Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth.

For the Colson cent, I'm John Stone Street.

The hymn, O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High, tells the story of salvation, from Jesus

incarnation through His ascension, to the sending of the Holy Spirit to His church.

The lyrics are a translation of a portion of a 23 stands a hymn from the 15th century,

most likely written by Thomas a campus.

A campus was a member of a lay religious order known as the Brother-in-a-Common Life.

The Brother-in-order was founded by Gerhard Gruta, who came from a prominent family and

deventer in the Netherlands.

Though highly educated with a potential teaching career at the University of Cologne, Gruta

was forced to reassess his life and faith after a near deadly illness.

He converted his house and deventer to provide hospice care for poor women, organizing them

into a lay religious community known as the Sisters of the Common Life.

The Brother-in-a-Common Life were founded later, as a male counterpart to the sister.

The Sisters and Brother-in-a-Common Life based their life together around the rule of

Santa Gaston.

Though at first they remained lay people who took no permanent vows and were free to leave

the group at any time.

Their spiritual life centered on something known as the DeVoteo Moderna, which emphasized

four main themes.

Focus on the Bible, a moral life that replaced vices with virtues, the imitation of Christ,

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