Vestigia Dei
Wycliffe College Blog

Vestigia Dei  – is a Latin term meaning “traces of God.” As a theological term it is associated with natural theology – that is, the view that there are vestiges of God within creation. We’ve chosen this term as the title of the Wycliffe College blog because our hope is that through these writings, readers might glimpse evidences for God as our writers interact with the wider world.

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The Good Thing: Thoughts on the Confession of St. Peter

Catherine Sider Hamilton

Let me begin with the story of two Rhodes Scholars. One is named William Jefferson Clinton. He went to Georgetown University on scholarship, Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship, and Yale Law School. He served as the 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas and before that was Arkansas’ Attorney General. In 1992, Clinton became President of the United States and in 1996 the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected to a second term.

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Kyrie, Matthew, and Anti-Judaism, or Why Read the Gospel in Greek

Catherine Sider Hamilton

I don’t often think about Kyrie – and, in fact, when I saw the name, just like that, “Kyrie,” in my newsfeed last week I thought I was seeing the Greek word kyrie, meaning “Lord,” as in kyrie eleison, “Lord, have mercy.” That was an exciting moment: New Testament Greek breaking

Listening to the News

Ann Jervis

Do you, like me, have a complicated relationship with the news?

Listening to the News

Ann Jervis

Do you, like me, have a complicated relationship with the news? I find it almost magnetic—I want to know “what is going on,” to think myself part of current social dramas. I also find the news disorienting and discomfiting—it depicts a world out of control.

The Alphabet—Greatest Invention of All Time?

Glen Taylor

I believe our alphabet reflects one of the most significant inventions of all time. Without it, it would take years for me to learn the hundreds of pictographic signs that would be necessary to write this blog and for you to be able to read it. 

People, Look East!

Catherine Sider Hamilton

People, look east! The time is near

Of the crowning of the year.

Make your house fair as you are able

Trim the hearth and set the table.

People, look east and sing today

Society’s Fitting Anger at Evangelical Christians

Ann Jervis

Why is it that Christians—particularly evangelical Christians—are increasingly seen as the enemy of the common good?  A Google search for “evangelical” in The New York Times quickly locates numerous articles about the evils of Christian evangelicals.

Exploring the mysteries of the first two verses of the Bible

Glen Taylor

As a scholar of ancient Hebrew, I have spent decades puzzling about how best to translate the first two verses of the Bible into English. Finally, I have settled on the following:

What is the Best Bible Translation?

Glen Taylor

"What is the best Bible translation?"

As a biblical scholar, I am asked this question more than any other.

What is the Best Bible Translation?

Glen Taylor

"What is the best Bible translation?"

As a biblical scholar, I am asked this question more than any other.

Money

Ann Jervis

Jesus talked a lot about money. Though I haven’t done the accounting, I suspect that money is one of his primary topics. Think of Jesus’ parables: the lost coin, the two debtors, the rich man and Lazarus, the Pharisee and the tax collector, the talents, and so on.

Nine Steps from Biblical Text to Biblical Sermon

Glen Taylor

The process of developing a sermon by drawing meaning out of a biblical text (also known as exegesis) does not have to be complicated.

To be close to Christ’s death: the knowledge of love

Ann Jervis

Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this publicly, but I don’t understand why Christ died. I am confident that I know the reason for it: sin’s hold on humanity. But, how Christ’s death changed that—about that, I am not so sure.

On Seeing Christ in the Psalms

Glen Taylor

My family and I live in a Victorian house in downtown Toronto. One of the things that drew us to buy this old home was the entrance, which consists of two nicely sculpted wooden doors with stained glass panels that make up the upper half of each door.

Have You Had an Epiphany Moment Yet This New Year?

Glen Taylor

Christians familiar with liturgical traditions will know that we are in the season of Epiphany, a period that focuses on Bible passages that disclose the fact that Jesus was divine.

Sex and Sin

Ann Jervis

Sex and Sin have a long history together. 

The “missing link” in creation vs. evolution debates

Glen Taylor

By Glen Taylor

There is something vital missing in many debates about creation versus evolution, and that is the voice of the biblical scholar.