A Square Inch Update

Take a Breather

Dear Friends,

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have signed up for a newsletter of some kind only to get quickly overwhelmed with the volume of material hitting your inbox. And I suspect it is possible that this is that newsletter! I wanted to give you a periodic reminder to not get discouraged if you find yourself not reading everything The Square Inch has to offer.

Second, I wanted to let you know that this week I will probably give you a bit of a breather. I will file a Quarter Inch on Wednesday only if there is some current event I just can’t resist commenting upon. Later in the week I am traveling to Orlando, Florida to participate in an academic symposium at Reformed Theological Seminary with four other theologians on the topic of Faith & Work, so this is an ideal week to have a lighter writing load. In the last ten days or so I’ve written nearly 14,000 words for this platform and others, so I could use a bit of a break, too.

That should give you a chance to catch up on a few things!

I completely forgot to tell you that last week The Gospel Coalition published my review of Aaron Renn’s new book. Bottom line: his “three worlds” framework is highly overstated and overrated.

I got some spirited reception of my criticisms of the ESV translation of the Bible in The “Mystifying Missing Half-Word.”

My most recent assessment of “The Discourse” in Christian social media is in “What a Trash Ad.” If that title turned you off because you didn’t want to read another hot take on that He Gets Us Super Bowl advertisement, you definitely should read it. Because, hint: the title is sarcastic.

If you’re in the mood for something theological and literary, I solved what has been for me a great mystery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Read all about it in “Jephthah’s Daughter.”

Lots of readers really resonated with “If Trypho Got A Time Machine.” Getting a glimpse of early Christian worship is illuminating. I’m still slogging my way through Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho The Jew, which is fascinating for his interpretations of the Old Testament but also, honestly, quite repetitive. There may be a few more Pipe & Dram sessions about Justin, but soon I should be on to Irenaeus of Lyons.

On Friday I wrote a piece on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the occasion of its second anniversary. I urge you to read it and pass it along to anyone who foolishly takes a shine to Vladimir Putin.

I am reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s massive biography of Thomas Cranmer and yesterday I read something that astonished me. Did you know that Martin Luther recommended to King Henry VIII that instead of divorcing/annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon he should instead just be a bigamist and marry another wife? I didn’t, either.

True story. And King Henry was rightly appalled. History and heroes are messy things, aren’t they?

Cheers, and have a wonderful week. Thanks for subscribing and reading!