Imprints of Providence

Weight of a Flame - Truth and Fiction (part 4)

2012-01-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

Hopefully, this is the last part in my Truth and Fiction description of Weight of a Flame.

Chapter 14

What's true: The visit to the Sinapiuses, including Emilio's fall and the decision to take Theodora to Schweinfurt. Fanino's news are also true.

What's fiction: as usual, the details of the events. There is no indication that Francoise and Olympia went ice-skating, nor that Olympia was not good at sports. I added the scene to lighten up the gloomy progression of events, and I made her unsuccessful in sports because she excelled so much in her studies. It's true, however, that in one of her letters she applauded a young man for putting his studies over sports. The idea of ice-skating was also inspired by Bruegel's painting "Hunters in the Snow" (see detail here - uploaded from Wikimedia Commons).

Chapter 15

What's true: The news about Linz and Olympia's letter. It's also true that a group of scholars and believers met quite often at the Grunthlers' house to discuss books and Scriptures.

What's fiction: Again, the description of events. I omitted to mention that Olympia had a maid at that time, but the omission was just to keep the chapter simple and focused on the main event. Even with the maid, I am sure Olympia had to do quite a bit of work in the home, especially since in her letters she complained about the girl's disappointing performance and behavior.

Chapter 16-17

What's true: The siege, the plague, Andreas' illness, the cellar

What's fiction: Some of the details. We especially don't know what type of illness was this "plague".

Chapter 18

What's true: The escape, the itinerary, the imprisonment. Many events, including Olympia's reaction to the walk, are recorded verbatim from her description.

What's fiction: Some of the details

Chapter 19

What's true: The main story. It's also true that Elizabeth gave Olympia a dress.

What's fiction: Some of the details. We don't know how Olympia found out about her illness. We also don't know if she had bloody issues. Her description of her symptoms leads to think it was tuberculosis, so I wrote accordingly, but it's not certain.

Chapter 20

What's true: Jerome was really a student of Olympia. Much of the conversation is taken from their correspondence. It's also true that Olympia was invited to court. Some scholars have doubted that she was offered a position as lecturer of Greek at the university, but the appointment is mentioned in some documents written by her contemporaries.

What's fiction: Some of the details

Epilogue

What's true: Everything!

Happy reading!

Weight of a Flame - Truth and Fiction (part 3)

2011-12-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

I am continuing the explanation of what is truth and what is fiction in my book, Weight of a Flame - the Passion of Olympia Morata.

Chapters 7-8
What is true - once again, the events are true. Olympia returned home, sometimes she met Andreas Grunthler, her father got better then worse, John Sinapius took care of him at first and then left for Germany. Finally, Fulvio died, Olympia returned to court and was rejected.
What's fiction - We don't know how any of those events really developed. I was especially trying to find how Andreas and Olympia met. In one of her later letters (after their wedding) she said, "I still love you. If I didn't, I would tell you, just like I used to tell you that I couldn't stand you." That gave me a clue. I imagined that during their first meeting she couldn't stand him for some reason.

Chapter 9
What's true - Again, the events are true. At some point, Olympia realized that she had lost sight of what is really important - the knowledge of God.
What's fiction - No one knows how that realization came to her. The letter she finds in a drawer is really a letter her father wrote to Curio, but there is no indication that she found it at this point. It's just a tool I used to develop the story.

Chapter 10
What's true - The main events and what is told about Fanini. The description of the prison is fairly accurate since I have visited the place, but of course I had to imagine how the same prison looked in the 16th century.
What's fiction - How the events developed and how the characters interacted. I also had to invent a way for Andreas to propose. A friend of mine who is a medieval history major told me that in those days men often proposed in writing, usually to the girls' father. Since Olympia's father had died, I imagined that the letter was addressed to her but Andreas asked for her mother's permission.

Chapter 11
What's true - The poem was really written by Olympia. The traveling plans are true, and Renée really gave some money and a wedding dress.
What's fiction - How the plans were formulated and presented to Olympia.

Chapters 12-13
What's true - It's true that Andreas went to Germany first, and then returned to take Olympia and Emilio with him. It's also true that Olympia missed him desperately. All letters are from her. The news Andreas gives are also true. The rendition of Psalm 23 is really Olympia's. It's also true that they stayed with Georg Hormann and visited the Fuggers (and the main description of the Fuggers and their financial empire is true).
What's fiction - I had to imagine Olympia's loneliness, Andreas' return, and then their trip. I actually used mapquest for parts of it! I had to also contact a Museum in Trento, a city on the border between Italy and Germany, to find how the roads had changed since then (I thank Dr. Giovanni Kezich, director at Museo degli Usi e Costumi della Gente Trentina for his kindness in answering my numerous questions). He was actually the one who suggested Olympia might have met a flock of sheep in transhumance, since it was summer (see photo). I also read Goethe's Italian Journey, where he talks about his experience crossing the Alps (he went from Germany to Italy and Olympia went from Italy to Germany, but more or less the experience was similar). About Olympia's meeting with the Fuggers, I don't know what really happened. I know that she had always wanted to give them her poems, but there is no mention of it after her visit. So I imagined what may have happened...

Photos: 1. Prison cell in the castle of Ferrara, by Massimo Baraldi, wikimedia
2. Sheep transhumance (seasonal migration), by Falken, Wikimedia

Weight of a Flame - Truth and Fiction (part 2)

2011-12-30T12:37:00.000-08:00

Weight of a Flame - the Passion of Olympia Morata
Truth and Fiction (part 2)
Chapter 2 -
What's true - the description of the castle of Ferrara and the background information about Renée, Ercole, and the Duchy of Este.
Fun fact - some people asked me how to pronounce Ercole. Italians don't have a separate "er" sound, so you just pronounce the initial "e" as a short English "e". The accent goes on that "e". And of course you pronounce the last "e". Don't worry about rolling the "r". If you are totally frustrated, you can call him Hercules, because that's what the name means in Italian. But then, don't be offended if I translate your name into Italian next time I see you. All the names of Ercole's children and tutors are real.
What's fiction - the whole scene. I don't know how Olympia spent the first few hours at the castle.

Chapter 3 -
What's true - Everything the teachers said about Olympia and her talents. The poem is true. It's also true that some women were saying she needed to forget the pen and pick up some bed sheets.
Fulvio's suggestions on speech are from a letter to Olympia, including the Tite Tute Tati tongue-twister.
Olympia's speech on Cicero's Paradoxes is recorded and what I have quoted is taken from her actual words.
What's fiction - Again, the scene and her feelings. We do know that she was sick just before giving the speech, so possibly the tension was there.

Chapter four
What's true - The background story and the quote of the letter from Calvin to Renée.
What's fiction - How the events progressed. We have no indication of a conversation between Renée and Ercole that was overheard by Olympia, of a discussion between Olympia and Anne, nor of one between Olympia and Renée on the Mass.

Chapter five
What's true - It's true that Calvin mediated in the marriage between Francoise and John Sinapius. All the facts about Lavinia and Paolo, and about Renée's earlier marriage proposals are true. Olympia's poem about nuns is by her hand. It's true that she translated (probably with Anne) two tales from the Decameron. The whole story Curio tells here is true (according to his account of it). Her questions about prayer at the end are also true. We know she discussed these doubts with Lavinia but didn't work hard to find an answer.
What's fiction - again, the various scenes. For example, Curio's tale is true, but we don't know if Olympia asked him to repeat it for her and her friends.

Chapter 6
What's true - The whole papal visit is true, to the smallest details. Her letter at the end, praising the duke, is also true. This type of letters led me to infer some form of denial about any negative aspects at court.
What's fiction - We don't know what the pope said to Olympia (if anything). We also don't know if Olympia saw her mother and brother in the crowd.

Photos:
1. View of Ferrara from the top of the castle tower.
2. My kids on the drawing bridge in front of the castle.
3. My kids on a cannon behind the castle. I wonder if kids were allowed to do this back then.
4. A photo of a print in the kitchen of the castle. I think it's a floor plan.
5. My daughter pretending to be Renée of France in her chapel. The lighting is bad. The marble is white and black.
6. The Castle of Ferrara, by Massimo Baraldi, Wikimedia (all the photos above are mine)

Weight of a Flame - Truth and Fiction

2011-12-30T11:20:00.000-08:00

As promised, I am beginning to write a list of what is historically true and what is a fruit of my imagination in every chapter of my book, Weight of a Flame, the Passion of Olympia Morata. I will start with the first chapter. Your comments are welcome!

1. Cover - Olympia's looks on the cover are the fruit of the artist's imagination of Robert Papp. There is only one portrait available that depicts Olympia Morata. There she is much older, and we don't know for sure if it's an accurate portrait, so our artist has taken the liberty to take those basic features and come up with a younger Olympia.

2. Map - the map is quite accurate, between my knowledge of Italy and my map artist's (Tom Carroll) knowledge of Germany. Fun fact - we used mapquest for much of the route, including an approximate time of their trip (I chose "on foot" because the wagon probably traveled quite slowly). BTW, Tom Carroll did not get credit for the map, which was a sad oversight. We will remedy in the next edition. For the time being, please know that he has been very accurate and patient. It's not easy to find 16th century maps and retrace someone's steps.

3. Chapter One -
What's true - In 1539, Olympia went to live at the court of Duke Ercole and Duchess/Princess Renée of France. It's true that her parents were Fulvio Pellegrino Morato and Lucrezia Morata. The tailor's conversation about the duchess is based on reported facts. It's also true that Fulvio had to leave Ferrara for a while and had just returned. He was a teacher at the University and a tutor at the ducal court. And it's true that he wrote a book on colors and flowers (the quote is from the book) and taught Calvin's Institutes to his students on some occasions.
What's imagined - We don't know any of their personalities. We know nothing about Lucrezia. I deduced something of Fulvio's personality by his writings (letters and his treatise on colors and flowers). He seemed a little extravagant and pedantic, but in a letter to Celio Curione he manifested a great excitement for the Gospel. Did I capture who he was? Who knows? The tailor and his wife are a product of my imagination.
One note about clothes. Oddly, in Olympia's letter there is a recurrent interest in clothes. When she had to leave the ducal court, she was particularly upset that she was not allowed to take one of her dresses. In Germany, she describes a dress she received as a gift, even guessing its value. Even when she escaped the city, she took care to describe the ragged clothes she was wearing. I thought it was interesting, so clothes are mentioned here and there at key times in my book. You will find them here at the start and again at the close of the book.

Photo1 - Statue of Olympia Morata at Schweinfurt, by www.waymarking.com
Photo2 - Portait of Olympia Morata, Wikipedia

New Book Blog Tour!

2011-12-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

Weight of a Flame

on blog tour

December 2011 - January 2012

Olympia Morata, arguably the most prolific woman writer of the Reformation, struggles to use her talents for God's glory despite rejection, religious persecution, and the hardship of illness, poverty, and war.

YA Biographical Historical Fiction

Click here for the publisher's description and read the first chapter and table of contents.

Tentative schedule.

Tuesday, December 13

Heavenly Springs

Interview and giveaway

Thursday, December 15

The Children's Hour

Guest post

Thursday, December 29

The Hankins Family

Guest post

Friday, January 13

Book Moms

Review and giveaway

Tuesday, January 17

Cross Focused Reviews

Fundamentally Reformed

Review

Wednesday, January 25

Love to Paint

Review

Monday, January 30

Heavenly Springs

Review

Tuesday, January 31

Mentoring Moments

Guest post and giveaway

Monday, February 13

Christian Book Notes

Review

Thursday, March 1

Homiletica et cetera

Review and giveaway

Thursday, March 15

Redeemed Reader

Review and Giveaway

Others, confirmed but not scheduled

Emeth Aleteia

Review and Giveaway

The Hankins Family

Review Giveaway

Reformation21

Review

Per Crucem Ad Lucem

Review and giveaway

Schoolhouse Publishing

Review

Discerning Reader

Modern Reformation

Questions from Indonesia

2011-11-19T09:57:00.001-08:00

Here are some questions I was asked during my seminars and talks in Indonesia. The title of the seminar was "Why Is It Important to Teach Theology to Children?" In some seminars, the word "theology" was rephrased as "doctrine."

Question - How can we teach doctrine to children if we don't obey the doctrine ourselves?

This question was asked at least three times (with different wording) during the different meetings. It seems that some had identified "doctrine" with rules and regulations. Since, from the start, I had used the catechisms (Heidelberg and Westminster) as main references for teaching doctrine, I explained how the Heidelberg catechism is divided into Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude, and Christian doctrine includes all three sections. The rules and regulations (do's and dont's) are part of the last section. We obey God out of gratitude for his grace, bestowed on us in spite of our guilt. The catechism also explains how we are all - parents and teachers - struggling against our sinful nature but are preserved by God through his Spirit.

This actually opened the door to more questions. When I gave the example of my son driving my car when he was four and watering my bed with a hose when he was three, and I explained how he was irresistibly drawn to all things forbidden, everyone's interest perked up. I actually brought up this story to explain how the Reformed faith changed my view of education. Before, I wanted perfect kids so I could look like a good Christian. Now, I know that my children and I are both sinners in God's eyes.

The next question after that was, How did you deal with him? I replied that recognizing the grip that sin had on this little guy gave me compassion for him. I punished him, of course, but I also talked to him heart-to-heart. We read Romans 7. I explained how I have similar struggles, but through Christ we also have the power to fight.

This led to more and more questions. Later, I was told that in Asia parents never confess their sins to their children (or in front of their children). They are supposed to provide a perfect sample and to expect perfect obedience. In further talks, I made clear that I also expect respect from my children, and that the distinction parent/child is very clear in our home. At the same time, in God's eyes we are equally sinners and fellow pilgrims in this valley of tears.

Question - Isn't doctrine too abstract for children?

This question also was rephrased in other ways. Isn't doctrine too dry, too difficult to grasp, not exciting? In this case, I referred to Michael Horton's explanation of the Story (or Drama) behind the doctrine. Doctrine is abstract and dry if it's not based on the Drama - the Story of God redeeming a people for Himself through Jesus Christ. We should always remember the story while we teach the catechism, and we may also remember the catechism as we teach the story. Drama and doctrine are tied together.

Question - How can we make doctrine exciting for our children?

This question is tied to the previous one, but many have asked this separately. Obviously, first we need to be excited ourselves. We need to always remember the drama behind it. As Dorothy Sayers said, "The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man." We need to capture this excitement and pass it on to our children. Then the need to study doctrine, or theology, will be compelling. When we realize the wonder of the Gospel, this message of good news that is delivered outside of us and that is so foreign to our sinful nature, we want to know more just like a child who sees a rainbow wants to know how it's made.

Children are curious by nature. They usually have many questions about God but they don't always ask. The catechism helps to put some of those questions into words.

We all know that teaching doctrine CAN be dry. Some of us have experienced boring teachers or have at least seen them in movies (caricatures of this kind abound). While memorization is important, we don't want to limit our teaching to rote memorization. The questions help to engage the children. Think of the first question in the small catechism for younger children. "Who made you? God." It opens up a whole world of discussions between parent and child. The following questions then flow easily - What else did God make, and why? We can join our children in the excitement of discovery of what God has revealed, and in the sense of awe and mystery about what God has not yet revealed.

Practical Tips for Teaching the Catechism

2011-11-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

(This is an article I wrote for the Outlook. It was published in the March-April 2011 issue. Since my lectures and discussions in Indonesia centered on the importance of teaching the catechism to our children, I am reprinting it here with permission from the editors of Outlook Magazine.)

See http://www.reformedfellowship.net/.

On the first Sunday this year, I opened with interest a small insert in our church bulletin. It was a plan for a full year of family worship. I was excited. My many years of homeschooling have left me with an instinctive appreciation of pre-made plans. I studied it carefully. On one side of the page there was a list of Bible passages, with the goal of reading through the whole New Testament in a year. On the other side, a list of catechism questions to memorize.

It didn’t look intimidating. The first few months are going to be especially easy. We know these questions already. As I turned the small pages, however, I realized that there will be new questions soon and, at that point, we will need a stronger commitment... and I was actually quite content to go without new resolutions this year!

I have lived through enough new year resolutions to know what a lasting commitment requires: a strong motivation, good planning, and lots of patience.

Motivation
I became absolutely convinced of the importance of catechisms several years back, during a casual conversation with a relative on the importance of reading the Bible. I was in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) at that time, still fairly new to the Reformed faith, and was helping my children to memorize the Shorter Westminster Catechism.

In the course of our discussion, this relative asked me a familiar question, “What does the Bible teach?” Years earlier, I would have been fumbling for an answer. I might have given a generic reply, “It teaches about God,” most probably reinforcing his belief that he had already grasped that message. This time, instead, the answer came effortlessly, “It teaches what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” (cfr. SWC, Q3)

His interest perked up. “What duty does He require?”

“Obedience to His revealed will, the moral law, which is summed up in the Ten Commandments.” (cfr. SWC, Q39-41)

As the conversation continued, covering man’s inability to perfectly keep the commandments and the answer to that problem, I realized that most of his questions were in the catechism, and I had answers - not only ready, but written and revised with amazing precision and care by godly men of old. Besides, these answers kept our conversation focused on relevant issues rather than generalities. More than ever, I wanted to pass on such an effective tool to my children.

Most of us are familiar with Dorothy Sayer's 1973 essay on "The Lost Tools of Learning," which decries the loss of clear answers and definitions in progressive education while advocating a return to the medieval trivium (grammar, dialectic, and logic). I see this loss quite frequently as an Italian instructor. While older students are a little rusty in their study and memorization habits, they have a tremendous advantage because they have studied grammar with its proper definitions. They can easily understand why the word molto, which means both “much” and “very”, changes its ending when it refers to nouns but is invariable when it refers to adjectives or adverbs. Their minds immediately relate to adjectives as modifiers of nouns and adverbs as modifiers of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. When I talk in these terms they nod, while my younger students look absolutely puzzled.

I found the same need for definitions in my Sunday School class. A few years ago, when teaching 1st-3rd graders, I realized that in order to facilitate our communication and impress specific notions, I just had to use words like justification and sanctification, and the catechisms provided clear definitions. There was no way around them, just as a school teacher needs to explain to the class the definitions of "polygon", "triangle", and "equilateral", so that they can talk about an equilateral triangle without having to repeat each time that they are referring to “a flat shape with three straight lines, all of the same size.”

With the help of the catechisms, children can understand theological definitions quite simply. It is also reassuring to a parent or teacher to know that, when talking about realities like faith or providence, they and their children can have a common understanding of their meaning.

Katharine Olinger, a baptized member of Calvary OPC, Glenside, PA and an 8th grade student at Phil-Mont Christian Academy, shares a similar experience. "Catechism has indeed helped me in my life," she said, "especially my curricular one. As I attend a Christian school, I've found that during our Bible classes I'm always a step ahead of my peers and I can even impress my teachers with the catechism's well structured responses. In my spiritual life I more often refer to the Bible than the catechism, but I do particularly rely on the first question in the shorter catechism. It's comforting to have such a big question (what our purpose is) answered in black and white."

Marti Calderaro, a 16-year old baptized member of Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Filadelfia in Milan, a URCNA plant in Milan, Italy, agrees that the catechism is a great source of comfort. “It has helped me and my sister Erika to face not only difficult times in our lives, but also those our church is experiencing right now with the terminal illness of Elder Giuseppe Ferrari. It gives us comfort and helps us to share this comfort with our sister Ivana [Giuseppe’s wife].”

Marti began studying the Heidelberg Catechism about a year ago. She had never learned a catechism before, but didn't find it difficult. "It has been fairly easy, because our pastor, Andrea Ferrari, explains it very well."

Besides, learning the catechism as a family has other advantages. “It has set up an environment where theological questions come up naturally as we cover the various questions and answers,” said Roy Lopez, elder at Christ URC in Santee, California. “It has also deepened our love for God as we see all that He has done for us week by week. I believe it unifies us as a family, making us more of one mind (as it does for the church).

A Plan and a Method

We all know how quickly new resolutions become discarded when we don’t plan how to include them into our lives. That’s why the insert I found in our church bulletin is so helpful. The portions are well marked and within reach - a long catechism question or a few short ones every month. It's a very simple plan, and some families may choose to go beyond it.

While churches using the Westminster standards normally expect their children to memorize the Shorter Catechism in its entirety, it’s rare to find children who have memorized the entire Heidelberg Catechism, because of its length. Roy Lopez, however, has decided to challenge this trend. Last year, he has embarked on a three-year plan for memorizing the whole Heidelberg Catechism with his family.

“At the end of every year I try to plan what the family will do next in our devotions,” he explained, “something that can be done in one year. Several years ago we memorized Colossians which broke down into roughly two verses a week. It was great because we had the context and the rhythm of the whole passage. The Catechism seemed too long to memorize in a year (comfortably). So I went through all the questions and answers and broke them down into what I figured we could memorize per week. Sometimes it will be one or two per week and sometimes it will take two weeks to complete a long one. We mainly practice at night at the beginning of family worship but sometimes we practice in the car while we travel."

Roy has found that sharing the motivation with his family and coming to an united decision is very important before embarking on a long-term commitment. "I brought it up to the family and asked them what they thought about it. Everyone except Mikaela, our youngest, was enthusiastic about it. Mikaela, who is twelve, said that she didn't think she could do it. So, wanting it to be a free choice for everyone, I told her that we would be studying it and that she should just do the best that she can (no pressure). I didn't want it to become an empty ritual. Much to my surprise, she ended up being the one who was the most disciplined and is usually the one first to have the questions memorized. It started as a decision, then a discipline and it is now our habit."

Just the fact of memorizing together day by day, week after week, brings results. Some parents, however, have come up with creative ways to "spice-up" catechism memorization. “Last Spring, I used it as penmanship practice,” explained Donna Link, a homeschooling mother of ten from Tacoma, WA, “by having the kids copy the questions and answers in a composition book.” Some have used the most comforting questions and answers as calligraphy practice, crafting beautiful gifts for their friends. Others use motions or put it into songs for the little ones.

Margaret Laning, a homeschooling mother of eight from Hull, Iowa, has a simple, well-known formula for success: "The main thing I found that works best is repetition, repetition, repetition, starting early in the week to get into the long-term memory work." She is, however, aware of her children's learning styles and tries to adapt her methods to make memorization easy for all. "Some are visual learners," she said. "For them, we have played a sort of 'erase the word' game on the computer. At first, we have the whole answer or verse typed out, and then gradually take a word away while they say the missing word. Eventually all the words are gone and they say the whole thing themselves."

"Some are more auditory learners," she continued. "I have a friend who had her kids record themselves saying the questions and answers on a tape or CD-recorder and then listen to it over and over. Doing both is great. Some other kids are kinesthetic/tactile learners. They seem to enjoy working with index cards. I have also heard of some cutting out footprints and writing parts of the lesson or verse on each foot, and taping it to the floor. The next part of the verse or lesson is on the foot ahead, and then another foot ahead of that. So, they read out loud the lesson as they jump from foot to foot. I have never tried that, but some younger children may really enjoy it."

There is a large variety of activities and games that can be used in catechism memorization. Often, it's possible to modify an activity or a game suggested for academic learning or for Bible memorization. My children and my Sunday School students have a few favorites. Once they mastered a catechism answer, for example, I asked them to say one word each, going around in circle. When one makes a mistake, he or she is out. This works well in large groups. Parents and teachers, of course, participate in the game, and they are often out sooner than the children.

A variation of this, still in large Sunday School classes, is dividing the class into two groups, and dividing the white board so that each group can go up and write one word of the catechism answer at a time. It's like a catechism relay race. To win, a team has to get the whole answer right, not just finish first.

Ideas to motivate and inspire the children are countless. Of course, there is always "candychism" (a word apparently coined some years ago by Rev. Leonard Coppes to describe the practice of rewarding children with candy for memorizing catechism answers). "I am not a big fan of 'candychism,'" Roy said. "I am not opposed to others doing it. It is just not something I would do. I guess it has a place with very small children. My philosophy is that I will pay my kids when they go above and beyond their chores around the house, not for spiritual things."

Katharine, on the other hand, loves the idea. "I wish my parents used candychism! They had the same kind of thought, only instead of little things for each question, they gave a big privilege for saying the whole Shorter Catechism in front of the session. For example, when I finished, I was permitted to get my ears pierced - something I had been wanting for quite a while."

The goal, however, is not only to motivate the children to memorize but also to help them to understand what they are saying, and that can be done, in small ways, even with younger children.

Being a logical thinker, I have usually tried to break down the catechism answers for the children, memorizing one section at a time, and sometimes drawing diagrams on the board to emphasize the organization and progression of thought. For example, in HC21, the first two sentences describe one part of faith, the next two another part, and the last sentence shows three things we believe God has given us, and three ways in which He has given them (freely, merely of grace, and only for the sake of Christ's merits). I have found this useful with the long paragraphs typical of Puritan writers.

To help the children to understand the meaning of difficult words, I have tried to use them repeatedly during the same lesson (or the same day, if we are at home). For example, since most children don't know the meaning of "merely," I explained that it means "only," and then used it often in my common interaction with the children, by saying, for example, "we have merely five minutes left."

"I try to relate each question to something that was said in a sermon or something that has happened to us recently or to the children in school," said Roy. "I definitely try to explain the importance of a proper understanding of each doctrine and any heresies that are opposed to that teaching."

Catechism vs. Scripture Memorization

The most common objection I have heard to teaching the catechism to young children is the obvious need to give a strong foundation of Scriptural knowledge. The concern is quite founded. Some Reformed children today are well versed in the catechisms and basic theology but are unfamiliar with biblical narrative and find it difficult to find passages in the Bible. What we often forget, however, is that the catechisms were never meant to be a substitute for Scriptures. On the contrary, they were to be used in synergy with a thorough study of the Bible, the preached Word, and pastoral instructions. In particular, the Puritans who wrote the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity were steeped in Bible knowledge, which permeated every facet of their lives, and they expected other Christians to be likewise.

For most of us who are far from the Puritans' devotions, striking a balance between catechism and Scripture memorization can be difficult, but it is again a matter of planning, including both in our family worship or Sunday School curriculum. In this respect, Roy has found Starr Meade's devotional book, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, very useful, with verses to look up daily.

“Memorizing the catechism is a great way to learn the doctrines of Scripture: it teaches theology in a very succinct way,” said Donna Link, a home-schooling mother of ten from Tacoma, WA. “Memorizing Scripture is also excellent and memorizing the catechism along with it gives a fuller understanding of what the different passages of Scripture are talking about.”

Used in synergy with the Bible, the catechism becomes all the more valuable. We can memorize Matthew 10:29-31 and Luke 21:18 and find comfort in the promise that every hair of our head is counted, or Romans 8:28 and know that all things work together for our good, but when we see those verses in the context of HC1, and are reminded that those same promises are given to us because we belong to Christ, in virtue of His sacrifice and in conjunction with the great benefits of forgiveness of our sins and deliverance from all the power of the devil, those words become much weightier and firmer in our minds.

This school-year, I have been teaching the trials, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ to my 4th-6th grade Sunday School group, using the Heidelberg Catechism alongside each lesson, as an aid both to emphasize the overall importance and meaning of the Bible account and to notice the significance of often neglected details, such as the mention of Pontius Pilate in the Apostles Creed and the relevance of the cross as instrument of death.

Patience

One of the most comforting thoughts I have learned as a parent in a Reformed Church is that we are just to do what we are commanded and let the Holy Spirit work in our children’s lives. We take our children to public worship every Sunday, let them hear the preached Word, and prepare them to receive the Lord’s Supper. At home, we have times of family worship and learn the catechism together. It sounds reassuringly simple.

Whatever our plan may be for memorizing the catechism as a family, whether we set a very approachable goal of one or two questions and answers per month, to allow for the unexpected and to give more time to review, or we take up the challenge of memorizing it all, small steps are easier to maintain at a regular pace.

"We memorize a different line pretty much every day and by Saturday or Sunday we recite the whole thing together," explained Roy. "On Monday, we move on to the new question. I don't put pressure on us to go back and remember all the previous questions. I am happy if we can recite the answer at the end of the week and don't want to overburden my family by making too much of it. Some weeks are better than others, but we do the best we can."

With these affordable steps, Kristen Lopez, Roy's 13-year old daughter, has learned to enjoy memorizing the catechism. "At times it is hard because of different schedules and late nights," she said, "but it is always easy to catch up on Sunday."

Roy knows that it's important not to miss a week. "We may fall behind a few days but then I try to make sure we practice it more to be caught up by week's end. If we ever had to skip a week, I would continue with the program and just try to learn that portion later on. Of course, the memory work is much easier for the children than it is for Faith and me."

Faith Lopez, Roy's wife, agrees. "My motivation are my kids. They are so good at keeping up with their reading and memorization, it puts me to shame. It is very difficult for me and I struggle to find more time in my busy schedule and more space in my head for new information. I've had to make it a priority. It's just something that we do, part of our day. Besides, so many times God has used our memory work to encourage me. I would find myself in a particular struggle, and some words that I had memorized that week have come to my mind, helping me to reflect upon His love, grace and mercy towards me in my time of weakness."

By now, the Lopez family has discovered that their persistence had paid off. "What started as a decision has become a discipline and is now our habit," Roy said. Of course, there are still obstacles. From time to time, the motivation and discipline need to be rekindled. "Sometimes it feels like no one is motivated to do it, or we get especially busy, or the schedule is off for some reason, but that is where the discipline comes in. We continue to do it because we have set a goal and I have tasked myself with the responsibility to see that we get there."

Back from Indonesia

2011-11-16T09:17:00.001-08:00

"Indonesia? What in the world were you doing there?" sometimes people ask. It all started in 2009, when I was searching the web for conferences on John Calvin so I could introduce my new book for children. It was then that I discovered a conference in Indonesia. I had been there, thirty years ago, and a piece of my heart was still in those islands. I sent Rev. Sutjipto Subeno, pastor and overseer of an international school and a publishing house, a copy of my book in English and he loved it! Soon after, it was in Indonesia and they committed themselves to publish the rest of my series. It was really the only foreign publisher to do so. My first two books have been published in Italian, but then they stopped because apparently they were not selling well.
In 2010, Rev. Sutjipto came to San Diego. It was a short-notice visit. He called me from LA the day before and I was only able to pick him up at the train station, take him to Santee, have breakfast at Starbucks and lunch with my husband, visit my church, pick up my kids from school, and take him back to the station. I felt like a very poor host.
My mother died in May this year. She died before I could go and see her so I canceled my trip to Italy. My emotions were pretty haywire at the time, and it was then that Rev. Sutjipto invited me to Indonesia, offering to pay almost all my expenses. I didn't think very hard. I emailed my husband who was at work, asking if I could go, and when he said yes I started to work on the tickets.
For a man, an invitation to speak at conferences and meetings might seem like work, but for a woman, it means no cooking, no cleaning, and no driving for two weeks! I was definitely excited. Soon, however, I realized that my schedule included talks in seminars, and the topic was "How to Teach Theology to Children." When I told my sixteen-year old son, his response was less than encouraging, "I didn't know you were an expert on that!"

My host told me to talk as a mother, and as a mother I shared how a sound theological education has benefited my children. I told them of my journey from evangelical churches where the children were in Sunday School instead of participating to the service, with very limited instruction, to a Reformed church where they were included in worship and were taught the catechism from a very young age.

I told them of my apprehensions when I first took my children to a Reformed church, wondering how they would adjust. But it was my son Jonathan, then about five years old, who told me that he actually liked the new church better, as he felt he was finally learning something! "In the old church, we just learn the same stories over and over," he said. It was Noah and the animals going into the ark, with an emphasis on the animals, and Joseph with the coat of many colors, with an emphasis on the colors. He was ready for more.

I have written on the benefits of teaching catechism in other articles, which I am hoping to post here. Overall, I think Indonesian parents were encouraged to see that the catechisms were originally written for children and can and should be taught to children.

Athanasius Through Children's Eyes

2011-10-04T09:50:00.001-07:00

The winning entries in the contest issued by Carl Trueman on Reformation 21. Someone is certainly teaching these children well, and they can definitely articulate their thoughts very clearly! Maybe they should be my advisers as I write future titles...

The first picture, with the interesting diagram, is done by Lydia Joy Aloisi, age 9, and the second one, with a very happy Athanasius, by her brother Micah Aloisi. The third one and the letter underneath were done by the same author/artist. The names of some children have been omitted to protect theirprivacy. They will only be added at the parents' requests.

BOOK BLOG TOUR Wrap

2011-09-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Athanasius, by Simonetta Carr

4th title in the series of Christian Biographies for Young Readers

The blog tour is nearing its end. Here you can read all the reviews. Thank you again, everyone who has taken the time to read and review! If anyone else is interested in writing a review or hosting a giveaway, let me know.

Wednesday, September 14

Book Moms http://www.bookmoms.org/2011/09/athanasius-man-who-stood-for-truth-by.html
Review
Giveaway (closed)

Friday, September 16

Christian Book Notes http://christianbooknotes.com/2011/athanasius-by-simonetta-carr/
Review

Tuesday, September 20

The Reformed Reader http://reformedreader.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/athanasius-christian-biographies-for-young-readers/
Review
Giveaway (closed)

Thursday, September 22

The Children’s Hour http://childrenshourbooks.blogspot.com/
Review
Giveaway (closed)

Saturday, September 24

Pilgrim Theology http://brendenlink.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/athanasius-book-give-away/
Review
Giveawat (closed)

Monday, September 26

Love to Paint http://lovetopaint.blogspot.com/2011/09/theology-lessons-for-children.html
Review

Wednesday, September 28

Redeemed Reader http://www.redeemedreader.com/2011/09/author-interview-simonetta-carr-on-athanasius/
Review and interview
Giveaway (Closed)

Thursday, September 29

The Hankins Family http://www.hankinsfamily.com/2011/09/book-review-and-giveaway-athanasius.html
Review
Giveaway (closed)

Reformation21 http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/09/free-gift.php
Giveaway (CLOSED)

Friday, October 14

Homiletica et cetera http://boekblog.tumblr.com/post/11457989115/athanasius-by-simonetta-carr

November 4

Cross Focused Reviews http://crossfocusedreviews.com/2011/11/athanasius-christian-biographies-for-young-readers-by-simonetta-carr/

November 9

Emeth Aleteia http://joefl.wordpress.com/

Review and giveaway (closed)

Thursday, November 24

Tim Challies - http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/30-minute-reviews-5?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+challies%2FXhEt+%28Challies+Dot+Com%29

Short review

Other

Per Crucem Ad Lucem http://cruciality.wordpress.com/

Errata Corrige

2011-09-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Since one of the qualities most people praise in my books is their historical accuracy, I want to point out a couple of mistakes that, in spite of my best efforts, made it into this series. They will be corrected in our next edition, but in the meantime, you should be aware of them as you teach your children.

1. Calvin, first edition, page 6. The map in the first edition was not totally accurate because the line marking the Papal States was drawn too high. This has been corrected in the newer version.

2. Augustine, page 7. When Augustine was born, Milan - not Rome - was the capital of the Western Roman Empire.

3. Athanasius, pages 4 and 29. Nicea has been marked too far from Constantinople.

Looking Back - and Forward

2011-08-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

The idea for my series of Christian Biographies for Young Readers came a few years ago, in 2008, just before Calvin's 500th anniversary, when I was burdened by the lack of serious Christian biographies for children under 12 years of age. The books on the market (for that age bracket) were mostly hagiographies, historical fiction with an emphasis on fiction, and a few other oversimplified accounts. Not much (if any) on theologians, because most doctrine seemed to be out of children's reach. On the other hand, my children were reading biographies of presidents, world-changers, artists, and musicians, many of them quite sophisticated in contents. Meeting that need was my primary motive, and John Calvin, first volume in my series, was published. I tried to be simple without being simplistic and to add photos and illustrations to provide both a sense of reality and context and vehicles to excite the imagination.

Then came the second volume, Augustine of Hippo. This time simplicity became a greater challenge, as it's difficult to reduce Augustine's life and thought into a few pages. The third volume, John Owen, was a little simpler, because his life and thought were quite straight-forward. The greatest challenge so far has been the fourth volume, Athanasius, with all the complexity of 4th century controversies. The fifth volume, Lady Jane Grey, still underway, is not proving to be any easier.

In between all this, I was asked to write a historical novel for young girls and I tried my hand at that too. I chose Olympia Morata because I am Italian and I believe the Italian Reformation has been largely ignored. Weight of a Flame, the Passion of Olympia Morata is now scheduled to be published next month. While this is historical fiction, it is based on thorough research.

In all these books, I have been trying to be as objective as possible. If my first goal was simply to fill a need for informative accounts, my second goal was to avoid turning these books into hagiographies. Some people have commented that I portrayed Roman Catholic authorities very positively in my novel, and I took that as a compliment.

It was also encouraging to see my book on John Owen nominated as finalist in the 2010 San Diego Awards. The book is now in the San Diego County Library and the San Diego Public Library (a separate entity) is considering it for inclusion in their catalog. This has prompted a new line of thought in my mind. Why don't we have this type of books in public school libraries? Are my books objective enough to be included? Then I read an interesting quote by Dr. Diarmaid MacCullogh, professor of the History of the Church at Oxford and author of several books on the history of Christianity and on the Reformation. "It seems to me that the history of Christianity is absolutely essential to talk about because there is so much bad history about it, and arrogance, conceit, dogmatism are all based on bad history. [...] I hope to give other people a sense of balance by complicating the story because all stories are very complicated."

I am now more convinced than ever that accurate books on the history of Christianity are a must for children in all types of schools. We all know how difficult it is to remain absolutely objective when writing history, but I think Dr. MacCullogh hit the nail on the head. Christian biographies (or other history books) for children as well as adults must communicate the natural complexity of history in simple words. Can it be done? Historically, this type of books has been oversimplified, but today's children are exposed to much more information and I believe they are ready to understand the idea of complexity. This has now become my third goal.

Book Blog Tour

2011-08-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Athanasius, by Simonetta Carr

4th title in the series of Christian Biographies for Young Readers

The book is scheduled to be published by the end of August. I am giving everyone time to receive it and read it, then the tour will start! Thank you everyone who agreed to host the tour!

Wednesday, September 14

Book Moms

Friday, September 16

Christian Book Notes

Tuesday, September 20

The Reformed Reader

Thursday, September 22

The Children’s Hour

Saturday, September 24

Pilgrim Theology

Monday, September 26

Love to Paint

Wednesday, September 28

Redeemed Reader

Thursday, September 29

The Hankins Family

Thursday, September 29

Reformation 21

Saturday, October 1

Homiletica et cetera

Wednesday, November 9

Emeth Aleteia

Wednesday, December 7

Per Crucem Ad Lucem

Monday, January 2 2012

Inkahdinay

Most of these blogs will also host a giveaway, so stay tuned for a chance to get a free copy of the book!

Latest News

2011-08-10T07:39:00.001-07:00

Since my website is down for a while, here are the latest news regarding my books.

1. Athanasius, fourth title in the series Christian Biographies for Young Readers, published by Reformation Heritage Books, will be out at the end of August. I am excited about this book! I think it will bring the Nicene Creed to life for children of all ages, raising relevant questions on the divinity of Christ and the importance of creeds and confessions. As in my last book, masterful oil illustrations keep the imagination alive while maps and photos confirm the historical facts. http://www.heritagebooks.org/products/Athanasius.html

2. Weight of a Flame, the Passion of Olympia Morata, is my first historical novel (aimed mostly at young girls), and the fifth title in the series Chosen Daughters by P&R. It will be out on September 20th. In the story, Olympia Morata, a young Italian scholar (arguably the most prolific woman writer of the Reformation), learns to overcome the pain of rejection, religious persecution, exile, illness, poverty, and war by resting her hope on God's promises. Although her circumstances may be exceptional, her responses and feelings are universal, and young girls will easily identify with her. It's a true story - dramatic, but also poetic and inspiring.
http://www.prpbooks.com/Weight-of-a-Flame-The-Passion-of-Olympia-Morata-2160.html&session=428b4d3cc0160d1392aedcb30968708a

3. Lady Jane Grey, fifth title in the series Christian Biographies for Young Readers, published by Reformation Heritage Books, is under way! Matt has just started sketching the illustrations and I will be taking photos of our models in the next few weeks. I am also in the process of re-checking my manuscript. Professor Eric Ives, Emeritus Professor of English History at the University of Birmingham and author of Lady Jane Grey, a Tudor Mystery (arguably the most authoritative book on the subject), has graciously agreed to check my final manuscript. Dr. Diarmaid MacCullough, Professor of History of the Church at the University of Oxford, has also kindly answered my questions on the intriguing time of English history when Lady Jane lived. I could never thank them enough!

4. I am also working on a bite-sized biography of Renée of France for Evangelical Press. This is part of a series of books directed by Dr. Michael Haykin, Professor of Church History at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The deadline for the manuscript is January 2012. Emanuele Fiume, expert on Church history and author of several books, has graciously agreed to write an introduction.

5. Besides these projects (and my normal workload as mother), I am also hoping to continue my series of articles on parenting for the Outlook, and I am trying to finish a Study Guide for my book on John Owen.

6. Upcoming interviews. An interview with White Horse Inn will be included in their September CD, which is sent out to their supporters. Another recent interview with the staff at Westminster Seminary of California bookstore will be posted on their website and other places on the web soon.

7. Book talks. I am scheduling book talks for my upcoming book, Weight of a Flame. The first talk will be held at the Mission Valley Public Library in San Diego. I will update this post when I receive the exact date.

8. Blog Book Tour. I am organizing a Blog Book Tour for my upcoming books. Details will be published soon.

9. Other Book Tours. I have been invited to speak about my books and about Christian books for children in general (and about the importance of teaching theology to children) in Indonesia! The tour will take me to Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bali. My gracious host is Rev. Sutjipto Subeno, pastor of Gereja Reformed Injili Church in Surabaya and head of Momentum Christian Bookshttp://www.momentum.or.id/index.php/pages/2/en/. I will be leaving on October 23 and returning on November 8. The hero at this time will be my husband Tom who will be filling both his and my shoes!

I think this is all. On paper, it looks daunting. In reality, I am not doing much more than before. I am still driving my kids to practice, trying to come up with something original but not too strange for dinner, keeping the house somewhat decent, teaching Italian classes, and translating. Sunday is the highlight of my week, a day of refreshing in God's house, feeding on the means of grace.

The Bishop's Power - an Editing Issue

2011-06-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Originally, in my book on Athanasius, I had mentioned that bishops had more power than they do today. Since most of my young readers are probably not very familiar with the role of bishops, I had described them as "in charge of many churches." That created a problem. A Protestant child may think of a pastor, and what kind of "power" does a pastor hold? My editor, Annette Gysen, and I went back and forth with emails for a while discussing what power bishops held in those days (fourth century AD) and how to explain it to children.

I decided to ask Dr. Giorgio Corti, expert in patristic studies and author of the book Lucifero di Cagliari – una voce nel conflitto tra chiesa e impero alla metà del IV secolo, and he replied by giving the following examples.

1. The bishops' authority depended much on their strength as opposed to the emperor's strength. It was difficult for a bishop to oppose a strong emperor. Bishops like Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, and Cyril were strong personalities.

2. Bishops had a strong impact on their people because they lasted longer than emperors, who often died in battle, at the hand of traitors, etc.

3. Bishops had a better knowledge of their cities than emperors, who lived far away.

4. Bishops lent material help to their people. In Alexandria, bishops granted food to about 1500 people. In Milan, Ambrose rescued the prisoners after the battle of Adrianopolis with the church's money - for this reason, they were very popular, and emperors could not ignore them.

5. For emperors, the problems posed by bishops were some among many others, and could quickly lose importance in the event of more urgent matters. Bishops, on the contrary, were very tenacious in defending their title, because for them this was an essential matter. The bishops had their moments of greatest power when the emperors were busy with political or military problems.

6. Bishops were depending on the church's considerable riches, while the emperors depended on taxes, and were very unpopular for this reason, even with their own officers.

Annette and I realized then that the word "power" was not correct. The bishops didn't have temporal powers as they held instead in medieval times. The correct word was "influence." But how do you explain that to children?

Finally, after reading and re-reading my paragraph several times, the answer became evident. Instead of writing that the bishops were in charge of many churches, I should write that they were in charge of all the churches in a large area or a country. That was enough! If they were in charge of all the churches in a country, of course they had influence on the people, and I didn't need to add explanations.

I decided to post this little editing story here because Dr. Corti's explanation of the power (or influence) exercised by bishops at that time was very interesting.

More on the Black Dwarf

2011-06-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, someone posted a comment to my blog post on Athanasius - the Black Dwarf. This person (who remained anonymous) seemed to suggest that I had some revisionist agenda in portraying Athanasius as an Egyptian rather than a black African. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have found no evidence to prove that Athanasius was in fact black, and since he was born in Egypt I simply portrayed him as an Egyptian. Or rather, I told my illustrator how to portray him and left the matter in his hands.

I also mentioned in my earlier post that the expression "black dwarf" in reference to Athanasius became first known in 1984, in The History of Christianity by Justo L. Gonzales. I also enclosed there a link to an article explaining the situation (BTW, I don't endorse the tone used by the author of this article in regards to Dr. Gonzales).

This recent comment, however, prompted me to write Dr. Gonzales directly, and he kindly replied. I am posting his reply here:

"Thanks for your e-mail. Actually, after that book was published I looked for the reference, and found several of his enemies mocking his stature and calling him 'black'. But the actual phrase 'black dwarf' does not appear in any of the early texts. (There are some later historians who do use the phrase, and I took if from them. But the actual quote in a reliable ancient text I cannot find. I'll have to correct it in the next edition!)

"At any rate, at that time, and among the people involved in the debates, 'black' did not mean what the same word now means in the US. In Egypt, it was used as a derogatory term by some among the Greeks (who had conquered Egypt some seven centuries earlier) and the Romans (who had come three centuries after the Greeks) as a pejorative way to refer to the original Coptic population. These were not 'black' in the sense in which it is applied to people South of the Saharan. They were fairly dark-skinned, and their hair was wavy. But they were neither as dark nor their hair as wavy as the Sudanese and other people to the south. There are many indications that Athanasius was a Copt and that he was very short."

Dr. Gonzales approved of the illustrations in my book and the way Athanasius is portrayed.

Illustrations and Text

2011-04-22T08:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my publisher asked if I wanted more illustrations in my books, and my first reaction was to say YES, of course! He then sent me another email, refocusing and redimensioning my thoughts.

First, he pointed out the importance of photos. "I think that the photos add an interesting effect to the book," he said. "It adds artifacts and such to a beautifully illustrated books, and such artifacts are fascinating to many children. It makes it more than just beautiful by connecting it to reality; not just a story but our history." This is something I have always believed too, from the start.

Next, he emphasized the text. "Another thing I do not want to diminish is the text of the book. While we have tried to make an attractive picture book, it is the story that you tell that is the driving force behind it."

This was a very important reminder. I don't know if I am the only author to feel this way, but it's easy for me to focus on the imperfections of my writing. Besides, I have been getting many great comments about the artwork in my books that I have started to see it as the priority. In other words, I thought, "The text might be imperfect but the illustrations are great, so that's what's counts." It's funny how easily and even subtly priorities can shift in our minds if we don't continue to review our goals and refocus our intentions.

My publisher's words reminded me immediately of the dramatic shift provided by the historical

Reformation - a shift from sight to hearing, from images to words.

I have already written a rough manuscript for my next book, Lady Jane, and I can see now that the quotes from Jane's letters as well as the explanation of important concepts such as justification by faith and the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice are really the focus of the message, and these concepts cannot be put expressed visually, just as the Gospel cannot be understood in creation.

I want the children to understand why so many tumultuous events were happening in England at that time and what was the motivating force of the English Reformation. In fact, I want them to understand the Reformation in general, to see why it compelled people to do what they did, and then see Jane as one of its strong representatives (as she really was), rather than just an oblivious and naive girl as it is often portrayed.

So far, I have been trying to write in a very factual manner, describing only the emotions that are documented rather than assuming things, but illustrations (as novels) are by nature imaginative and require assumptions. There is definitely a place for them, as they complement the text and keep the children's attention alive. Still, they cannot take priority over the text.

Character Arc

2011-03-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

The character arc is not one of my main priorities in short 64-pages biographies for children, focusing mainly on God's doctrines and His hand on His church. It's however important for the narrative and makes the characters more real and closer to us.

Athanasius starts out in the main story as a fiery, impulsive young bishop, ready to communicate, innovate, and most of all to uphold fiercely the doctrines he has been taught by his teacher, Alexander, as they have been confirmed by the Council of Nicea. He might have made mistakes at that point, certainly not as serious as his enemies said. After trying to defend himself at Tyre, he flees by night to talk to Emperor Constantine. He braves the seas in an unfavorable season, arrives in Constantinople ragged and tired and surprises the emperor by meeting him on the road without notice and in unseemly conditions. At first the emperor listens and agrees on his innocence, but when Athanasius' enemies come up with new accusations, Athanasius snaps and tells Constantine that God will be the judge between them. Not the most diplomatic reply. So he is sent off to Trier on his first exile. That's where the story really begins, with a young, impulsive, and worried man.

The story ends with a mature Athanasius, ready to blow off the worries over a pagan emperor by describing him as a little cloud which will soon pass. The sound of the ominous crows over the temple of Serapis is to him just a repetition of the Latin word "cras". "Cras, cras", meaning "tomorrow, tomorrow." Tomorrow the cloud will be gone and the pagan temple too. Cras, cras.

In a meeting of bishops, a mature Athanasius is able to distinguish between what is really important and what can be put aside for the sake of unity. The three persons of the Trinity all share the same essence, yes. That's important. They are not just similar to each other, they are really one God. But about the words we use to define that essence, he said that they didn't really matter as long as everyone meant the same thing. That statement put an end to a long period of philosophical discussions, opening the doors to a resolution to the trinitarian crisis (mainly through the Cappadocian brothers).

In view of that, I revised my idea of what the last illustration in the book should be. The setting is the last time when Athanasius hid from his enemies, probably (according to some sources) in a family tomb. The original sketch (see pencil drawing above) showed him in a tomb with the light seeping in. Suddenly, however, I realized that it was not a good ending of his arc. Starting out as an impetuous young man, he concludes his life in the darkness of a tomb? The text emphasizes the happy ending, but I wanted the illustrations to do the same. So we got the idea of an open door. Open the door of the tomb and look outside! Yes, the enemies are still there. Arianism is spreading so much that Jerome has to cry, "We woke up to find the whole world turned Arian!" And while Athanasius was granted a few peaceful years at the end of his life, he was succeeded by an Arian bishop. Still, look at us today! We are confessing the Nicene Creed. We believe firmly that Christ is very God of very God, being of one substance with the Father. God has preserved his doctrine and his church, and will continue to do so until the end. We can open the door and look outside.

Human Yearning in Picture Books

2011-02-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Biographies for children today have for the most part deviated from fictionalized accounts to emphasize facts. There has also been a shift in purpose, from the raising of heroes to an attempt to help children to understand the development of history, personal choices, social concerns, and human experiences. There is an emphasis on accuracy, avoiding suppositions.

At the same time, as I wrote in a previous post, it's the element of human yearning that makes any story captivating. We want to know what moved the characters to do what they did. Since choices and human experiences are understood best through feelings, the author can give some hints, like "he probably felt..."

Of course, the best way to portray feelings in the context of a factual biography is by using actual quotes. For example, it was refreshing to read how young Athanasius, in the midst of all his problems during his first years as a bishop, started his Easter Letter to the churches in Egypt with a song of joy, "Come, my beloved, the season calls us to keep the feast … so that, when time has passed away, gladness may not leave us."

In pictorial biographies, however, there is another way to portray emotions and move the imagination without drifting too far from reality - illustrations! The masterful painting above is Matt's illustration of the dreadful time when Emperor Constans ordered all bishops to sign a paper denying the conclusions of the Council of Nicea regarding Christ's divinity and especially denouncing Athanasius. It's definitely hard for us to understand the feelings of the bishops who signed. It has been suggested that there was a general atmosphere of theological unclarity (after all, our "orthodox" theology was just in the process of being formulated at that time) rather than fear of the emperor, since martyrdom was still seen as a desirable death for a Christian. After that, we really don't know.

In the illustration, we find ourselves face to face with three pondering men - a bishop and two Roman soldiers, with the looming statue of Emperor Constans behind. We still don't know their thoughts, but they are in front of us and we find that all our prejudgments and rash conclusions are halted in our minds. This is, in my view, one of the main purposes of accurate biographies. They help us to understand or at least empathize. They draw us closer to someone else's life and thoughts and widen our own. They take us to another time as we would travel to another country and help us to sample it through another person's experience. And it's something our children need as well.

Yearning

2011-02-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Most books on writing fiction advise the author to find their character's yearning. There is a perceived need and a hidden need. The hidden need is normally the motivating force, the yearning that carries the character through the story, even if at first it's not clear.

I had to determine that with Olympia (the main character in Weight of a Flame, the Passion of Olympia Morata). Being historical fiction, I could not make it up. I had to study her letters.

Her perceived needs and wants were obvious. She wanted to use her talents. She wanted to please her father, and others in general. She wanted to find a husband who appreciated her skills.

Her hidden need was not as clear. I had to go to the end of her life to find it, tracing it back to the start.

I remember sitting on a train in Italy, travelling back from Ferrara, her hometown, reading her last letters. Suddenly I saw something I had never noticed before - a repeated, almost unexpected emphasis on God's strength. She talked about it in almost every letter, with insistence, as if she were trying to convey a newly found treasure.

When did it start? Soon after she arrived in Heidelberg, giving signs of a mortal and incurable illness. What had happened? Just before this, she was a guest at the house of the Counts of Erbach, and was struck by their devotion to God. She had especially befriendedf the countess, Elizabeth, who apparently had been plagued by many ailments ever since she got married. That's when all seemed to make sense - maybe, Elizabeth said something to encourage her to rely on God's strength.

Being a work of historical "fiction," I was free to follow my instincts as much as the actual documentation. I began to see Olympia's character arc right in her letters. She started out as a young, talented woman, eager to please others, fearful of their opinions, and not very convinced of her faith in God. She ended with a deep faith and a total reliance on God's strength. The end result was the fulfillment of her hidden need, even if she didn't know she had it.

I then made that yearning the motivating force of her life from the beginning - a yearning for God, a God she came to know slowly through her life, first as Truth, in a letter by her father (this is a bit of fiction - the letter is true and so is her realization, but I put them together to give it a context); then as Truth worth dying for, in the prison with Fanini; then as Comfort, in her travels to Germany and throughout the war; as Fulfillment, in her meeting with the Fuggers (another bit of fiction - the meeting happened and the lesson was learned, but maybe not simultaneously); and finally as Strength.

Writing historical fiction is interesting, because even when we recognize a character arc, our hero or heroine doesn't usually follow it in a systematic manner. There are ups and downs, few steps forward and some back. Even after finding true faith in God, Olympia kept harboring a resentment for the people who had offended her, until the very end, which is what makes the story much better than a prefabricated account that goes from weak to strong, unbelieving to believing, bad to good.

Working with Illustrators

2011-01-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

Years ago, when I was looking for an illustrator for my series, someone told me, "If you find a good one, hold him fast!" Someone else said that working with an illustrator is like a marriage. I think they meant the same - think well before you choose one, and then stick with him or her.

Many publishers don't allow authors to choose their illustrators nor to communicate with them.

Someone explained to me that authors and illustrators don't always see eye to eye and publishers try to ease that relationship by mediating between the two. In my view, however, this causes other problems. For example, it can be disheartening for an author to see illustrations that don't match what he or she had in mind. I imagine it's even worse to find this out once the book is printed. I have seen some picture books for children where the illustrations didn't exactly match the captions.

On the other hand, some of the illustrators I contacted had such horrible experiences working directly with authors that they refused to do so. Mostly, they said that authors are too close to their work and too demanding. I remember one illustrator giving me an unsolicited psychological evaluation from my emails. He had me figured out as a client and knew exactly what to expect if he had to work with me.

There is always a balance. Sometimes authors "see" the picture a certain way and want illustrations that match their view but, unless they can actually draw a sketch or take a photo of someone posing, they can't expect the artist to have the same mental image. I have often been pleasantly surprised at how different my artist's view of a scene can be from mine. The only time I correct him is when there is anachronism or when the illustration deviates from the actual story.

In this respect, I have found it useful to write a very detailed list of illustrations needed - stating the time of day, the place, the age of the characters, and describing the event in the most accurate way possible. In spite of this, there have been times when my explanations were insufficient and gave the artist the wrong impression about the event or the feelings of the characters to be portrayed. That's why it's good to always see and approve pencil sketches before the illustrations are finalized. My present artist is using oil paints, which is God's mercy for faulty authors like me, since some things can be changed even after the painting is completed.

Also, some authors are not too good at communication skills, while a graphic director in a publishing company is trained to do just that. Personally, I like to be totally involved. I would rather work very hard to sharpen my communication skills than relinquish this level of participation. I am very grateful for the editorial staff at Reformation Heritage Books, who has allowed me to do so from the start, even when it didn't seem like the right decision.

For my novel on Olympia Morata, which will be published by P&R this year, I was not given the choice of an illustrator and could not communicate directly with him. When P&R showed me some ideas for the cover of my book, I had to express my concerns to them, expecting them to talk to the illustrator. I was not used to this and I admit it was not easy. In this case, I have learned to yield, which I guess is a healthy thing to do.

As a bonus, my year-long search for the right illustrator for my series of children's books has left me with a group of new friends - wonderful artists who have decided not to work with me for several reasons (mostly because I cannot pay what they rightly expect and deserve), but who are gracious enough to answer my questions if I ever feel the need to contact them on any issue.

I am very grateful for Matt Abraxas, my present artist. Working with him has been a pleasure and I hope I am not too difficult a client.

A Masterful Illustration

2011-01-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

Matt (Abraxas) is outdoing himself. His illustrations of my book on Athanasius are the best yet. Here is his interpretation of Athanasius' trial in Tyre, where he had to answer to a charge of murder (among other accusations).

My daughter said, "It's evil."

"The men's faces, right?"

"The red color in the back."

Normally, my books are pretty sedate in tone, trying to express as much objectivity as possible, but while a biographer can be sedate, a novelist and an illustrator can't. The biographer can lay out the facts, but novelists and illustrators must necessarily tell a story, imagining emotions when they are not told.

Modern biographers tell us that some of the accusations brought up against Athanasius at the council of Tyre might have been founded. His election might have been out of order. He might have been too young to be a bishop, and he might have condoned some acts of violence. We can switch to any political channel today and feel just as confused. We don't know all the facts.

But we have this one scene. On one hand, Athanasius, a very young and energetic bishop, who had lived his childhood during the greatest persecution of Christians of all times and had been trained by one of the staunchest defenders of the full divinity of Christ in a cosmopolitan, highly cultural, and theologically divided city. On the other hand, we see those who disliked him - Arians and Meletians alike. As charitable as we can be toward those groups (after all, most heretics and schismatics truly believe to be working for the truth and the good of the people), in this particular situation their accusation was absolutely false, and anyone who hides a man and produces a severed hand to prove his murder deserves a red backdrop!

So Athanasius looks at us in the picture. (I love how Matt does this, he did it in the illustration on the cover of John Owen, where the little girl looks at us straight in the eye). He looks at us and explains. These are angry men. There is tension and contention. Their accusation was unfounded and he has proved it. There is a little hint of confidence on his face. He is asking but hoping we'll agree with him.

There it is - my interpretation of Matt's interpretation of the facts...

More on Biographies

2011-01-19T09:35:00.001-08:00

I have found an interesting article by Zoubeida R. Dagher and Danielle J. Ford about children's biographies of scientists ("How Are Scientists Portrayed in Children's Science Biographies?", Springer 2005), with an excellent critique of children's biographies of scientists. Immediately, I noticed that there are many similarities with Christian biographies. For example, the characters are usually represented as heroes and lone rangers (working independently from the scientific community and previous research) and relying on observation rather than methodical study.

One sentence in particular, regarding a biography of Galileo, struck me. "There is no hint to the complexity of Galileo’s proposal, suggesting that any person should have been able of looking carefully through the telescope and seeing what Galileo saw." We do this so often in Christian biographies for children! I have read some children's biographies of Luther that have left me with the feeling that anyone could have opened the Bible and discovered justification by faith! There was no mention of the work of others before him, both as individuals and in church councils.

I have already turned in my biography of Athanasius, but until the editor sends it back with their corrections I am still keeping it in the back of my mind to make sure I explain to the children the complexity of the Arian controversy rather than just giving a simple good guys vs. bad guys account. It's not a matter of complexity or simplicity of language. I think it's a matter of mindset. If I see the issues in simplistic terms, my books will be simplistic. If I take time to understand the issues in their historical and intellectual context, my words will reflect that, while remaining simple. The more I continue to read and understand, the better the end result will be. It's the same when writing historical novels - if I pick up a few details about the time period and insert them here and there, the artificiality will show, but if I soak my mind with a great variety of pertinent information, then as I write the images will appear naturally in their proper context.

Lady Jane

2011-01-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

I have been very selective in the choice of titles for my series of Christian Biographies for Young Readers. From the start, my vision has been to introduce not a random choice of role models, but men and women who have helped to shape the church and our Reformed theology. In other words, the focus is on God's providence, His church, and His doctrine.

The first four titles in my series have done just that. Calvin, Augustine, John Owen, and Athanasius have all been instrumental in the understanding and development of very important tenets of the Christian faith.

It is, however, time to include a woman, and it's hard to keep the same criteria in my choice. Women were esteemed in the early church. My favorite is Marcella of Rome, a rich and very educated woman who was eager to learn all she could about Christian doctrine and became a great influence on Jerome and on Roman women of her time. Still, we can't say she impacted the church and its doctrines.

I don't remember how the choice fell on Lady Jane. I had her in my list of prospective titles, and the publisher thought she was a good idea. I couldn't say she had a monumental impact on the church either. Still, telling her life will give me the opportunity to show how God preserved His people and doctrine in England during the difficult transition from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant church.

I foresee some difficulties. There is much myth and hagiography around the figure of Lady Jane, but I am confident that the Lord will help me as He has done until now.

Athanasius - Black Dwarf?

2011-01-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Matt is now working on the first illustration for my book on Athanasius, and we are discussing physical features. We don't have many documents to help us with our decision. All paintings and orthodox icons portraying Athanasius were made many centuries later.

There is the common nickname of "black dwarf." I was puzzled when I first found it, because I could not read this description in any original documents. Something else was strange. When I tried the search in other languages ("nano nero" or "nain noir") I couldn't find any results. I asked an Italian expert on that particular time period and on the early Fathers, and he had never heard of it.

Finally I found this site http://www.conorpdowling.com/803/chasing-the-black-dwarf with some explanations.

The fact that Emperor Julian had called Athanasius "a little man" does not necessarily mean that he was physically short, and apparently 20th-century American writers called him black just because he was African. I was later told by an African-American activist that the term "black" in America has a very wide meaning that goes beyond skin color. So an Egyptian could be called black just because he is African, and that could explain the "black dwarf" nickname.

I know this is a debatable subject and I am not interested in starting a discussion here. I just want to solve a practical problem: what did Athanasius look like?

We know that he lived in Egypt. His name is Greek, so he could have even come from a Greek family, which would make him Mediterranean but not dark. To avoid supposition, we can make him look as a typical 4th-century Egyptian. One of the best guidelines in this respect is the Fayum collection of portraits dated about the same time (1st-3rd century A.D.)

According to Philip Schaff (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church), "later tradition adds a slight stoop, a hooked nose and small mouth, a short beard spreading into large whiskers, and light auburn hair." This is, however, just tradition and not an accurate first-hand description.

I will let Matt decide what to do. His guess is as good as mine, and he is the artist. This post is

just an explanation to anyone who might ask me later why our Athanasius looks like he does

The Problem with Heroes

2010-11-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

In one of my latest posts, I wrote that children need to know that God is the Hero of history more than they need to know heroes. This is not meant as a depreciation of great men and women of church history, but as a recognition of God's hand at work in the lives of His children. Heroes could never be so without God.

Appreciation for Heroes

I have a great admiration for the characters of my first three children's books and I would love to have one tenth of their devotion to God. As I studied their lives, I came to appreciate more than ever their persistence, their love for the church, their wisdom, and many other virtues. Their samples have come to my mind many times.

They have even helped me with my writings - John Calvin, with his clarity, accuracy, and refusal to write about something that was not certain in his mind; Augustine, with his honesty and courage in pursuing difficult questions; and John Owen, with his catholicity, humility, and ability to relate to our nature and communicate God's glory.

There are, however, dangers in writing about heroes and I pray I can be aware of them in my books.

Biographies as Law

In a recent lecture on Athanasius at Grace Bible Church at Dunmore, PA, Dr. Carl Trueman said that Christian biography tries to answer the question, What is a true Christian? Biographers of different ages replied in different ways. During the first 300 years of church history, a true Christian was a martyr. Martyrdom was exalted to the point that some Christians sought it intentionally (a 4th-century Church Council finally declared that those extreme Christians could not be considered martyrs of the faith).

With the advent of Constantine and the legalization of Christianity, persecution became rare. Who was then a true Christian? According to Trueman, it was someone who went off into the desert to spend time in solitude with God. In an era when politics had infiltrated the church, with all the violence and intrigues they entail, escape to a monastery in the desert seemed the only way to live an unadulterated Christian life. Thus Athanasius' Life of Anthony, the first full biography of Christendom.

In the 19th century, a true Christian was a missionary to far away lands. Last century? Of the books of his youth, Trueman remembers exciting conversion stories such as that of Nicky Cruz in The Cross and the Switchblade.

These biographies excite us but often leave us discouraged. Most of us never had an exciting conversion story. Most of us will not travel to far away lands. Even the virtues of Christians of the past, magnified through the biographer's lens, seem out of reach.

My pastor (Rev. Michael Brown) often says that the law without the Gospel can only produce despair or self-righteousness. I think it's the same for Christian biographies when they focus on men rather than God. By elevating the virtues of some Christians of our past, they preach law and, most of the time, don't follow it with the soothing hope of the Gospel message.

Who's the Enemy?

Another challenge in writing biographies is to show internal as well as external enemies. Reading about someone who spent his or her whole life struggling against external opposition is exciting, but detached. In the same lecture, Trueman explained that we relate much more to Augustine's Confessions, where the enemy is clearly internalized (Augustine vs. Augustine) than to Athanasius' Life of Anthony, where Anthony appears as a super-hero fending demons and crocodiles. For children, the story of a man or woman who faces tremendous external difficulties is exciting, but relates little to their everyday life, unless they can read of the inner struggle and the true feelings that accompanied those difficulties.

As I mentioned in a previous post about Athanasius, Augustine is generally forgiven even when he used his authority to impose a particular doctrine on other groups of Christians (the Donatists) because he is to us an open book and we relate to his feelings. We understand the times he lived in and his actions in that context. On the other hand, we find it hard to forgive Athanasius' methods, even when seen in the same historical context, because what little he wrote about himself sounds as an attempt to draw sympathy to himself and to demonize his enemies.

Our kids get a fair share of superheroes today in secular books and movies, which are thrilling and exciting, but the books that make them think are those that dig deeper into the minds and hearts of their characters, like the Narnia or Lord of the Rings series.

Lone Ranger Heroes

Focusing on the accomplishments and the faith of men rather than the God who allowed those accomplishments and preserved that faith can not only present an unreachable goal and appear as law rather than Gospel, but it can give our children a distorted view of Christianity. If our children learn to see church history as a series of great acts by heroes and heroines of the faith, or even just as a flowing of events marked by the strength of those great figures, they will continue to look for important figures in the church today. If the Christian heroes are introduced apart from the church as a whole and the God who is preserving the church through its ordained leadership and its creeds and confessions, they will encourage a type of "Lone Ranger" Christianity rather than biblical humble submission to the church as instituted by God.

Challenged Heroes

What worries me the most is that if the Christian biographies we offer our children don't accurately portray the person and his or her times, the faulty or simplistic image the children formulate in their minds will be challenged and they will not be equipped to answer. As Eric Ives wrote in his Lady Jane Grey - A Tudor Mystery, "In the West, growing secularization ensures that relatively few people even understand the issues which meant so much to [Jane]." One of the main issues at that time was the Lord's Supper vs. the Roman Catholic Mass. That's something that many brush off today. "So, you believe that the bread and wine really turn into the body and blood of Christ and we don't. OK." In Lady Jane's day, the Mass was called an abomination, an idolatrous and blasphemous act, and condescending to it was often equal to apostasy (depending on the cases, of course). Most people today don't understand those strong, compelling sentiments and beliefs.

Take John Owen - why would Puritans choose to lose their jobs, possessions, and sometimes lives to worship in a simpler way, without a superimposed Book of Common Prayer? Or Athanasius - from a secular point of view, what's the big deal between Jesus being God and Jesus being similar to God? Our children need to know.

As I wrote my book on Athanasius, I kept in mind the next Dan Brown who will show up when our children are older (they have been popping up periodically). I would be elated if they remembered my book when someone tells them that the divinity of Jesus was a human invention, that the Council of Nicea was solely motivated by Constantine's political concerns, and that the books of the New Testament were put together arbitrarily by some mean church leader who wanted to hide the truth.

I don't know how close I will come to this goal, but at least it's a constant aim in my mind. I was encouraged by Dr. Robert Letham's comment on my Athanasius book, "It fills a gap between simplistic (and often erroneous) summaries of Athanasius' life and monographs that only scholars would read." He is definitely too kind, but even if I came one step close to do that, it encourages me to continue.

Church History for Children

2010-11-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

(Reprinted from Modern Reformation, July/August 2010, by permission. I am the author)

As a homeschooling mother of eight, I have always found the concept of unit studies fascinating. Find a subject of particular interest to the children and incorporate the curriculum into this study. The original interest will keep the children motivated. It makes perfect sense. Actually, this method is not a prerogative of homeschooling situations. I used it as an elementary teacher many years before homeschooling became a popular word. It is really a form of integrative or interdisciplinary teaching.

My dilemma was how to adopt this integrative method with my children while retaining a cohesive educational program. As I went from the Pythagorean theorem to Victorian poems to Baroque music, my children’s knowledge seemed scattered and their perception of history departmentalized and vague. I thought, If they have to study history in a chronological order anyhow, why don’t we incorporate all other subjects into that order?

I bought a huge poster board and drew vertical lines to indicate the major eras of human history. Then I drew horizontal lines to organize this history into the different school subjects—art, music, literature, math, and science. Influenced by Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live, I added philosophy and theology. Whether we agree with Schaeffer’s steps or not, the relation between all these disciplines is obvious.

Children love to learn about the past and are naturally drawn to adventures and stories. It was easy to use this natural interest and build a corollary of other studies around it. It was fun to immerse ourselves in each era and understand, as much as possible, what motivated people to act and think as they did. Soon I realized that a deeper understanding of the past, even at a young age, fostered a deeper understanding of the present and of the treasury of notions normally stored in our contemporary minds. In particular, a deeper understanding of the history of the church and Christian thought fosters a deeper understanding of the doctrines, methods, and liturgies we follow today.

There are several reasons why studying the development of Christian thought can be useful to children. I will mention some, not in any particular order.

First, by studying church history, children will develop a respect for Christian tradition. One of my original concerns was that many of our covenant children (mine included) didn’t seem to have a grasp of the continuity of the progress of God’s people throughout the ages. There was, in a sense, a gap between the biblical accounts and our lives today, with a few inspiring stories of some individual Christians interspersed between the two. I felt the need for a sense of continuity. Augustine, Luther, Calvin—and many other great men and women of

church history—were not isolated voices but drew from the tradition of the church before them, and we must do the same.

Second, children will develop a sense of belonging to God’s church throughout the ages. One of the first things that impressed me as I came to Reformed theology was the covenantal relationship of church membership and family, and the strong sense of belonging it fostered in children. How

meaningful it is for all of us to recite together every Sunday the creeds formulated in the first centuries of church history and repeated by Christians throughout the ages! What an honor it is to sing God’s praises as they have been sung by this great cloud of witnesses! As Dr. Robert Godfrey, president and professor of church history at Westminster Seminary California, is often quoted as saying, “They are our family.”

This point is really connected with the first. When children become aware of their participation in the historical progress of God’s people, they develop a deeper appreciation and respect for their tradition and an active desire to preserve it.

Third, studying church history will teach our children to deal honestly with questions and doubts. It will show how men and women of all times have faced great questions regarding God, faith, and salvation. My hope is that, as they read about Calvin’s struggle to leave a church and belief system he had been upholding for years, or Augustine’s intense battle of wills, they will realize the weight of their choices and the importance of taking seriously the same questions and struggles.

Fourth, as they learn church history, children will realize the inadequacy of simplistic answers. If a child has no idea of the church’s continuous and conscious effort to examine and refine its theological thought throughout the centuries, he/she will think that choosing a belief system is as simple as choosing a hairstyle or a favorite football team. The best choice will be whatever sounds good. Some years ago in a homeschooling office, I overheard two mothers talking about religion. “What’s an Arminian?” one asked. They looked it up in the dictionary and found something like this (I don’t know what dictionary they used, so I am quoting Merriam-Webster): “Of or relating to Arminius or his doctrines opposing the absolute predestination of strict Calvinism and maintaining the possibility of salvation for all.” They closed the dictionary and said, “Okay, we are Arminian.”

How efficient, I thought. They were able to solve in two minutes a question that serious theologians have debated for centuries. Today, most people don’t have time to think. They can

find most answers on Google or Wikipedia. It’s important for our children to realize that the Reformation didn’t simply start by nailing a piece of paper on a church’s door.

Fifth, a study of church history and tradition fosters a critical mind. As children examine different views (including the different heresies and the answers the church has provided), they will consciously or unconsciously compare different thought systems, instead of accepting blindly and lazily the beliefs passed on by their parents. C. S. Lewis explains this well when he writes:

Every age has its own outlook. It is especially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books....Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them. (C. S. Lewis’s introduction to On the Incarnation by Athanasius)

Sixth, a study of church history and tradition fosters a tolerant mind. I could also say “a catholic mind,” because this is the meaning I am inferring from the word “tolerant” in this

context. When we read the great theologians of our past, we are often impressed by their thorough knowledge of the Christian tradition, including the apostolic and church fathers and the medieval writers. We should teach our children the humility to recognize that we need the wisdom of the ages, a humility that can function as an antidote to our natural arrogance and from the present attraction to simplistic “just-me-and-my-Bible” solutions. As many have pointed out, sola Scriptura is not solo Scriptura. “An appreciation of history, and of the doctrinal struggles of the church throughout history, are surely crucial to the avoidance of a narrow sectarianism and self-righteousness in the present” (Carl Trueman, Reckoning with the Past in an Anti-Historical Age).

Finally, a study of church history can foster a realistic view, dispelling romanticized ideas of past golden ages. There was hardly a time when God’s church was not plagued by disunity, heresies, and inner struggles. As we impart this realistic view to our children, in the study of history as well as in our lives, we can teach them to turn their eyes on Christ who has preserved his church in spite of its human frailties. As the Jew told Giannotto in the second fictional story of Boccaccio’s Decameron, after seeing the terrible corruption of the church in his day (in the fourteenth century): “[Seeing] that your religion continues to spread and to acquire even brighter radiance, I think I am right to see that the Holy Spirit is at work in it.” Of course, we will not agree with every Christian thinker in our past, but if we respectfully consider their views, we will realize with Lewis that “what is left intact despite all the divisions still appears (as it truly is) an immensely formidable unity” (C. S. Lewis’s introduction to On the Incarnation by Athanasius).

The study of history in general is typically considered alien to the American mindset. According to Jaroslav Pelikan, our nation has “been more hungry for its future than addicted to its past” (Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition). Carl Trueman agrees:

We live at a time when innovation is of the order of the day and tradition is at a discount. Whereas in the sixteenth century the very novelty of Luther’s ideas was what made them so suspect and, one might add, so likely to be wrong, nowadays, it is the traditional which is likely to be considered wrong and the novel which is likely to be regarded as more likely true. (Carl Trueman, A Man More Sinned Against than Sinning?)

This is just one more area where we have to train our children to go in a direction that is countercultural. While homeschooling is a convenient way to teach church history to children, it is not the only way. It can be taught in informal conversations or included in family worship.

A chart can still be useful to give an idea of the chronological progress. Try also to read some portions of writings from each time period. It might surprise you to discover how simple some of these can be. Presently, I am reading the Letter to Diognetus to my children, a jewel of Patristic literature. To quote Lewis once again (the whole On the Incarnation by Athanasius is worth reading in this respect), “The great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.”

Looking back, I wish I had learned church history at a young age. It would have helped me to face other truth claims with a more objective frame of mind and prevented me from ever believing feeble attempts at reinventing the theological wheel.

The Good, the Bad, and Everyone Else

2010-11-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

It's hard to sound impartial when writing a biography for children. It's hard enough to be impartial, almost no one is really 100% so, but it's especially hard to convey impartiality to children who seem to have an inborn, strong sense of right and wrong. Theologically, we say it's the Law written in their hearts.

Recently I read my manuscript on Athanasius to a Sunday School class (1st-3rd grades). In spite of my careful attempts to write an objective account, I realized that, after only a few paragraphs, they had already formulated some strong moral judgments in their minds. Athanasius was good - why else would I write about him? Alexander was good because he liked Athanasius. Arius was bad because Alexander disagreed with him. That was clear as soon as Arius died, because Olivia expressed her total dismay, saying, "Oh no! The good guy died and the bad man is still alive!"

Will it help to explain to the children that no heretic ever set out to bring wrong doctrine into the church? or that Arius was as sincere as Athanasius in his efforts to help Christians to have the correct idea of God and Christ, even if, as repeated church councils have convened, his teachings were not scriptural? How important is it to point it out? Should we let the children enjoy a little longer their oversimplified view of reality? Probably, unless the oversimplification is superimposed.

We all want to reduce things to black and white because we like it. We want a world well-defined that we can understand. But the truth is, there are more shades of grey than we thought and we are often afraid to face them. We need to be as impartial as possible in our instruction to our children.

I have recently read an article lamenting the lack of heroes in today's education. The truth is, we have plenty of heroes, they just uphold different values and are more flawed. As an Italian, I went through grammar school with glorious images of heroes of the struggle for Italian unity and independence. Today, Italian children learn the problems that a (possibly premature) unity has caused for the South. With the availability of internet research, children can learn with a click of a mouse the countless flaws of any heroes they may have been taught to admire.

Is this wrong? We can hold on nostalgically to a past populated with courageous heroes and grand gestures, or we can help our children to face reality. We wouldn't be the first generation in history to do that. The "heroes" of the Bible were mostly sinners from dysfunctional families, and yet there was a time when the Bible was read to children straight, and not filtered through cute children's books. The heroes of the true classics, like Odysseus and Achilles, were men struggling with their own passions and incongruities. Still, those are the characters that have mostly shaped my youth. Odysseus' obvious mistakes and misjudgments made him so much more relevant to me than the short heroic vignettes upheld to children as "role models", like Mutius Scaevola (a Roman legendary hero who burned his own hand to show what Roman bravery was all about).

The Hero of the Bible is God, from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is not a book of inspiring stories of great men and women, but is the story, as my pastor often says, "of God redeeming a people for Himself through Jesus Christ." And so the history of the church, from Adam until now, is the story of God continuing to redeem and preserve His people, believers of all nations, simultaneously sinners and saints. Our children need to see God in history more than they need to see heroes, and they are more capable of understanding flaws, putting them in the right perspective, than we may think.

Editing Athanasius

2010-11-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

I am having fun editing my book on Athanasius with some children at my church. Yesterday I visited the 1st-3rd grade Sunday School class and started to read the manuscript. Since I could not show the illustrations (not done yet), I drew pictures on the board.

They loved my illustration of Alexander watching Athanasius and his friends play on the beach. As soon as I started to draw some waves they told me I was a very good artist. There is nothing like the encouragement of a 7-year old. They also thought it was unusual to play "church" on a beach and wondered if Athanasius could baptize the other children "for real." They asked if the other children were his brothers and sisters.

When I started the theological explanation of Arius' doctrine, and how he said that if Jesus was God's Son, He had to have a beginning, the discussion became particularly interesting, as someone pointed out that Jesus was actually born. I explained that He was born as a man but not as God. When we hear Arius' formula ,"there was when He wasn't," we automatically understand it as referring to Jesus as God, but children don't, so I made note of that.

The intense discussion suddenly shifted when Adam declared solemnly, "I know why God is not married." He definitely got my attention.

"It's not that He cannot be married," He said, "but doesn't want to because that's the way He is. And He will never get married."

The highlight of the lesson was the hand Athanasius' enemies had brought in as a proof that he had killed Arsenius. Trying to be discreet, when I talked about the hand I pointed at a box, as if the enemies had brought it to Athanasius in a chest of some kind. That had the opposite effect, as Olivia asked me, her eyes wide open, "In our prize box?" I tried to reassure her, but she was not too sure and kept her eyes on the box carefully. "Is it still in the prize box?" she asked me later. This time I persuaded her that it was not.

Her brother Adam had the opposite reaction. His eyes shone bright as he heard of the severed hand. "A hand with blood gushing out? I have seen that hand!" Halloween was only a few days ago...

Sunday School ended there, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the manuscript to the children. I could not write these books without them!

When History is Unclear

2010-10-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Someone said, "When history is silent, folklore flourishes." I would add, "When history is unclear, imagination has a ball." At least that's the impression I get when I read some historical accounts...

Illustrating children's history books (or providing information to the illustrator) can present some interesting challenges. I mentioned some in an earlier post, when I was working on my book on Augustine. This seems to be particularly true when writing about a character who lived in the first millennium after Christ (or earlier), when history was not written with the purpose of presenting objective facts.

I have spent a couple of days researching two simple scenes - Athanasius, condemned by the Council of Tyre, flees to Constantinople where he hopes to convince the emperor of his innocence.

First, how does he flee? Most sources say that he left secretly by a raft under the cover of night (so Timothy David Barnes, Peter Brown, et.al.) Since my illustrator asked me for details, I started to think more carefully about it. Did Athanasius really travel by raft from Tyre to Constantinople? By himself? Did he even know how to navigate? How did he get there, following the stars?

OK, maybe the word raft meant something different. Maybe it was a small boat, and he paid someone to take him. Or maybe he took a small boat to reach a larger boat out in the sea.

I asked Dr. Giuseppe Corti, expert on patristics and author of a book on Lucifer of Cagliari, and he pointed out that sailors at that time would not leave during the night. OK then, maybe it was just before dawn. It makes sense. So the illustration will portray just that.

Next, he gets to Constantinople and apparently meets Emperor Constantine outside the city. We read that he had to wait for him because he was away. So we are faced with new questions?Where did the emperor come from? That would determine what he was wearing. Was he in a chariot or riding a horse? And Athanasius? How was their interaction?

In Athanasius and Constantius, by Timothy D. Barnes, we find an account of that meeting originally written by Constantine himself but reported by both Gelasius of Cyzicus and Athanasius, with some small differences. Athanasius tells us that Constantine was riding a horse. Good.

Then both writers go on to describe the exchange. They both mention that Constantine at first didn't talk to Athanasius. It seems that he didn't even recognize him and was surprised to find out that it was him. Gelasius says that Athanasius was "so humbled and cast down that we fell into unutterable pity for him." Athanasius omits that.

Was Gelasius right? Many other accounts (by modern writers) describe Athanasius as boldly approaching the emperor. One writer even says that he grabbed the reins of the emperor's horse to stop him. Was Athanasius bold or humbled? Should the artist show some pity on Constantine's expression or just surprise?

And why didn't Constantine recognize him at first? He had met him at least twice before. My guess is that Athanasius looked quite worn out and dirty after a long journey at sea and probably a long wait outside the city gates (he might have had to wait for a few days).

And about the expression, well, maybe he was pretty humbled and cast down, but also bold (in approaching the emperor and insisting to be heard). After a few hours, we see him threatening him that God will judge between the two of them. So we have a wide range of emotions.

Conclusion: I am leaving all this to the illustrator, confident that he will come up with the right expressions, clothes, and setting, and am moving on to further research for the next illustrations...

A New Name

2010-08-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have changed the blog's name from Autosxedia (a Greek word found in a letter by Olympia Morata and translated as "words at random") to Imprints of Providence.

I started blogging as a way to keep people informed about my writings and a way to collect my thoughts. Over the course of time, I have been focusing more on the actual process of writing my Christian biographies for young readers, so a name change seemed in order. It is encouraging to see God's Providence at work in the history of His church, in spite of all the flaws and outright sins of the men and women He has chosen. My prayer is that my books will help our children to recognize God's loving hand as He continues to preserve His people and uphold His promise.

Athanasius - Hero or Heel

2010-03-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

I decided to write a book about Athanasius (in my series of Christian Biographies for Young Readers) because I would like to give our children a historical and theological context to the Nicene Creed they often recite in church. As soon as I started my research, however, I realized that I was dealing with a very complex character and situation.

While some honor and venerate Athanasius as a courageous and self-denying saint, some think that he was nothing more than a self-serving violent politician. Of course, the truth is bound to lie somewhere in the middle. Or rather, as it is for so many characters of the past, the truth has to be viewed in the original context, free from the superimpositions of our own culture and our own modern views.

I must admit that, after seeing Athanasius compared to "a modern American gangster," (Timothy Barnes) I started to have some doubts. His theology is undoubtedly correct, but did he enforce it through violence and political schemes? David Brakke, in his article, "Athanasius", in The Early Christian World, tries to strike a happy medium between the two opinions. Still, it did not help me much to read, "The analogy of 'a modern American gangster' fails to capture this volatile combination of genuine religious conviction and brute political force, which may better be compared to that of a modern Iranian ayatollah." (Brakke)

"Athanasius' dual identity as saint and gangster stems from his more basic identity as a Christian bishop in the post-Constantinian imperially favoured chuch; the fourth-century bishop's roles as preacher, theologian, patron, and administrator render hopeless any modern attempt to separate 'religion' from 'politics' or 'thought' from 'action'." (Brakke) As so often happens, we have to let these characters "be men of their times."

All the characters in my previous books (Calvin, Augustine, and Owen) displayed a behavior which reflect the mindset of their times. Take Calvin and Servetus - most of us are ready to say that we would act differently in his shoes, but would we have really acted differently back then? Owen and the massacre of the Irish - how much could he do and how fully did he really approve or condemn Cromwell's actions? It seems rather that he accepted them as a necessary evil. And Augustine's approval of a government intervention against the Donatists has been widely criticized. After all, it was not too different from Athanasius' repeated appeals to imperial sanctions of a common doctrine and of one church.

Again, I find Brakke's insight very valuable: "If the resulting Athanasius seems less appealing than, say, the Augustine who sanctioned coercive actions against the Donatists, it is perhaps because, unlike Augustine, Athanasius has left us few glimpses of the inner life of a man burdened with such weighty responsibilities." We love Augustine in his Confessions. We even sympathize with him when, in a letter, he compares the unrepentant people who kept pestering him for justice to flies that he just wants to swat away. We are then ready to understand his position with the Donatists.

Finally, I decided to read Athanasius' Festal Letters, even if an expert thought they would not help me much. There, I immediately found a vibrant man full of love for God and His church. "Come, my beloved," his first letter starts, "the season calls us to keep the feast … so that, when time has passed away, gladness may not leave us."

I suddenly saw Athanasius as a young man, barely 30 years of age, suddenly invested with a position larger than almost any man could handle - the bishopric of the wide-spread area of Egypt and Lybia, full of disunity and strife - a position of utmost importance in his day, highly coveted, which came with immediate, unpleasant repercussions.

I saw aspects of his life and personality which I believe have been underplayed in his biographies (which normally focus on his defense of the full divinity of Christ). I understood his youthful passion and courage and his desire for innovation - trying to bridge the gap between the cities and the desert and bringing theological arguments to the level of the common man.

Then, providentially, I found a confirmation of my feelings in some writings by Charles Kannengiesser. "In such careful reading," he says, "the surprising fact begings to emerge that even in the more polemic Apologies, Athanasius is revealed as a pastor, much less interested in imperial politics than in the religious and spiritual education of his flock. If correctly noted, this primary concern reveals in all the Athanasian treatises and letters a vivid interest in the Bible and its use in a pastoral pedagogy" (C. Kannengiesser, Early Christian Spirituality).

(to be continued as I find out more about Athanasius)...

Vittoria Colonna

2010-03-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of poems by Vittoria Colonna (1490 - 1547), translated from the original Italian.

WHENE'ER I LOOK AT MY SO GREAT AN ERROR

Whene’er I look at my so great an error,

confused, to God the Father I can’t raise

the unworthy face, but to You who for us died

upon the wood, I turn a faithful heart.

Your pain and love are today my shield

against a wrath that’s ancient and yet new.

You are my only true and precious pledge,

turning to hope and joy anguish and dread.

As Your breath left you, You prayed for us: "O Father,

let those who believe join me in my kingdom."

And now my soul at rest knows no more fear.

Now by Your mercy I believe, and know

Your burning Passion which razed all my guilt

forever, as it consumed You on the cross.

MADRIGAL

The white, sweet swan

dies singing, while I weeping

come to the end of life.

How strange and different our fate:

his death is without comfort,

mine full of blessing.

O sweet and gentle death,

to me more pleasant

than any joyous life!

O death which fills me

with great desire and mirth,

for, as the Phoenix,

I die but find new birth!

Funny Resemblance

2010-03-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

Could there be a resemblance between John Owen (here on the right) and Robert Plant (top picture, right)? Or between Thomas Goodwin (here on the left) and John "Bonzo" Bonham (top picture, left)? You can be the judge.

(Thanks to Rev. Michael Brown and Dr. Carl Trueman for suggesting this thought).

Stages of Writing

2010-01-14T07:14:00.001-08:00

I have just entered my favorite stage of writing biographies for children - the artwork! For those who are wondering how these books come about, here is a general idea:

1. First stage - research. Tons of books and articles. I study not only the person's life, but the time period. I also start reading his or her writings. I do a timeline and take lots of notes on index cards and organize them chronologically. As I study, I find names of experts and often contact them to see if they would like to help me. My main question at this time is, Why am I writing about this person? What impact did he or she make on church history?

2. Second stage - writing. This is actually a tough stage, as I have to condense everything I have read and express it in words that children can understand. My first draft is simple. I concentrate on choosing the main points I want to convey, keeping in mind the answer to my previous question. I also decide what illustrations would be needed and send the ideas to the illustrator. I also contact my map illustrator and tell him what map I need.

3. Third stage - photos. As I choose the photos, I develop and refine the text. I have finally found ways to get photos without paying a fortune. Agencies charge a lot of money for photos of paintings even if the paintings themselves are not under copyright. I found other avenues to get the same photos for free or at a low cost, from individual photographers who don't expect monetary rewards or from government agencies who ask for minimal fees. This knowledge has not come easily, but through much trial and error.

It is a painstaking, but interesting stage. I usually end up learning a lot more about the subject as I find photos, so it's a good time to write my "Did You Know?" section, published at the end of each book. I also get to know lots of interesting people. I made many wonderful friends this way. And it's encouraging to find so many people willing to help. For my book on John Owen, for example, after trying unsuccessfully to find an affordable picture of William Laud, I contacted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who graciously allowed me to use an image from the official collection. In the process, I read some of his poetry and love it!

4. Fourth stage - review. I re-read the whole manuscript over and over. I get my kids together and read it to them so many times that they probably memorize it. Each time we find better ways to say things. They are wonderful critics and I could not do without their help. I have four children at home now, Jonathan (16), Kevin (14), Raphy (12) and Reny (10). They all bring different suggestions and perspectives.

5. Fifth stage - finding reviewers. By this time, I have contacted quite a few experts and I ask some of them if they would like to write a review. I send them the manuscript and wait for their replies.

6. Sixth stage - artwork! By this time (sometimes sooner) the illustrator starts to send me his work. This is one of the most exciting stages, as we work together on each image. It took me a while to find an illustrator who is just excited as I am about the project and who likes to work with others. I found that it's easy to find extreme attitudes with illustrators. If they are mainly artists, they might not be used to receiving suggestions and making modifications to their work. If they are mainly illustrators, they are sometimes used to being told exactly what to do, which is stressful for me, especially if I don't communicate things just right. I have finally found a good match, thank God!

In this stage, the artist normally sends me a sketch for each illustration and I approve them. Sometimes we talk about clothing, architecture, and objects fitting for the specific time period. If there are questions, I look for paintings from that time. Recently, we wondered what a young man would wear when playing sports in the XVII century, and I found that he wore pretty much regular clothes.

I love this stage because I like to see my character, whom by now I have come to love, through another person's eyes.

7. Seventh stage - write acknowledgments and send everything to the publisher and pray that he doesn't go crazy over the flood of photos and illustrations which accompany the text. I usually number them all and place the reference within the text. So far, they have put up with me...

8. Eighth stage - I get the final product back for me to check. It's hardly possible to catch every possible mistake, but RHB has done a remarkable job in this respect (besides the high quality format they have produced).

9. Ninth stage - advertising. My least favorite stage. I wish I didn't have to think about this, but I also want the book to sell so the publisher will be more likely to allow me to publish more. After I pay the illustrator, the map designer, and some photographers, I really don't make any money from this. In fact, with all the copies I give out for free, I probably end up in the red, but I have never meant for this to be a source of financial support.

10. At this point, I ask RHB what the next title should be. I suggest one or two. I get their answer, and the process starts again...

These points sound easy on paper, but I am sure you can recognize the frustrations, the excitement, the discouragement, the comfort, the questions, and the discoveries between the lines.

The Excitement over Christ's Coming

2009-12-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

I just re-read a letter written by an early Christian to a man named Diognetus. It's a beautiful letter, written in a simple, refreshing, and poetic style around the second century A.D. I always liked it for its description of the early believers as "indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs," yet "extraordinary" because "they live in their own countries as if they were only passing through." Clear distinction of the two kingdoms.

But what impressed me today is the writer's excitement as he explains to Diognetus the wonder of Christ's coming:

"For, who of men at all understood before His coming what God is? Do you accept of the vain and silly doctrines of those who are deemed trustworthy philosophers? of whom some said that fire was God, calling that God to which they themselves were by and by to come; and some water; and others some other of the elements formed by God? But if any one of these theories be worthy of approbation, every one of the rest of created things might also be declared to be God. But such declarations are simply the startling and erroneous utterances of deceivers; and no man has either seen Him, or made Him known, but He has revealed Himself. [...And] after He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning, He conferred every blessing all at once upon us, so that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be active. Who of us would ever have expected these things? He was aware, then, of all things in His own mind, along with His Son, according to the relation subsisting between them.

"As long then as the former time endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them; nor that He approved the time of working iniquity which then was, but that He sought to form a mind conscious of righteousness, so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able. But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us, He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors! Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life, and having now revealed the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it was [formerly] impossible to save, by both these facts He desired to lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious[ concerning clothing and food."

Wonderful thoughts, as we celebrate the coming of our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life.

"Who of us would have ever expected these things?"

Merry Christmas!

Turning in the Manuscript

2009-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Turning a manuscript to the publisher is one of the hardest things I have learned to do. It could be because I am a perfectionist. It could also be because I am new at all this and feel like I don't know what I am doing half of the time. Each time, however, God has come to my rescue at the last minute.

Even if many people had read my manuscript on Augustine, I was not totally satisfied with it until, just a week or so before my deadline, Dr. Philip Cary of Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, read it and sent me many valuable suggestions, taking the time to examine line after line, always ready to answer my questions (see an earlier post about this).

I turned in my first manuscript of my short novel on Olympia Morata in May. The corrections went back and forth between my editor and I for a few months, until she felt that it was done. Still, I was not completely happy with it. Since this is my first attempt at writing a novel, I thought I was just expecting too much. "Maybe this is all I can do," I thought.

By a turn of God's providence, I discovered only one month ago that I had to obtain permission for all my quotations of Olympia's letters and poems because, even if they were written in the XVI century, the translation I used was quite recent. The permission was given, but too restrictive. The only alternative was to re-translate everything. The letters were originally written in Latin, the poems in Greek.

I studied Greek for four years and Latin for seven, but that was a long, long time ago... Right then, a young man preached at our church. "Most of you know me for my passion for anything Greek," he said as he introduced himself. The answer! I asked him if he wanted to translate some poems for me and he said yes. His name is Chris Stevens. The result was fantastic, as he was able to catch subtle nuances that the original translator, probably not as acquainted with the Septuagint version of the Bible, had missed.

As for Latin, I was happy to discover that I can still master the language. My mother would be proud of me! I actually read each passage out loud in Latin, feeling like a teenager again. Never mind that, way back in high school, Latin translations were seen as gruesome tasks. This time I actually enjoyed them!

All this unexpected extra work, however, served another purpose. It was buying some time. Enough for my friend and former editor Heather to email me and invite me over. I had sent her my manuscript months ago, asking if she could review it, but she had never answered. I found out why. She had been fighting cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Being in remission, she was now willing to read my manuscript.

"I need to send it in by Friday," I told her.

"Send what in by Friday??? This is Wednesday night!!!"

I really didn't expect her to do it, but I told her Monday would be OK. She must have worked late into the night, even Thursday, after a day spent watching her three young grandchildren (triplets). Her comments came in three messages, insightful and discerning, probing me to draw deeper into the wells of my mind to find more convincing and poignant explanations of various concepts and emotions.

Her questions were incisive. I had written this book with young Christian girls in mind, mostly Reformed Christians, and many statements were unintelligible to other readers.

"I have been bought with a price," Olympia's father said in my manuscript.

"Who bought? Who sold? What price?" asked my friend.

Well, tomorrow is Monday and the manuscript is done, thanks to Heather, thanks to Chris Stevens, and thanks to God. This time, even I am satisfied with it.

Happy Birthday Augustine!

2009-11-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today Augustine is 1655 years young. Yes, just read any of his writings, especially his Confessions or some of his letters and sermons, to see how young he really is in his constant quest for truth and sincere communion with God.

I will celebrate his birthday with the prayer that the small biography I wrote for children will help many to appreciate his writings and have a greater desire to know and love God. (Click on the links on the left side of this blog to see the cover and some sample pages of my book on Augustine).

The cake on the left is an attempt, by Pasticceria Colzani, in Cassago, Italy (supposedly the same place as Cassiciacum, where Augustine spent some time preparing to be baptized and join the visible church) to reproduce the cake Monica prepared for her son Augustine on his 32nd birthday. It is made of the same ingredients described by Augustine: spelt flour, honey, and almonds - very healthy in today's standards.

On that grey and rainy day, the cake brought joy and comfort to all: Monica, Aeodatus (Augustine's son), Navigius (Augustine's brother, who apparently had a propensity for sweets), his friend Alipius, maybe his friend and host Verecundus, and some disciples. In fact, it prompted a three-day discussion on the pursuit of happiness, and the treatise De Beata Vita (On the Blessed Life) was the happy result.

The desire for happiness was very important for Augustine, an inborn, universal instinct which is meant to lead us to true happiness in God. For Augustine, happiness is... ultimately, to enjoy God forever.

John Calvin Still Travels

2009-11-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

About two months ago, a man contacted me from Austria. He needed a translation of some documents because he is trying to claim his Italian citizenship, which will allow him to continue his missionary work in Europe. In the course of our transaction, I discovered that he is the principal of an International Christian School in Vienna, and I introduced my book on John Calvin to him. He liked it so much that he ordered four more copies.

Just today, he sent me his school's newsletter with a picture of the book being offered to the school librarian. You can see the Austrian band on the same page.

I am really amazed and humbled by all this. I am glad that the book sells well because good sales will prompt the publisher to continue the series, and I believe the series is absolutely needed. But if the books are well done it's all because of God's providence and mercy in spite of myself - as my publisher and some of my friends can attest.

God's Encouragement

2009-11-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

Finally, after many months of hard work, the second book in my series, Augustine of Hippo, is at the printshop! It is scheduled to be published on November 20th by Reformation Heritage Books, Grand Rapids, MI.

Of course, I am very excited.

The only setback has been the news that my Italian publisher, Alfa & Omega, could not afford to publish this high-quality, hard-cover, heavily-illustrated book, in Italian. I understood their problems. Still, I was quite disappointed. I believe a book on Augustine will be very well received in Italy, as it appeals to Protestants and Catholics alike. I was begrudgingly prepared to look for another publisher there.

But God was ready to surprise me. After hearing John Calvin, the first book in the series, read during Sunday school class, a member of the Reformed church in Novate Milanese offered to help fund the printing of the second book. I am waiting for a final decision from the publisher, but things definitely look promising now.

I am amazed at this encouragement from God. My vision for these books, as I explained before, is to give our children a simple picture of God's work in His church throughout the ages, with clear references to the historical context and an easy explanation of the progression of theological thought (I am writing an article for Modern Reformation where I explain why Church history is an essential part of our children's curriculum). It's wonderful when others share and support this vision, and especially when God's hand is so visibly at work.

Thoughts on Art

2009-10-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a wonderful sermon by my pastor, Rev. Michael Brown, on Bezalel and Oholiab and their artistry work in the temple (Exodus 31). One of the main points of the sermon was that God takes form and beauty seriously and has very high aesthetic standards. He also takes pleasure in the creativity of His creatures.

That God loves beauty and art is obvious in creation and in the fact that He has placed an artistic tendency in all of us. Even if we don't all create art, we appreciate it to some extent. And even if we don't all paint or compose, we use our creative faculties daily to beautify our life and the world around us.

The tragedy is what today's American Christian culture has done to those natural artistic tendencies. They have repressed them, censured them, and minimized them. Many have already drawn striking similarities between the church in the Middle Ages and the evangelical churches of today. This is particularly true regarding art and censorship. Whenever we try to give art a pragmatic moral function, we cripple it, as history continues to prove. God sees art as something legitimate in itself. Rev. Brown quoted Francis Schaeffer as saying, "Art needs no justification." Schaeffer also said, "The lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God."

Rev. Brown pointed out that, with the fall, damage has come to God's initial masterpiece. Christ came to restore creation to the beauty originally intended. It's wonderful to understand our yearnings for beauty as parallel to our yearnings for holiness, as both will be present in full in the world to come.

The reason I chose this painting of Ophelia by John Everett Millais for this blog entry is that I was struck by the story behind it. Millais was one of the Pre-Raphaelites, a group of Romantic painters moved by the passion to reform art and bring it back to the intense colors and abundant details of Italian XIII century art and Flemish art. The Pre-Raphaelite movement has received much criticism and I am not making here a case for their art, but their passion and devotion is admirable. At a time when most artists were painting inside studios, Millais spent countless hours in the fields, studying nature in all its details. The poor model spent hours in a freezing bathtub (the candles used to warm the water had gone out and she was afraid to mention it) until she developed pneumonia.

What motivated this extreme devotion? An unquenchable yearning for beauty and perfection, something every artist will immediately identify as his or her own. God has put this yearning in all of our hearts and we need to recognize it and honor it. Sadly, we find it mostly in non-believers. But why? It seems that, of all people, we should share most intensely the groaning of nature waiting to be delivered (Romans 8:19-22).

Sometimes we hear, "See what passion and devotion non-believers show in their art? We need to show the same for God." What those messages normally indicate, however, is that we should express our passion and devotion only in "spiritual" things such as worship and prayer, or practical things directed to the furtherance of the Gospel. We should have learned by this time that the Gospel is not promoted by a paranoiac fear of culture and the refusal to use our talents to express our yearnings and even groans. Thank God for the Psaltery and the honesty of those songs!

Last (I am already going over the time I have allowed myself for this), the passion and devotion that moved Millais to labour day after day in the reproduction of every blade of grass is an eulogy to accuracy and precision in our work. Rev. Brown exhorted us to flee mediocrity in our vocations. There is a wonderful word for mediocrity in Italian, "pressapochismo". "Pressapoco" means almost, roughly, more or less... Pressapochismo is a noun derived from the adverb, meaning "roughliness" (my spell-check is telling me that the word doesn't exist, but maybe it should.

It's disheartening that Christians are often satisfied with mediocrity in the arts. It doesn't matter if the music is poor, if the novel has no plot or the art is shoddy, as long as the message is there. God knows the pain I suffered after the artist of my first book stopped working for me. I thought it would be easy to find another artist, but I was faced with a choice of poor quality or prohibitive prices. Sometimes, sadly, Christian artists offered both! It was also a lonely struggle, because many Christian friends were puzzled by my suffering. Why should I care so much about the quality of the art? I am grateful to God who has provided a truly great artist (Matt Abraxas) for my third book, on John Owen.

Disclaimer: this blog entry is not meant to give an accurate summary of Rev. Brown's sermon, but only my own impressions and thoughts. You can hear his sermon here: http://www.christurc.org/sermons_exodus.html

The Plot

2009-10-19T10:36:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Pastor Brown exhorted us to keep our eyes on God's story and not on our individual stories. That takes on a new meaning now that I have written a short story. It's the advice every how-to book on writing will ever give. First of all, they say, establish a logline. Whose story is it? What is the goal? How does the main character get from point A to point B? After establishing the logline ("It's the story of a _____ who starts out _____ and finally ends up ________), you must paste it on your computer where you can always see it, because keeping in mind the main story is one of the hardest thing for a writer.

My friend Dianna is writing a movie script where four friends embark on a short but adventurous journey to reach an immediate goal. All four need to grow through this journey, but the story is really about one of them, Daniel. Dianna and I meet weekly. She helps me to make some progress on at least one of my innumerable projects, and I give her some feedback on her script. "Is it Daniel's story?" she asks repeatedly.

The focus on the main character and the main plot is ever-present in a writer's mind. I hope my writing experience will make it easier for me to keep my eyes on the ultimate, over-arching plot of humanity: God choosing and preserving a people for Himself and for His glory.

Fayum

2009-09-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have just finished getting all the photos together for my book on Augustine. Too bad that we don't have a portrait of Augustine done by his contemporaries. Not that skill was lacking. I am so amazed at the talent of the artists of the Fayum mummy portraits in Egypt, done more or less at the same time when Jesus was on earth.

This was more or less the type of people who surrounded Jesus, the Apostles, and later Augustine (even if, in 400 years, the fashion had probably changed).

I am wondering why we had to wait another 1400 years to see the same realism in art.

New Obstacles and More Help

2009-09-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief after receiving the last illustration for the Augustine book, I received an e-mail from my publisher saying that some of the photos I sent him are not good enough! Since this book has only 12 illustrations (six less than the other one, mostly because of problems with the illustrators), I really need to include a lot of photos!

One of the problems is that, as opposed to the Calvin book, we don't have portraits of Augustine done by his contemporaries, and we don't have any buildings from that time still standing - just ruins. In Milan, we have less than that, because the city was totally destroyed by Barbarossa in 1162.

A second problem is time - most of the photos on wikimedia and other free sources online have a low resolution, and where am I going to find lots of photos with so little time left (the book is being typeset and they actually stopped working on it because of this)?

I have been looking everywhere and praying for God to supply.

One of the first answers to prayer has been this photo on the left, sent by James O'Donnell, provost at Georgetown University and author of Augustine: a New Biography, which has been a great addition to my research material while writing my book. James O'Donnell has a wonderful website on Augustine: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/

This photo shows the remains of Augustine's church in Hippo Regius, with the altar and apse at the far end. I am deeply grateful to O'Donnell and to God!

Unexpected Encouragement

2009-09-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have received, just a few days ago, an e-mail from Phillip Cary, Professor of Philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania (photo on the left).

Dr. Cary graciously agreed to read my manuscript on Augustine (on short notice!) and made some precious comments and suggestions. He also wrote a wonderful review for the back cover.

Phillip Cary is author of several works on Augustine, including Augustine: Philosopher and Saint, 12x30 min. tapes by The Teaching Company (highly recommended). These tapes have helped me immensely in developing the outline of my book, as they point out quite clearly the milestones in Augustine's life and the main issues in his thought. Dr. Cary's enthusiasm for this great man of Church history is contagious and I hope I was able to convey it in my book.

I appreciated Dr. Cary's comments and suggestions because they were very specific. He obviously took much time to thoroughly examine each paragraph. But they were also particularly helpful because they shared the same idea that children can understand more than we often give them credit for. He said things like, "Even for a children's book, couldn't you...?", or "in a book for children, shouldn't you?"

I felt like he was next to me, coaching me along. I couldn't ask for anything better! And what a timing! The book is being typeset right now! God is taking care of this book in spite of myself.

Dr. Peter Brown (photo on right) is the author of Augustine of Hippo: a Biography, which has been considered the standard account of Augustine's life and thought. It's one of the clearest books I have ever read, as well as thorough and full of useful annotations. It has been my main source of reference while writing my book.

I have contacted Dr. Brown only recently to ask him to write a review for my book. The reason why, in both cases, I wrote so late is that I never thought these great professors and authors would take the time to consider a small children's book such as mine. Regrettably, Dr. Brown is too busy at this time, but he sent me a personal and warm reply, greatly encouraging me in my pursuits.

Rachel Getting Married

2009-09-16T08:24:00.001-07:00

My husband is a movie-lover. He watches a movie every night when he is not watching football. I don't usually join him - too much blood most of the time. Last night I was sick with a cold and saw this interesting movie about family woes. Rachel's sister Kym (Ann Hathaway) struggles with terrible guilt for having caused the death of her little brother. As she explained the weight of that guilt, she said (as I remember), "I cannot forgive myself, and can't believe in a God who will." And later, "What am I supposed to be now? Even if I were Mother Theresa I could not remedy what I have done."

She is so right. I think with sadness of days gone by when I would have said, "No, God forgives you. He is waiting with outstretched arms." But those who are crushed by guilt know better. God, in His justice, cannot forgive, and there is nothing we could ever do to atone for our sins. To say otherwise is to minimize our sin and Christ's sacrifice.

We can never help others by pulling them up to a made-believe, Mary Poppins type of world where everyone can be happy just by accepting that God loves us. We need to delve into the real world where they are suffering, sharing their real pain, and agree with their absolutely logical conclusions, and then introduce them to a real historical event - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and to the Covenant of Redemption that it fulfills - the only logical explanation to why there is still hope in this fallen world.

A 9/11 Reflection

2009-09-11T19:00:00.001-07:00

A few people today asked what I was doing on 9/11/2001.

I remember watching the news early on TV. My father called from Italy. He knew nothing about it. I explained what had happened, and he said, "You make it sound as if it's the end of the world." He called me an hour later and said, "It IS the end of the world!"

Well, it was not, really, but it reminds me of the sack of Rome in 410, the first time Rome was ever invaded in almost eight hundred years. It had been called the Immortal City. I can imagine the same shock and fear. We know that many blamed the "new" Christian religion. Too weak of a God, they said. That's why Augustine wrote the City of God, a 22-book reply!

In some ways, however, it was different then. The Visigoths were not motivated by religious beliefs. They were not trying to make a statement. The 9/11 hijackers did.

Over the months that followed, I was saddened by the reaction of many Americans, who chose to respond with hate to hate, with violence to violence, with prejudice to prejudice.

I worked for Arab-American Business Magazine for a while after that, and was appalled to find out how many Arabs were mistreated in this country as a result of 9/11. Sad, sad stories. I also wrote two articles for a Christian paper, on the same subject, hoping to present a different view. In the process, I spoke to some wonderful people and was enriched.

My conclusion, eight years later, is quite simple: we are all sinners, Arabs, Americans, Italians, or whatever. It's only by God's grace that I didn't hijack one of those planes or torture some Iraqi prisoners, as appalling as the thought seems to me.

Augustine on Science

2009-09-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

I am not partial to Augustine, and of course I don't agree with everything he ever said, but there is so much of his thought that I could not include in my biography for young readers. I love this quote on science.

It is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics [science]; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? (Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis).

How puritan were the Puritans?

2009-09-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

I just read an interesting article on Tim Challies' blog http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/quotes/the-puritans-and-sex.php

If the Puritans, like the Reformers before them, had a positive attitude toward sex, how did the change in attitude come about?

I always found interesting to notice different views of modesty in different cultures, throughout the centuries and around the globe.

At the time of Augustine (IV-V century), Christians were baptized naked, in front of the whole congregation. Ancient Romans slept naked, and so did monks in most monastery. It was a V century Catholic saint, Benedetto da Norcia, who finally wrote in his rules that his monks should wear something in bed.

It was the medieval Catholic church that destroyed valuable Greek and Roman works of art in the name of modesty (it is said that the church destroyed more artwork than the barbarians).

It was during the Counter-Reformation that Pope Pius IV hired an artist to add some pants to Michelangelo's Last Judgment.

On the other hand, the Renaissance (and the Reformation) ushered in a renewed appreciation for the classics in all their forms.

In the XVI century, Olympia Morata, the subject of my historical novel, widely praised by her Reformed contemporaries for her knowledge and piety, translated two fables from one of the most irreverent and scandalous books of the XIII century (Boccaccio's Decameron) and quoted freely "poets of love" such as Catullus and Ovid in her correspondence with other Christians.

On the occasion of her wedding, she composed this prayer,

Wide ruling Lord, highest of all rulers,

Who formed the male and the female sex,

You who gave to the first man a wife for his own,

Lest the race of man die out,

and wished the souls of mortals to be the bride of Your Son

and that He die on behalf of His Spouse,

give happiness and harmony to husband and to wife,

for the ordinance, the marriage bed, and weddings are yours.

It's interesting that she mentions the marriage bed, while in our culture we are quite shy to include it in our conversations, and I doubt that we would pray for it in public!

When I first came to America from Europe, I noticed fewer people kissing in public. On the other hand, couples at church felt quite free to stroke each other's backs, sometimes for the whole length of the sermon, something that I have never seen in Italian churches!

My point? I don't know. I don't think blogs need to have a point, necessarily. I am just making an observation.

Or maybe, if we want to find a point, it is the same as in my previous post - the study of history widens our views.

This time, however, I am not adding a picture to the post...

Church History for Children

2009-08-30T20:07:00.001-07:00

I just read a very encouraging message from a dear friend and mentor of mine. "Just by reading your blog and the notes on Amazon and the like, it seems to me that you have some really worthwhile material. There is a lot of good in church history told simply, with thought to detail and a valid picture of the person and times," he said.

I have come to appreciate church history the hard way (by believing, for a while, some who claimed to have reinvented the wheel). I believe it's important for us and our children to understand how the church throughout the centuries has formulated and crystallized the biblical doctrines we hold today.

There are several reasons why studying the development of Christian thought can be useful to children. I will mention some, not in any particular order.

First, by studying church history, children will develop a respect for Christian tradition and realize the inadequacy of simplistic answers. If a child has no idea of the church's continuous and conscious effort to examine and refine its theological thought throughout the centuries, he/she will think that choosing a belief system is as simple as choosing a hairstyle or a favorite football team. The best choice will be whatever sounds good.

Second, children will learn to deal honestly with questions and doubts. As they examine different views (including the different heresies and the answers the church has provided), they will compare different thought systems and reasoning, instead of accepting blindly and lazily the beliefs passed on by their parents.

Third, history will teach our children how men and women of all ages have faced great questions regarding God, faith, and salvation. My hope is that, as they read about Calvin's struggle to leave a church and belief system he had been upholding for years, or Augustine's intense battle of wills, they will realize the weight of their choices and the importance of taking seriously the same questions and struggles.

My first book, on John Calvin, is not packed with theology. I mostly showed how Calvin organized the Protestant church and its beliefs soon after its birth. With my book on Augustine, I introduce the controversy against Pelagius and Augustine's careful explanation of the doctrine of sola gratia. It's all in simple terms, for young children, but I hope they will remember that sola gratia was not a 16th century invention.

In my book on John Owen, I am planning to get even deeper. John Owen's theological work is so massive and had so much impact on future generations of Christians, that it must be addressed, even in a book for 1st-4th graders. And children can certainly understand.

My Weight is My Love

2009-08-29T07:27:00.001-07:00

I love this picture of Augustine thinking as he writes The City of God, (De Civitate Dei). Many pagans had blamed the sack of Rome of 410 on the Emperor's abandonment of the traditional gods and embracement of the new Christian religion, so Augustine embarked on a 13-year, 22-books long answer. He pointed to two different cities. "Two loves have created these two cities," he said, "namely, self-love to the extent of despising God, the earthly; love of God to the extent of despising one's self, the heavenly city. The former glories in itself, the latter in God."

Love is a constant theme in Augustine. Some time earlier he had written in the Confessions, "A body by its weight tends to move towards its proper place. The weight’s movement is not necessarily downwards, but to its appropriate position: fire tends to move upwards, a stone downwards. They are acted on by their respective weights; they seek their own place. Oil poured under water is drawn up to the surface on top of the water. Water poured on top of oil sinks below the oil. They are acted on by their respective densities, they seek their own place. Things which are not in their intended position are restless. Once they are in their ordered position, they are at rest. [...] My weight is my love. Wherever I am carried, my love is carrying me. By your gift we are set on fire and carried upwards: we grow red hot and ascend."

This painting of Augustine looking up reminds me of this quote.

But there is another reason why this painting is dear to my heart. It was done by Emanuele Taglietti, the artist who has illustrated my children's biography of John Calvin. He had started to work on the Augustine book but decided not to continue. This decision, which nearly destroyed our friendship, was very difficult for me to accept. I knew I was largely to blame and felt terribly guilty. Someone told me that working with an illustrator is like a marriage. If that's the case, what I experienced in this case was a pain similar to that of a divorce.

Yesterday, however, he gave me permission to publish his painting here, which means a lot to me. It's like lifting an ugly cloud. Posting it here is liberating. As life goes on, wounds tend to heal and gaps tend to be filled, even as new wounds are inflicted and new gaps form. In this fallen and unsteady world, with all the mistakes I constantly make, I am always comforted by Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will." As Heidelberg Catechism Q28 says, "in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move." My weight is my love.

John Owen, the Pastor

2009-08-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

My next project (just started) is a children's biography on John Owen. Before I start any of these biographies, I always wonder, "Why is this person important to our children?" I could never write without having that thought clear in my mind, especially since my books are very simple and concise and I don't have room for non-essentials.

With Calvin, I was impressed by the clarity of his writings. Without him, it would have probably taken much longer for the Church to develop an unified, cohesive thought. Calvin's honesty and precision in writing were also particularly striking to me. As a veteran translator, I recognize and appreciate a well-thought choice of words. That's why, I believe, Calvin had (and has) so many enemies: his message is absolutely clear.

His commitment to the clear exposition of the truth in spite of tremendous obstacles, afflictions, and disappointments reveals a deep-seated love for God and His church. All this was fixed on my mind as I wrote my children's biography on John Calvin.

Augustine was also driven by an utmost passion for God and His truth, which he expressed in a more emotional and poetic language than Calvin. This commitment for the truth led him to formulate with clarity and boldness the doctrine of Sola Gratia, even when it led to the uncomfortable but unavoidable conclusion of God's predestination. He had some other amazing achievements, but these were the main point fixed on my mind while writing about him.

As I now face the immense volume of writings produced by John Owen, I have to ask myself the same question, "Why in the world am I writing about this person?" Owen had a tremendous impact on the religious and political life of his day, and his writings on the atonement, the Trinity, worship, and covenant theology are, in my view, conclusive, thorough, and comprehensive, but how can I convey this to a 7-year old?

Then I saw that Owen's motivation in writing was always pastoral. When the Socinians realized that the only way to allow man's choice as the determining factor in his salvation is to claim that God doesn't know everything, Owen saw the awful implications of this teaching on a pastoral level.

My second son, Simon, claims to be an atheist (I sympathize with Monica in her prayers for Augustine). This morning I asked my children, "What is more comforting, to think that Simon's eternal fate is entirely in God's hands, or to think that God doesn't really know what choice Simon will eventually make, so his eternal destiny is really in his own hands?" The answer was obvious even to my youngest. God is perfectly merciful, wise, and just. My son is very stubborn, impetuous, and has made a good share of foolish choices.

Seeing Owen's writings in their pastoral context makes them relevant even to our youngest children. I will be teaching Sunday School to 4th-6th graders this year, but I hope that Tricia will allow me one visit to her class (1st to 3rd graders) to read my manuscript once it's done. Children are my greatest inspiration and critics.

This Was Augustine

2009-08-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

My book on Augustine is nearly finished and should be out before Christmas, God willing (I will post the final cover when it's ready).

It has been a very intense experience for me. I lost my first illustrator when I was already half-way through the project, then I embarked on a long and difficult search for the right artist. One day, when I was particularly discouraged, I saw this painting online (see left). I stared at it for a long time. This is really Augustine as I see him, his soul constantly stretched forth toward God. I found the name of the artist, Ezio Pollai, and I called him in Siena. His wife answered the phone.

"I am calling from America," I said. "I would like to speak to Master Pollai."

Ezio Polliai was utterly surprised. He enthusiastically gave me permission to publish his painting in my book and, in a very Italian way, invited me for coffee at his house, just behind Via dei Pittori. I wished to hop on a plane right then...

I asked him if he would do illustrations for my book, but he said that he does only paintings. Still, I felt that God was encouraging me. Pollai's ability to capture and portray Augustine's soul encouraged me to think that maybe, with my feeble words, I could introduce to our children this great man of old who bared his soul with a startling degree of honesty and revealed a yearning for God that invariably jolts us out of our complacent daily lives and moves us to cry with him, Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

I pray that my book may convey to our chidren the same hunger and thirst after God which continued throughout Augustine's life and caused him to assert boldly the wonderful doctrine of God's grace that, many centuries later, was at the heart of the Reformation.

SDG!

What Would Augustine Do?

2009-08-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

There is usually at least one portrait of men and women from Church history which is done by one of their contemporaries. Not so with Augustine. The oldest portrait of Augustine was done in the VI century (about 100 years after his death, see photo on left). On the web there must be a hundred different paintings, each portraying Augustine as some artist saw him.

Augustine was a Berber from Northern Africa (Algeria). So maybe that's what he looked like (see photo on top right). But his personality? Most of the artists who sent me their initial samples saw him as a pious, quiet, remissive man, and often depicted him burdened by heavy church apparel. On the other hand, from his geographical background and his writings, I see him as an extremely passionate man, very intense, fervent, always looking for more truth, more light, more understanding. So, in every situation, my suggestions to the artist always included the most dramatic response.

In some ways it was probably good. Wes, my present artist, is a quiet, unassuming man, and his personality has come up in some of the illustrations. So our feelings combined probably granted a pretty well-rounded personality to our Augustine.

But that's just the point. What did Augustine really do and feel in the situations we have portrayed? As I read his description of the different events of his life, my mind would immediately create a mental picture which I did not even stop to question. Not until an artist sent me something totally different after reading the same passage.

We will never fully know the answer to my question, not as long as we are in this world. I believe that we have done the very best to illustrate each situation as Augustine or his contemporaries have described it. Jay (my publisher) may say that I have been even too fastidious.

On the other hand, this dilemma shows the wisdom behind the 2nd commandment. No matter how closely you stick to the written text, if you draw a picture of Jesus you will always end up making it your Jesus. Same for slogans like WWJD. How do we know? And who cares? We know what Jesus wants us to do, and that's enough. I know, I am digressing... I always think too much. That's why I love Augustine!

Illustrating the Unknown

2009-08-20T11:10:00.001-07:00

Illustrating my biography on John Calvin seemed like a breeze. My artist did a wonderful job and I barely had any comment or correction to make. But the book on Augustine has been tough, because we know so little about the time period. Also, most artists throughout the centuries have depicted Augustine as he would have looked in their day, wearing what people would normally wear in their time. So we are left with a ton of questions: Did Augustine have a beard? What clothes did he wear? Was the Bible read in books or in scrolls? Did churches have a baptismal bowl? I read somewhere that new converts were usually baptised naked (something obviously inappropriate for a XXI century children's book). How about crosses? It seems that early Christians did not wear them around their neck (just like we would not wear a model of an electric chair). Did bishops wear a tiara? Did Augustine travel on horseback? (one artist wanted to have him travel on an elephant, but that was a bit too extreme). Most of the time, we stuck to the ancient rule: "When in doubt, don't". If a questionable detail was not needed, we just skipped it.

If I were to list all the questions that come up as the artist illustrates this book, I could fill pages of this blog. I might write a short story about each illustration, as I am sure most readers will never know how much effort has gone into this small children's book!

to be continued...

Reviews

2009-08-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am collecting pre-publication reviews for my book on Olympia Morata. I have received three so far. The last one, received today, was particularly encouraging to me. I am not giving too much away because, God willing, it will be published on the back cover, but it ended by saying, More than strength of character, Simonetta Carr celebrates the strength of the God in whom these believers trusted.

May we, and our children, exhibit the same trust in these days of our own pilgrim exile.

This is really what I wanted to convey. I am so glad someone noticed!

autosxedia

2009-08-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

So many people have been telling me that I should write a blog. I really don't know what they expect to see, but I thought I should honor their wishes. Immediately, I was faced with a decision - I hate decisions. "Choose a name for your blog." Forget it, I thought. I went back to my weekend passion - finishing up my historical novel for young girls. I re-read some letters written in the XVI century by my main character, Olympia Morata. "Autosxedia," she wrote at the end of a letter to her father, "a few words at random."