samantha L. Miller, associate professor of the history of Christianity at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, has given thinking readers an example of just such an engagement in her new 216-page softback, "Chrysostom's Devil: Demons, the Will, and Virtue in Patristic Soteriology". This is a new installment in IVP Academic’s “New Explorations in Theology” series. In this slender work, Miller narrows her investigation to look primarily at the social context in which Chrysostom served, especially the cultural obsession with demonology. It is an easily manageable work, especially for anyone interested in the earlier church think

"Home Made Hand Sanitizer Recipes" by Martha McDowell. A Quick Review

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In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, shelves at the grocery store and pharmacies have been immediately cleared out. Hand sanitizer, antibacterial soaps, wipes, masks and more, vacated the stores in nanoseconds. But Martha McDowell, prolific author on health foods, healthy living, and domestic abuse, has come to the rescue! Her soon-to-be-published manual, “Home Made Hand Sanitizer Recipes: Make Your Own Anti-Viral & Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer Gel & Spray at Home to Protect Yourself from Viruses & Germs” is less than 100 pages, and ideal for anyone who desires to take some easy steps to shield themselves and their families. And the items she refers to are still on the shelves, because most people pass them by. You can purchase this book here: " Home Made Hand Sanitizer ". McDowell maps out the pros and cons of alcohol-based and non-alcohol hand sanitizers. Further, she addresses the myths about these disinfecting items. She then encourages readers wit

"Thanks Be to God..." - 12 April 2020

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O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure…And you will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. You will swallow up death forever; and you, O Lord GOD, will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of your people you will take away from all the earth, for you, O LORD, have spoken” (Isaiah 25.1, 7-8); “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15.57). On this great day as your Church all around this globe, in the Presbyterian Church in America, and in the greater Oklahoma City area, rejoices in the victory you have brought through the resurrection of Christ, we pray for those who have, and are, suffering horribly on behalf of our Lord that you would wipe away their tears and remove their reproach. Bring us all together in Christ Jesus, and bring us all