by Peter James | Nov 29, 2023 | Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was an astronomer who believed God created order in the universe to understand and put to good use. So, what’s the problem? The leading scholars of his day were convinced the earth was the center of the solar system–that the...
by Peter James | Nov 28, 2023 | James Montgomery
Recently in Sunday worship, we sang four verses of the hymn “O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” When Charles Wesley originally wrote the hymn in 1739, it contained eighteen verses! Many hymns we know, and love have more verses than what we customarily...
by Peter James | Nov 27, 2023 | Julian of Norwich
In the final stanzas of his poem, “Little Gidding,” T. S. Elliot writes that “all shall be well, and / All manner of things shall be well,” a quote from Julian of Norwich (ca. 1343-ca. 1413). On the surface, her words sound naive and...
by Peter James | Nov 26, 2023 | Lewis Carroll
Some people whose prayers I research are lost to history. There’s not much written about their past and anecdotal stories about them are hard to find. Such is not the case with Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1889), who is famous...
by Peter James | Nov 25, 2023 | Eleanor Farjeon
Percy Dearmer was looking for a hymn to express thanksgiving for each new day to be included in his new 1931 hymnbook Songs of Praise. He approached Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), a well-known English poet and writer of children’s stories for assistance. Percy had...
