A Modern Major-General

That's me! Teeming with a lot of news. Not about the square of the hypotenuse. But full of the exam I sat on Tuesday. It was on ‘Evangelicalism in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales from 1800-1850’.

And these are the books which are taking up so much space in my head. Cool, huh?

And as husband and friends can testify, I am teeming with a lot of news. It’s probably quite surprising to them how the elements from this subject can be inserted into the most ordinary of conversations:
“That reminds me of the Nonconformists in the nineteenth century…
Did I tell you about how Chalmers rehabilitated the parish system…
That’s a lot like Goode’s defense of the 26th Article…
Can you believe that Wesleyan Methodists used to…”

I have very patient people around me. They haven’t even organized an intervention yet.

Yet.

But the exam was unsatisfying for a variety of reasons, not least because exams are often unsatisfying. That glorious moment when you connected three things together and understood how something could be, is simply never articulated in an exam answer because it is totally unrelated to the question being asked.

So, to make up for it, I think I'm going to write a series of posts. They will not narrate events, but explain how they are connected. They’ll focus on what I’m interested in: the way culture overwhelms and is overcome by Christians, the way their selfishness hoodwinks them, and the way they, through the power of God's Spirit break through their own sin. And how they are shaped by their beliefs, and also shaped by the way they defend their beliefs.

And there will be some reference to the heroes and heroines. The (often) little ordinary people who make extraordinary decisions and live, speak and write in ways which demonstrate both conviction and courage. I like these people.

That's what I think I'll try and do. Maybe I’ll escape that intervention yet…