jamming: Jakob Dylan- Women & Country

Perhaps the other duo of unmentionables, besides religion and politics, is women and country.  Or maybe Dylan, like his dad did so expertly before him, shows how these things are the most mentionable,  the unmistakable currency with which we deal, like it or not.  It is both women & country root us to the stuff of our lives: conflict, loyalty, relationship, hardship, violence, love and lust.

While it has been unfortunately advocated that all is fair in love and war, Dylan ventures into the complicated homeland where love can be warfare, and war the result of disordered affection.

This record bridges Dylan’s barebones, Rick Rubin-produced Seeing Things with T-Bone Burnett’s intense production from the Krauss/Plant Raising Sand record.  Alongside Neko Case (New Pornographers), Kelly Hogan, and a throbbing, consistent upright bass, Dylan finds conveys the lonely forsakenness of exile in tracks like Everybody’s Hurting and Holy Roller’s for Love.  The opener sounds the most optimistic note, a combination campfire sing-along and unconvinced praise chorus.

Dylan weaves a masterful soundtrack for troubled times, giving voice to the difficulties while sounding a call to band together:

We hold our ground.

We don’t kneel

If we go down, 

We go down on our own shields.

Sure, we may be inside of a “bottomless well,” these might be dire straits and we may in fact go down, but it’ll be together and it’ll be fighting.  But, this fighting is not the scrappy, desperate fighting of the blaze-of-glory patriot, but the convinced loyalty of a lover.  All this dejection in relationship and citizenship forges a new identity.  After all “faith is believing what you see ain’t so,” and a crazy world good at making extremists.  Dylan crafts hymns for this new persona, these holy rollers.

These are the ones who understand women and country best.  Because they are willing to sacrifice, unwilling to be party to the deception and destruction.  Underneath the mellow, chugging sounds, lies a zealous, subversive record of true protest songs.

American Christianity Notebook Reflection

I pledged not to post, but already completed this assignment. We were asked to prayerfully consider our notes from the first part of this course over reading week and write a 500 word reflection of what God is saying through the course material:

As an American and a Christian, I am woefully predisposed to personally identify with the material we have encountered this semester in this American Christianity course. After prayerfully browsing the motley gamut of characters in my notes: Puritans, Anglicans, Mormons, Clerical Economists, New Lights, Abolitionists, Domestic types, and Missionaries, I see me. I see my shortfalls and my poor readings and dealings. I see my victories and where I was both a right hearer and right doer. I see where I have distortingly merged my piety with the surrounding culture. I also see where the Gospel has redeemed that culture and proven wiser and more pure than my piety. I see cautionary tales of triumphalism, fundamentalism, racism, classism (insert –ism here: ____). I have also seen the growth of a national “experiment” to such a point that it has forgotten that experiments typically thrive on their awareness of their past failures. It is with all this in mind that I humbly reflect on this semester’s exploration of my own heritage as both an American and a Christian.

Throughout my notes, the Bible repeatedly availed itself as perhaps the most controversial and duplicitously used document in the history of our country. By recounting the showdown between staunch slaveholders and ardent abolitionists, based heartily on opposing interpretations of the Bible, that I become aware of my own blind spots for the Gospel’s implications for race and justice here and now. In viewing images of exalted printing presses, I become aware of my confusion between media and message, and my tendency to elevate what I read on a page above the active work of a living God. Far from suggesting that Scripture lacks authority or importance, it has instead become all the more pressing for that crucial authority and utmost significance to be rightly received. God has certainly revealed my own myopic tendencies in the American Church’s (in all its varieties) historical array of ungainly biblical interpretation.

As I leaf through, I hold fast to what these questionable biblical hermeneutics of yore have to bear on my life, but I still catch myself throwing stones from my glass house of piety. I consistently question the purity of these Christians’ motives. As Separatists themselves, how could the Puritans be so quick to alienate opposing Christians in New England? Why did democratization of the State and Church mirror each other so closely during the Great Awakening, despite their functional separation? How does the Church forget its own lessons of caution so fast? Sitting in this class and paging through the notes, echoes, to some extent, my study and devotional reading of Israel’s salvation history in the Old Testament. No matter how many times I read and recognize my ancestors’ failings, and marvel at their enduring ability to veer toward unfaith and perversion, at some level I too own that tendency. As Cotton Mather defined it, “History is a story of events, with praise and blame.” Instead of seeing these as merely unforgivable gaffs or disembodied events, I am learning to critically (and self-critically) engage American Christianity’s history as a narrative of my own triumphs and collapses, writ large.

screening: JJ Alvaro's Confession

Confession from John Jay Alvaro on Vimeo.

The text is from a Mennonite worship service for the Iraq War. The images are edited from originals online. The music is Feist.

praying: Virtues of Fear & Hate

God of Light,

Shine in our darkness

that we may see that this world,

for all its distortion by sin,

is still your world.

Give us the virtue of courage

to fear rightly that which

we should rightly fear.

Give us the virtue of love

that we might rightly hate

that which is hateful.

Give us the virtue of prudence

that we might know

what to fear and hate.

For this task we pray

that we might learn to trust one another,

as we are incapable of being faithful alone.

Amen.

processing: Summer Reading: Part II

No Country For Old Men- Cormac McCarthy

If you can believe it, McCarthy's writing is more haunting than the on-screen portrayal by Javier Bardem. Per usual, his writing is grim, violent, graphic. We are left to ponder the futility of our 'good fight'. Is there even such a thing? The protagonist drifts into the territory of moral ambiguity and we are left feeling disoriented when we realize that the serial killing bounty hunter possesses a singularity and ethic not found in the so-called 'good guy'. Through all this, the narrator, Sheriff Bell seems to be the only one willing to acknowledge the worlds (and his own) decline. Along with, The Road, this book should be on everyone's required reading.

Our Endangered Values- Jimmy Carter

Former President Carter seems to have uniquely improved his legacy more with his post-White House career and tireless advocacy than by anything he did as president. This account is an interesting combination of what else- politics and religion- the two things not to bring up. Knowing both President Carter's devotion to peacemaking and justice (through Atlanta's Carter Center) and his ongoing mediation in Baptist life (New Baptist Covenant & CBF), it is nice to get a firsthand account of his motivations and presuppositions. While I don't agree with him on everything, I admire his courage, incredible endurance, and unwavering posture of engagement and dialogue.

Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World- A.J. Jacobs

I came across this one because I had read his A Year of Living Biblically and curiously enough picked it up at the same time as my friend Nick from church (and disc golf) was getting through it. Jacobs essentially chronicles his quest by picking out and occasionally revisiting the oddest, most profound, and down-right wackiest entries in the EB. What makes it interesting is his wit, candor, and occasional vulnerability when discussing insights from material as varied as Ecclesiastes and aquatic mating rituals. With Esquire-esque humour and agility, Jacobs manages to deftly weave his threads of familial relations, his wife and his struggle for fertility (and subsequent fatherhood), epistemology into a funny and reflective yearlong tapestry.

Jesus and Community- Gerhard Lohfink

Here are a couple insightful excerpts:
“If we ask Paul what significance the existence of the church has for pagan society in his writings...He says that God in Christ has reconciled the world to himself and that the church is now the place where reconciliation, which has already occurred in principle, is to be realized concretely. God has therefore charged the church with the service of reconciliation. The church is the place where, in a new creation, God has inaugurated reconciled society (pg 141).”

“Only in this gift of reconciliation, in the miracle of life newly won against all expectation, does what is here termed a contrast-society flourish. What is meant is not a church without guilt, but a church in which infinite hope emerges from forgiven guilt. What is meant is not a church in which there are no divisions, but a church which finds reconciliation despite all gulfs. What is meant is not a church without conflicts, but a church in which conflicts are settled in ways different from the rest of society. What is meant, finally, is not a church without the cross and without passion narratives, but a church always able to celebrate Easter because it both dies and rises with Christ (pg 147).”

unChristian:What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why it Matters- David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons

I must say my favorite parts of this book were some of the first-hand insights from contributors at the end of each chapter. These contributors were as diverse as Jim Wallis, Rick Warren, John Stott, Rick McKinley, Churck Colson, Andy Stanley, Andy Crouch, & Shane Claiborne. A wide variety of evangelical voices and a great representation of the polyphony and variance under the umbrella of evangelicism. I remember, however, while reading, being both thankful and disheartened. Thankful that this research was done and that this book was written and pushed through a channel whereby it gets received by the largest possible needed audience. Disheartened that money and time was spent researching and writing to let us, evangelicals, those supposedly most concerned with and incarnate in the "outside, secular world," understand that we have a bad reputation and that reputation is built more on "our" hypocrisy, imperialism, prejudice, sheltered disconnect, & politics rather than "Christ and Him crucified."

Perhaps the most telling statistic was the results from a poll that revealed the disconnect between how the church's hospitality is received by pastors, regular born-again attenders, sporadic attenders, and the un-churched outsider:

Christian churches accept and love people unconditionally, regardless of how people look or what they do. (% who strongly agree)
pastors: 76%
born-again Christians: 47%
Christian churchgoers: 41%
outsiders (all ages): 20%
(pg185)

Blessed Are the Peacemakers- Wendell Berry

This short work pulls out key peacemaking passages (most prominently Matthew's Sermon on the Mount) dealing with living peaceably. Finally there is an essay, previously published in the Christian Century, titled, "The Burden of the Gospels," that seeks to synthesize these passages.

Here are a couple excerpts:
"When Jesus speaks of having life more abundantly, this, I think, is the life he means: a life that is not reducible by division, category or degree, but is one thing, heavenly and earthly, spiritual and material, divided only insofar as it is embodied in distinct creatures. He is talking about a finite world that is infinitely holy, a world of time that is filled with life that is eternal. His offer of more abundant life, then, is not an invitation to declare ourselves as certified "Christians," but rather to become conscious, consenting and responsible participants in the one great life, a fulfillment hardly institutional at all."

"If we take the Gospels seriously, we are left, in our dire predicament, facing an utterly humbling question: How must we live and work so as not to be estranged from God’s presence in his work and in all his creatures? The answer, we may say, is given in Jesus’ teaching about love. But that answer raises another question that plunges us into the abyss of our ignorance, which is both human and peculiarly modern: How are we to make of that love an economic practice?"

God Has a Dream- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Like No Future Without Forgiveness only much, much lighter. Archbishop Tutu elaborates on the theology that roots his reconciliation efforts in South Africa over the past several decades. This theology enlists the African concept of Ubuntu, a shared humanity, the recognition of the image of God in the other. Endearing and self-deprecating at times, he begins each chapter, "Dear Child of God..." From then on you are engaged and edified by this wise, gentle, and incredibly experienced man. Catching a vision for "Hope in our Time," seems like a worthy pursuit, Tutu's contribution is helpful.

The Sacredness of Questioning Everything- David Dark

I really enjoyed this one. A pleasure: well-written, witty, and penultimately relevant for current popular Christian discourse. Something like a Christian Chuck Klosterman. This is kind of a grown-up Blue Like Jazz, the book that you might loan to someone only peripherally interested in God and spirituality, but culturally, academically aware. From his detailed exegesis of Arcade Fire songs, to his unswerving devotion to Steven Colbert's prophetic truthiness, Dark manages to produce a work both religiously and culturally discerning, and at times critical. Dark bridges the gulfs of his current Vanderbilt PhD pursuit (and talks the talk quite nicely) and his gig teaching English at a conservative Nashville Presbyterian high school. What you get is an account that asks the right questions, provides only some of the answers, lets you do the work and prayer to come up with the rest, and hails the process of loving the Lord with our heart, soul, mind, strength, and questions.

Portrait of Calvin- T.H.L. Parker

[available for free digital download at Desiring God.]
I read this biography to celebrate JC's (the less famous/divine one) 500th birthday this month. I also thought it might be nice to get someone else's than Steinmetz' account of Calvin, after all the good Doctor is an unabashed Luther man. The most striking and personal note struck came in the first few pages in regard to Calvin's choice of education. It seemed obvious for him to go to Paris to study Theology at what was considered the orthodox and best option. Instead he chose to study law elsewhere. "...the intricacies and niceties of the law was gained which he could never have won from the University of Paris. At Orleans and Bourges, the intellectual atmosphere was more free. New ideas were not bogies, but food for interesting speculation. The classics...now seemed most desirable- calling, not to danger, but to delights." This portion both particularly resonates with me and the path I've taken in my graduate studies, and strikes me with a certain sad irony that Calvin's delight came in the freedom and curiosity not as widely afforded in some modern institutions that hail his thought.

Related: SUMMER READING: PART I.

jamming: Derek Webb- Stockholm Syndrome

1. Opening Credits
2. Black Eye
3. Cobra Con
4. Freddie, Please
5. The Spirit v. The Kick Drum
6. What Matters More
7. The State
8. The Proverbial Gun
9. I Love/Hate You
10. Becoming a Slave
11. Jena & Jimmy
12. Heaven
13. What You Give Up to Get It
14. American Flag Umbrella

Derek’s newest foray into the world of electronic music comes as a slight departure from the Nashville rock of his last record (Ringing Bell) and the alternating protest folk-country (Mockingbird, She Must and Shall Go Free) and Wilco-inspired experimentation (I See Things Upside Down). It seems he will assassin down quite a new avenue with this new sound and reach a few ears not previously accessible, while loosing some interest in the dorm room, three-chord acoustic set. As far as sound goes, this little mockingbird must have been hanging close to Beck and Flaming Lips of late, as evidenced on the first two full tracks (Black Eye & Cobra Con). Spirit vs. Kick Drum christens the new Western holy trinity of Vending Machine, Jury of Peers, & Kickdrum, Amen, amidst a Cake-like bass line and what I can’t shake as a Primitive Radio Gods-like sample.

Besides the mere (but, at times, delightful) aesthetics, there seems to be quite enough content on the record to embrace, alienate, or at best spark conversation. The show-stopper (and perhaps album ban-er) is the track that asks, “What Matters More?” With a Campolo-esque use of sh*t in one verse, this track has generated the expected outrage of squeamish listeners. Scandalous for Christian radio stations that claim family friendliness before cruciform truth, but I digress. The territory being explored by Webb on sexuality and prejudice is intriguing if a listener can suspend the very judgment lampooned (a la Freddy Please- about the pastor of the sectarian Baptist church in the Midwest). A firsthand example of this, is a conversation I had with a friend and classmate recently. She admitted her usual liberal bias and advocacy of LBGT groups. While some of the sting of this song (for Fundamentalists) could be welcomed with a nod of approval and a fist pump by someone like her, she reacted rather differently. She confided, “Yeah it made me really consider what really matters more to me? Do I place so much emphasis on my advocacy that I am just as guilty of forgetting about other injustices, perhaps more major and globally relevant?”

While you may tire of Derek’s shtick of polemic and relishing of the role of provocateur, when you stop and honestly assess his content, artistry, and ingenuity, you have to come away both unsettled and excited. It’s crazy some times how such disorienting good news, some might even say gospel, may have an Explicit Lyrics label.

praying: New Litany

screening: Man From Plains; Bigger, Faster, Stronger; Son of Rambow

Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains
This Jonathan Demme documentary focuses on Former President Carter's book tour for the controversial book on Palestine & Apartheid. Being born under the Reagan administration and due to the apparent unpopularity of Carter following his only term, I had little to no knowledge about the man. The doc reveals a candid, genuine, relentlessly active, and graciously peace-seeking man. Perhaps the most gratifying moments come when he is asked about his wife, of whom he beams with affection, or when we see his yound publicist scramble to keep up with such an old timer as he builds Habitat homes, grants endless interviews, flys around the country in coach seating, teaches bible study at his church in Americus, or attends a pig-picken. Carter must forever beheld as the gold-standard for post-term presidential activity.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster
This gem of a documentary features the rare blend of satire and sarcasm along with honesty and charity. Exploring not only the Western (mostly American, but also Ben Johnson) fascination with and dependence on steriods and their benefits. The director details he and his bookend brothers' childhoods and their divergent paths to strength and fitness (his brothers chose roids, he despises them). He remembers watching Hulk Hogan intently as he was promised all of his childhood dreams as long as he ate right, exercised, and said his prayers. The film's fulcrum is not on some sort of demonozation of anabolic steriods but rather an examination of why we do what we do and why what we say we value and what we actually do tend to play out quite differently. Quite a provocative and enjoyable watch for sports fan or social psychologist alike.

Son of Rambow
I wouldn't have initially said that I would have shed a few tears at a movie combining the brit-innocence of Millions with the playfullness of Be Kind Rewind, but I did. This charming little indie film portrays the Plymouth Brethren raised (and repressed) Will and his blood brotherhood with the mischievious Lee Carter (his full name is always said by Will). Both kid actors are engaging, subtle, and hilarious. The script is imaginative and interesting. And the final product of their "Screen Test Contest" sequal to Rambo: First Blood, is brilliant. I have such an affection for sweet, simple, creative movies like this. You walk away with great appreciation for what you actually saw and the questions raised, rather than all the distractions and cheap short-cuts taken with blockbuster actors and cookie cutter plots.

processing: Summer Reading: Part I

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals- Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan writes a comprehensive account of 4 modes of eating. It is written smartly (sometimes snarkily so) and the quest-journalism side of me loves the humor and experiential vulnerability displayed. The 4 modes covered are: big box/industrial fast food, industrial organic, local, & hunter-gatherer. Highlights include his interview with Northern VA's Polyface celebrity Joel Salatin and his hunting/shrooming escapades in Northern California. It is interesting some of the conclusions reached here. There is not a free pass afforded to the Whole Foods lifestyle, nor is he regretfully idealistic about hunting wild boar and collecting sea salt and scallops in the Pacific. This book is a solid read, allowing you a philosophical, practical, economic, political, and culinary look at just what is going into your body and what it takes to get it there.


Same Kid of Different As Me- Ron Hall & Denver Moore
These two amateur authors combine for a decently constructed autobiographical narrative about reconciliation, God's providence amid both grinding poverty and rampant selfishness, and the ability of the Holy Spirit to form bonds and relationships that wouldn't be possibly through any other means. Ron is an international art dealer, rolling in cash, subjecting his marriage to the damage of infidelity and the hollowness of materialism. Denver is a former share-cropper (read: modern day slave) turned violent and psychotic homeless man. The two lives emerge through a long forming relationship at a shelter and like any good missions project, the "missionary" emerges changed and taught more than the "mission to be accomplished". If you can wade through some clumsy and often cheesy storytelling, this book is a helpful, touching, and at times heartbreaking tale.


A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am A...Christian- Brian McLaren
This one was one of those nagging reads that you feel you need to take a peak at, glean some really positive things, be displeased with some others, but generally come out the better for having powered through. I'll be honest, my first skepticism came from the repeated assurance that the Emergent Church (dunno if caps are needed) need not rely on personalities while McLaren's neutral post-modern mug peers at you from the cover. Then I remember not to judge a book by its cover but rather by its overly long and pretentious subtitle (that's fair don't you think?). There were several parts (in fact most of the book) that I really enjoyed, lined up well with, and feel confident in though. Brian's emphasis on balance, a health patristic appreciation and ecclesial unity and generosity rang loud and clear. I'll continue to keep an eye on McLaren, he seems to be on to something and deserves the hermeneutical generosity he demands.


Durham Tales: The Morris Street Maple, the Plastic Cow, the Durham Day That Was & More- Jim Wise
Only a town as self-conscious, wacky, and unique as Durham could have a history of such equal qualities. Wise attempts a folky and at times humorous incomplete history of our beloved stepchild of a city. By choosing diverse, minor, and utterly absurd episodes, he, like any good historian, demonstrates exactly why things are the way the are. Bright spots include the geographic beacon of the Morris St maple, the trainspotting recurring throughout the pages, minor characters ranging from the neighborhood mom to the sportsmanship-touting coach, and of course all of the standard players (Dukes, Watts, etc.) that clue us in what has made and continues to make the Bull City tick. If you don't live in or around Durham, do some work and find somehting like this for your town, it will further embed you in it and certainly increase your appreciation and/or sympathy for your surroundings.


The Memory of Old Jack- Wendell Berry
I would recommend one of Berry's Port William Township novels to anyone looking for beautiful prose describing menial happenings. By menial I mean there are no dramatic twists and turns, the characters are common folk in a small town, the novels are not sequels because there's not a plot to advance. Instead these memoirs (of the town more than the actual characters) display tragically, vividly, and carefully the depth of the membership. The Memory of Old Jack narrates the senile patriarch's past and present in heart-breaking terms detailing his doomed marriage, the devastation of a still born child, the awkward relations in a tenant labor system, and everything else that comes with growing old. Like his brilliant essays, Berry displays his passion and penchant for teaching and transmitting difficult topics and subjects in homey, endearing, and provocative terms. This particular book proved valuable to me in my start of field ed, while it describes rural KY, the dynamics parallel Roxboro, NC closely, and the care and respect given to the characters fosters likewise respect for the hardworking simple folk I encounter daily.

Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers- Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Shane & Jonathan have a precious gift for presenting practical teaching in a candid, comical, and subversive tone. Like their previous works/appearences, they use plenteous personal experiences and interactions to share the counterintuitive good news of Christ and the discipleship required of his followers. Having been over to Rutba and hearing both of these gentleman, you immediately understand a depth in their testamony beyond their words. Their words are secondary to their daily authenticity. If you have a chance, meet them. They are humble, funny and hospitable: as advertized. In this short volume, they tackle prayer: the Lord's Prayer & Jesus' Prayer for unity (Jn 17). Not unlike the exhortation in Jame's Epistle, they teach a seemless and inextricable bond between our prayers and the action resulting from our prayers (think less 'self-fulfilling prophesy' and more of an intergrated 'active spirituality'). The goal then is not to pray our way out of this world, but rather praying to become (and then actually becoming) a part of God's work for the redemption of the world. These prayers are subversive and dangerous prayers, but neccessary and powerful.

processing: Stanley Hauerwas & Jean Vanier- Living Gently in a Violent World

I read this book and really liked it, and think it is really important. The idea and message has really gotten legs around my school. Instead of me neglecting my schoolwork to write a review, I'll link to an NPR interview that aired today:

http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0127bc09.mp3/view

bcp collect for our new president:

O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to your merciful care, that, being guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace. Grant to the President of the United States, the Governor of this State (or Commonwealth), and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in your fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

obey & patty on mlk day.

In this time of despair and pain, hope, peace and reconciliation could not be more relevant. Let us remember Dr. King. Let us not sentimentalize Dr. King. But let us particularly engage with the obedience, patience, non-violence, boldness, and integrity he displayed. Let us not raise him up too high, for he would most likely defer to the shoulders he stood on, as we may stand on his shoulders today. Mostly, let us understand the root of his metaphors and imagery and the source of his hope in the God who saves (Yeshua!) and the One who is near (Emmanuel!).

Amos 5:24 (Peterson's The Message)
"Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want."

"Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)"
by Patty Griffin

I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere

Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be walking
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later
It's there I will go

processing: Rob Bell- Jesus Wants To Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile

(this post is indicative of Bell's writing style, take a look next time you're in Borders)

Bell, regardless of whether or not you agree with him on every detail or viewpoint, is a great provocateur in his sphere.

The general message and the interpretive tools he used are not all that cutting edge for academia and Christendom in general.

But they are

for us:

in the West,

in the 21st century,

as part of a potential empire (who doesn't in every circumstance consider itself an empire except for when it is beneficial or convenient).

And as conservative (yes, he is still rather conservative as far as academia goes) and a Zondervan author;

I applaud him. For his guts, soundness, creativity.
I also applaud Zondervan for publishing titles like his, Shane Claiborne's, and a few others that push the envelope for their target audience.

Professor Ben Witherington III says about Bell, "Rob has a considerable gift of being able to speak clearly and directly even about complex theological and ethical concepts, and he understands the need to tease the mind into active thought."

I recommend this book. It makes you think. It points out some things you may have never considered in Scripture, in our culture and abroad. Read discerningly and respond accordingly.

century mark political cartoon...

good commentary on bad reasoning...

classic snl...

no matter what the result is in a couple weeks, this clip should have some longevity. well played, pregnant poehler, well played governor palin!

recent SOJO article...

Here is one of the things my professor Dr. Lauren Winner does when she's not devising ways to crush me with papers, tests, and readings...write articles for Sojourners about voting.

SOJO WINNER VOTING BOOK REVIEW

cartoon from christian century...

i thought the above cartoon was a poignant take on the way candidates and parties from both sides of the spectrum tug on God and either put words in His mouth or distort the words from His mouth.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

-Bob Dylan "With God on Our Side" (1963)

endorsement...

my verdict is still out for the upcoming presidential debate. but i do dig shepherd fairey and obey and someway somehow it seems that out of total obscurity senator and presidential hopeful barack obama (you may have heard of him) has actually come to officially* endorse this blog.

*this endorsement actually has no affiliation with THE barack obama. there's a great website for making these posters say whatever you want them to regardless of your political affiliation though...
http://www.pentdego.com/obama.aspx