The Bibliovore's Wife

If you're a Christian, chances are you read from the Bible (somewhat) regularly. To help oneself make it through the entire Scriptures rather than just " Bible-dipping ," many people use a reading plan of some sort. If you've found one you love, stick with it--but check out the rest of this post for some ideas in case you're ready for a change! No pins for this post, because a Bible reading plan takes up too much space if it's written in legible font size! 😂 Why Read the Bible Outside of Church? Short answer: "Give us this day our daily bread " part of which is Scripture meditated upon. As a pastor from my childhood once said, this reading can be very ordinary, without any mountaintop experiences, but still benefit you, because "it's our daily bread, not our daily croissant." Ancient Literacy As I explored in a post from The Renaissance Biologist last year, literacy rates in the ancient world were fairly low. I'll reproduce N. T. ...

If you're the parent of a toddler, and are currently homeschooling or plan to homeschool, you're probably also trying to sift through the plethora of available information about both concepts. One very important part of toddler home education I'd like to focus on this week is having a realistic yet optimistic view of the toddler development process. Come along for the ride! What is a Toddler? Because toddlers toddle, the  dictionary  synthesizes the age range as 12-36 months or 1-3 years;  other sources  cap toddlerhood at 4 to overlap preschool ages. Child is currently a toddler by either of these definitions. Physically For this section, I'm choosing  Mayo Clinic  rather than CDC because in 2023 their milestone lists were revised to be more inclusive, but that has the result of decreasing needed early intervention for some . . . PTs, OTs, and SLPs are--professionally--grumpy about it). At around 1 year old, a  typically developing  toddler will ...

In this second Book Reflection of 2024, I'm shifting gears a bit and looking at a popular-level theological work on a book of the Bible dear to many--Romans. The book? Reading Romans Backwards  by Scot McKnight. As a reminder, here's the general outline of this post: I will . . . Contextualize the author's writings as a whole (bibliography) Bring the author's major ideas to the present day Comment on major sections of the book, or important chapters, depending on organization What Else did Scot Write? A prolific scholar, McKnight has written papers, presentations, and books whether single- or co-authored. I'm focusing here on his single-authored books. Sorted by major topics and including subtitles where clarifying and interesting, he has written about... Gospel and the kingdom of God The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others Kingdom Conspiracy: Returning to the Radical Mission of the Local Church The Heaven ...

In the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), the denomination my family is in, many families homeschool their children and are drawn in this to either Charlotte Mason, classical education, or a blend of the two. I recently learned of one possible reason--part of missiological strategy for many has been to adopt the Benedict Option or something similar. This week, I'd like to explore this strategy in some detail while contextualizing for my family's weekly life. Why do Christian Families Homeschool? As you read last week , there are many possible reasons for homeschooling, both specifically religious and generically secular. Due to the state of research on homeschooling, I am choosing to mix my own experience and reflection with some of the higher-quality recent quantitative work for this section. Families, Schools, and Spirituality I've reflected on my  experience  over at The Renaissance Biologist on how my parents and other influences shaped my spiritual life. My paren...