Summer History & Heritage — #7 (week of July 25)
Students & friends, we continue below with the July Almanac readings and a question from Tabletalk magazine. We trust youʼre keeping up Tabletalkʼs daily studies in Ephesians, if not its current theme articles on fraternity or brotherhood.
July 12 — Jonathan Edwards One of the sermons of this colonial New Englander (1703-1758), preached and first published in the 1740s, is the most anthologized work of its kind in the English language? The preacher, unfortunately, is remembered for little else in the secular world today and, accordingly, his reputation is that of a “fire and brimstone” evangelist. For the record, his voluminous writings and the testimonies of his peers prove him to be both a biblically-faithful pastor and one of the greatest intellects of all time.
July 14 — “Birkenʼead Drill” This phrase became synonymous with brave, selfless, chivalrous manhood due to the rhymes of English poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)? Kipling was moved to memorialize the valor of the men, mostly Scottish Highlanders, who endured perhaps the worst naval tragedy in modern times aboard a troopship in the South Atlantic in July 1852. The Highlanders secured their women and children in the few available lifeboats and lined up in spirited military formation before their ship sank in shark-infested seas.
July 19 — New York Times / Abortion / Augustus St. Clair Please write your own question here. An illuminating sketch that tells us, among other things, that the venerable American news organ, The New York Times, was not always pro-abortion. Note the post-Civil War time period and the national campaign the Timesʼ expose stimulated. Can you define “profligate,” “euphemism,” “opulent”? Lastly, donʼt miss the phrase “the dens of iniquity were simultaneously dens of inequity” as a descriptive summary of the abortion clinics of the day in major cities.
July 21 — Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) Please write your own question here. Some things to consider: what is Marshall best remembered for? what positions and offices did he hold? what high school irregularity may have launched his legal career? what landmark case (1954) did he argue and win before the U.S. Supreme Court? That latter case struck a blow against racial segregation, declaring “separate but equal” schools to be anything but equal.
doxology — (from July 13 daily Bible study in Tabletalk magazine) This English word, derived from Greek roots that may be translated “a word of glory,” is used mostly in the context of church liturgies to indicate a hymn of praise to God? The New Testament writers clearly show such hymns to be the true aim of all faithful theological study. The Apostle Paul, for example, often breaks forth into exuberant praise of the perfections of the Divine Nature in his letters, particularly after explaining profound aspects of Godʼs redemptive purpose and plan (see Ephesians 3:20-21).
