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Commonplace Books

December 9th, 2016 | 1 min read

By Jake Meador

During the early modern era, it was typical that young students would compile what was called a commonplaces book.

These books were simply selections from the various things a student was reading. Significantly, however, commonplace books are not usually organized chronologically, as would be the case with journals. Rather, they are arranged topically and provide a ready-made collection of excerpts that the student found particularly moving, instructive, or otherwise useful.

I plan to use this blog in roughly that fashion. This will be a place where I post regular excerpts from things I am reading. In many ways, this is simply a helpful thing for me so even if no one ever visits this site, it will still be of use to me as a repository of quotes and ideas that I have found helpful in some way.

Jake Meador

Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied English and History. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife Joie, their daughter Davy Joy, and sons Wendell, Austin, and Ambrose. Jake's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, Christianity Today, Fare Forward, the University Bookman, Books & Culture, First Things, National Review, Front Porch Republic, and The Run of Play and he has written or contributed to several books, including "In Search of the Common Good," "What Are Christians For?" (both with InterVarsity Press), "A Protestant Christendom?" (with Davenant Press), and "Telling the Stories Right" (with the Front Porch Republic Press).