This week on the Modern Cloister, we discussed commentaries – what they are, why you should use them, and a few recommendations to get started. I wrote a little about the topic years ago, so not the best, but the outline is good. You can listen to the episode below, or find it on our YouTube page. Hope you enjoy it, as always, let me know any we left out or what you like to use.
We are continuing our Study the Bible Series over at the Modern Cloister. Catch up by listening to our first episode on Translations, and check back in next week when we discuss commentaries. You can find my post on Study Bibles here. Let me know which Study Bibles you use or any that I left out.
It has been about six months since my last post, which is probably the longest I have ever gone. Life has been a little off the past few month, so we haven’t done a podcast, nor have I written anything. So, we sat down and did a quick update, which you can listen to below.
I’m pretty behind on my books. I think I only read about 20 this year and I’ve only reviewed one or so of them. Hopefully, I’ll post more regularly next year and get back on track with the podcast.
Part two of the Modern Cloister series on the Psalms is out (you can find info on Part 1 – a Guide to Using the Psalms – here, or listen in the player below). In it, we discuss using the Psalms for praying, reading, and singing, both privately and corporately. We take a look a reading plans, various ‘divine hours’ in which Psalms are incorporated (including medieval monks who read the whole book once a week), how to use Psalms as prayers and in learning how to pray, and finally, Mrs. MMT teaches you had to sing the Psalms.
I’ve reviewed two of the best books out there (that aren’t commentaries) on the Psalms – How to Read the Psalms & Learning to Love the Psalms – if you are interested in reading more.
You can listen to the Pod on the player below, or subscribe anywhere podcast are found. You can also listen at our YouTube Channel. Or, of course, come check us out at ModernCloister.com. Hope you enjoy, feedback is always welcome.
Over at Modern Cloister, we are excited to launch a new six part series on the Psalms. We start with todays episode, A Guide to Understanding. The next episode will get into how to use the Psalms. In the remaining four, we will dig into the different types/genres of Psalms (variously broken down, typically, between five and 12, we landed on eight).
Over the past few years, the Psalms have become one of the most important books to me. As I read how much the book was used in history – reading, singing, praying – it is almost disheartening how little we (most protestants) use them today.
I’ve reviewed two of the best books out there (that aren’t commentaries) on the Psalms – How to Read the Psalms & Learning to Love the Psalms – if you are interested in reading more.
You can listen to the Pod on the player below, or subscribe anywhere podcast are found. You can also listen at our YouTube Channel. Or, of course, come check us out at ModernCloister.com.
Slightly different, and shorter, pod today. We wrap up our series on community by discussing the impact of Covid-19. This similar to our Future of Community episode, in that we try to predict what may happen, with the biggest impact being that Covid is certainly accelerating existing trends. We also discuss church and family life over the past year, and a few positives that have seemed to emerge. The main one being people meeting new neighbors, this is true for us, but is also a trend that surveys have show.
We hope you enjoy this final episode being a bit of excursus and that the series overall was beneficial. Community is something that is quite important to us, and it only seemed fitting to start the Cloister cast with this topic. If you haven’t listened yet, you can find all the episode in the player below and every where podcasts are found. You can find my commentaries about our previous episodes – History of Community, Decline of Community, and Future of Community. You can find all episode, show notes, and more at ModernCloister.com. We’d love to hear any comments, questions, or criticisms you may have.
I was out of town last week, so this is a little old, but the most recent Modern Cloister Podcast is up and live. We continue out series in Community and discuss the future of community. Most of it is speculation, but also following various trends. A week or so ago, a Gallup survey came out that shows that church membership dropped below the 50% threshold for the first time since they have tracked. It is worth noting that it is not the lowest in US history, most Historians peg Colonial to pre-Great Awakening membership to something like 20-30%. The survey points to many of the things we discussed in out Decline of Community podcast, such as the rise in the 30’s and the peak in the 50’s, with major changes come in the 70’s and 80’s. They also have a few speculations about the future, and the implications.
I personally do not believe we will drop to the 10% mark in other post-Christian democracies, mostly due to immigration; however, a return to the pre-revival American age of 20-30% seems imminent. I wouldn’t be surprised to see those levels be 2050. We will talk in the next Pod about how we believe Covid will accelerate the trends of the declince.
In this week’s episode, we discuss the decline of community in America. This is probable most famously captured in the book, Bowling Alone. The changes in communal life in general had two major impacts on Christians, first the pursuit of individualism and consumer focused churches leads to over an overall decline Christian community, second the decline of each lead to a broader decoupling of church culture and American culture. I should note that when we think of 50’s American culture and Christianity, we are talking about White Protestant Americans. I know that leaves many people out, especially black people and Catholics, but the sad fact of American life (as far as culture shaping) and politics of the time is that these groups specifically were excluded (think segregation and the controversy of JFK being Catholic).
Our last episode discussed the history of Christian community, and today’s is still a little but of history, but it is a turning point that brings major change and will lead us into our next episode of where we are today. We’ll have one more offshoot episode, on the impacts of Covid, to wrap up the series. You can find us on all the major platforms (if you are on one that doesn’t have it, let me know) or listen to it here or on my Modern Cloister page from the tabs at the top.
Monday Morning Theologian 