Back when I was still in youth ministry (yes, yes, I know - prior to Y2K and my current fascination w/reality TV), I managed to run into a cartoonist named Rob Suggs. Well, Rob & I never actually met face-to-face... but somehow we connected (thanks to a short-lived humor newsletter he published) and exchanged snail mail.
Because Rob had a sense of humor, I felt comfortable telling him that one of my youth (hello, Kyle - weird that you're a responsible adult now) had nicknamed me the "Mack Daddy" because, I guess, I was always hugging & kissing Shari Jo. (That or he was being sarcastic - as I like Kyle & enjoy a certain personal ignorance about how I'm perceived by others, I'm going to go with the positive "I love my wife & I don't care who knows it" spin.) Rob began addressing all of his letters to me to the "Reverend Mack Daddy Jackson," which always caused some raised eyebrows from our secretarial staff.
I always thought it was cool that I had a "personal relationship" with Rob... since I'd been reading his cartoons since my college years, thanks to HIS magazine. (An aside: Relevant Magazine is really well done and is the spiritual heir of two great magazines - HIS, published by InterVarsity, and Cornerstone, published by JPUSA.)
One of the things I thought was really nifty was his Church History 101 series, in which he attempted to condense a couple of semesters of seminary classes into 7 pages of densely drawn & written "highlight reels". For the most part, I think he was successful... and so, when I found that these 20+ year old pages were available on Rob's website, I decided you needed to see them! (These were originally published in the aforementioned HIS magazine over the course of a school year.)
- Lesson One: Heroes & Heretics
- Lesson Two: Councils & Controversies
- Lesson Three: Crusades & Cathedrals
- Lesson Four: Rebellion & Reform
- Lesson Five: Reason & Revival
- Lesson Six: Activists & Academics
- Lesson Seven: Students Go for the Globe
I'll let our resident church historian (hi, Scott!) comment on these... but for most of you, this will be the most painless way to get a decent glimpse at the history of the Christian church with as little pain as possible.
2 comments:
Thanks for the links Mark. I enjoyed reading those. I especially enjoyed the comment about Anselm, that he received lots of blank stares for his ontological argument. I have been guilty of giving him a blank stare!!! And my volumes of Thomas Aquinas do look impressive on my bookshelf. hahaha
I was surprised that he completely ignored Augustine. That's probably because Augustine didn't figure into the councils of the late 4th/early 5th centuries. He was significant nonetheless.
In any event, I am going to make those links available to my Christian Heritage students this spring.
I figured you'd like those... if you can find 'em, you need to check out some of his comics from Leadership Journal & Youthworker Journal - it's painfully obvious Rob served time on a church staff. (There are a few on his website... but some of his best stuff isn't there.)
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