To John Mark: An Open Letter of Thanks

Dear John Mark,

Somewhere approaching six years ago, I had my first interaction with you. It was a terrifying moment in my life. I didn’t have a clue who you were, except that you were interviewing me for admittance into the Torrey Honors Institute. You introduced yourself, but I was not aware of your position in the program. I won’t go into the details of the conversation, but I do remember backing myself into a corner, saying what I realize now were naive things, and you let me into the program, for some reason or another.

The Importance of History

Today I was sitting in my first class of the semester. The class covers the topic of the history of doctrine and theology in the Christian church. The lecture today was primarily about why that history is important.