Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. A technique to practice love in the work of learning to love God and neighbor and self, and even love for “enemy” is a technique of working through words of fear and hate, then widening the disparaging words to be positive words. This exercise doesn’t pretend love, rather itContinue reading “#74.10 Tuesday, November 25, 2025”
Category Archives: Christian History
#74.9 Thursday, November 20, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Both styles of monks, the Irish and the Roman, are beloved by God. And maybe God answers the argument when a monk from the Roman Rule happens to lose his hair without even shaving it, but only in the front, giving this Roman Christian the Irish tonsure. And theContinue reading “#74.9 Thursday, November 20, 2025”
#74.8 Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. I’ve come to Jarrow following my own curiosity about what I, as a mere lay person, judge as wrong-headed. Obedience to the papal edict is demanded when it is actually the voice of God that calls us in the dark of night. I came here to argue againstContinue reading “#74.8 Wednesday, November 19, 2025”
#74.7 Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Perhaps Samuel, in particular, caught Bede’s interest as he, like Samuel, was dedicated to the priests at a young age. Samuel, whose mother, Hannah, gave him to the temple priest to fulfill her promise to dedicate her child to serve God. As young Bede served Ceolfrith, young SamuelContinue reading “#74.7 Tuesday, November 18, 2025”
#74.6 Thursday, November 13, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. I stand before the book stand that holds Bede’s ecclesiastical history, considering eschatology or thoughts of end times as a circle. History tries to be linear with a beginning and an end, a head and a tail, as a line, with only an untapped option to circle for eternity,Continue reading “#74.6 Thursday, November 13, 2025”
#74.5 Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. My thoughts stray from Bede’s commentary on the history of Church among the Anglia. He wrote in a room with narrow walls. I was expecting to find in this history of the Lindisfarne the actual beating heart and spiritual energy of the creation of that community. It was stolenContinue reading “#74.5 Wednesday, November 12, 2025”
#74.4 Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Now, as I contemplate my own motives for searching Bede’s writings, I find myself clinging to the losing side in a petty debate over haircuts and calendar calculations. I’m still arguing matters of political opinion while I claim my reasons for studying Bede are purely for learning the history.Continue reading “#74.4 Tuesday, November 11, 2025”
#74.3 Thursday, November 6, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. I have a personal stake in this history, because, in all my years, I’ve felt the sense of belonging in monastic communities before there was a Benedictine Rule at Tours and at Ligugé. Then my need for community for sharing faith was met with the Irish missionary, Columbanus, whoContinue reading “#74.3 Thursday, November 6, 2025”
#74.2 Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Bede lived his life in the monastery confined by walls with books as his window on the world. His doorways were the travelers to and from Rome as he always kept current with papal decree and edict. He valued the pope’s intention to bring unity to the whole wideContinue reading “#74.2 Wednesday, November 5, 2025”
#74.1 Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. I came to Jarrow for this library known to have a notable collection of books including the works of Bede. Bede was a scholar who had lived here since childhood, now revered by the patrons of Lindisfarne for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Wilbert, the now elderlyContinue reading “#74.1 Tuesday, November 4, 2025”
Lazarus Ink 