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.
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
ReplyDeleteI 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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