A Metaphor to Live By

Advent begins on Sunday, and I've been reflecting on the great metaphor which opens John's gospel: Jesus Christ as the incarnated Word of God. Missed Connections Anno Domini MMXX has revealed that the American nation and the global experiment have been one long page of Missed Connections. Somehow, in our fervor to become more and …

“and He will be the stability of your times…”

PC: Marine BioEnergy "The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; / He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, / and He will be the stability of your times, / abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; / the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure." Isaiah 33:5-6 "There are some things in them …

First Day of School! (Faculty Edition)

Today was my first day of school as part time faculty at Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. While adjusting to Zoom will be an ongoing process, it's truly a joy share the juiciness and wonder of rhetoric with a new batch of students. I like to introduce the study …

“At Burt Lake” by Tom Andrews

To disappear into the right words and to be their meanings. . .   October dusk. Pink scraps of clouds, a plum-colored sky. The sycamore tree spills a few leaves. The cold focuses like a lens. . .   Now night falls, its hair caught in the lake's eye.   Such clarity of things. Already …

Quote | Tim Keller on Faithful Presence

“The proper cultural strategy is faithful presence within,” he added, “not pulling away from the culture, and not trying to take it over. ‘Faithful presence within’ means being faithful; it means we’re not going to assimilate, [but] we’re going to be distinctively Christian. It’s about an attitude of service, uncompromising in our beliefs, but not …

T;LotR (aka: TL;DR, Lord of the Rings edition)

As the whole world knows, since I've squealed about it to just about everyone for the last few months, I'm leaving for New Zealand today. And by that I mean, Middle Earth. It feels like a pilgrimage. Which feels weird to say.  So before you bemusedly believe me a mere super-fan, here's a taste of …

One Year Out

This July has marked a full year of life since I graduated the ACA. This year has been full of blessings and full of chaos. This year I have worked more back-to-back gigs than ever before. And while I have been grateful for the overabundance of work this year, this single truth has emerged loud …

Quote | “The Great Good Thing”

From Andrew Klavan's testimony, The Great Good Thing, Chapter 6: Reading the Bible. This is his impression of the Biblical narrative after reading it for the first time. "I saw a God whose nature was creative love. He made man in his own image for the purpose of forming new and free relationships with him. But in …

Quote | De Inventione

From Cicero's De Inventione, section unknown. A clear, simple break down of the 5 canons of rhetoric. “Invention is the devising of matter, true or plausible, that would make the case convincing. Arrangement is the ordering and distribution of the matter, making clear the place to which each thing is to be assigned. Style is the …

Quote | The Motives of Eloquence

From Richard A. Lanham's The Motives of Eloquence: Literary Rhetoric in the Renaissance. “Man has a ‘motive,’ and urge, just to be alive, to reenact his own existence, and thus bolster, intensify it. It is this urge, this eloquence of behavior, that the rhetorical styles come to express and allegorize. It is this urge which Plato …