Four Modern Myths about Ancient Eras
The past was very different. No one would disagree with that. Even people who know little about the past (think: most modern Americans) understand that the past was different. What they don’t understand is how different things once were. I…
Renaissance Culture as Depicted by Hans Holbein
This article is an analysis of a famous painting titled ‘The Ambassadors’ that I created for a recent project. You can view the full painting by clicking here. The Ambassadors (Holbein, 1533) is a painting from the Renaissance period by…
Lessons from Passchendaele
One hundred years ago today, at 3:50 AM, thousands of British soldiers began to advance across hundreds of feet of no-mans-land. This was July 31, 1917, the first day of the great battle of Passchendaele (pronounced as PASSION-dale). The attack…
Making Sense of Syria
For some time I have thought about writing on the Syria conflict – a messy and bloody war that is as convoluted as it is heartbreaking. Now, following the Trump administration’s missile attacks, it is only more imperative that we…
Four Compelling Reasons to Study History
I’m excited that my newest article is published, for the first time, in The Old Schoolhouse, a magazine for home educators that comes out yearly in print and quarterly online. In this article, I address four reasons why history is beneficial to…
Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation
It has almost become a family tradition to read George Washington’s ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation.’ I hope that tomorrow you will take some time to read it, individually or with your family, as you celebrate God’s goodness over the past year! By…
A Visit to Wittenberg
Happy Reformation Day! Today, 499 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. This action touched off a spiral of events that led to the Protestant Reformation – a movement that placed…
Timeline: New Testament History
Without timelines, I find that it is nearly impossible to understand history. Timelines provide a reference point – a sort of framework or scaffolding – that allows visual learners like me to place events in their context. Timelines are also…
Book Review: The Great and Holy War
The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, by Philip Jenkins, copyright 2014. ISBN 978-0-06-210509-7, 438 pages, four stars. Living in the secular west, most of the information that I encounter on the Great War…
Christian Mottos Through the Centuries
Great endeavors call for great mottos. Today we might call them slogans – though this sounds too commercial – but throughout history, they were known as ‘mottos.’ These are phrases with profound depth of meaning, capable of summarizing an entire…
