Mr. Imperial's Rambling

update rss feeds appropriately

2009-10-01T18:26:00.002-04:00

I am hereby putting this blog on hiatus and moving over to Tumblr. I dig its multimedia-friendliness, and especially its Twitter integration. Good stuff.

t4stywh34t.tumblr.com

tumblr

2009-09-12T14:22:00.001-04:00

I think I'm gonna try tumblr for a while. t4stywh34t.tumblr.com. Come check it out.

the next step

2009-09-04T09:02:00.006-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Here's why.

I have officially graduated from Asbury, and now Cherith and I are heading on to what seems to be the next step the Lord has laid out for us. When I was accepted to Durham's postgrad program, we had hoped to be able to move overseas next year to continue the Adventures in Slavery to Higher Ed. However, as is pretty typical for American students, I didn't receive the funding necessary for us to do this. Despondent, I deferred my program of study until next year with the plan of working and saving money this year. We were hoping to remain in the Wilmore/Lexington area, seeing as it is cost-effective and would allow us to continue being with our church family. This was all dependent on me getting a local job, however, and I had impressively disastrous results in my three-month search. The other possibilities we entertained were moving back to western NY to be near Cherith's family or moving to NC to be near my family. We applied to many jobs, and a few weeks ago suddenly the stone started rolling and shedding its moss. Though I haven't had luck yet, Cherith received three invites for interviews - one at our alma mater, Houghton College, one at Roberts Wesleyan (in Rochester, NY), and one at Duke University, all in financial aid. Though the thought of being at Duke initially thrilled me, the doors opened widest for us to return to Houghton. Within a week Cherith had been flown up to interview, been offered the job, accepted, and we had found an amazing place to live. Eerily enough, the day after accepting the position, I found out from Durham that they would allow me to pursue my postgrad studies part-time from the US, assuming I would 1) have access to a strong theological library (which Houghton does) and 2) be able to fly over twice a year or so for face-to-face meetings with my advisors (Lewis Ayres and Carol Harrison). Furthermore, Houghton has set a precedent by offering Cherith 50% tuition remission for a Master's degree in music, which will allow her to continue on with her dreams.

All that to say, we are sad, excited, nervous, and awed. If you're the praying sort, please offer a petition for me to be able to find the right job, and for us to trust Him to provide in the meanwhile. We will mourn the proximity to friends and family that we have had here at Asbury (especially my brother and his wife), but on the other hand we gain back several friends and much of Cherith's family by moving back to NY. I will also mourn the loss of Ale-8 and Pazzo's amazing pretzels. However, I will receive in return the best chicken wings money can buy.

the way of the cross

2009-07-05T22:38:00.002-04:00

crowning the king
Originally uploaded by Mr. Imperial

Last weekend I went to the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, KY to prepare for my upcoming confirmation in the Anglican Church. Click here to check out the whole set on my Flickr.

a quasi-review; or, how having saints secures jesus' divinity

2009-07-01T15:48:00.004-04:00

Strange title, I know. Bear with me.

If you know nothing else of John Chrysostom, know that he was veritably in love with Paul. This isn't a weird or gross thing, though, seeing as John was wholly enveloped (despite being a prominent orthodox Christian preacher/pastor/leader/bishop) in the secular rhetorical world. Paul was able to make (fairly) plain for average Christians the import of the teachings of Christ, being himself highly rhetorical in the process. Paul was the most important Christian to Chrysostom, because even though Paul was the Saint of Saints, he was fully man, fully emulatable.

Margaret Mitchell, despite writing on a very niche subject in Church History, brings this to the fore in her book, "The Heavenly Trumpet." She addresses something very important at the outset: why doesn't Chrysostom speak so passionately about Jesus himself? Why does he focus on the man Paul to encourage his congregation/audience? It isn't because imitating Jesus is a hopeless cause; otherwise, Chrysostom's Trinitarian theology would be bankrupt. Ironically, I almost see it as a move to preserve his high regard for Jesus' divinity above anything else.

Like all theology, shooting for the via media is also preferable. We've seen countless instances of heresy in the Church's past (and present) when someone wants to take part of a balanced issue to far. I don't think John errs on the side of saint-worship in an effort to maximize Jesus' divinity here. I think, instead, he shows us lucidly why surrounding ourselves with the saints is not a bad thing.

Obviously, as Christians, we want to be "little Christs." But the reason we look to saints is because they start out with everything we start out with; they are fully human, fully capable of both going astray and staying the course with God. Despite some who seem to have dipped their hands in the utterly and almost unbelievably miraculous, saints are people we can truly imitate. I can only imitate Christ insofar as he was fully human; I can't truly imitate Christ in his fullness. I can never be begotten from the Father like he does, nor can I experience divinity through the power of the Holy Spirit (that was for Ben...for the rest of us: "I can't allow the Holy Spirit to proceed from me ;-) ). I don't have two natures somehow united yet unconfused in my self. My death will not affect anything. Worshipping me will only get you sent to the wrong place. I want my being to be as close to Christ as possible, but I'm not so concerned about turning into a Messiah.

On the other hand, I can grow in relationship to God. It is possible that I may have to preach to thousands of people one day and train them in the Faith. It is possible that one day I might have to face an untimely death at the hand of those who have a problem with my faith. I can relate more easily to people who don't have the option to call legions of angels from heaven to help me, what can I say? None of this is to say that I'm trying to distance myself from Christ, nor that I want to be more distant from Christ. In fact, I think the opposite; I'm a huge proponent of understanding Christian growth as theosis. The thing is, because of that, and not in spite of that, I find it appealing to look toward people who bridge the gap even further between myself and Christ.

I look toward saints as people who were utterly used by God, despite problems, despite obstinacy, despite physical shortcomings, despite emotional setbacks. I don't believe Christ was used by God to accomplish anything; Christ is God, for crying out loud! True, Christ "bridged the gap"; Christ experienced everything a human could experience in the fullness of his humanity. But at the end of the day, despite being made in the form of a servant, and subjecting himself to such a death as that on the cross, Christ was more than a fabulous guy; and because of this, the gap between he and I is very, very real. Since I want to bridge that gap any way I can, I look to the saints who have done so the best.

the sky is blue

2009-06-25T13:27:00.001-04:00

the sky is blue
Originally uploaded by Mr. Imperial

One of a handful of shots I took the other day when I was sick of sitting on my butt in front of the computer.

on a lighter note...

2009-06-22T11:29:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure about the whole literal lake of eternal fire thing as far as the non-heavenly afterlife goes...I think this would be enough for me.

see more Fail Blog

i need some help...

2009-06-17T15:03:00.002-04:00

the globe
Originally uploaded by Mr. Imperial

I need some help. We are printing five pictures from our Spring Break vacation (yes, we're slow). We need you to vote for your favorites! Click on the photo above and peruse the set entitled "Disney Finalists." Comment either here or there on your choices.

the post in which you think i'm a nerd

2009-06-12T07:58:00.004-04:00

Granted, not that kind of nerd. Still fairly low in the nerddom hierarchy, but since this involves science fiction, nerd is nerd I suppose.

When I was growing up my family (or at least Rob and I) regularly watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. I'm not sure why it appealed to me, but then again, as I've lately been revisiting '80s movies I loved as a kid, I'm finding there's not much logical qualification for what I did and didn't like back then. At any rate, via a Netflix trial I decided to re-plunge myself in Star Trek by starting over again at the first season. Memories of later episodes are coming back, and brief glimpses of understanding at why I liked the series, but I must say that this feels enough like watching the series for the first time, and I'm more impressed now than I ever was as a kid. As a kid, Star Trek was about exploring space, seeing what interesting predicaments the crew could get into, really digging the holodeck episodes (look it up), etc. Now I see quite a bit more. I never realized that just about every episode was built on the exploration of some moral gray area and seeing how the crew handled it. I'm serious; the technology and space stuff is only a facade for the exploration of our moral humanity, though the technology and space stuff obviously factor in. Is it okay to steal a space ship from the Federation if it means saving your planet from being destroyed? Is an eye for an eye the best means of retribution and revenge? Can a sentient non-human yet human-like being (an android) be counted on for needing to make a decision based on more than just logic? Is it better to utilize absolute power to give people what would make them happy or to refrain from such use to give them what they need?

If, at the end of the day, Star Trek is just Star Trek to you, that's okay. No skin off my nose. But I encourage you to give it a different look...just about every episode so far has thoroughly intrigued me, and though it's not making me into more of a science fiction geek, it is making me reminisce of days when it was okay to cloak moral commentary with phasers and Klingons.

the other big news

2009-05-27T11:39:00.002-04:00

The other big news I have been holding off on making fully public is my decision to become Anglican.

Some of you already know this, and some of you have probably sensed it, but at this stage in my life, I no longer feel like the Wesleyan Church is the place for me. So, as of a couple weeks ago, I announced to them that I would be going the way of the Anglicans, and I was also enrolled in preparations for confirmation.

This decision was a long and interesting one, as I have been weighing both the pros and cons of the shift. Though my main Wesleyan ministry experience was not a good one, I have been assessing how I view things both here in the States and abroad (i.e., Australia), and though overseas is more promising, I just can't invest in the Wesleyan denomination in the US at this time. There are generally two realms of thought on these matters: stick with a denomination and attempt to be an agent of change, or slip out gracefully and possibly reinvest later. After two years, I have decided that the second is the best option for me. I am in no way burning bridges with the Wesleyan Church; I may indeed return one day. But historically, ecclesially, and sacramentally, at the present, I am Anglican.

Usually at this point in my explanation to people someone will inevitably bring up the whole Henry VIII thing..."How can you put confidence in a church founded on divorce?" The short answer is, I don't, because the Anglican Church wasn't founded on a divorce. Yes, that was a political impetus for formal separation from Rome, but that wasn't the beginning of the Anglican Church. Look here and here for a couple quick reference sites.

I'm definitely open to dialog on these decision, so if you have questions, feel free to fire away.

a reminder

2009-05-20T16:28:00.002-04:00

'Tis hard for man to rouse his spirit up-

It is the human creative agony,

Though but to hold the heart an empty cup,

Or tighten on the team the rigid rein.

Many will rather lie among the slain

Than creep through narrow ways the light to gain-

Than wake the will, and be born bitterly.

George MacDonald

tiltshiftreds

2009-05-16T14:51:00.002-04:00

tiltshiftreds
Originally uploaded by Mr. Imperial

This was made testing a new app for Adobe AIR called TiltShift Generator (http://labs.artandmobile.com/tiltshift/). Do a quick Google search for "tilt shift photography" to see the science behind it. Makes stuff look miniature!

some very, very difficult decisions

2009-05-11T11:11:00.003-04:00

Cherith and I are staying in the US next year. While I was very, very, very excited to be accepting into Durham's post-grad studies program for Religion/Theology, I have also come to realize the brutal hinge-pin concerning UK PhDs...money. In the UK, thanks to new immigration laws, the people who generally proceed from the US are those who are 1) offered fantastic scholarships or 2) can afford to drop a huge sum initially with the hopes that more scholarships can be sought and more money can be earned once there. As you might have guessed, I fall into neither of those categories. I was not offered either of the scholarships I applied for, so what remains are scholarships I'm eligible for once there. On the other hand, Cherith and I are poor :-). Relatively speaking, of course. Coming out of this degree is not going to be easy on our bank account (though it could have been, which is something I will not soon forget - ask me to tell you the story one day [not over FaceBook or Blogger]), and I foresaw such a circumstance long ago when I deliberated concerning applying to other programs. That being said, I also came to this conclusion knowing that I can defer my enrollment to Durham for a year. So in the off chance that my name comes up for consideration again for scholarships, and/or we can save a ton of money, that door is still open to me.

So, in all likelihood I will be taking another year-long break from academia proper (though obviously still working on many things) and looking for some sort of employment. I've applied to a library job at Duke University, and there are a few jobs in this area I'm going to look into. I'm sad that my goals are looking slightly more distant now, but that's just part of life. We'll see what opportunities the next year holds.

I recently made another decision that was also difficult. But that's for another blog post...

why so many atonement theories are bankrupt

2009-04-10T17:41:00.005-04:00

In my 2 Corinthians class, we have been discussing various interpretations of Paul's soteriology/theology of atonement. One of the books we read, Paul on the Cross by David Brondos, highlights the deficiencies of several "popular" (though I'm not using that word in a derogatory fashion, simply trying to connote something that has held the most weight for the longest time) readings of Paul particularly on Jesus' death and resurrection. That we should be reading such is ironic, especially since Dr. Reese didn't think about these readings' proximity to Holy Week beforehand.

What really stuck out to me concerning this book is that, despite many areas where Brondos lacks in his historical and exegetical analyses, he is not afraid to ask questions which have, to this point, generally been assumed or worked around. Questions such as, "Did Jesus have to die, and why?" have really plagued the development of biblical soteriology throughout the centuries, generally with the result of working backwards from logical conclusions to the text rather than the other way around. Brondos asks what it means for Jesus to die for (ὑπερ) us or for our sins; what about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are actually salvific? Is it proper to ask questions of mechanics concerning the atonement (i.e., how salvation is brought about)? All of these are formed under the general concern for what, specifically in Paul, we have inducted from Scripture and what we have deducted.

A classical penal-substitutionary theory of the atonement holds that Jesus had to die to ransom us, or to pay back a debt we owe though cannot pay back. Did Jesus really have to die? Is God under any compulsion to act? Judaism says "no"; God acts as he pleases. Who is this ransom paid to? The devil? Surely not! The Father? Yet what kind of Father would make his son die, and why should he to pay back our "debt"? What kind of logic is really involved here?

Were blood sacrifices really required in the Old Testament for the remittance of sins? Didn't the Law make exception for those who couldn't bring lambs? Or even birds?

And what about a participatory understanding of the atonement? How can we actually (whether ontologically or spiritually) be said to "participate" in his death and resurrection? Well...ok. I have to stop here. I tend to agree with Brondos on much, but here he lost me.

Essentially Brondos now shows that we basically imitate Christ through our lives, and minimally through the sacraments. What about divine participation? What about Augustine, Irenaeus, Athanasius, or the Cappadocians? Though Paul may not explicitly evince the possibility of "divine participation" (which, admittedly, is what he is looking at - Paul - despite also bringing Hebrews into the discussion at one point), I don't think what Brondos does is quite fair. He looks at overarching atonement theologies, pointing out their faults just through looking at Paul, and though Paul is of course a main influence in the development of any NT theology, one also has to factor in other writings of the NT. What does Peter say about divine participation? How does he connect the seemingly-impossible event of the Word's incarnation with our salvation? Why is it "unbiblical," as Brondos attempts to show, that to a large extent our salvation comes from the Word's assumption of humanity in order to heal us rather than simply Christ's "life plea" to the Father for our salvation?

I think here, we lose part of the wonder of Jesus' death if we look at it only under the lens of the "logical conclusion" of Jesus' life lived for our sake. Maybe I want to out-Brondos Brondos here...God's love for us went beyond living a holy life to plea for our salvation: the Word became flesh that we might become divine.

Of course, none of this comes to fruition until the Son is raised, and the Holy Spirit is given. So we wait...

flickr update

2009-04-06T16:52:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I've quickly uploaded photos from our Spring Break journey to the Flickr. Here's a link to the set. I'll go back through and add titles/descriptions when I get some time...which will probably not happen at the rate things are piling up.

Enjoy.

easy to love?

2009-03-25T09:12:00.004-04:00

I never thought of myself as a "slow processor" before, but am realizing that more and more. So I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that I woke up thinking about a chapel service that happened quite a while ago.

The speaker basically ended his talk by encouraging us to be "easy to love"...and at the end, we were to turn around to the people around us and say "you're easy to love." Except that when Cherith and I turned to each other, we half-jokingly said, "You're not easy to love." Later that day Cherith was pretty frustrated...in fact, she's probably already written about this. On a certain level, married couples want to be easy to love. But then you realize that on a deeper level, people aren't easy to love - though some are easy to like.

C.S. Lewis has a lot to say about love, as you'll know if/when you read just about anything he's written. One of his statements that really stands out to me is: "Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." That is, love is an act of the will, not an act out of emotion. So in this regard, people are both easy and difficult to love. We should be willing for each person to obtain the ultimate good - God. However, as an act of will, and as depraved people, we are usually stuck in the rut of seeking our own ultimate good rather than others.

I suppose people are and aren't easy to love. I want to love people as easily as God loves me, though I realize that I can't expect other people to love me similarly. So all that being said...though I joked around with Cherith all those weeks past, I realize that as my wife she is the one person who I do will the highest good for. Now I feel like Augustine, talking about "higher goods" and "acts of the will," hah.

quick note on swagbucks

2009-03-16T14:13:00.002-04:00

You might remember my brief post a while back concerning Swagbucks, one of those search-and-win sites. Unlike Blingo, which I used to use, Swagbucks has proven to be way easier to get rewards. I racked up 45 points pretty quickly, which was enough to get a $5 Amazon gift card (which I wisely spent on an Umberto Eco book that's going pretty cheaply).

And if you do sign up, don't just try it for a day and give up when it doesn't seem like you're getting many swagbucks. It does take time. This probably isn't for people who use Google once a week, but it does pay off.

So feel free to click here and join.

durham update 2 + artists/albums

2009-03-13T13:04:00.004-04:00

Item the First:

Today I received my "offer letter" from Durham. It's very concerting to see things spelled out, but it's disappointing to know that I still have to wait a month to hear about funding. But going back to my previous point...seeing in writing that my supervisors will be Carol Harrison and Lewis Ayres just about made me have an aneurysm (in a good way). So now I should probably own all their books, which fortunately aren't many.

Item the Second:

Chad's recent post on his top 20 albums got me thinking about the music that has influenced/is most influencing me, and it's tough to narrow the list down to just 20 albums...so I thought I'd focus mainly on artists, highlighting the most prominent albums that have worked on me over the years. And I left my list at 22. You can laugh all you want at some of them, but just remember: we all have skeletons in our gig bags. These are not in order of importance, just alphabetical.

Arcade Fire (Funeral) - Funeral was their first main album, and I revel in the fact that I adored them before Neon Bible came out. I think I was mostly reveling in the fact that I loved a quasi-alternative band from Canada.
Blue Man Group (Audio) - BMG was the soundtrack of my senior year of high school, and it got me pumped up for more than one AP exam. I just can't get past the fact that it's a band full of percussive power that has the guts to paint themselves blue. Plus, one of my dreams is to play with them one day.
Coldplay (Rush of Blood/Viva la Vida) - I was not on the Coldplay bandwagon to begin with. When "Yellow" was a popular song, I enjoyed hating them. Then A Rush of Blood to the Head came out, and I was hooked. Though I was not a huge fan of X & Y, with Viva la Vida I'm back in the camp. This is one of the only CDs I can listen to straight through several times in a row and not get sick of it.
Dave Matthews Band (Crash/Everyday/Live in Central Park) - Though I realize many of you out there are sympathetic to this, others of you are rolling your eyes. Roll away. But you can't deny that Carter Beauford is one of the best stinkin' drummers in the world. I don't idolize people (or at least I try not to), but he's the closest I'll get to wanting to actually possess someone's complete skillset.
David Crowder (All I Can Say/A Collision) - Crowder's second and fourth albums suffered from unfortunate poppiness (though Can You Hear Us? is one of my faves). His start as a Baptist praise band leader through acoustic awesomeness is highlighted on All I Can Say, which seems to be pretty hard to get a hold of nowadays. With A Collision, though, he really integrated acoustic/bluegrass with rock/electronic in such a way that I almost wept when I heard some of the songs on it for the first time (during my last semester of college, studying abroad in Australia). Very, very powerful stuff.
The Decemberists (The Crane Wife) - I dug Picaresque (especially because I got it for free from eMusic back in its infancy stages), but it sat unbothered for a long time on my hard drive until The Crane Wife came out. Colin Meloy has brought back the uberballad - the lost art of a CD being an integrated entity that tells a story, and God bless him for it. Of all the "alternative" bands I like, the Decemberists are the ones Cherith has the largest affinity for. When you become a disciple, then shoot for The Tain. You won't be sorry.
Enya (A Day Without Rain) - This is where I will probably lose most of you. Though Rob introduced me to Enya years ago, and though my US history teacher in high school used to make fun of her, right when I needed something like A Day Without Rain, I had it. I have cranked out 6 major term papers to this CD since college, and when seasonal affective disorder was hitting me hard in college, I must say that this CD really helped. It's amazing what you can do with four chords and a haunting voice.
Genesis (Invisible Touch) - For those who hung on past Enya, you probably now feel betrayed. This was Genesis' 13th stinkin' studio album, and though it's hard to peg this as their best (it isn't), it was the one that got me into them. I mean, c'mon...Phil Collins!
Gotye (Like Drawing Blood) - Gotye is one guy (an Aussie, though not natively) who is a whiz at sampling, and he can play just about anything. You really, really have to listen to this album. "Heart's a Mess" will haunt you the rest of your life. It got me through some tough times in Australia.
Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights) - Most of you will not like Interpol, primarily because of Paul Banks' voice. But get past it and you enter into a world some call "post-punk," some "alternative," and others "um, what the heck is this?" Un/fortunately they've made it onto the Rock Band scene, but maybe others will fall in love with them like I did back in college. (And yes, the Interpol shirt you see me wear on occasion is because of the band, not because I did the international police force.)
Jimmy Eat World (Bleed American/ST) - Though they've only had a couple popular singles, to me Jimmy Eat World represent all that is good with popular rock-n-roll. The songs are catchy, well-played, and [decently] well-written. They remind me of good times in high school. Futures is a good recent release, but I'll always go back to the first stuff.
Led Zeppelin (everything) - There is not a single LZ album that I do not like, so it would be rude of me to single one out (though, ironically, IV will always hold a special place in my heart). John Bonham should be included in my pantheon of revered drummers. If you've never listened to the Zep, you really should get on that.
Muse (Absolution) - Muse is probably the most interesting rock/electronic group I've ever heard, despite the fact that the vox can get somewhat repetitive.
Pedro the Lion (Control) - Control may be in my top three favorite albums of all time. I started listening to Pedro in college when I was in a band with a couple guys, and we decided we wanted to get a bit more minimalistic. We covered "Of Minor Prophets and Their Prostitute Wives," and that was it for me. I was hooked to their proclivity for all things simple, and they really helped chill me out as a drummer. Don't get me started on the raw honesty of their lyrics.
Pink Floyd (though everything, mostly The Wall) - I remember in middle school when I used to listen to the radio before going to bed...and some track from The Wall came up and I dug it. The next day I asked my dad, "Dad, have you ever heard of a band called Pink Floyd?" Of course, he laughed.
The Presidents of the United States of America - Millions of peaches. Peaches for me. Millions of peaches. Peaches for free. If you didn't listen to this CD in the '90s, you were ostracised. This was also one of the first tapes I ever owned.
Radiohead (The Bends) - Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy In Rainbows, but I prefer the rock-ier side of Radiohead. For that, I have to go back a few years to when I first got into them, during the Summer of 2001. This was just an awesome CD.
Sigur Ros ( ( ) ) - That was fun to type. I love all their stuff, but when I was a freshman in college (when I didn't know how to pronounce their name), I was recommended this album by a hall-mate. I didn't know "ambient Icelandic awesomeness" was a genre, but now we all do.
Sparta (Wiretap Scars) - I don't dig too many voice-raising bands, but Sparta's one of them. Those of you attuned to the genealogy of rock will realize that Sparta is one-half of the offspring of the splitting of At the Drive-In (the other band being the Mars Volta), and frankly, it's the half I like the most.
Thursday (Full Collapse) - I'm not so much into Thursday nowadays, seeing as I'm waiting for them to do something slightly more innovative than they have been, but in college my RD fed me Thursday, and I was delighted. This is the second main screamy-sort of band I enjoy. Now if I could just find my t-shirt...
U2 (Best of 1980-1990) - The reason I chose a "best of" CD is more because I'm delineating the point at which I lose interest in U2. No matter what they do now, they can never compare to the awesomeness of Joshua Tree and the few albums afterward. Plus, "Where the Streets Have No Name" was on the radio when I proposed to Cherith. But that's another story.
Weezer (Blue/Maladroit...maybe even Make Believe) - Patrick Wilson is the third member of my pantheon (I'm not calling them a Trinity), because he's not overly-complicated and is a model of solidity. The Blue album is also one of the few CDs I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it. It probably has the most sentimental value of any album for me, as well, and is one of the earliest albums I ever owned. You will often see me donning my Kermit/Flying V/W shirt for this reason.

durham update

2009-03-10T09:10:00.003-04:00

Though I blurbed about this on Twitter and Facebook, I think I need to clarify some things, and it's easier to do it in one fell swoop than explaining it to everyone individually. Yes, I was accepted into Durham. Here are the "conditional" statements that go along with that; the "asterisks" on the deal, as it were:

I did not apply for the PhD program, so I am not going straight into the PhD program. The way the British system works, it would almost have been more of an advantage applying to the PhD program from a first-class honors undergraduate degree than applying with a US Master's degree. Since I am essentially crossing fields, an MA in Biblical Studies from the US isn't quite enough to make it into a PhD program in the UK in Historical Theology, though they can see from the coursework that I've done plenty already. In addition, UK degrees are heavy on the research side, something which is not emphasized much in the US unless you're doing an MA with a thesis component. Unfortunately, the way Asbury's MAs are structured, doing a thesis has become nigh an impossibility, unless you don't mind taking 4 years to complete a 60-credit degree (which I obviously do). So, having talked extensively with Durham people (including the professors I'd like to work under), I decided that it was more in my favor to apply to a one-year research MA with plans on sticking around for the PhD.

This has a number of things in my advantage. First, the transition from an all-coursework degree to an all-research degree will be smoother because I'll have an in-between step. I will be able to get experience doing serious research, not having to start my major thesis from scratch at the PhD level. Second, though funding is tough for the MA, doing the MA at Durham will set me up better for PhD funding. I have been impressed that at almost every step in this process, Durham has been interested in knowing whether I want to proceed to the PhD or not. They do give priority to their own.

Coursework vs. research is an obvious hinge-point for a lot a people. I will have been in what is essentially religious/theological/historical instruction for 6 and a half years when I graduate this summer. I am pretty tired of sitting in a classroom. Now, granted, this isn't because I think I'm good to go and have learned everything I can learn. It's more that I have a good understanding of what I want to research and write on, and everything else at this point is supplemental - but has been required. The UK system realizes this and caters to people like me who are ready to make research their primary focus, and classwork a secondary supplement. So while I might be taking a class here or there at Durham, none of it would be required. The second main benefit of this is that I'll be done way sooner. Even taking a one-year MA before the PhD will have me completely done in four years of full-time research, which is break-neck speed for a US PhD. In addition to this, one must realize that from my MA in Biblical Studies I am not in a good position to get straight into a Historical Theology PhD here in the US, especially since it would mostly involve taking the GREs, which also affects funding.

So, all this to say, though it might be rough-and-tumble, and I wouldn't see much of Cherith for a few years because of all the work, in the end it would [hopefully] see me with a PhD at 29/30, which means we could start a family without having to worry tremendously about balancing school and baby stuff. Granted, though, anything could happen (God is certainly able and welcome to change what needs changing). Further, barring the unknown event that I could get full funding for a PhD here in the States, it could even be cheaper.

Finally, here is the biggy that needs to be understood clearly by all: being admitted is only the first step. The second step is funding. Funding is huge, because we are broke. If I get no funding, we are not going anywhere. We'll stay in the States, work and save, and I'll apply to different programs next year. However, if the funding looks favorable, and we wouldn't need to take out many loans, we will go. I am thankful that the Lord allowed us to experience a move to and from Australia before this time in our lives, because we know what's involved in an overseas move now. Those are other costs to be considered. Yet we also have faith that the Lord will provide as he sees fit, so I am not too bothered by the money situation yet. However, if you feel so compelled to lend us a hand when/if the time came, don't hesitate :-). Like I said, having no money but having faith still results (at the present) in having no money.

So keep us in your prayers, and if God talks back, listen to him and let us know what he says.

encouragement for a bogged-down academician

2009-03-02T14:11:00.003-05:00

Those who are idle in the pursuit of righteousness count theological terminology as secondary, together with attempts to search out the hidden meaning in this phrase or that syllable, but those conscious of the goal of our calling realize that we are to become like God, as far as this is possible for human nature. But we cannot become like God unless we have knowledge of Him, and without lessons there will be no knowledge. Instruction begins with the proper use of speech, and syllables and words are the elements of speech. Therefore to scrutinize syllables is not a superfluous task. Just because certain questions seem insignificant is no reason to ignore them. Hunting truth is no easy task; we must look everywhere for its tracks. Learning truth is like learning a trade; apprentices grow in experience little by little, provided they do not despise any opportunity to increase their knowledge. If a man spurns fundamental elements as insignificant trifles, he will never embrace the fullness of wisdom.

~ Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit

don't go gettin' horny

2009-03-01T11:21:00.002-05:00

Funny story about translation. Forgive the title...I couldn't help it.

Many of us have heard the story about Jerome's translational efforts in the Vulgate concerning the plant which Jonah sits under...is it a vine? A gourd? Jerome went with the least popular option, which resulted in his harassment. But, I think, most modern biblical scholars would probably say he was going in the right direction.

And then I come to Exodus 34, where Moses' face is shining after coming away from such a long encounter with God. Did you know that the verb in the Hebrew, qrn (excuse the transliteration...I'm not in the mood at the moment to figure out the Hebrew keyboard settings on this thing), is a verbal form of the noun for "horn" (qeren)? Even though "shine" doesn't off-hand seem to relate to "horn," I think most commentators nowadays would draw the connection between a spiky sort of radiance and the use of horn-terminology...but not Jerome. Good ol' Jerome translated "horned" instead of "shone." A textual error can be forgiven, I suppose...but then Michelangelo had to go and sculpt Moses with horns.

So let that be a lesson...be careful not to make translation errors, lest they end up sitting in a church in Rome.

(This was spurred on by my present research on 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, by the way...look it up!)

welp...

2009-02-20T15:22:00.002-05:00

...I was wrong.

Although I must confess (in order to soothe my ego a bit), Quicksilver has changed a bit since I last used it. I find it ironic that it's continually under "beta" status, because it sure works a lot better now.

And it does indeed do hotkey web searching...not to mention the feature that has made me definitely switch back to QS: quicklaunching any website. For the most part, the hotkey feature suffices for a few websites I visit frequently to search with, such as Blingo. However, QS has the option of making me SUPER lazy, because to launch any website at all, all I have to do is launch QS (command+space for me), type in the url, and hit enter. That simple. Holy cow. And I have yet to fully delve into its depths, but an afternoon of messing around has yielded great riches. The main sense in difference, ironically, is that Butler just does so much more than I need it to do...QS seems to run in the background a bit more smoothly, and it does indeed do everything I need it to do. And, as Jeremiah said...it's super-sexy.

How ironic that in an effort to simplify, I actually went to a more complicated program in Butler?

the one app that i can't believe i forgot...

2009-02-20T10:53:00.005-05:00

...is Butler.

I always wanted to be the guy who did fancy app-switching using key combinations, opening files on the fly by typing in only a few letters, etc. I thought Quicksilver would be everything I would ever need in a productivity app. But here's the problem...though I have readily embraced the shortcut-key combo culture, I don't like it when it comes to manipulating files or opening apps. It's just superfluous for me. I don't run that many apps that I really need Quicksilver, and since I'm type-A when it comes to computer organization, I already know where everything is that I need on my hard disk. Plus, some of OSX's own native features are good enough for me (putting folders in dock, namely).

Yet, thinking I was just missing something, I tried many other launcher-style apps. The closest I came to settling was on Sapiens. If all you want is app-launching, this is for sure the best - but only if you're just not into key combos, and you're a heavy trackpad/mouse user. Sapiens works by moving the mouse in circles on your desktop, bringing up a radial menu of apps - but not just random ones. Sapiens learns over time the apps you use the most, when you use them, and depending on what is currently running on your computer, will factor all these things into which apps appear in the radial menu. Why didn't I settle on Sapiens? Because, like I said, I don't really need an app launcher. The point of productivity software is not to add steps to GTD (gettin' things done), but to shortcut those steps. And this is why I settled on Butler.

Butler does everything Quicksilver does, but slightly differently. It's definitely not as pretty. However, it tailors to people who are gaga over menu-bar items, putting absolutely everything you could ever need - customizably (maybe I made that up...) - at your mouse point. Just about everything is customizable with Butler. Not only this, but you can change the way you interact with items by dragging them to hotcorners, or by dragging them to Butler's menu bar icon. You can control iTunes via hotkeys. You can do so much more...but there is one reason I keep it around: hotkey web searches.

I am a web-heavy Mac user. I google (via Swagbucks) constantly. I search a lot of other sites as well. But I'm not a fan of the time it takes to load a browser and navigate to where I need to go in order to search. Only Butler, from what I've seen, will let you create customizable web searches and then hotkey them. For instance, I have it set primarily that when I press command-option-F, a little window will pop up that instantly lets me type in my search terms for Swagbucks:

You can hotkey just about any other search engine just by setting it up properly in Butler. Like to compare prices on Froogle a lot? Set it up. Tracking packages via FedEx? Set it up. Look up movies all the time on IMDB? Set it up. I don't want a toolbar on my browser. I don't want a giant search box in my menu bar. I don't even want to have to open Safari myself, especially if I've got both hands on the keyboard and that means moving the trackpad/mouse.

So, in the end, I will stick with Butler. One day I will plunge further into it's depths, but for now, hotkey web searching is the feature that truly contributes to my productivity.

a few mac apps to check out

2009-02-19T13:14:00.003-05:00

I rarely talk tech around here, usually because my good 'ol PowerBook G4 is in a state of flux when it comes to which non-standard apps I'm using. I tend to try out productivity apps, especially, but rarely stick with any of them. Here's a quick and dirty list of a few (not necessarily for productivity) that I've latched on to, however.

last.fm. Yes, there are several websites and apps that let you stream internet radio, etc., but last.fm is the only one I've found that throws your iTunes library into the mix. I think they have a slight edge over Pandora anyway, but when you add in the factor that it keeps track of what I also play on my own iTunes AND my iPod (called "scrobbling"), last.fm screams ahead. Call it musical voyeurism, but I don't mind sharing with the world that even though I may listen to Fleet Foxes while on the web, when I'm doing homework I'm listening to Chopin or Enya (among other things of course). The main advantage of all this is that I don't really have to "teach" last.fm what I like, unlike Pandora - by reading my iTunes library and its play count, it knows what I like.
Evernote. Thanks to j. for this one. Definitely productivity-based, Evernote helps you keep track of just about everything you may use when doing research. You can organize things by class, project, etc., take screenshots of things from the web or even your iSight camera, import PDFs, and the list goes on. The best feature, though, is Evernote's ridiculously good OCR text recognition...it not only reads text from PDFs and screenshots, but even handwriting! Everything's indexed and searchable...no more scrounging through physical folders as well as virtual folders.
Delicious Library. This is a recent app I've gotten hooked on. There are many free media organizers out there, including Books, which I've used up until now. DL comes with a price tag, but it's worth it. Not only will it catalogue your books, movies, and music, but even video games, toys, gadgets, tools, and clothes. DL can visually organize things on bookshelves for you, sorting by just about every category imaginable. The only hitch I've run into so far involves Library of Congress classification...which is probably going to be a hitch for only people like me. Though it comes with a script to acquire said call numbers, the script doesn't seem to work because of the nature of the LoC's searching (that is, the site times out, so the script doesn't quite know what to do when it reaches that point). It would be a really nice time-saver for people who like using LoC (DL does, however, automatically track down Dewey numbers), but at least they make it easy to enter it in manually (simply go to the LoC's site, plug in the ISBN - which DL fetches automatically when the book is entered into your library - and copy and paste into the appropriate field in the book's description).
IceClean. Yes, Mac is simple and intuitive, but a lot of stuff can accumulate in hidden recesses of your hard disk. IceClean works to clean that stuff up. It's not pretty, but it definitely gets the job done, and it works with native Mac functions to do it.
AppTrap. Like I said, Macs are great...but sometimes they can gloss over important things. For instance, to uninstall an app, all you really have to do is drag it to the trash. However, it does leave stuff behind, and if you're constantly installing and uninstalling programs like me, AppTrap is a savior. It installs in your system preferences and works behind the scenes. Whenever you drag an app to the trash, it will ask if you want it to track down all those other little files that get left behind. This will definitely save you some space...for some of us without a gajillion-gig hard disk, that comes in handy.
jDiskReport. If you're like me, you sometimes look at how much space is left on your hard disk and wonder, "where the heck is all that going?" With jDiskReport, you can find out. Do you know how many gigs of printer drivers come default on your Mac? Do you really need help files in Magyar? Track 'em down and get rid of them!

Definitely feel free to post others that you've found rather helpful.

a person who gets paid millions of dollars called by any other name...

2009-02-10T20:44:00.002-05:00

I usually dismiss most articles written on MLB.com, but this one really caught my eye. To summarize: the practice of assigning good (read: creative, interesting, often hilarious) nicknames to professional baseball players is in severe atrophy. However, as the article shows, there are some good ones on the horizon. So those of you out there who are fans...do your part. Out with A-Rod, in with A-Roid. And for crying out loud, Lance Berkman...what's so bad about being called Fat Elvis?

Crossan - Jesus' Matrix

2009-02-06T10:46:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday night, Seth, Benji and I made the plunge into an icy Lexington to attend John Dominic Crossan's lecture at Transylvania University. His topic was: "Finding Jesus: His Matrix and His Message." Though "matrix" seems to be just a fancy synonym for "context," Crossan was clear that context often comes with the same baggage as "background." That is, whereas background and context seem to include elements that can be ignored, matrix seems to imply that every element in an event's makeup is intertwined and necessary.

With this as his foundation, Crossan proceeded to show how "properly" understanding Jesus' matrix should lead to properly understanding his personhood and message. Of course, Crossan worked from certain presuppositions: the miraculous is to be discounted, and Jesus' divinity is a non-issue. Jesus was simply a Galilean peasant (Crossan even stated that he won't call the 12 "disciples" since that implies that Jesus was a teacher; instead, he calls them Jesus' "companions"). Once this is established, one can begin to assess more accurately Jesus' message and mission.

Crossan is an expert at mixing intriguing historical observations with logical loop-holes, which results in the listener/reader almost liking what Crossan says without really knowing why. I can see now why he's garnered such a following. What he says sounds good...but when you scrutinize the content (and the implications of that content), things don't match up.

Among other things, Crossan discussed the nature of apocalyptic Judaism, especially the fact that the apocalypse never seems to refer to the end of the world, but to a mass non-violent "cleanup" of the world. This makes sense. However, in these regards, the book of Revelation almost seems to be a manifesto for those who felt that God should have acted violently the first time around - an incarnational "do-over," as Crossan himself labelled it. Yet, is this what Revelation is truly about?

Crossan also compared and contrasted the ministries of John the Baptist with Jesus. Whereas he said some insightful things, in my opinion, regarding the activity of John, he boiled down Jesus' ministry to seeing what didn't work for John and acting contrarily. This is easy to do when you completely discount Jesus' divinity, of course...but since Crossan does believe Jesus was divine, there are no problems there. Good grief.

At the end of the night I remember thinking, "Well, if Jesus isn't divine, if he isn't the Son of God, then why are we even here talking about the matrix of his life and message? Can't we get the same message out of the life and message of Ghandi, or Thoreau?" And yet, Crossan believes something about God. I'm just not sure what...neither were Benji or Seth. There must be a way to reconcile Crossan's historical investigations with the faith passed on by the Church. We just need to find an adequate way to do this, I suppose.

inappropriate journal title of the month

2009-02-05T11:18:00.002-05:00

DSC_0044
Originally uploaded by Mr. Imperial

Ok, maybe not the month...I'm not sure the frequency of my finding inappropriate journal titles. All I know is that nowadays, if you're going to publish a periodical about missions to non-caucasian nations, you probably shouldn't title it "Brown Gold."

new camera

2009-01-30T17:22:00.002-05:00

Cherith and I are now proud owners of a Nikon D60. Many thanks to the millenia-old sand of Israel for helping this event come to pass (by helping destroy our old camera). Pics up soon.

Woo!

a lament

2009-01-30T09:48:00.001-05:00

Sitting in class, I often wonder about the future vocations of my fellow students. The majority of them will be pastors with the United Methodist Church. This degree can either be a wonderfully-beneficial step on the ladder to their passion for ministry; or it is a rubber stamp on their goal of ordination and securing a pension. Some of them are laypeople with other vocations already established; this degree is for personal benefit only. Some of them, like me, desire to teach.

Having already earned a BA in the field of religion/Bible/ministry and going out into the world, albeit for a short time, I know what happens when the classroom turns into the world. You realize the things you wish you had paid more attention to, and you also (sickeningly) realize the things in life that academia couldn't prepare you for. So, I imagine that the stakes are slightly higher at the Master's level. It is surprising how many people in this class are younger than me, who have gone straight from undergrad to here, who are going to be put in charge of possibly enormous churches. Are they prepared for ordination simply because they have a Master's degree? Not necessarily. And it scares me how many people here don't take their classes seriously because they "just want to get into ministry." Granted, not every person is suited to the classroom environment...but come on. Even if you don't learn easily, your commitment to studying right now is going to be a pretty good indicator of your willingness to commit to ministry later on. Your congregation doesn't give you a syllabus. They don't tell you to expect three deaths, two weddings, and a major crisis, though you may at least be prepared for 45 sermons a year (assuming you get a few Sundays off). Please, seminary students: take this seriously.

And yet, God works through people whose churches I would never want to set foot in. God works through foibles, through miscues, and through inexperience. He teaches difficult lessons, but he still teaches. Thanks be to God.

dumbing it down?

2009-01-23T10:19:00.003-05:00

One of our early discussions this morning in IBS Hebrews revolved around applying our almost ridiculously in-depth method of inductive Bible study we've been developing throughout seminary to "actual" ministry. That is, is it feasible to ask pastors to spend this much time with the text in order to explicate the Word to laypeople?

I think maybe yes and no.

If you're going to be a pastor, you obviously need to breathe Scripture. That takes time, but that's where the inductive method helps. The problem is that most young pastors get stuck on topical series before they know Scripture well enough to truly breathe it in these series. So, other young pastors stick with purely exegetical sermons, honing their source material down to even just half a verse. In both cases, there is a shared problem: there just isn't time to really hash Scripture out with all the other concerns of a pastor. That's partly why seminary is a great time to develop method - because you do have the time. The more time you can spend developing method now, the less time it will actually take later to come to really grasp the Word. That's not saying you can short-cut the process later, but that the basic tools are there to be used quickly and efficiently, so that actually more time can be spent with the Word and crafting the homily rather than having to spend so much initial time just figuring out the first level of meaning of any given passage.

Now, a consequent problem with this seems to be a well-worn cause and effect sequence. It seems that the longer a pastor spends time in ministry, one of two things are going to happen. Either he'll stick with method and producing quality sermons, or he'll abandon the method. The reason for abandonment, for the most part, seems to be because of the comprehension level of the congregation. Way too many congregations complain of not being able to "apply" a sermon to their "daily lives," and thus pressure is placed upon the pastor to dumb things down, to abandon possible profundities in favor of a happier congregation.

However, I've seen pastors who stick with these things. Over time they learn more and more to combine sensitivity of their congregations' needs with a complete unwillingness to compromise sound biblical teaching that will occasionally go over the heads of their congregations. The surprising result, from youth to seniors, is adaptation - comprehension levels actually rise to meet the level of spiritual instruction. The curtain is torn in two, and people actually realize that preaching and teaching isn't about feeding the ego, but about growing and stretching, letting your brain be flooded occasionally with stuff you don't understand in order to progress further toward God.

What do you think? Do you see a dumbing-down of Christians? How do pastors shoot for a balance between feeding sheep and encouraging sheep to grow?

2 easy ways to save money

2009-01-21T09:52:00.003-05:00

If you're in school and money is tight - and you're a guy - there are two easy ways to save money.

1. Grow your hair out. Yes, you might look like Keith Green, but hey, it's warmer. Unless your wife cuts your hair, getting a haircut costs money. So don't cut it!

2. Grow a beard. If you're like me and you can't use an electric shaver because of sensitivity issues, grow a beard! Razor blades are stinkin' expensive; so don't buy them, shag it out, and complete the Keith Green look. It works for me! (Though my wife might disagree...)

book review

2009-01-20T12:29:00.003-05:00

Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe

I think I've determined that the thing I like most about this book is more the door it opens on discussion than the book itself. Heresies and How to Avoid Them is a collection of sermessays (yes, that's a word...but only because I just created it) originally delivered by a number of Anglican pastors as a sermon series, and later spiffed up into a series of essay. So just in that regard, this is a valuable journey into the realm of uniting history/serious theology with laypeople's thirst for instruction. The authors cover nearly every major early heresy in the Church, starting with the first four main Christological errors dealt with via conciliar action (Adoptionism, Docetism, Nestorianism, and Arianism), then moving on to others of the writers' choosing (such as Marcionism, Pelagianism, and Donatism). The typical chapter will include an attempt at a scriptural connection to these teachings (though in some cases they seem to be completely unrelated), somewhat of a historical survey of the debate, and then the attempt at application.

Now, as a super-brief expose on heresy for laypeople, this book is good. As a manual for how to think theologically orthodox, this book is not so good. It creates unfortunately high hopes just in its subtitle; yet at the end of each chapter, no matter how good the chapter was (there were three or four solid historical treatments, chapters which I was thoroughly impressed with), the take-away was the same: don't be like this. The heretic/heretical group was always a misguided good guy, portrayed as someone/people who really were striving for the truth, but somehow got lost along the way. Though the book certainly correctly notes that not all heretics were burned or utterly dismembered for their teachings, it does overemphasize how heretics have historically been villainized - almost to the point where I found myself thinking, "Well, maybe it doesn't actually matter what I believe, since anyone who thinks differently is just a bully."

To me, this is unfortunate, because I firmly hold that it does matter what we believe, and heresies/heretics are not just lessons in veering off the path. Yes, I believe that character slandering went on, and shouldn't have. However, for some reason we have forgotten that the quest for orthodoxy, despite what those suspicious of the metastructure of the Church would say, was founded primarily on the Church's passion for God - for remaining as close as possible to revelation with faith and the understanding that belief and behavior are two sides of the same coin. I really, honestly do not think the Fathers separated belief from action. So despite the fact that Pelagius might have acted like a pious man - indeed Augustine himself heralded him as such - the real danger in Pelagianism lay in the genetic passing on of its traits and characteristics. Augustine saw that it did not teach the full truth, that we are saved by faith through grace, the evidence of which is displayed in our works, and thus was doomed to created less-than-Christians. So it's not enough, I think, for a sermon to simply lay out a historical debate and then shake its finger at the audience, saying, "Don't be like that!" Obviously we don't want to be heretical, because by the nature of the sermon it has been determined that heresy is bad (though in some circles that is actually the first hurdle to leap); so there must be something else there.

In my conversation with Dr. Pasquarello concerning this book, we did determine that it has one great use - as a tool in homiletics courses. Hearing about a certain heresy in a sermon is a surprisingly good connector to hearing the heresy itself in a sermon. That is, the student could read the chapter on, for instance, theopaschitism, and say, "What would this sound like in a sermon? How can I preach truth and avoid this error?" If these seem like moot questions, either 1) you haven't spent enough time in church, or 2) you haven't spent enough time studying heresy. This isn't a witch-hunt sort of exercise, but a genuine exercise in desiring to preach faithfully the Word of God and the Rule of Faith.

So, to recap: good book, but only if you plan on doing something about it. If you aren't convinced at the end that it does matter what Christians believe, read another book, talk to me, or consider helping fund my doctoral work :-).

a sort-of apology; or, an apology of sorts

2009-01-15T16:21:00.003-05:00

I realize I haven't blogged anything noteworthy in a long time, and that's primarily because of schoolwork. However, there are two things I want to mention quickly:

1. Since I am mostly through with my application to Durham (need to finalize my proposal), I'm turning my attention to publishing. My major paper for Exegesis of General Epistles, as I mentioned a while ago, went over quite well with my professor. Today we met to talk about a few editorial changes (including a source I need to read), and also about the process of publishing. We found a few journals that my article might be a good fit for, so now I just need to do a bit of research and decide who to submit to. One thing I didn't realize is that you never want to submit the same article to more than one journal at a time, because apparently if two or more journals want to use the article, the one(s) you snub will not be too pleased about it, and it could damage your reputation. So the name of the game is patience.

2. I write a lot of critical reflection papers as a seminarian, and though many of the books wouldn't interest any of you, I've decided that I want to start posting smallish reviews here on the blog, in order to give you something meaty to read when I have nothing else interesting to say. So look for those coming soon.

read the h-man

2009-01-14T14:32:00.004-05:00

John Hodgman is a funny guy, as anyone who's seen him on The Daily Show or the PC-Mac commercials may contest. However, did you know he's written two books? Or that he devised 700 hobo names? Or that he has a blog?

His latest post is an intriguing one, based on the news that Rick Warren has been invited to say Obama's inaugural prayer. Hodgman is not a Christian, yet I still find his views on Warren and gay marriage insightful. Do read.

phew

2009-01-10T17:28:00.001-05:00

Finally got everything sent off to Durham. Now I just need to follow up and make sure my references are getting in on time. Here's to a great couple months of biting my fingernails.

welcome back

2009-01-10T14:19:00.002-05:00

After quite some thinking, I've decided to move back to Blogger. Xanga was pretty good, but way more people use Blogger, unfortunately, and I don't need any of the "community" things Xanga offers (picture hosting, networking, etc.). I will miss the "Currently reading/watching/listening to..." feature, but I can hunt down enough widgets to recreate it here. We'll see how this goes, I guess.

new year

2009-01-10T12:44:00.005-05:00

Someone asked me what my New Year's resolution was. I usually don't do these because they're pointless and hardly ever work out. Not that it's bad to have goals, but you know...keeping something up for a year is usually an effort in the futility of, well, human effort. No one ever says, "My NYR [because it's tiring to keep saying/typing such a long phrase all the time, hah] is to be gracious, or to accept grace more." You know why? Because people don't see that as effort, as something they can tabulate and quantify; you can't mark it down in a chart or give yourself bonus points for grace. But it's stuff like that that I think we should actually be focusing on a bit more. I digress...

My answer to the question is simple: I actually missed the deadline by just over a month. November 30, to be exact. This is an exercise in irony, because the resolution I've made according to the Gregorian calendar is that I want to orient my life more distinctly to the Church calendar. So I'm a month late...the new Christian year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which this year happened to be November 30. Whatever the historicity is concerning the creation and implementation of the Church calendar, for catechesis or whatnot, it should still hold prominence in the lives of all Christians, even those who are not a part of a catholic church that recognizes the Christian calendar. Invariably we all orient our lives toward a cycle of repetition, whether we realize it or not; primarily, this is a seasonal repetition, but secondarily, this is a "secular" (not using the world in an evil sense, per se) orientation that looks at January 1 as the hinge-point. This is how we measure birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, etc., and like I said, this isn't inherently bad.

But what if we oriented our lives toward the Christian calendar, so that others knew we were Christians by the way we acted and lived out the Christian story? What if people could see us bursting with hope during Advent rather than trudging around dismally about the cold and the darkness of winter? What if people could see our grief over sin during Lent, despite the secular calendar's increasing hope of plunging into Spring from the depths of Winter?