5 in 10: Bruce Hindmarsh

This week the Brazos Fellows had the chance to discuss Jonathan Edwards with Bruce Hindmarsh. Bruce and his wife Carolyn were visiting from Regent College (Vancouver, BC), where he teaches the history of Christian spirituality and she teaches koine Greek. Together we read Edwards’ Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, a classic text that gives insight into the religious awakenings of the eighteenth century and the beginnings of the evangelical movement. It’s also a work that helps us as we wrestle with discernment, as we ask questions like, “Is this God at work here?”

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5 in 10: Dr. Ralph Wood

Today the Brazos Fellows enjoyed a Saturday Seminar taught by Dr. Ralph Wood, University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor. Several times this year the fellows have had the pleasure of learning from Dr. Wood on a number of topics, including the devotional poetry of George Herbert, the spirituality of icons, and, today, the fiction of Flannery O’Connor.

Dr. Elizabeth Corey: “Achievement and the Christian Life”

 

What is a valuable human life?

What role does achievement play in that life?

Can the life of love coexist with the quest for achievement? Or do they conflict?

Dr. Elizabeth Corey considers these questions and more in a brief talk given at Anglican Student Ministries’ evensong on February 6, 2019. You can listen to the talk in full here:

Beauty Asks More at the Table

Editor: Enjoy another reflection from fellow Jess Schurz on our recent Spring Retreat, which was on the theme of “The Spirituality of Food.”

With a grandmother from New Orleans, one quickly learns that food is no passive event. This is clear with one glimpse into her fridge, with its cartons of whole milk (or in her words: “real milk”) and marmalade that tastes, in the words of my father, “like battery acid.” Local restaurants know she is a force. Whenever we frequent Mother’s, a family favorite tucked away in the French Quarter, she questions the waiter on the type of oil used to fry okra, just how fresh the catch of the day is, and, always, if banana pudding is still available.

The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: Praying Theology with the Brazos Fellows

Editor’s note: please enjoy another post by Alex Fogleman, director of the Institute for the Renewal of Christian Catechesis  and Brazos Fellows tutor.

I had the privilege recently of reading through a portion of Jean Leclercq’s delightful book, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, with the Fellows. Once again, I was struck by the surprising resonances between what the Brazos Fellows are up to here in Waco and how an exemplary group of Christians in the past lived, thought, and prayed—in this case, the twelfth-century “monastic culture” that is the subject of Leclercq’s book. While the Fellows are not monks, there is something delightfully monkish about their way of life and course of study.

Mere Fidelity: Millennials and Burnout

Are Millennials the “burnout generation”? How do we deal with endless busyness and noise of our lives, and the paralysis and anxiety that often result? What might Christian teaching, and Christian practices, have to offer us by way of an alternative?

I had the pleasure of discussing these questions with Matt Anderson and Derek Rishmawy on their podcast, Mere Fidelity. You can listen to our conversation here. The jumping-off point for our discussion was this fascinating article by Anne Helen Petersen, “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation.”

Lecture: “Evangelicals and the Rise of Natural Ethics”

Brazos Fellows, in partnership with
Baylor’s Institute for the Study of Religion and the History Department at Baylor University, is pleased to announce a upcoming free public lecture.

Prof. Bruce Hindmarsh, from Regent College, will be giving a talk on February 18 from 3:30-5:00pm on “Evangelicals and the Rise of Natural Ethics.” Here’s a description of Prof. Hindmarsh’s talk: