Category Archives: History

Before Me:  Living In The Presence of God

Posted on December 7, 2025 by nathanalbright

[Note:  The following is the prepared notes for a sermon given to the Dalles, Oregon congregation on Sabbath, December 6, 2025.] Introduction: The Depth of Hebrew Words and the Challenge of Translation The Hebrew Scriptures are composed in a language … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Biblical History, Christianity, Church of God, History, Sermonettes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

White Paper: Multi-Level Marketing in the Bible? A Biblicist Examination of Claims, Parallels, and Ethical Evaluation

Posted on December 7, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Claims circulate in popular Christian teaching that “MLMs are described in the Bible” or even that “the early church functioned like an MLM.” These claims are typically made to legitimize a modern business model by analogy with perceived … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Pattern of Paired Free and Slave State Admissions (1820–1850) and the Delays It Imposed on American Statehood

Posted on December 6, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Between 1820 and 1850, the United States Senate became the institutional battleground for maintaining a sectional equilibrium between free and slave states. This equilibrium—never formally codified but fiercely enforced through political custom—dictated that every new free state must … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Ken Burns’ Reputational Arc from The Civil War to The American Revolution: Historical Perspective, Cultural Change, and the Shifting Landscape of Documentary Reception

Posted on December 4, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Ken Burns rose to national prominence with The Civil War (1990), a miniseries that achieved unprecedented audience size, cross-partisan admiration, and cultural reach. Yet by the time his American Revolution miniseries premiered, the public reception was far more … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Fragile Logistics of the Mycenaean World

Posted on December 4, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The Mycenaean civilization (ca. 1600–1200 BC) flourished as a network of palace-centered kingdoms across mainland Greece and the Aegean. Despite their monumental architecture, sophisticated administration, and extensive trade networks, Mycenaean logistics were profoundly fragile. Their economic and military … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Over-Centralization and the Emergence of Single Points of Failure in Modern Institutions

Posted on December 3, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Institutions—whether governmental, corporate, educational, religious, or infrastructural—tend to centralize authority and control in the pursuit of efficiency, consistency, and strategic coherence. While centralization can create short-term clarity and order, excessive centralization produces fragility. Systems with too many functions … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Designing Historical Wargames of the Bronze Age

Posted on December 3, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The Bronze Age (ca. 3300–1200 BCE) offers one of the richest yet least standardised eras for historical wargame design. This period’s combination of sparse but evocative textual sources, rapidly evolving military technologies, fluid political systems, and distinctive battlefield … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Supporting Cultural Change in Atmospheres of Learned Helplessness: A Practical Guide

Posted on December 2, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Learned helplessness—first identified in psychological research and now widely recognized in organizational life—arises when individuals or groups come to believe they lack the ability, permission, or agency to shape outcomes. This mindset produces passivity, disengagement, dependency, and resistance … Continue reading →

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The North Sea Empire in the Early Eleventh Century: A White Paper on Its Military, Political, and Economic History

Posted on December 2, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The early eleventh-century North Sea Empire—principally associated with King Cnut the Great (r. 1016–1035)—represented one of the most ambitious and short-lived thalassocratic unions of medieval Europe. Encompassing England, Denmark, Norway, and intermittent influence over Sweden and parts of … Continue reading →

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Album Review: Hits (Mike & The Mechanics)

Posted on December 1, 2025 by nathanalbright

Hits, by Mike & The Mechanics In looking at an album like this one has at least two questions to answer. Are the songs any good and are they actually hits? Released in 1996 after the band lost two of … Continue reading →

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