Common Knowledge - User contributions [en]

Acts

2026-09-15T23:47:26Z

Michael Thomas Jones:

The book of Acts.

== 1. The Ascension ==
'given commands through the holy spirit' = something distinct from the baptism of the Holy Spirit which they're about to receive

3 - Jesus still had teaching for them after he rose from the dead. He still had to instruct them fully on what the kingdom of God was to look like. (As they're still expecting the kingdom of Israel to be restored v. 6) Still it seems like they weren't quite getting it until Pentecost. Only then - even though the apostles would make many mistakes - they would establish Christ's kingdom throughout the Mediterranean by preaching and faith, miracles, tongues, etc.

9-11: Ascension.

16: David's poetry was breathed in the speech of God's Holy Spirit.

20: Regardless of David's authorial intent, these verses are fulfilled - plerothenai - filled up, crammed up out of context - by God's providence and the acts of men in history, giving them a deeper meaning than we would have understood merely from reviewing the verses alone as exegetes in David's day.

21-26: Interestingly, we don't really hear much about Matthias afterwards and at no point is this casting of lots confirmed as the right decision on Peter's part. What happens after Pentecost is perhaps in contrast to this Acts 1 since of confusion.

== 2. Pentecost and Peter’s Sermon ==
1-13: Takes place as if it were a mass hysteria. We pride ourselves on our individuality, but nevertheless our bodies and nervous systems and hearts are connected to many others in various ways, and God can move not just through individuals but congregations.

Peter's Sermon - quotes Joel in a straightforward way; quotes David in a marvelous way - David couldn't fully fulfill the meaning of his own prophetic poetry, it would have to be David's heir who truly lived it out.

30-31: Peter interprets Psalm 16:10 as David having prophetic authorial intent.

33-36: Jesus is exalted in heaven at the right hand of God until all his enemies have been made a footstool.

37-41: The proper response to the gospel is to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Your sins forgiven, you receive spiritual gifts.

Peter tells us that the divine promise, the covenant blessings of God, are to all families: not just adults but their children; not just those near Jerusalem but the whole diaspora - I assume at this point Peter may still mean 'all Jews who are far off.' Even here Peter might not fully be emphasizing that God is truly calling ALL PEOPLES, as he has not yet had his vision of unclean foods being declared clean; nevertheless he is hinting at 'blessing all families on earth' by the end of the next chapter.

The Promise, the blessings that God has promised to the descendants of Abraham, is fulfilled in repentance, baptism, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

42-47:

Having inherited the Promises of God through faith, through the work of the Holy Spirit, what is left for us to do? Teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, signs and wonders, sharing our wealth in common, taking care of the needy, gratitude, praising God. That is it. That is the Christian life. We might not always have a huge temple to sit around with thousands of people doing this, but this is what your Sunday should look like and this is what your week should look like. Sometimes it's just peaceful and joyful; at a certain it can inspire conflict and persecution. Regardless that koinonia is what should mark our way of life.

47: 'the Lord added to their number'

Church growth people should focus on that phrasing. If they want more people, they should ask God to bring more people.

== 3. Healing the Lame Man ==

1-6: We don't have all the silver and gold needed to make all the poor people in the world rich. We can offer fellowship, and we can offer the name of Jesus Christ.

We should look upon the poor, and have them look at us.

8: Leap ye lame for joy!

15: 'You killed the Author of life' - WOW.

We are witnesses to resurrection from the dead. We keep the memory of what our forefathers in the faith witnessed first hand. And we witness to this day signs and wonders, repentance from sin, the gifts of the spirit - all of which, big or small, are life from the dead.

16: Faith in the name of Christ should be our first recourse for ailments and sickness. I'm medicine-skeptical - I wouldn't forbid it, there might be all kinds of wholesome treatments that are exactly what a sick or disabled person needs for their particular issue - but I just don't TRUST it to fix problems - first and foremost, we must trust in the name of Christ and seek our healing and healthiness from that.

17-21: Many interesting phrases here.

'Repent... that he may send the Christ appointed for you'

'times of freshing may come from the presence of the Lord'

'Jesus whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things'

22-23: Jesus is the New Moses.

Every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed

24-26:

Nationality and religion.

We are descended from prophets and from a covenant that God made with our forefathers. We are the offspring who will bless all the families of earth. This was true of Jesus' people in Judaea who believed in him, and it is true for Christians now, and it will be true in the future - our offspring are that covenant blessing to all mankind, as long as they are true heirs of Abraham by having faith.

Lineage is shaped not merely be sexuality and mate selection, blood and genetics, but also by the prophecies and covenants under which bodies of people carry on a cultural mission across centuries. Prophecy and covenant cultivates the stock of a people.

God sent Jesus to the Jews first, as a blessing to them to free them wickedness, and as a blessing to us - non-wicked jews being one of the best blessings mankind can receive.

== 4. Peter and John First Arrested ==
How do people respond to the Gospel? Annoyance.

11: Psalm 118.

12: There is no other name under heaven given among men by which wem ust be saved.

14-17: You can't argue against the power of God.

17-18: What is the full meaning of 'speaking in a name' - to speak on behalf of, to teach about, to have his name on us?

20: The power of God is inconvenient for the established. Our job is simply to speak of what we have seen and heard. Have you personally seen the power of God to heal, by the name of Christ, in your life and in others? I have. I must speak of it.

24: Corporate prayer, quoting Scripture to God,

27: In this chapter, both the priestly leaders (10) and the secular leaders, Herod and Pontius Pilate, Gentiles and Israel, are charged by the apostles of gathering against Christ.

29-30: God heals; we speak with boldness.

31: 'the place was shaken'

It's not in our power to shake a place, but where Christians gather, the place will shake.

32-37: Two thousand years later, how is this koinonia to continue? Is Christian commonwealth to be mediated through the church administration? Through state welfare programs? Are there other ways for it to function?

== 5. Ananias & Sapphira; the Apostles Arrested & Freed ==
1-11: One of the most bizarre episodes in the early church, but maybe it helps us understand better what the expectation was. Per verse 4, the believers were free to do whatever they wanted with their property, but the 'laying at the apostle's feet' perhaps conferred some kind of special honor or status, a kind of ceremony where you showed your full commitment to the church by giving all you have.

It seems Ananias and Sapphira wanted the full honors but still wanted to keep some serious savings.

'testing the spirit of the Lord' - seeing what you can get away with. God help us - is that not what all of us Christians do when we sin?

Personally, I think it wouldn't be a bad practice to reinstate this kind of ceremony, where people can give up all their possessions to the church to share with the needy and those in debts. But, correspondingly, there should probably be a special honor that we give to such people.

Separate point - Mortal Discipline - there can be a swift mortal judgment that comes upon those within the church due to their deep sin, though we can still have hope in their resurrection; I think likely many suicides in the church are in this category.

10: Sometimes the job of a young man in the church is to carry out the bodies.

12: Specifically the hands of the apostles were doing wonders - we shouldn't expect all believers to perform the same miracles, though I have heard some in the charismatic tradition expect it of all, especially of pastors. While I'm not a strict cessationist, there's no indication from the apostles that all believers, though all receiving the same Holy Spirit, were going to be doing the same signs and wonders.

15: the shadow of Peter - no matter how corrupt the Roman church may become, much like how the needy sought out Peter's shadow, the power of Christ can work even through the most incidental inheritance of his apostles' work! A shadow stretching across 2000 years could still heal, founded on faith.

17: Arrested once again.

18-20: Angels were actively intervening in the early church, being described several times in Acts as freeing the apostles from prison. Not that I want to get too gushy about "re-enchantment," but we should likewise expect to be served by angels - or even to serve them! - I think our casual cultural materialism blinds us from this. Host big parties expecting angels (or their human equivalents) to drop by.

27-32: God brought Jesus into the heavens 'to give repentance to Israel.'

The presence of the Holy Spirit is the witness to the truth of these claims.

God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey... we presume, those who obey by believing in Jesus.

33-39: Fun history lesson.

How do we know if we are the ones who might be found opposing God?

40-42: It is an honor to receive dishonor and beatings on account of the name of Christ. If you fail to preach and teach about Christ, you might miss a chance to receive some dishonor on that account.

== 6. Choosing Seven Leaders ==
Stephen is distinguished from other believers by how many signs and wonders he did.

7: Temple priests were converting to Christianity - 'obedient to the faith.'

The Gospel is a command that one obeys by believing.

8-15: The synagogue (or synagogues) of these expatriate groups are much more zealous of rabbinism.

15: The faces of Christians become angelic, when full of wisdom and the Spirit.

== 7. Stephen’s Martyrdom ==

Stephen retells the story of the Old Testament and the patriarchs.

19: 'shrewdly' here involves strict demographic control

While we must be more innocent than Pharaoh, not shedding innocent blood, this is the scale of craftiness we need to have with our enemies.

20: Moses was 'beautiful in God's sight.'

22: 'instructed in the wisdom of Egyptians'

30: the burning bush was an angel in the flame

38: The law of Moses was 'living oracles.'

39: 'in their hearts they turned to Egypt'

51-53: After all this history, Stephen goes ape mode. For thousands of years, YOU KEEP DISOBEYING GOD AND KILLING THE INNOCENT!

One of the hardest martyrdoms of all time.

54-58: In contrast to the believers laying their worldly possessions at the feet of the apostles, the witnesses lay their garments at the feet of Saul.

59-60: And even after that rebuke, he still calls for their forgiveness.

== 8. Philip in Samaria ==
1-3: Persecution by Saul.

4-8: Unclean spirits mentioned. Wasn't mentioned in Jerusalem; more of a problem, along with magicians, out among the Samaritans?

9: People practice magic out of a desire for greatness, but instead they should seek to be mighty in word and deed like Moses.

13: Magician believes and is baptized.

14-25: There's a long medieval tradition of Simon Magus and Peter battling it out like rivals, sorcery being overcome by the power of God, but the biblical passage seems to indicate sincerity on Simon's part.

The gift of God cannot be obtained with money.

We must repent of our wicked and erroneous intentions.

Simon asks that the apostles would pray on his behalf.

26: Angels guide them to interact with particular individuals of other ethnic groups.

What a singularly portrait: an ethiopian eunuch puzzling over Isaiah 53 in his chariot; just a situation that seems completely unlike anything else in ancient literature that I know of.

34: Exegetical questions some bother to argue about thousands of years later.

39: Unclear if this is some kind of supernatural translation or if he is 'carried away' in the same manner that he was led by the Spirit into the desert.

== 9. Conversion of Saul ==
2: warrants, essentially?

The appearance of Christ brings blindness, terror. His glory is too great.

10-19: Very interesting how the Lord tells Ananias that Saul has already seen Ananias healing him in a vision already; Ananias argues with the Lord anyway.

A chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, children of Israel.

Laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit.

26: Incredible verse.

26-31:

Saul preaches so boldly for Christ that they send him out of town lest he be killed like Stephen was.

For a time the church was being spread apart from persecution, but having absorbed its main persecutor, it returns to peace.

32-35: Aeneas is presumably a Roman.

36-43: Tabitha is raised from the dead at the word of Peter.

Keep this in mind when it comes to theological error... Peter was led astray into hypocrisy of Judaizers after literally raising people from the dead. You can have the power of the spirit, be doing signs and wonders, and be wrong about what needs to be taught and practiced.

== 10. The Vision of Cornelius ==
3: Angels help facilitate the networking of believers.

The clear vision of Cornelius is contrasted with the perplexing and wondrous vision of Peter's.

28-29: Because of the work that Christ has done, there no longer has to be an ethnic separation between God's people and all other peoples. The Jews were set aside for a long time to be sanctified from the unclean nations, to prepare for the coming of Christ. Now that Christ has ascended, everyone is going to become God's people.

30: the angel had 'bright clothing' - very interesting

34-43: Compare and contrast the nuances of this gospel presentation with the other gospel presentation given by Peter in chapter 2.

38: Jesus of Nazareth was the Anointed One.

His ministry? Doing good, 'healing all those oppressed by the devil.'

40-41: Jesus appeared to a selection of witnesses, not to all of Jerusalem, who ate and drank with him - no mere vision.

42: Jesus, having risen from the dead, has been appointed by God as JUDGE of all living and dead.

43: Those who believe in him will receive forgiveness and not have to face judgment for all the wrong they have done.

44-48: The Holy Spirit is poured out on Gentiles. They begin to speak in tongues and praise God.

Baptism now is not just for Jews but for gentiles as well.

Baptism described but not communion in Acts?

== 11. The Vision of Peter ==
1-18: Peter retells what just happened. We the Gentiles have also been granted that repentance that leads to eternal life.

19-20: Most of those scattered from Jerusalem earlier had just been sharing the Gospel with other Jews; a few spoke to the Greek-speaking Jews as well.

21-26: Antioch booms full of believers; Barnabas and Saul go to Antioch, which becomes for a long time one of the great centers of the church along with Jerusalem and Rome.

The disciples are finally given the name Christian.

27-30: ?

== 12. James Killed & Peter Arrested ==
Herod finally gets involved. Kills James.

6-11: Angel once again rescues Peter from Prison.

20-24: So awesome. Thus always to those who attempt to obstruct the faith.

== 13. Paul and Barnabas Sent Out ==
4-12: Overwhelming the magician with the power of the Holy Spirit, striking him blind.

Interesting how a magician is judged with blindness, while Christians (like Ananias and Saphira) are judged with death.

13-16: Just interesting from a liturgical context - after reading scripture, funny to get put on the spot for an impromptu guest sermon.

21: the kingship of Saul was 'forty years' like the forty years in the wilderness.

23: Jesus is the promised offspring of David.

26-27: They fulfilled the utterances of prophets because they did not understand themselves to be the villains.

Psalm 2 reference.

"I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David' - inheritance of an eternal throne?

David, dying, could not fulfill the promise of this Psalm, but Christ could.

38-39: The law of Moses could not free us from our sins; through Christ we have forgiveness proclaimed, so we must believe to receive that freedom.

44: The next sermon - the whole city is there. Ha!

45-47: The Jews are filled with jealousy at the presence of crowds and of Gentiles.

== 14. Stoning of Paul ==
== 15. The Jerusalem Council on Gentiles ==
== 16. Paul and Silas in Philippi ==
== 17. Ministry in Thessalonica and Berea ==
== 18. Ministry in Corinth ==
== 19. Paul in Ephesus ==
== 20. Paul’s Farewell to Ephesian Elders ==
== 21. Paul Goes to Jerusalem ==
== 22. Paul’s Defense to the Crowd ==
== 23. Paul Before the Council ==
== 24. Paul Before Felix ==
== 25. Paul Appeals to Caesar ==
== 26. Paul Defends Before Agrippa ==
== 27. Paul’s Voyage to Rome ==
== 28. Paul's Shipwreck ==

Acts

2026-09-15T22:29:08Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 4. Peter and John Arrested */

Acts

2026-09-14T16:56:13Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 3. Healing the Lame Man */

2026-06-12T20:51:04Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 21. The Proverbs of Solomon */

The Book of Proverbs.

== 1. The Call of Wisdom ==
== 2. Wisdom is Treasure ==

21-22: Important in an age of fears of disinheritance.

== 3. Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart ==
I have the love... but what if I'm not steadfast?

5-6:

My mother's bible verses for me.

This is a discipline you can actively pursue.

It should not take you long to find thoughts in yourself, ways of being, that do not yet acknowledge God. Choose to trust. A lot of people feel rotten in their bones because they haven't set all their thoughts to him.

9: This is not just money - this verse assumes you make things. With what you make, does it honor God? The wealth of your life is its time, your words, your enjoyments, your people. Dedicate them to God.

29: Important to keep this in mind in malicious group chats you may encounter.

I fear greater anarchy and injustice in this land as selfish, wicked men band together to exert control over the weaker and less organized.

30-32: Young people are becoming more vicious and some will be tempted to abandon this wisdom more than their parents were.

== 4. A Father’s Wise Instruction ==
Everyone wants wealth and glory, few want to be wise.

13 - do not let go - but I find myself forgetting so many of the great insights I've learned, moments of pure love and trust and glory. By the grace of God sometimes they pop back into your head. But I don't always know how to bring back to mind at the right time.

18-27: Straight on the sunshine path!

How do I know what counts as crooked speech? Deception, malice... what about obscure or discreet speech?

== 5. Adultery ==
All these warnings apply to pornography - wasted time, guilt, no discipline, berating yourself in church. Don't scatter your streams in desert places.

== 6. Warnings ==
== 7. The Adulteress ==
== 8. God's Foundation of the Earth ==
== 9. The Way of Wisdom and Folly ==
== 10. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 11. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 12. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 13. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 14. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 15. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 16. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 17. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 18. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 19. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 20. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 21. The Proverbs of Solomon ==

13: Are you observant of your poor neighbors? Do you know what they need?

14: Is bribery endorsed by Solomon here? Christians are to outdo one another in showing honor... that shouldn't descend to flattery or bribery, but it is sometimes a purposeful gift giving.

17 & 20: If you love wine and oil, you won't ever have enough to enjoy. But if you love wisdom first and foremost, you will never lack.

21: This is the Christian way.

22: We hope to bring down strongholds of spiritual darkness and arguments; our wisdom should be applied to overturning the emptiness and falsehood of the popular culture, the university culture, the ubiquitously trumpeted worldview of the godless...

26: The sluggard is so busy craving, but the righteous has been preparing his life so well that he has an abundance to give to those who need.

== 22. The Words of the Wise ==
== 23. The Words of the Wise ==
== 24. The Words of the Wise ==
1-2: On the internet, or in business, or in politics -- factions of evil men speaking evil roam about. They can get a lot done and acquire a lot of power, and its easy to envy what success God gives them.

3-4: Wisdom is household building. Homes are not merely sites of relaxation, but of productivity. A couple, or a family with kids, should all be seeking ways to make themselves useful in the local economy - and national, for that matter. What are the things you can make and provide that others can't? Making your family business essential is the test of wisdom. People who haven't established this over decades this should probably not be leaders in the church.

5-6: We cannot expect ourselves to win the culture war in America if we have no property, no leverage, no owned space.

10-12: What's the context here? An unexpected day of battle? Having the foresight to predict what will go wrong so that you can help your neighbor?

17-18: Love your enemy. Overwhelm them with love. Don't rejoice in their humiliation. God does not help gloaters, and if this person really ought to be punished, be humble about it.

19-20: The future is ours if we are righteous.

23-26: We are becoming an obsequious culture that is ill equipped to offer correction. We do not have impartiality and we hesitate to correct wickedness. Then when we rush to overcorrect, we make fools of ourselves.

27: Get your income lined up before you start the house project. Don't get wrapped up in a mortgage and big debts and don't be dependent on other people. Get your own income streams and make things yourself.

28: Don't speak bad about the people you know based on hearsay. You should know firsthand what kind of person they are before you give a report on their conduct.

29: Vengeance belongs to God.

30-34: This still applies perfectly in a non-agricultural context. In craftsmanship, the office, entrepreneurship, academia -- every man has a field. You can usually pick up very quickly if he is a senseless sluggard whose walls are broken down, or if he is careful to tend to whatever yard God has given him.

The sluggard is not preparing to exercise good judgment, he is not taking in wisdom, he is not preparing for the day of adversity, he is not ready to rescue anyone, he is incapable of waging war, and riches are floating through his leaky house.

We do an inadequate job in our education of having the young observe carefully households that fall into ruin, and ones that succeed, and why.

== 25. The Proverbs of Solomon ==

6-7: Don't be a striver, directly. You probably don't belong in Washington D.C. You probably don't belong in the bishop's seat. The young man should focus on developing the kind of wisdom that is unparalleled on earth in his generation, in whatever field he has, and all the executives and presidents will invite you when they have need of you.

8-10: Be slow to litigate. Don't badmouth people even if they screwed you over -- because they can find out what wrong you've done and humiliate you, too. Just put an end to it quietly.

21-22: Love your enemy.

25: Missionaries bring cold water to God's new children.

== 26. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 27. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 28. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 29. The Proverbs of Solomon ==
== 30. The Words of Agur ==
== 31. The Oracle of King Lemuel's Mother ==

2026-04-20T16:35:38Z

Michael Thomas Jones:

Lists of music for your children's education and entertainment.

== Classical ==
Classical music that kids can ponder.

== American Folk Songs ==
Songs to learn.

== Geocultures ==
Folk music and pop music of cultures around the world to get a sense of different places, time periods and tongues.

== Silly and Fun ==
Music marketed for kids.

[https://www.youtube.com/@boyjohn Golden Records and Young People's Records]

Word Jazz, Son of Word Jazz

Literature Curricula

2026-04-19T00:41:01Z

Michael Thomas Jones:

This page is intended to provide resources for secondary and undergraduate level studies in literature. While nothing can substitute for close reading, the most efficient way to make students generally confident and adept at textual interpretation is by providing context -- that is, as broad a survey of world literature and history as possible so that they can notice parallels and themes spanning all times and places, while also foregrounding idiosyncrasies. That's not to suggest that all literary scenes, schools, and eras are interchangeable in importance. It really is most important, after the Bible, to begin with reading the Greeks and Romans and Church Fathers.

== Great Literature of World Cultures ==
These curricula are designed to map out the great literary cultures of the world.

While general lists will be provided for free exploration, each should contain a main curriculum that could cover a six year course of study throughout secondary school of that culture, whether in translation or (preferably) in the original language.

<div style="column-count:3">
#[[English Literature|English]]
#French
#Latin
#Greek
#German
#Spanish
#Japanese
#Russian
#Scandinavian
#Finnish
#Italian
#Persian
#Indian
#Arabic
#Chinese
</div>

== The Beginning of the Lore ==
American teenagers are swamped in bad ideas and dumb media all the time. They have a dearth of opportunities to be initiated into basically good and interesting ideas. The Lore is a single anthology of several hundred excerpts of short texts across several millennia, designed to be navigable in a year or two, that would expose them to difficult passages from primary sources and interesting ideas that they probably otherwise might never be exposed to. This is designed to be fun, quirky, and inspiring, though lacking the substance of close reading through entire works. This provides short texts as a spring board for interesting discussions about history and the nature of reality and to begin thinking in other categories than what social media typically provides.

Beyond concepts, an added benefit of this reading list being widely used in the next generation would be just the linguistic broadening - the reintroduction of vocabulary and phrasings that might otherwise be forgotten in the deluge of social media and its muddying of English speech. We need to lay down enough old stones up the river of time so that young people can find a pathway back through the centuries, and not just get swept away by its unintelligibility.

Excerpts:
<div style="column-count:3">
#Bible Lore
#Ancient Myths
#[[The Sublime]]
#Saints
#Patristics
#Druids
#Vikings
#Anglo-Saxons
#Crusaders
#Mohametans
#Monks
#Knights
#Romances
#Giants
#Reformers
#Alchemists
#Conquistadors
#Jesuits
#Seafarers
#Christian Magic
#Natural Philosophers
#[[Pirate Lore|Pirates]]
#Samurai
#Witches
#Antiquarians
#[[Fairy Lore|Fairies]]
#Colonists
#Empires
#Revivalists
#[[Diaries of History|Diaries]]
#Americans
#Romantics
#Socialists
#Utopians
#Industrialists
#Inventors
#Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
#Aesthetes
#George-Kreis
#Explorers
#Archaeologists
#Evolutionists
#High Society
#Cowboys
#Avant-Garde
#Surrealism
#Psychology
#Soviets
#Nazis
#Atomics
#Hippies
#Spies & Regime Changes
#Rockets
#Computers
#Civil Rights
#White Ladies (L'Engle, Le Guin, Lamott, Dillard)
#Gonzo (Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe)
#Soldiers of Fortune
#California Buddhism
#Transhumanists
#Preppers
#Terrorists
#Nothomb
#Acceleration
#Internet literature
</div>

== A Basic Great Books Curriculum ==
It's probably a bad idea to teach people that there is a simple list of 50 authors whose books are the most important to work through, to make a chore out of reading the best writers of all time. But in our illiterate age if we can get a student to pick up just a few of these, I count it as victory. And is true that a passing familiarity with these great texts provides a core vocabulary for launching off into the interpretation all other literature and history you might come across. So, I think it's worth promoting a basic Western Canon if only to open better doors of thought for young people to walk through, better doors than most of what discord and youtube and instagram and 4chan and reddit currently provide...

The goal, then, is for students to have a basic introduction to all of these individuals -- not to put them up on pedestals of pretentious unthinking reverence. In doing so schools have discovered a diabolical aptitude for turning works as great as Shakespeare into a burden for so many souls.

I would argue that in depth analysis and memorization is only necessary for sacred scripture. Everything else should be treated more lightly. It shouldn't be hard for a reasonably literate youth to at least touch on most of these authors over the course of a few years, as introductory.

This would be a basic prelude to more serious study which should involve: choosing an era or school of thought to read through thoroughly; choosing a foreign language to study over a lifetime and the great authors of that language; and general mapping out of other canonicities.

[articles in progress]

<div style="column-count:3">
#The Bible
#Homer
#Plato
#Aristotle
#Aeschylus, Euripides, & Sophocles
#Vergil
#Ovid
#Augustine
#Beowulf & Anglo-Saxon Poetry
#Aquinas
#Arthurian romance
#Chaucer
#Dante
#Machiavelli
#Luther
#Calvin
#Hooker
#Pascal
#Shakespeare
#Hobbes
#Milton
#Descartes
#Locke
#Hume
#Rousseau
#Kant
#Goethe
#American Founding Fathers
#Hegel
#Austen
#Melville
#Dostoevsky
#Dumas
#Hugo
#Baudelaire
#Rudyard Kipling
#Nietzsche
#Thomas Carlyle
#Marx
#Freud
#Jung
#Oscar Wilde
#Henry James
#James Joyce
#Proust
#Camus
#T.S. Eliot
#Fitzgerald
#Steinbeck
#C.S. Lewis
#Solzhenitsyn
#Pynchon
#Tom Wolfe
</div>

== Canonicities ==

In draft:

ancient egypt & egyptologists

mesopotamian canon

chinese classics

greek canon

romans

persian canon

pagan myth

church fathers

islamic jurists and golden age philosophers

Arab-Byzantine Wars

Reconquista

buddhist philosophers

germanic texts

medieval rabbis

medieval romances, medieval poetry, allegories,

hagiographies

schoolmen

medieval chronicles

Courtly love, troubadours

Crusader literature

renaissance humanists and reformers

counter reformation literature

western hermeticism

new world explorers

the ottoman canon

English renaissance, metaphysical poets

reformed orthodox, remonstrants

dutch golden age authors

Anglo-Dutch-Spanish War Era

spanish golden age

1700s satirists

1700s Anglo-French Global Wars

Lumieres, enlightenment philosophers, 1700s french literature

explorer naturalists

Napoleonic era literature, Revolutionary era

Romanticism, Gothic

19th century academics, historiography, the German university

19th century socialists, anarchists, and marxists

Colonial literature

Mission literature

the victorians, literature of the industrial revolution

Victorian Explorer Anthropologist (esoteric imperial racism) / Scramble for Africa / Orientalists

New England authors, transcendentalists

French symbolists

literary realists

Post Napoleonic Literature

Post Civil War Era Literature

Russian canon

The Great Game: empires' perspectives and from the locals' perspectives

Siberia, Alaska, and Arctic Extremes

theosophists

Utopians

New York New Religions

Third Republic Literature

fin de siecle and the edwardians, decadents

Missionaries and Anglo-American Empire, Old China Hands

American expansions

Jewish diaspora, Zionists, and their influence

austrian literature near the end

modernists, paris scene

surrealists

socialist and labor movements reaching climax in depression and world wars

Wartime and Interwar German Literature, Nazi and Non-Nazi Literature

Southern agrarians, Southern American canon

modern Japanese canon

founding psychologists

early sociologists

early science fiction

Early Soviets - russian cosmists, radicals

Postcolonial literature and theorists

continental theorists

glamor photographers

Cold War literature, American controlled Europe,

Later Soviets

esoteric central european art scenes, film, animation 1900-1990

underground comix

Midcentury Anthropologists

beats, hippie canon

[[1960s Science Fiction|60s Sci-Fi]]

transhumanist canon

magical realists, exoticist bobocore

art pop for christian schools

indie cinema

short films

Nemets: Barbara Tuchman, TR Fehrenbach, John Toland, Alfred Crosby

Proverbs

2026-04-09T23:21:46Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 3. Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart */

Luke

2026-04-08T20:37:21Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 2. Birth of Jesus */

The book of Luke.

== 1. Births Foretold and Praised ==
== 2. Birth of Jesus ==

35: Many will rise and fall - this child will overthrow society, all the powers that be. Wild thing to say to a new mother.

A sword shall pierce your own heart -- such a beautiful and terrifying phrase. Worth comparing to other emotional descriptions of mothers with heroic sons of destiny in ancient times.

== 3. John Prepares the Way ==
== 4. Jesus Tested and Begins Ministry ==
== 5. Calling Disciples and Healing ==
== 6. Teachings on Love and Judgment ==
== 7. Jesus Heals and Forgives Sins ==
== 8. Parables and Miracles ==
== 9. The Transfiguration ==
== 10. Seventy Sent and Good Samaritan ==
== 11. Teachings on Prayer and Signs ==
== 12. Warnings and Teachings ==
== 13. Repentance and Healing ==
== 14. Humility and Discipleship ==
== 15. Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Prodigal Son ==
== 16. Wealth ==

16: Make friends for yourself with unrighteous mammon, make friends for yourself with perverse world of politics, with the internet, with clickbait and attention farming, make friends for yourself with the world's credentials and awards even as they lose their lustre. All of the things that people respect and pay attention to and honor will be destroyed, except for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. As such they must never become ends but only means for more love and friendship.

You should want your name to be great in the kingdom of heaven. There should be hundreds of people entering into the spiritual realm who remember how you used the fading treasure of a wicked world to help and love them, and in their saintly glory they will welcome you into the place God has prepared for them. (The kingdom of heaven is mostly in the afterlife but also partially now, and its work must begin now in this time.)

There is going to be a change of management. The ultimate change: the reign of death to the rule of Christ. Prepare for that heavenly hospitality.

But we also prepare for changes in man . It's not to imagine a time in this generation or the next where money becomes devalued, the government falls apart, the current university credentialing system. So it's also worthwhile to prepare your wealth to be invested in what will matter when the system is overthrown: the best people. That's a big part of what church participation should be about.

Christian giving is purely practical - you are trying to transfer an unstable currency of honor to the most stable: the regard of Christ and the elect in his kingdom.

== 17. Faith, Duty, and Coming Kingdom ==
== 18. The Rich Young Ruler ==
== 19. Zacchaeus and Jerusalem Entry ==
== 20. Parables and Questions ==
== 21. Signs of the End ==
== 22. The Last Supper ==
== 23. Christ's Crucifixion ==
== 24. Resurrection and Ascension ==

Matthew

2026-03-29T01:09:58Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* 18. Teachings on Humility and Forgiveness */

The book of Matthew.

== 1. Genealogy of Jesus Christ ==

Review the key themes and ideas we’ve discussed:

Dominion

The Image of God

Covenant

Blessings and Curses

Abraham’s Lineage

The Law

Empires of Men

What are these things? How did they work in the Old Covenant and how do they work in the New Covenant?

Over the course of the Old Testament, we can see several key themes relating to the nature of mankind and authority.

God created mankind in his image, to be fruitful and multiply, and to exercise dominion over the earth.

What does it mean to be in the image of God?

What does it mean to have dominion?

If God made us to be powerful and godlike, then why is there so much weakness and suffering in the world? The curse of sin. Curses stick around, and they get worse and worse unless there’s some way of cleansing it. Our relationships with one another and the works we do to build something for ourselves in this life are doomed to futility. This is because of Adam’s sin, but also because we are continually giving into temptation and perpetuating and increasing his trespass.

Why is there violence in the world? Because of sin, brothers envy and kill one another. If we loved one another and honored God appropriately, this wouldn’t happen, but we keep playing out Cain and Abel. God’s plan for mankind is for us to exercise dominion without shedding each other’s blood and bringing even greater curse of sin upon ourselves, and that means we need to have self-control over our own sinful desires before we can expect to have any righteous authority on earth.

What’s a covenant? A sacred deal made between a higher authority and a lower subject. After the initial chapters of Genesis, the rest of the story of the Old Testament specifically concerns the covenants God made with the man Abraham and his descendants. God chose Abraham and promised that he would use him, specifically, and his lineage to fulfill the mission of mankind: multiplying throughout the earth and ruling over it. This family, and a specific heir of this family, would be the one to bless all people and reverse the curse. Over centuries they grew into a great people, Israel.

What were these different curses and blessings, and what did it have to do with the law?

How do the empires of men factor into God’s plan?

The nation of Israel spent time in captivity to a great kingdom, Egypt, but God brought them out of it, promising his people freedom and giving them his law. He made a covenant with them to bless them if they did well and curse them if they did evil. Unsurprisingly, they chose evil. They envied other nations and worshiped other gods. God continued to bless them, giving them a sacred king named David of the tribe of Judah to unite them against all their enemies. God made another covenant that one of David’s line would have an eternal throne. But David sinned as well, and his sons sinned even worse, and the kingdom of Israel fractured into pieces. God sent prophets to warn the people, but they just sinned even worse and continued be. Eventually, God sent them back into captivity and subjugation under different pagan empires - Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. By this time the land of Israel and Judah was known as Judea, and its inhabitants, Jews.

And it is during the Roman rule over Judea that Jesus Christ was born.

So, why does the very beginning of the New Testament start saying:

Matthew 1;1: “ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Saying he is the son of David means that he is the heir of David’s eternal throne. Saying that he is the son of Abraham means that Jesus fulfilled the promise made long ago to Abraham: that God would multiply his descendants and give them land to rule, fulfilling the mission given to all mankind in spite of our sin.

And this is the same inheritance promised to all Christians who believe, regardless of what lineage they come from.

Galatians 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Jesus perfectly fulfills the law of God. As such we do not need to hope in our own ability to fulfill the demands of God’s law, but to have faith in Christ and to grab hold of our inheritance through him. When we believe in Christ, we become heirs with him according to the promise. By faith, we are sons of God, and so we inherit that which belongs to God: eternal life and an eternal kingdom. That’s what man is meant for.

== 2. Visit of the Magi ==
== 3. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness ==
== 4. Jesus Tested in Wilderness ==
== 5. Sermon on the Mount ==
== 6. Teachings on Prayer and Wealth ==
== 7. Judging, Asking, Entering the Kingdom ==
== 8. Miracles and Healings ==
== 9. Jesus Heals and Forgives ==
== 10. Mission of the Twelve ==
== 11. Jesus and John’s Question ==
== 12. Lord of the Sabbath ==
== 13. Parables of the Kingdom ==
== 14. Feeding the Five Thousand ==
== 15. Traditions and Faith ==
== 16. Peter’s Confession of Christ ==
== 17. Transfiguration of Jesus ==
== 18. Teachings on Humility and Forgiveness ==
'Be like children' - this is not about innocence here in this context, as children aren't. In many ways they are full of hate and anger very early on. But, they are capable of great meekness and humility and total faith, total dependence. In ways that hardened hearts of adults refuse to be.

== 19. Marriage, Divorce, and the Kingdom ==
== 20. Parable of Laborers ==
== 21. The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem ==
== 22. Parables and Questions ==
== 23. Woes to the Scribes ==
== 24. Jesus Prophesies the Temple's Destruction ==
== 25. Parables of the Kingdom ==
== 26. Plot Against Jesus ==
== 27. Trial and Crucifixion ==
== 28. The Resurrection ==

2026-02-05T19:23:42Z

Michael Thomas Jones: /* The Beginning of the Lore */

This page is intended to provide resources for secondary and undergraduate level studies in literature. While nothing can substitute for close reading, the most efficient way to make students generally confident and adept at textual interpretation is by providing context -- that is, as broad a survey of world literature and history as possible so that they can notice parallels and themes spanning all times and places, while also foregrounding idiosyncrasies. That's not to suggest that all literary scenes, schools, and eras are interchangeable in importance. It really is most important, after the Bible, to begin with reading the Greeks and Romans and Church Fathers.

== Great Literature of World Cultures ==
These curricula are designed to map out the great literary cultures of the world.

While general lists will be provided for free exploration, each should contain a main curriculum that could cover a six year course of study throughout secondary school of that culture, whether in translation or (preferably) in the original language.

<div style="column-count:3">
#[[English Literature|English]]
#French
#Latin
#Greek
#German
#Spanish
#Japanese
#Russian
#Scandinavian
#Finnish
#Italian
#Persian
#Indian
#Arabic
#Chinese
</div>

== The Beginning of the Lore ==
American teenagers are swamped in bad ideas and dumb media all the time. They have a dearth of opportunities to be initiated into basically good and interesting ideas. The Lore is a single anthology of several hundred excerpts of short texts across several millennia, designed to be navigable in a year or two, that would expose them to difficult passages from primary sources and interesting ideas that they probably otherwise might never be exposed to. This is designed to be fun, quirky, and inspiring, though lacking the substance of close reading through entire works. This provides short texts as a spring board for interesting discussions about history and the nature of reality and to begin thinking in other categories than what social media typically provides.

Beyond concepts, an added benefit of this reading list being widely used in the next generation would be just the linguistic broadening - the reintroduction of vocabulary and phrasings that might otherwise be forgotten in the deluge of social media and its muddying of English speech. We need to lay down enough old stones up the river of time so that young people can find a pathway back through the centuries, and not just get swept away by its unintelligibility.

Excerpts:
<div style="column-count:3">
#Bible Lore
#Ancient Myths
#[[The Sublime]]
#Saints
#Patristics
#Druids
#Vikings
#Anglo-Saxons
#Crusaders
#Mohametans
#Monks
#Knights
#Romances
#Giants
#Reformers
#Alchemists
#Conquistadors
#Jesuits
#Seafarers
#Christian Magic
#Natural Philosophers
#[[Pirate Lore|Pirates]]
#Samurai
#Witches
#Antiquarians
#[[Fairy Lore|Fairies]]
#Colonists
#Empires
#Revivalists
#Americans
#Romantics
#Socialists
#Utopians
#Industrialists
#Inventors
#Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
#Aesthetes
#George-Kreis
#Explorers
#Archaeologists
#Evolutionists
#High Society
#Cowboys
#Avant-Garde
#Surrealism
#Psychology
#Soviets
#Nazis
#Atomics
#Hippies
#Spies & Regime Changes
#Rockets
#Computers
#Civil Rights
#White Ladies (L'Engle, Le Guin, Lamott, Dillard)
#Gonzo (Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe)
#Soldiers of Fortune
#California Buddhism
#Transhumanists
#Preppers
#Terrorists
#Nothomb
#Acceleration
#Internet literature
</div>

== A Basic Great Books Curriculum ==
It's probably a bad idea to teach people that there is a simple list of 50 authors whose books are the most important to work through, to make a chore out of reading the best writers of all time. But in our illiterate age if we can get a student to pick up just a few of these, I count it as victory. And is true that a passing familiarity with these great texts provides a core vocabulary for launching off into the interpretation all other literature and history you might come across. So, I think it's worth promoting a basic Western Canon if only to open better doors of thought for young people to walk through, better doors than most of what discord and youtube and instagram and 4chan and reddit currently provide...

The goal, then, is for students to have a basic introduction to all of these individuals -- not to put them up on pedestals of pretentious unthinking reverence. In doing so schools have discovered a diabolical aptitude for turning works as great as Shakespeare into a burden for so many souls.

I would argue that in depth analysis and memorization is only necessary for sacred scripture. Everything else should be treated more lightly. It shouldn't be hard for a reasonably literate youth to at least touch on most of these authors over the course of a few years, as introductory.

This would be a basic prelude to more serious study which should involve: choosing an era or school of thought to read through thoroughly; choosing a foreign language to study over a lifetime and the great authors of that language; and general mapping out of other canonicities.

[articles in progress]

<div style="column-count:3">
#The Bible
#Homer
#Plato
#Aristotle
#Aeschylus, Euripides, & Sophocles
#Vergil
#Ovid
#Augustine
#Beowulf & Anglo-Saxon Poetry
#Aquinas
#Arthurian romance
#Chaucer
#Dante
#Machiavelli
#Luther
#Calvin
#Hooker
#Pascal
#Shakespeare
#Hobbes
#Milton
#Descartes
#Locke
#Hume
#Rousseau
#Kant
#Goethe
#American Founding Fathers
#Hegel
#Austen
#Melville
#Dostoevsky
#Dumas
#Hugo
#Baudelaire
#Rudyard Kipling
#Nietzsche
#Thomas Carlyle
#Marx
#Freud
#Jung
#Oscar Wilde
#Henry James
#James Joyce
#Proust
#Camus
#T.S. Eliot
#Fitzgerald
#Steinbeck
#C.S. Lewis
#Solzhenitsyn
#Pynchon
#Tom Wolfe
</div>

== Canonicities ==

In draft:

ancient egypt & egyptologists

mesopotamian canon

chinese classics

greek canon

romans

persian canon

pagan myth

church fathers

islamic jurists and golden age philosophers

Arab-Byzantine Wars

Reconquista

buddhist philosophers

germanic texts

medieval rabbis

medieval romances, medieval poetry, allegories,

hagiographies

schoolmen

medieval chronicles

Courtly love, troubadours

Crusader literature

renaissance humanists and reformers

counter reformation literature

western hermeticism

new world explorers

the ottoman canon

English renaissance, metaphysical poets

reformed orthodox, remonstrants

dutch golden age authors

Anglo-Dutch-Spanish War Era

spanish golden age

1700s satirists

1700s Anglo-French Global Wars

Lumieres, enlightenment philosophers, 1700s french literature

explorer naturalists

Napoleonic era literature, Revolutionary era

Romanticism, Gothic

19th century academics, historiography, the German university

19th century socialists, anarchists, and marxists

Colonial literature

Mission literature

the victorians, literature of the industrial revolution

Victorian Explorer Anthropologist (esoteric imperial racism) / Scramble for Africa / Orientalists

New England authors, transcendentalists

French symbolists

literary realists

Post Napoleonic Literature

Post Civil War Era Literature

Russian canon

The Great Game: empires' perspectives and from the locals' perspectives

Siberia, Alaska, and Arctic Extremes

theosophists

Utopians

New York New Religions

Third Republic Literature

fin de siecle and the edwardians, decadents

Missionaries and Anglo-American Empire, Old China Hands

American expansions

Jewish diaspora, Zionists, and their influence

austrian literature near the end

modernists, paris scene

surrealists

socialist and labor movements reaching climax in depression and world wars

Wartime and Interwar German Literature, Nazi and Non-Nazi Literature

Southern agrarians, Southern American canon

modern Japanese canon

founding psychologists

early sociologists

early science fiction

Early Soviets - russian cosmists, radicals

Postcolonial literature and theorists

continental theorists

glamor photographers

Cold War literature, American controlled Europe,

Later Soviets

esoteric central european art scenes, film, animation 1900-1990

underground comix

Midcentury Anthropologists

beats, hippie canon

[[1960s Science Fiction|60s Sci-Fi]]

transhumanist canon

magical realists, exoticist bobocore

art pop for christian schools

indie cinema

short films

Pirate Lore

2026-02-05T19:21:40Z

Michael Thomas Jones: Created page with " - Author Captain Charles Johnson Text A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates at Wikisource A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, or simply A General History of the Pyrates (abbr. GHP), is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,[1] which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known p..."

-

Author Captain Charles Johnson
Text A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates at Wikisource
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, or simply A General History of the Pyrates (abbr. GHP), is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,[1] which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable artistic license in his accounts of pirate conversations.[2] The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History says that the work "is not a historical primary source but is a fabulous literary one", and that it is the root of a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the history of piracy.[3]