theology | Glancing Into the Reformed Fishbowl

It is uncommon that a former professor of mine finds their way into the blogosphere. Well, there's a first for everything. Give it a read, if nothing else, it's a good example of careful theological reflection. If only all theological blog posts were so literate.

link | Franchises In The UK

Franchise Gator UK< prides itself on linking real people with a real franchise opportunity. They offer a wide range of franchises to suit any chosen work style including work from home, online business opportunity, low cost business, property services business, B2B and owner-operator.

Franchising provides you a route into business ownership with the back-up of a larger organization. By purchasing a franchise, new business owners are able to avoid enduring the learning curve of operating a new business by taking advantage of a proven business model and product. The businesses offered on Franchise Gator are called ‘Business Format Franchises’ which means the business (the franchisor) grants another (the franchisee), the rights to trade under the trade mark/trade name of the franchisor and to make use of an entire package, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business and to run it with continual assistance on a predetermined basis. Franchising can be described as a 'business marriage' between a 'franchisee' and a 'franchisor'. Be in business for yourself but not by yourself. You'll find helpful information on buying a franchise business, and the latest franchise news and articles. You can search their extensive UK Franchise directory to research franchises for sale and to find the business opportunity that fits your needs and investment goals.

Their website is informative and well laid out. Definitely worth checking out, if you're in the UK and looking to start a franchise. Franchise UK!

theology | My Favorite Collect

For my non-Anglican friends: This is my favorite collect (collect - a brief formal prayer that is used in various Western liturgies before the epistle and that varies with the day), often called the collect for purity:

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Happy Sunday.

blogging | My Little Anti-Amazon.com Crusade

So, yesterday, I posted my somewhat snarky rant about blog practices, namely the propensity for people to link to places like Amazon.com. I understand insofar as it is easy and many people use Amazon.com affiliation as a revenue source. I sketched (and sketched is the appropriate word as I could go into significantly more detail) why I've come to stop buying books at places like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or Borders. There was, of course, rumor this week that that Barnes & Noble was looking into acquiring Borders. Barnes & Noble and Borders would combine for roughly a third of the meandering book market. Its appropriate that we should have to pay for our convictions and I don't mind paying more for a book to support my local bookstore. I find doing so is better for the town in which I live -- keeps businesses open, allows money flows to circulate within the community, enriches the intellectual life of the town, etc., obviously better for the owners of my local bookstore and its employees, and holds out the possibility of resisting the homogenization in the book market, which is dominated by increasingly fewer publishers and booksellers. I'll gladly pay $5 more for what I consider a better way of life, both communally and as a lover of books.

Well, if I think that shopping at a place like Amazon.com is deeply problematic, I also think driving traffic to or getting paid by them is problematic as well. At least, in my opinion, it is something to think about. I linked to a bunch of bloggers who, probably with out much thought, do so. Wess (seen above with me in Paris last summer) over at GatheringInLight.com thought I was being a little harsh, a little unfair. He was right, but it spawned what I think was a worthwhile conversation. [Read the comments of the previous post.]

I generally link to Powells.com when I need to link a book title to information about the book. Powell's is a huge bookstore in Portland [though Powell's roots began in Chicago, where Michael Powell, as a University of Chicago graduate student, opened his first bookstore in 1970]. It may not be my beloved bookstore around the corner, but we shouldn't forgo the better waiting for the best. I've spent many hours wandering the aisles of new and used books at Powell's. My conversation with Wess made me dig around a bit. As it turns out, if you're worried about a loss of revenue by not directing traffic to Amazon.com, Powells.com has an affiliate program which looks just as lucrative as Amazon.com.

Well, so much for my little rudder trying to turn a big ship. I'm off to the Farmer's Market.

[Update: See Wess' post here.]

[America's Young Theologian][Amazon.com][Books][Blogging]

life | A Friday Morning Micellany

1. If McCain wins the presidency, it will be tempting to leave the U.S.A., not a responsible course of action, but tempting. It's strange I would say that though, given that I think grassroots political organizing is more significant than national electoral politics. Still...

2. With my economics background and Christian ethics training, I'm always thinking about companies. I don't like large companies (or large churches for that matter). Yes, that includes your precious Starbucks, even though they do deserve credit for their stances on health care. I don't like stockholders, since, in my opinion, there's not enough personal accountability. I'm sorry but a stockholder losing some money, or a CEO leaving with a $15 million severance package is not strong enough incentive to dissuade corruption. Passing thought, why do we look so lightly on Martha Stewart's criminal behavior? If you're going to put a kid in juvenile detention for shoplifting, put the diva behind bars, not under mansion arrest. I don't think a corporation's responsibility should be limited to its shareholders; if it is, then we need to avoid supporting publicly traded companies. When a college student kills herself because of the pressures of overwhelming credit card debt, banks have some responsibility for targeting 'profitable' populations, namely, those who are not likely to handle debt well. Profit can't be the only measuring stick.

3. More of the same, but this time on books. People, stop shopping at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders! Not only are you not supporting your local businesses, but given the percent of the market that these three make up and how they inventory books, it is killing (not only independent book stores but) smaller presses as well. It's not only a social responsibility and quality issue, but an avenue of publication issue. Also, in the spirit of the above, it's not okay that bloggers link their book lists to Amazon.com. And, no, its not okay to make money by driving traffic to Amazon. Sorry. Need other options? Find a local bookstore that you've actually stepped inside of and link to their site if they have one, or link to AbeBooks search page for the book in question. No, I don't care about the $4 you'll save at Amazon.com. My budget is tighter than yours. If your budget is so tight that can't afford to support independent businesses in your community, you shouldn't be buying books. Find a library! End of rant. Do you have a favorite local bookstore?

[Please read the comment section on this
post, which relates to my rant.]

4. Read Amy Laura Hall's newest book, Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of Reproduction. Even if you're not a parent or thinking about parenthood, this is important look at how we've come to see children and the role of procreation.

"Hall mines church publications and popular media to reveal several dynamics at work. Partly because of its attempts to market itself as part of the American dream, the mid-century church became infatuated with an image of the ideal family that inevitably, if unintentionally, encouraged middle-class Protestants to insulate their families from their troubled neighbors. At the same time, corporate and scientific messages undermined the confidence of parents — and particularly mothers — in natural or traditional ways of providing for their children without commercial products and expert advice. Aspiration and anxiety combined to create families that were more focused on themselves, less secure in their Christian identity and less engaged in mission to others."

5. Russians and the use of flying penises as a means of deriding dissent. Ha.

6. My sleep schedule has been crazy. Some friends have worried that it might cause a lack of productivity, others that it was caused by depression. Neither true. Just without other people around, what do I care if I sleep from 10pm to 6am or 6am to 2pm. Still, I'm trying to get back on a so-called normal schedule. Today, up at 7am, had breakfast with friends at 9am.

7. I'm curious about Soderbergh's movie about Che, see here. This, however, worries me:

"There is a lot, however, that the audience will not learn from this big movie, which has some big problems as well as major virtues. In between the two periods covered in “Che,” Guevara was an important player in the Castro government, but his brutal role in turning a revolutionary movement into a dictatorship goes virtually unmentioned. This, along with Benicio Del Toro’s soulful and charismatic performance, allows Mr. Soderbergh to preserve the romantic notion of Guevara as a martyr and an iconic figure, an idealistic champion of the poor and oppressed. By now, though, this image seems at best naïve and incomplete, at worst sentimental and dishonest. More to the point, perhaps, it is not very interesting."

8. Happy Friday, everyone; play it like a weekend.

film | I Bought You A Bouquet Of Movies

I don't normally watch as many films as I did over the last ten day, let's see: The Boondock Saints, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Red Without Blue, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Maxed Out, My Own Private Idaho, Iron Man, Cool Hand Luke and, last night at midnight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's probably not a good thing when you're averaging a film a day. Perhaps that was my answer to my college town emptying out for the summer.

So here are 10 micro-reviews:

1. The Boondock Saints (1999) - Two Irish-American lads, get in a post-St. Patty's day fight, and after dispatching with the goons, feel that they have a vigilante calling to rid their Boston neighborhood of crime. Charismatic characters, bland moral dilemma, namely, what has the law to do with lawlessness? Not great.

2. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) - Two brothers plan to rob their parents' jewelry store as an answer to their financial troubles; you'll never guess: it doesn't solve their financial troubles. Like Ebert's review, I don't want to say more. This movie was fantastic. Sidney Lumet (who was nominated four times for the best director Oscar and who gave us Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and 12 Angry Men) directs a film, which was superbly acted through a range of emotions by Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman. What was I doing last year that I missed this film? Hopefully, I was the only one.

3. Red Without Blue (2007) - I've mentioned this before. An award-winning documentary about twin brothers and their family as one of the twins transitions from male to female. It's good, not always gripping, but pleasantly tells its story, probably in the manner it should be told.

4. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) - Winner of the highest award at Cannes in 2006, the film takes place in Ireland, 1920. Damien and Teddy are brothers. Damien, a medical graduate, joins Teddy in fighting the British for Irish independence. The two brothers fight side by side until they end up on opposites sides of a treaty. A compelling film, certainly. Well acted, well shot. To be honest, I wasn't in the mood for a film like this, but that's not the film's fault.

5. Maxed Out (2006) - Another award-winning documentary, Maxed Out shows viewers the vortex of the American style of debt, where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Like selling online poker to people with gambling problems, the film shows the cruel practices of predatory lending, which seeks out those who are most desperate and financially creates a class and culture of indentured servants. Hey, America, isn't freedom grand?

6. My Own Private Idaho (1991) - River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in Gus Van Sant's (Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting, Elephant) film about two young street hustlers. The movie drifts along with its characters, through the streets of Portland to Idaho, in and out of male prostitution, in and out of sleep. There is the Shakespearian son of privilege (played by Reeves) who cavorts with undesirable company as a mode of rebellion, who has sexual encounters with men but is not gay, who can and does return his privilege. Then there is the narcoleptic drifter (Phoenix) who is looking for home, looking for his mother. I've spent time with homeless youth, many prostituting themselves as a means of subsistence, and this captures the transience of such lives. I thought it was visually beautiful and I appreciated the last two sex scenes in the film which are nothing more than a handful of erotic stills.

7. The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) - I wouldn't assume that a movie with Woody Harrelson and Courtney Love could be considered well acted. I wouldn't assume I'd enjoy a biopic about Larry Flynt. It can; I did. Larry, who founded Hustler magazine and made millions never overestimating his readers taste, finds himself in a Supreme Court case after printing a parody ad about Jerry Falwell. The movie is as raunchy and raucous as Flynt, well probably not, but make a worthwhile point: if unpopular speech isn't protected, protecting speech doesn't do very much.

8. Iron Man (2008) - Aren't we tired of comic book movies? I am. This one is better than most. Probably helps to have actors who can act (Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, rather than Tobey Maguire) and a hero who is more of a flashy jerk than lovable.

9. Cool Hand Luke (1967) - I couldn't remember if I had seen this Paul Newman film. I like going back to actors before they became shelf-stable salad dressing. Newman plays the cavalier Luke, a cool prisoner in a rural jail, who refuses to care enough to bow to authority. Because of this, the respect of the fellow prisoners grows. Another film worth seeing, Luke is one of those characters who you can't take your eyes off, who you believe must know the secret to the world. You watch because he's beautiful, kind of like Paul Maclean in A River Runs Through It. You heart breaks when he is broken.

10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - I'll save you from the the plot details and you know who stars in and who directs these things. I experienced something about ten minutes into this film that I don't think I have before. It was 25% nostalgia (I was 12 and headed to summer camp with my friend Sean, when the last film came out), 75% just a childish being given over to play. I didn't care that physics didn't apply in this film, I wanted to play along. Without those two aspects, playing along and a dose of nostalgia, I don't think the film works, but, for me, it did. I won't say it was great. I won't say it wasn't over the top. In a way though, I wanted that, even if the end of the movie seemed like I was warped into a different Spielberg film.

[America's Young Theologian][Film][Indiana Jones]

books | Simple Spirituality

Over the next couple days, I'll be reading Christopher Heuertz's first book, Simple Spirituality : Learning to See God in a Broken World, available in July. Chris is the International Executive Director of Word Made Flesh, an organization that exists to serve Jesus among the poorest of the world's poor; I met him in the fall while he was on a learning sabbatical at Duke. I'll post a review when I finish.

[America's Young Theologian][Books][Word Made Flesh]

poem | Elegy For A Still-born Child by Seamus Heaney

I

You mother walks light as an empty creel
Unlearning the intimate nudge and pull
Your trussed-up weight of seed-flesh and bone-curd
Had insisted on. That evicted world
Contracts round its history, its scar.
Doomsday struck when your collapsed sphere
Extinguished itself in our atmosphere,
Your mother heavy with the lightness in her.

II

For six months you stayed cartographer
Charting my friend from husband towards father
He guessed a globe behind your steady mound.
Then the pole fell, shooting star, into the ground.

III

On lonely journeys I think of it all,
Birth of death, exhumation for burial,
A wreath of small clothes, a memorial pram,
And parents reaching for a phantom limb.
I drive by remote control on this bare road
Under a drizzling sky, a circling rock.
Past mountain fields, full to the brim with cloud,
White waves riding home on a wintry lough.

---

I've been working on a poem that references this poem, but I couldn't find it online anywhere, so I thought I'd reproduce it here. It's from one of Seamus Heaney's early works Door Into The Dark. The line "Your mother heavy with the lightness in her" is absolutely crushing.

[America's Young Theologian][Stillborn][Poetry][Heaney]

theology | Grumble Of The Day

I'm always annoyed that things like The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood exist. Really? I read the post, Are Women Called To Be Pastors?, on their blog. Gag. I'm glad they want to help the "church deal Biblically with gender issues," but as far as I'm concerned they are just mucking around in theological backwaters. The whole discourse would be more honest if they said, "Helping conservative churches use a particular interpretation of Scripture to conserve the 1940's." It's never a question of Biblical or not, but which reading of the Bible, through what lens and to what ends. "Biblically" as they use it assumes they have the Bible on their side. Convenient...and pretty much a conversation stopper. Things like this are just theologically embarrassing. While I know some people like John Piper and some students at conservative colleges might read Wayne Grudem, theologically, I don't take either seriously. I don't really know anyone in theological circles who does. It's not that they aren't saying anything, just not anything interesting. I feel like like the film critic who wants people to watch a film like Raging Bull and audiences watch Ghost Rider instead.

.: sigh :.

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][John Piper]

life | An Ad On A Bus

When I was living in Scotland last year, I came across an advert put out by an organization called ENABLE Scotland.

Having spent the previous year at a L'Arche community living and working with adults with intellectual disabilities, I found this haunting. If there is a L'Arche community near you, I'd consider contacting them to see if you can visit their community for a day, or ask if they could use a group from your church to volunteer; also, consider making a financial donation to a community.

L'Arche USA has communities in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Clinton(IA), Erie(PA), Jacksonville, Lynchburg(VA), Mobile(AL), Portland(OR), Orange(CA), Overland Park(KS), Seattle, Spokane, Syracuse(NY), Tacoma, and Washington, DC.

"I call you to take seriously how beautiful you are, even with all your wounds and weaknesses and the call to honour those who are weakest."

Other Posts about L'Arche:
July 2005 | "...And what we did, we did together in Jesus' name."
Jan. 2006 | A Painting on My Wall...
Jan. 2006 | Masquerading as a Fox (in the Fox's Hole)
April 2006 | Count Your Pennies
May 2006 | Learning To Listen

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][L'Arche]

blog | New Blog Design

It has been over a year since I last updated my blog design. I'm still working out the kinks on this one, but everything should be functional (search, feeds, etc.). What do you think? Anyone notice anything screwy?

life | Happy Birthday To Me (2008)

I turned 31 years old at the end of April. It wasn't as extravagant as the previous one in London, but I absolutely loved having everyone I love in Durham, NC come out. After not smoking for a month, I decided it's my party and I'll smoke if I want to...

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and the beer!

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Life]

music | I Made You A Mixtape

As promised, click here to listen to the 12 songs I put together as a mix. Originally, it was 18 songs, but I had to lose a few. Since I made this with a particular friend in mind, its not exactly what I'd put together for a wide audience, but it's enjoyable enough. Happy listening.

[If you like my blog, please consider sharing it with others
by putting a link on your blog or website. Thanks.]

[America's Young Theologian][Music][Okkervil River]

music | Musical Dispatches For April/May

Two weekends ago I returned to Wilkesboro, NC for my second Merlefest, one of top Americana music festivals in the country. I'm not a bluegrass kid and for me its just a nice change of pace rather than being all about the music. I did get to see Old Crow Medicine Show and The Avett Brothers, both of whom I enjoyed, and attend a Blues guitar workshop with Roy Book Binder, who impressed me greatly.

Last weekend, the Obama people threw a rally in Carrboro, NC. Superchunk opened for Arcade Fire. It was a hot and sweaty affair, but one of the first outings of the year that fully felt like summer. I'm still supporting Hillary and had to suffer the wrath of the sun god (in the form of a sunburn) for attending the Obama rally. Still, the concert was great. I had not seen them live before and was surprised in their ability to replicate the sound of their studio albums on stage. Plus, let's be honest, I don't go to a lot of shows where someone plays a hurdy gurdy (also known as a "wheel fiddle").

In other music news, I got two albums for my birthday: Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams and The Magnetic Fields' Distortion. Both worth a listen.

My duplexmate, Toby Bonar, recently put out an album as well. Have a listen [and I'd say contact him on MySpace if you want to buy a copy].

Lastly, I'm making you a mix-tape. Well, sort of. I put together a mix for a friend about a month or two ago. I pared it down to twelve songs and will have it online tomorrow.

Happy listening.

[America's Young Theologian][Arcade Fire][Merlefest][Music]

film | Friends and Films [Part II]

As I mentioned last week, my friend Reno Lauro entered a 5-min ultra-low-budget film into The Doorpost Film Project.

Last Rites is the story of Laura's last day on earth. A soul in transition, Laura is filled with regret about the choices she has made in life and is incapable of embracing the forgiveness she desperately needs to pass into the next stage of existence. With the help of three messengers --who comfort her body, emotions and spirit-- Laura gathers the courage to let go of her regrets, embrace forgiveness and finally be reunited with her love.

You can watch the film here. If you like it, please register and rate it favorably.

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Film]

theology | How To Respond?

Not long ago I considered working for a random Christian organization but quickly learned that doing so would make us [at best] strange bedfellows. On the application they asked: We believe that Christians are called to take the initiative to share the gospel even when there is no pre-existing friendship or relationship. Do you have any theological objections to this kind of evangelism?

I could have simply answered with one word: Yes! But I thought I'd actually try to answer the question in a manner that neither communicated my "are-you-crazy?" sentiments, nor was simply dismissive. Here was my response:

Given the question, I would imagine that I would understand 'share the gospel' differently than some involved in your ministry. I affirm that Christians are to go into all the world to preach and make disciples. Discipleship, for me, requires relationships and training over time. Again, for me, preaching is a theological task that primarily makes sense within the context of a worshiping community (just as the missionary activities of the NT used the synagogue as their base). Sharing the gospel cannot simply be the sharing of information and should not be primarily about looking for rational assent. It is not a large leap from the testimony of Holy Scripture where it admits that even the demons believe in the one God (in James, chapter two), to the claim that demons might also believe Jesus to be God. Faith cannot be something which one individual decides in a vacuum (this would trend too close to American Romanticism), but the content of the Christian faith is always transmitted through the habits, practices, and linguistic formulations of the Christian community. In this sense, I affirm the sentiments long held and echoed in phrases like "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus," or Cyprian's: "He cannot have God for his father, who has not the Church for his mother," which has wide agreement from Augustine to Calvin. The Holy Spirit's activity cannot be limited (not even limited to its own creations: the church, Scripture, Creation), but it does instrumentally utilize its creations of Scripture and the Church in its primary economic task of pointing toward Christ. Thus, while I think the love Christians must possess makes encountering the world (and naming the world as such) unavoidable and that God's reconciling the world to Godself is indeed good news, a strong emphasis on this sort of evangelism brings with it a certain set of challenges. It can have the negative consequence of buttressing a theologically tenuous individualism; further, by looking for conversion outside of the communal practices of the church, it can also diminish the sacramental role of the church (especially for those who come from theological traditions where baptism, for example, is a means of grace--this is my way of saying that while this sort of practice might have something to say for it, it makes more sense in some theological traditions than others). Given my Anglican theological tradition, where those who have gone through catechism enter the body of Christ through their baptism on Easter, it doesn't receive the emphasis it might in other Christian traditions.

That's my version of playing nice. I was actually disheartened to be asked this question. I'm not saying that God doesn't or couldn't use such forms of evangelism. However, it doesn't follow from God's calling people to Godself in the midst of the horrors of war, that starting wars is an advisable mode of evangelism. Alright, that was unfair...people don't fight wars as a form of evangelism...[well, except one could read the crusades that way...and a prominent student ministry (Campus Crusade for Christ) still exists with crusade in the name and a page full of statistics].

No, I do not think going around "sharing the gospel" when there is no pre-existing friendship or relationship is a good idea. No, I don't think the language (or practices that attempt to make sense of it: attempting to convince random people to make decisions) of personal relationships with Jesus is helpful. I always profoundly bothered that these are still seen by some as a live options.

[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Evangelism][Campus Ministries]