Stop licking Baby Jesus.
Things You Say to Your Kids When Serving Them King Cake
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Author Archives: Micheal
David Brooks: How to fight the man
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Most professors would like their students to be more rebellious and argumentative. But rebellion without a rigorous alternative vision is just a feeble spasm.
David Brooks, “How to Fight the Man.”
A New Chapter for the New Year
Whew – this is big. I am beginning a new full time position tomorrow with an incredible organization, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. While I am (with many tears) ending my term as Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network, InterVarsity has asked me to continue blogging for the Emerging Scholars Blog. I’ve written a very nice letter about my change, so you can read the whole thing right here.
Can Religion Be Reproduced?
I saw this quote from famed magician/atheist/television personality Penn Jillette‘s new book on kottke.org:
There is no god and that’s the simple truth. If every trace of any single religion died out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.
Now, this might be true or it might not be true – it’s a thought experiment with no way of verification. It’s an assertion, not an argument. Thus, from the very beginning, the appeal to empiricism is weakened.
But this claim – “it would never be created exactly that way again” – is true of anything rooted in the passage of time: history, art, literature, even the progress of science itself. Continue reading
How to Ban Someone from Your Facebook Page
This morning, I discovered that a rather inappropriate Facebook Page had “Liked” the Emerging Scholars Network Facebook Page and was starting to “Like” posts. I figure it was only a matter of time before they started making comments or adding Wall comments to draw attention to themselves. I was able to ban them permanently from our Page, but it wasn’t an obvious process, so I thought it might be helpful to others to post instructions. Step-by-step instruction (with pictures!) follow below. Continue reading
How many signs does that guy have?
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Yesterday, the driver next to me at a light honked his horn, then held up a sign telling me about a problem with my minivan that I need to get fixed ASAP. (“Expired car tags,” if you’re wondering.)
My two immediate thoughts:
- Wow! What a helpful guy! Thank you!
- Wait a sec – who just carries around a sign like that? Are expired car tags a cause near to his heart? Does he have a whole stack of signs for various problems? “Your left turn signal is out.” “Front passenger-side tire is low on air.” “Blue smoke coming out of your exhaust.” “Bumper falling off.”
How many signs does that guy have?
Frightening Words from Gordon MacDonald
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Natural gifts such as persona charisma, mental brightness, emotional strength, and organizational ability can impress and motivate people for a long time. Sometimes they can be mistaken for spiritual vitality and depth. Sadly, we do not have a Christian culture today that easily discriminates between a personal of spiritual depth and a person of raw talent. Like the wheat and the tares of Jesus’ parable, they can be difficult to distinguish. The result is that more than a few people can be fooled into thinking they are being influenced by a spiritual giant when in fact they are being manipulated by a dwarf.
Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World, p. 5, emphasis added.
I find these words frightening because I think they are true.
Noll and Enns on Theological Diversity and Christian Unity
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This quote expresses some of my recent thinking to an eery extent:
So if we find ethical, theological, and historical diversity in Scripture, we begin with the assumption that what the Bible intends for us to learn is not primarily concerned with textual unity or precise moral consistency as construed by modern ethicists, theologians, and historians. Rather, “The unity of the Bible is more subtle but at the same time deeper. It is a unity that should ultimately be sought in Christ himself, the living Word…”
Mark Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, p. 139, quoting Peter Enns, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament.
Of course, this leads to several important questions: How much theological or historical disharmony can be tolerated? How much unity should we require for fellowship or organizational structures? What do we do with ethics or theologies that oppose each other? Nonetheless, I think Noll and Enns are on to something important here.
True Images of Kentucky?
I have very mixed feelings about this beautiful photo gallery by Shelby Lee Adams in today’s NY Times Sunday Review. The photos, without question, show true aspects of Kentucky life: Appalachian Gothic, shirtless men and boys, hunting trophies, haphazard piles of junk, families who seem at once welcoming and off-putting. Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner come to mind, even though they were writers of the Deep South, which should never be confused with the Upland South. The photos are both beautiful and disturbing.
However, since this photo gallery appears in the New York Times, will the primary audience see anything besides rednecks and hillbillies? Won’t this gallery simply reinforce existing stereotypes of Kentucky among the East Coast elites? Will they have any insight at all as to how to interpret this quote from Adams that accompanies the gallery?
When I was young, I couldn’t wait to leave Kentucky. Now, as I get older, I value every day when I return.
Many people know about Kentucky author and farmer Wendell Berry, but I wish more people knew about Harlan Hubbard, classically trained painter and musician, an essayist who inspired Berry and who, like Berry, chose to live off the land in rural Kentucky rather than among the cultural elite. Hubbard is someone who gets you a bit closer to the paradoxical land that is Kentucky.
Two Notes From an Anglican Foster Child
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I am not Anglican, but Elizabeth and I greatly value our time as visitors at St. John’s (Shaughnessy) Anglican Church while living in Vancouver. The most recent Regent College Anglican Studies Program newsletter includes two items from the past and the future of St. John’s (Shaughnessy) that I find interesting. First, a fine remembrance of Harry Robinson, longtime rector at St. John’s, who passed away earlier this year. Though not as well as known as his good friends J. I. Packer and John R. W. Stott, Rev. Robinson left a legacy, of which I have been a beneficiary.
Second, the assistant rector while we attended St. John’s, Felix Orji, is now Bishop Felix Orji in the Anglican Church in North America. What wonderful news – congratulations, Felix!