Being Protestant, Protesting Injustice, and Learning from John Bunyan

Teacher and author Douglas Bond had a significant post this week, pulling together thoughts about the ongoing protests against injustices in America, being a committed Protestant Christian, and his latest book project on John Bunyan. He has some powerful thoughts that help us evaluate the present crisis and keep proper perspective as believers.

Here are his opening paragraphs before he goes into some detail about his book on Bunyan. To finish reading his thoughts, visit the link at the end.

We’ve seen sustained protests in the streets of cities all across American, protests that have erupted into mayhem and violence, more evil, more injustice, and more death, including the death of a Black retired police officer, and a Black female on-duty police officer, both shot and killed by participants in the protests, ironically, protesting police violence against Black people.

I am unapologetically a Protestant Christian, finding my spiritual and theological roots in the Protestant Reformation. Did you notice the word protest in the word Protestant? In a fallen world filled with sin, falsehood, and injustice, there will be times when we must stand and protest. But when and how do Christians go about taking their stand, protesting against falsehood, injustice, and evil? I’ve been thinking a great deal about this in the last two months as I have been writing about the life of John Bunyan, a man who protested, took his stand against unjust laws and corrupt magistrates. What did he get for his protest? Threatened with deportation to the colonies or being stretched by the neck until dead. Determined to stop his unlicensed gospel preaching, his enemies unjustly threw him in jail for twelve long years.

Immersed in Bunyan’s history and life, as a writer the last seven weeks have been an absolute delight. I thought I loved John Bunyan before writing The Hobgoblins of John Bunyan, but now I love him to an incalculable degree. His entire life is an enactment of God’s way in the gospel: God chooses the foolish to confound the wise (I Cor 1), the younger brother over the elder, the things that are of no account and are mocked and scorned by the world–these are precious in the sight of our God and Savior.

That was Bunyan, a poor, peasant tinker, with little formal education, surrounded by the Puritan age, an age of great piety, of great learning and erudition, and of great literary accomplishment. And along comes humble Bunyan, his life transformed by the power of the gospel, and, undaunted, he preaches, and suffers, and writes, including penning the best-selling book of all time (next to the English Bible), never out of print since 1678 (ignore JK Rowling’s claim to have exceeded Bunyan; it took her seven books to his one; that’s not how it works).

Source: Being Protestant and Protesting Injustice

Similes and Metaphors – Word Wednesday Grammar Lesson

Good evening, grammar lovers! It has been some time since we had a “Word Wednesday” feature that also tied in with English grammar, and I think this “Blue Book” lesson on similes and metaphors serves that purpose well.

And, while we are at it, we can have a little fun with this lesson too. After all, grammar does not have to boring! Press on ahead with the lesson – and enjoy a good laugh at some bad examples of similes and metaphors!

Similes and Metaphors

Simile
A form of expression using like or as, in which one thing is compared to another which it only resembles in one or a small number of ways.

Examples:
Her hair was like silk.
She sings like an angel.
He runs like a gazelle.
This meat is as dry as a bone.

Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison.

Examples:
He’s a tiger when he’s angry.
His brother is an Einstein.
Your room is a pigpen.
She is a walking dictionary.

According to the internet, English teachers from across the country can submit amusing similes and metaphors found in high school essays for an annual competition. We don’t know that such a competition really exists, but these samples, even if awful, are still creative.

1. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

2. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

3. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

4. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

5. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

6. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

7. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

8. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

9. Shots rang out, as shots are known to do.

10. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

Source: Similes and Metaphors – Grammar and Punctuation

National Library Week 2020

This week is marked as National Library Week, and the wonderful people at the Association of Christian Librarians (to which I belong) are providing blessed support to the members, especially in these tough times for libraries, librarians, and their assistants.

The “new normal” – empty libraries, vacant study carrels, and dimmed lights.

Most of us are facing very limited use of libraries and their resources at present, with schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries closed and long-distance classes being held. With no students present and only a few teachers and professors on hand for online instruction, suddenly the physical library with its print books, magazines, and journals seems purposeless. And our communities are experiencing the same thing, as public libraries are temporarily closed as well.

The new way of teaching – online by Zoom

So why celebrate National Library Week? The members of ACL believe our mission is the same and that our libraries remain the support system for learning and growing. And though we too must work in a different way, we can still offer the means for teaching and learning to take place and even prosper. Digital resources have become more valuable, and I continue to pass on the digital versions of our magazines and journals to faculty and students. But the physical books also remain available to the professors and students as needed. If they have to swing by and grab class items, they can also pick up the books they request. And, if it helps, I have even offered delivery service!

And so, as we librarians seek to serve our school communities yet during the pandemic, we also encourage and pray for one another. That’s one of the precious things about belonging to the Christian Librarians Association. Every morning we receive a word of encouragement and prayer requests from the leadership. Here’s an example of one that came from our president this week:

What a blessing it is to join with friends and colleagues in prayer this week. Thank you for beginning the week with prayers of thanks for God’s sustaining presence in these times of uncertainty.

Today, I encourage you to pray that God will provide for the wide variety of needs being experienced by the institutions represented within our Association. Many institutions are struggling with the sudden switch in teaching formats, and many are facing extreme financial hardship. I know your libraries are working hard to support students, faculty, and communities even without good access to the resources you would ordinarily provide. Please join me in lifting those institutional needs to the Lord.

Pray for those tasked with leadership responsibilities in each ACL library—trying to provide a sense of continuity and stability to learners who may not know how to seek help, trying to promote and protect library resources in times of financial stress, and trying to provide encouragement to their library teams in their ongoing tasks. Pray for each institution’s leaders—that God’s wisdom will guide and direct their decisions. Finally, pray for each institution’s future and the many people whose education or livelihood depends on them. As you pray for others’ institutions, I hope you’ll find encouragement in knowing that your friends and colleagues are praying for you and your institution, as well.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Romans 8:26

And I would ask you too to pray for us – all of us here at the PRC Seminary. It is not easy being isolated as a school either. We miss the daily contact for teaching and learning, and the blessed Christian fellowship.

And how can you celebrate National Library Week when the local libraries are closed? One way that comes to mind is to build that family library! What a great opportunity to grow your home library and find some old and new good reads for yourselves and your children. Why not work on a list of classics or favorites,  find them online, and have them delivered! You can still support your local bookstore in this way too. Your library doesn’t have to be that elaborate as the picture above, but think big and aim high! 🙂

Another way is to take virtual tours of famous libraries throughout the world. Here’s one such link to get you started.

Christian Meets Two Children: Passion and Patience (The Pilgrim’s Progress)

I saw moreover in my dream, that the Interpreter took him by the hand, and had him into a little room, where sat two little children, each one in his chair. The name of the eldest was Passion, and the name of the other Patience. Passion seemed to be much discontented, but Patience was very quiet. Then Christian asked, “What is the reason of the discontent of Passion?” The Interpreter answered, “The governor of them would have him stay for his best things till the beginning of the next year, but he will have all now; but Patience is willing to wait.”

Then I saw that one came to Passion, and brought him a bag of treasure, and poured it down at his feet: the which he took up, and rejoiced therein, and withal laughed Patience to scorn. But I beheld but a while, and he had lavished all away, and had nothing left him but rags.

Christian: Then said Christian to the Interpreter, Expound this matter more fully to me.

Interpreter: So he said, These two lads are figures; Passion of the men of this world, and Patience of the men of that which is to come; for, as here thou seest, passion will have all now, this year, that is to say, in this world; so are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come. But as thou sawest that he had quickly lavished all away, and had presently left him nothing but rags, so will it be with all such men at the end of this world.

Christian: Then said Christian, Now I see that Patience has the best wisdom, and that upon many accounts. 1. Because he stays for the best things. 2. And also because he will have the glory of his, when the other has nothing but rags.

Interpreter: Nay, you may add another, to wit, the glory of the next world will never wear out; but these are suddenly gone. Therefore Passion had not so much reason to laugh at Patience because he had his good things first, as Patience will have to laugh at Passion because he had his best things last; for first must give place to last, because last must have his time to come: but last gives place to nothing, for there is not another to succeed. He, therefore, that hath his portion first, must needs have a time to spend it; but he that hath his portion last, must have it lastingly: therefore it is said of Dives, “In thy lifetime thou receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” Luke 16:25.

Christian: Then I perceive it is not best to covet things that are now, but to wait for things to come.

Interpreter: You say truth: for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:18. But though this be so, yet since things present and our fleshly appetite are such near neighbors one to another; and again, because things to come and carnal sense are such strangers one to another; therefore it is, that the first of these so suddenly fall into amity, and that distance is so continued between the second.

Taken from “The Second Stage” of The Pilgrim’s Progress, the classic work by John Bunyan.

In the midst of our present tribulation it is good to read (and re-read) this wonderful work that helps us see our true journey as pilgrims and strangers through this present world. Let the difficult but steady progress of Christian be an encouragement to you in these times. Having fled the City of Destruction, we press on for the City of Zion that lies ahead. Let Patience be our model as we await its glory.

 

Word Wednesday – Is this the most powerful word in the English language?

In these early days of 2020, let’s have a Word Wednesday feature.

A recent fascinating BBC Culture article focuses on the word “the.” Yes, that little three-letter word, meaningless in itself but packing a powerful punch, even a “wow” factor at times.

What makes “the” so special and powerful? Read on, but start with these paragraphs:

But although ‘the’ has no meaning in itself, “it seems to be able to do things in subtle and miraculous ways,” says Michael Rosen, poet and author. Consider the difference between ‘he scored a goal’ and ‘he scored the goal’. The inclusion of ‘the’ immediately signals something important about that goal. Perhaps it was the only one of the match? Or maybe it was the clincher that won the league? Context very often determines sense.

There are many exceptions regarding the use of the definite article, for example in relation to proper nouns. We wouldn’t expect someone to say ‘the Jonathan’ but it’s not incorrect to say ‘you’re not the Jonathan I thought you were’. And a football commentator might deliberately create a generic vibe by saying, ‘you’ve got the Lampards in midfield’ to mean players like Lampard.

The use of ‘the’ could have increased as trade and manufacture grew in the run-up to the industrial revolution, when we needed to be referential about things and processes. ‘The’ helped distinguish clearly and could act as a quantifier, for example, ‘the slab of butter’.

This could lead to a belief that ‘the’ is a workhorse of English; functional but boring. Yet Rosen rejects that view. While primary school children are taught to use ‘wow’ words, choosing ‘exclaimed’ rather than ‘said’, he doesn’t think any word has more or less ‘wow’ factor than any other; it all depends on how it’s used. “Power in language comes from context… ‘the’ can be a wow word,” he says.

This simplest of words can be used for dramatic effect. At the start of Hamlet, a guard’s utterance of ‘Long live the King’ is soon followed by the apparition of the ghost: ‘Looks it not like the King?’ Who, the audience wonders, does ‘the’ refer to? The living King or a dead King? This kind of ambiguity is the kind of ‘hook’ that writers use to make us quizzical, a bit uneasy even. “‘The’ is doing a lot of work here,” says Rosen.

For the rest of the story, visit the link below. Remember, every word counts – definite articles too!

Source: BBC – Culture – Is this the most powerful word in the English language?

Potato Salad (Lake Wobegon Tales)

Yes, it is winter in West Michigan and a big storm is bearing down on us, but shall we just forget about that for a bit and focus on celebrating the Fourth of July and enjoying a great picnic – with homemade potato salad? Our location is Lake Wobegon, the fictional town of Garrison Keillor filled with Nordic Lutherans and tales that resonate with us Hollanders, Germans, and pretty much every other kind of nationality, as long as you are Americans.

Here is part of a great story Keillor weaves involving the town’s Fourth of July celebration and the need for simple pleasures – like good potato salad, fried chicken, and sparklers. Listen on and laugh away – it’s good therapy at the end of the week.

Potato salad. Don’t get me started. People are asked to bring potato salad to the picnic and instead stop at a convenience store and get some plastic tubs full of mushy potatoes, salad dressing, and mustard to give it that eerie yellow color. Why insult us? Do you think we’ve never had real potato salad and we can’t tell the difference? Do you think we’re not Americans and don’t know potato salad? Do we look Canadian to you? Is there something Icelandic about us? Potato salad. No big mystery about it. It has hard-boiled eggs, fresh chopped celery, chives, green onions, real mayonnaise, maybe a little sour cream, plenty of dill, and on top you spread some sliced boiled eggs with a sprinkling of paprika. [that was my mom’s version!] The great potato salad makers of the world are passing from the world, and you and I should emulate their art lest this country slide into barbarism and ignorance and decay. Standards must be upheld.

…Every child has the right to real potato salad and to hold a sparkler in his or her little hand and wave it around. What magic, to trace your little arc of light against the dark. Surely there have been thousands of men and women who gave their lives to art, to music, to the gaiety of language, who felt the first stirrings of artistry when they helped Grandma make potato salad, a great potato salad that had texture, had some crunch, had the green onions working with the egg yolks and the paprika and dill and the richness of mayonnaise, which cries out for accompaniment with a fried drumstick, still warm with crackly skin and flaky meat. Oh, this is art, to take the humble potato salad and the stupid chicken and ennoble them with the craft of cooking – and is this not the meaning of our country, to take what is common and make something beautiful of it? To stand on the lawn in the twilight and wave your torch and draw big loops of light and slashes and make bold, brilliant strokes? Happy Fourth of July, everybody.

Taken from chapter 25, “Potato Salad, in Garrison Keillor’s Life Among the Lutherans, pp.156-57.

I’d Rather Be Reading (but keep a log of your books too!)

We’re nearing the end of the year and I need to wrap up some books I have been on (my stack of “reading-now books” alongside my chair in the den is diminishing) before the new year begins and I delve into the new ones (the stack of “to-be-read-next books” is increasing!).

And so tonight I read the last short chapter of Anne Bogel’s I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life.  This wonderful little volume has been a fun and motivating read, as this fellow bibliophile has reflected on a lifetime of reading and gathering books. Her final chapter is taken from the book’s title (or perhaps, the other way around), and it is from”Id Rather Be Reading” that I quote in this post.

Here are Bogel’s closing thoughts on keeping a journal of what you read:

Logging my books changed my reading life in another way. The act of writing things down inspires me to read more. Sure, it’s fun to add another completed title to my list. But my log also helps me notice when I’m in a busy period and reading takes a backseat, nudging me to do something about it before too many days go by without adding a book to my list.

…Reader, if you’d rather live in your reading moment than document it, I totally get it. I’d rather be reading too. But learn from my bookish regret: I don’t care what system you use (and I use the word system loosely) as long as you use one. Start today, because as soon as you begin, you’re going to wish you’d begun sooner. Record your books as a gift to your future self, a travelogue you’ll be able to pull off the shelf years form now, to remember the journey.

We are readers.  Books grace our shelves and fill our homes with beauty; they dwell in our minds and occupy our thoughts. Books prompt us to spend pleasant hours alone and connect us with fellow readers. They invite us to escape into their pages for an afternoon, and they inspire us to reimagine our lives. Good reading journals provide glimpses of how we’ve spent our days, and they tell the story of our lives. [pp.144-45]

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And so I will also mention that this weekend I picked up a very special edition of Dante’s Inferno. A nice addition to my collection, methinks.

A Reader’s Tears – A. Bogel

Sometimes a great book makes us feel the loss of what could have been – a dream, a baby, a future. Several years ago I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s excellent Abraham Lincoln biography Team of Rivals. I knew the basic outline of his life from history class; American students know that story’s sad ending. But Goodwin’s version astonished me, making me feel, for the first time, an overwhelming sense of how much was lost that night at Ford’s Theatre – by his family, yes, but also by the nation and the world. [I had a similar experience last year while reading Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln.]

Goodwin demonstrates how important Lincoln was to the cause of what was right, painting a vivid picture of what he accomplished in office, of what he was carefully working toward after the Civil War, and of why the man himself was desperately needed. And then they killed him. When she described what happened that awful night in Ford’s Theatre and across the city, I felt like I was there, and for the first time I understood the scope of the disaster and how it affects me even now. I didn’t expect her history to make me weep, but it did – because Goodwin made me feel its weight.

Sometimes a book prods you to grieve with its characters. You’re immersed in the story, so much so that you feel what they’re feeling. When a beloved character experiences loss – of someone they love, of a friendship, of their innocence – you feel their pain. When he grieves, you grieve with him. Sometimes you grieve the characters themselves; they die, you feel like you’ve lost a friend, and you weep.

…I don’t relish crying over a book, but I’ll say this; it’s not easy to earn a reader’s tears – and if an author writes well enough to earn mine, I’m in.

Pass the tissues. It’s time to read.

Taken from a new summer read I recently bought at Baker Book House. In I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life, lifetime reader Anne Bogel reflects on the paradoxes of readers and bibliophiles like herself. The chapters are short and packed with great insights and encouragements about the literary life – the highs and lows, the tears and triumphs of reading.

The above quotation is taken from her third chapter, “I’m Begging You to Break My Heart” (pp.32-36).

If you think this is only a woman’s reaction, think again. Men can and do experience such emotions through reading too, even if we don’t want to admit it. Just this weekend I was brought to tears through reading a section of Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance (a powerful section where he treats the death of his “Mamaw” [grandma] who had had such a profound influence on him.) Ah, yes, the power of words and stories are great, and it is part of the experience of reading to be taken in by them.

Becoming Savvy with Sentence Structures: Part Three

Last month for our ongoing grammar lessons we looked at Part 2 of GrammarBook.com’s mini-series on “Savvy Sentence Structures.” With a new month here, we ought to finish that series by examining the third part of that series. This part focuses on grammar and punctuation, but the first part reviews the four kinds of sentence structure:

• Simple sentence
• Compound sentence
• Complex sentence
• Complex-compound sentence

If you want to review these sentence forms again, click on the link below and read the first part of this post. But here is the rest of it – how to use these four types in your own writing. You will find that just as you benefit from and enjoy reading a variety of sentence structures, so you can also learn to use this variety in your own writing for other’s benefit and enjoyment.

To complete our review of sentence structures, we’ll next want to consider how to use them together to achieve greater style in our writing.

Applying the Four Types

Good prose skillfully mixes the four sentence types. It also varies their lengths.

Consider the following text using all simple sentences:

Bernice loves the rodeo. Her father was a rancher. Their family had many animals. She grew up around horses. Her father often let her ride them. She became very comfortable with them. In time she could even stay on the broncos. She also learned to rope calves.

This format is forthright, but an overuse of or overreliance on one sentence type can make writing choppy and droning. Let’s see how compound structures can help break the monotony.

Bernice loves the rodeo [simple]. Her father was a rancher, and their family had many animals [compound with conjunction]. She grew up around horses; her father often let her ride them [compound with semicolon]. She became very comfortable with them, and in time she could even stay on the broncos [compound with conjunction]. She also learned to rope calves [simple].

A little bit better. Now let’s look at adding a complex sentence for enhancing effect.

Bernice loves the rodeo [simple]. Because her father was a rancher, their family had many animals [complex]. She grew up around horses; her father often let her ride them [compound]. She became very comfortable with them, and in time she could even stay on the broncos [compound]. She also learned to rope calves [simple].

Now let’s insert a compound-complex structure to complete our transformation from a mechanical, repetitive paragraph to a more stylized one with all four sentence types.

Bernice loves the rodeo [simple]. Because her father was a rancher, their family had many animals [complex]. She grew up around horses, and her father often let her ride them, which made her very comfortable with them [compound-complex]. In time she could even stay on the broncos; she also learned to rope calves [compound].

Crisp composition can take many forms. You might have a short paragraph of all simple sentences followed by one with a few complex sentences. You can start content with two compound sentences and finish it with a compound-complex sentence. The possibilities are endless: You need only understand the four types and practice their combined sound and flow to become a master of melodious writing.

Source: Becoming Savvy with Sentence Structures: Part Three – Grammar and Punctuation

Savvy Sentence Structures – Part 1

GrammarBook.com has started a three-part series titled “Becoming Savvy with Sentence Structure,” and tonight we’ll post the first of these.

This one treats the first two main types of sentence structure in English: simple and compound. If it’s been a while since you have paid attention to this matter of grammar, then this is a great time to review it, and become a better writer and speaker.

And when you are done reading and reviewing these points, you can take a “pop quiz” found here at the main website.

The art of writing resembles any trade that begins with the basics and evolves into skillful applications of them. A key component of precise and eloquent composition is understanding sentence structures.

English comprises four foundational sentence constructions: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. In part one of our discussion, we’ll review simple and compound sentences.

Simple Sentence

A simple sentence has one subject and one verb. It does not have a dependent (subordinate) clause, one that cannot stand alone as a sentence (e.g., when the boys return). Simple sentences also may include parts of speech such as direct and indirect objects, adjectives, adverbs, and infinitive and prepositional phrases.

Dogs (subject) bark (verb).
Regina (subject) gave (verb) her sister (indirect object) a card (direct object).
Antonio (subject) painted (verb) his old bike (direct object) red (adjective) yesterday (adverb).
Inga’s brown dog (subject) likes (verb) to sleep (infinitive phrase) on his side (prepositional phrase).

The subject (indicated by a single underline in the three sentences that follow), the verb (bold), or both may be compound in a simple sentence:

The moon and the stars came into view.
The pitcher threw six innings and hit a double.
The king and the queen each raised a hand and waved.

We can change syntactical positions in a simple sentence:

Above the law they are not.
There was no response to the question. (In this sentence, the word there is an expletive, a filler word for emphasizing the phrase no response to the question; without the expletive, the simple sentence would be No response to the question was given.)
Her parting glare he ignored.

Simple sentences can be further categorized as statements, commands, requests, questions, and exclamations:

Statement: You write well.
Command: Write well.
Request: Would you please write well?
Question: Do you write well?
Exclamation: You write well!

Compound Sentence

A compound sentence has at least two main (i.e., independent) clauses joined by a conjunction and a comma or by a semicolon:

Antonio painted his old bike red yesterday, and he will paint his scooter the same color tomorrow.
She writes well, but she is still improving at math.
The dreams of my youth have passed; the hopes of my future await.

For strong technique, we want to avoid compound sentences with loose and protracted constructions. This can sometimes happen when we string multiple clauses together.

Loose/Protracted: Angelique went to the store, and then she stopped at the post office, and next she picked up the kids.
Better (simple sentence with a compound predicate, i.e., verb or verb phrase): Angelique went to the store, stopped at the post office, and picked up the kids.

Loose/Protracted: The book was on the table, and Jason saw it, and he picked it up and started reading it.
Better (two independent clauses joined by a semicolon): Jason saw the book on the table; he picked it up and started reading it.

Loose/Protracted: They owned the team, and they were ambitious people, and they invested profits back into the franchise.
Better (consolidated simple sentence): The ambitious team owners invested profits back into the franchise.