The Christian world is today in shock with the sudden announcement that Derek Thomas will not be resigning as leader of the world's 26 readers of Ref21, despite his advanced age.   Thomas has not been seen on a public ezine for months, leading to rumours and speculation about his health, given recent chronological milestones. 

In other news, Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign is fascinating.   Given the large number of cardinals eligible to vote in a papal election, this could be perhaps the largest conclave in history.  It will also be an interesting test of the real depth of conservative power within the church.   It has always interested me that, in general, institutions do not by and  large shift their public positions in a slow, incremental manner but tend to transform very rapidly.  From the death of Warfield to the reorganisation of Princeton was a space of a mere eight years.  It was one generation from the victory over Briggs to the general collapse of confessionalism in the mainline Presbyterian church in the US.   And the great grand-daddy of them all, the Reformation, changed the landscape of Europe in a mere 13 years, from the Ninety-Five Theses to the Diet of Augsburg.

Public change of such magnitude is, of course, predicated on a myriad of smaller changes, many of them hidden, some perhaps not even appearing that significant when seen in isolation.  Whether the John Paul II/Benedict trajectory is the function of such changes or rather the wallpaper covering the cracks remains to be seen.  And we might well see some hint of which it is by the middle of March.  

And I guess I will have to resign myself to buying yet another bobblehead to stand on my desk by Dr. Martin.