January 2012
3 posts
Duke professor wants to replace term papers with... →
Having written both myself, this is totally absurd. The academy exists to teach people how to think critically and express those thoughts in a clear, nuanced way. Blogs exist to persuade and convince through rhetorical force. Clear and nuanced arguments can contribute to this end, but rarely constitute the core of a post. From the article:
Because, say defenders of rigorous writing, the brief,...
A "Strongly Worded Letter" to Bank of America
From maryschmidt, written to BofA the day before the auction of a house her parents had owned for 23 years. It was taken by the bank after her father suffered a stroke, and they couldn’t refinance the mortgage:
When you enter the house, you will notice the colorful walls and vibrant tiles. We call that my mom’s “mid-life fiesta.” Enjoy that. It was a labor of love. Each colorful tile was...
“Wherever the early Christians appeared, spreading Christ’s doctrine of love, the...”
– Martin Luther King, Jr. (via azspot)
December 2011
4 posts
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“The officer repeatedly punched the left side of my face for long enough that I...”
– Rev. John Helmiere, on his encounter with Seattle Police at an Occupy protest earlier this week.
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From an interview this afternoon with my friend...
October 2011
4 posts
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“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever...”
– Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech, 2005. Godspeed.
September 2011
4 posts
“When people say, “the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001,” we have to...”
– —Stanley Hauerwas
While I have a great deal of respect for Stanley Hauerwas, there are many different ways to interpret the crucifixion, and not all of them require some sort of ontological change in the universe. The third-century Christian theologian Origen, for example, saw the incarnation as...
My 9/11
Ten years ago I was on a plane from Denver to Columbus, connecting through Chicago. After landing in Chicago, our pilot got on the intercom and told us, “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s been an incident. The president has been notified. Two planes have flown into the World Trade Center.” Then he walked up and down the aisle comforting passengers. I learned that he used to work with...
August 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Who is worship for?
A couple of weeks ago I went for high tea at the National Cathedral here in Washington. My girlfriend made me do it, and while I’d like to say I hated every minute of it, those tiny sandwiches were actually quite good.
After our tour of the world’s sixth largest cathedral (and the first place I ever felt closer to God after a worship service), we stopped into the gift shop and I...
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July 2011
5 posts
WatchMore press coverage for today’s “pray-in” at the Capitol. In this video from Huffington Post, you can see my boss Jennifer Butler, Executive Director of Faith in Public Life (where I’m a fellow this summer), just in front of the adorable old rabbi. She’s also the first one carted off to the holding cells. From the article:
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill police...
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What Sharia Is...And Isn't
The Center for American Progress hosted a panel yesterday on Sharia law, featuring three people the far right would call Sharia apologists (or worse). But as panelist Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, pointed out, “I’m not a sharia apologist, I’m a religious freedom apologist.” Also on the panel were Professor Asifa Quraishi, Assistant...
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Study: The Bible Makes You Liberal
Want to get your conservative Christian friends to think more liberally about social justice, science, and conservation? Try getting them to read the Bible more often.
A study by Baylor University researcher Aaron Franzen found that increased frequency of reading the Bible correlated with greater support for a broad range of progressive issues—with the exception of gay marriage and...
June 2011
2 posts
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“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life...”
– Ben Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1746. (Google Books)
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
1 post
March 2011
3 posts
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“There is no regret. We should look forward. How many days do each of us have in...”
– —Wang Xing, founder of the Chinese social network Renren, in Fast Company, The Facebook of China, January 2011.
I’m currently writing a paper on Pascal’s Pensées, exegeting a passage on the “brief span of my life absorbed into the eternity which comes before and after” (#68...
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Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Harvard Minister, Dies at 68 →
My advisor at divinity school passed away last night due to complications from a stroke he suffered in December. Godspeed, good sir.
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“The question should not be “What would Jesus do?” but rather, more...”
– Rev. Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About the Good News (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 69.
February 2011
5 posts
2 tags
Watch“The Beatles did not invent teenagers. They merely decided to lead them. Most movements, most leadership that we’re doing is about finding a group that’s disconnected but already has a yearning, not persuading people to want something they don’t have yet.”
—Seth Godin, The Tribes We Lead, TED, February 2009.
Great talk on how, in the internet age, building a...
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"What Would Jesus Cut?" The Budget as a Moral...
Yesterday morning I got an email from Sojourners, one of my favorite progressive Christian organizations, asking for a donation to help deliver “What Would Jesus Cut?” bracelets to every member of Congress. The message? “To challenge elected officials and the administration to remember their moral priorities when they vote on the budget.”
From a communications standpoint, I really like how...
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“Humiliation is the single most powerful human emotion, and overcoming it is the...”
– —Thomas Friedman, Out of Touch, Out of Time, New York Times, Feb. 10, 2011.
I’m not entirely sure Friedman is right on this one, but humiliation certainly counts as one of the more powerful human motivators—a lesson American foreign policy makers would do well to remember, especially in...
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On Vocation—Jesus Was a Carpenter First
During this season of Epiphany we celebrate the manifestation of Christ on Earth, and in particular the visit of the foreign Magi with their three—mostly impractical—gifts to the infant Jesus. Also during this time, Eastern churches celebrate Jesus’ baptism. Both of these moments mark the manifestation, or “epiphany,” of the second person of the Trinity as a human being in Jesus Christ.
But...
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The Limits of Science
I’m not one of those Christians who condemns evolution, or thinks that God put dinosaur bones in the ground to test our faith—I don’t think humans ever ran screaming from a T-Rex. However, I think it’s important to consider the limits to the kind of knowledge we get from various ways of knowing, including science.
Take, for instance, the edges of our universe....
January 2011
3 posts
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“My belief is that the various religious traditions have great potential to...”
– —His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on his Facebook page (no kidding), 1/3/2011.
Totally agreed, but it’s sad this even needs saying. That some fellow religious people believe otherwise only shows how much work we have left to do.
(via atomrobinson:kim)
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“[P]ostmodern currents in American intellectual life have cast doubt on the...”
– Michael W. McConnell et al., Religion and the Constitution (New York: Aspen Publishers, 2006), 434.
December 2010
5 posts
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“Sure, people will say Jesus is the reason for the season, but Thor is the reason...”
– —Ed Stetzer, LifeWay president and a Southern Baptist pastor, in Survey: For many, Jesus isn’t the reason for the season, USA Today, 12/20/2010.
Sad, but true. I’ve been wishing people a Merry Capitalist Holliday for years now. WWJD? Probably not trample someone for a great Black Friday...
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WatchJesus Is a Liberal Democrat
The best four minutes on religion and politics I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Stephen Colbert.
Key Quote: “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without...
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“It’s hard to tire of Malcolm Gladwell’s stat that, from the millions of people...”
– -Paul Carr, NSFW: 404 Alcohol Not Found (Or, Social Media is Overrated, but it’s Helped me Stay Sober), TechCrunch, 11/27/2010.
This is why people like Marshall Ganz, a Harvard Kennedy School professor who spent 16 years mobilizing for civil rights in Mississippi and working on the ground with...
November 2010
5 posts
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Petition to Fly with Dignity →
While there’s not much we can do as individuals to stop the inane, invasive, and unconstitutional TSA full body scans and pat-downs, we can sign a petition and join a Facebook group.
Facebook Groups: Fly With Dignity, We Won’t Fly
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Pilate's Hand Washing Stopped More than Just Germs
I’ve always felt a bit odd about the part of the Nicene Creed where we single out Pontius Pilate for his involvement in the crucifixion. According to most traditional readings of the Gospel, Pilate actually tried to stop the whole thing. In any case, he literally washed his hands and declared himself “innocent” (ἀθῷος) of the act before handing Jesus over to be crucified (Matt....
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“Wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”
– Ben Franklin, Letter to Abbé Morellet, 1779. (via WikiQuote)
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“By the time terrorist plotters make it to the airport, it is, generally...”
– Jeffrey Goldberg, ”For the First Time, the TSA Meets Resistance,” The Atlantic, 10/29/2010.
Another great argument against “security theater.”
October 2010
4 posts
2 tags
“What are [the Bible’s] underlying values? I would argue that they are...”
– -Michael Coogan, Harvard Divinity School lecturer on the Hebrew Bible-Old Testament and Editor of The New Oxford Annotated Bible, in “Bible has some shocking ‘family values’,” CNN Opinion, 10/26/10.
This is why I love my school. We’re people of deep faith, but not the...
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Goldilocks Planets: A Problem for Christianity?
For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered a planet outside of our solar system orbiting within what scientists call the “Goldilocks zone.” (Not too hot, not too cold.) Planets within this zone may have temperatures allowing for liquid water to exist on the surface—a required component for life as we know it.
Of potentially even greater importance, as UC Santa Cruz...
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Most Confusing Ad Ever
I worked in political communications for years, so I’ve seen my fair share of bad advertising. This, however, is by far the most confusing ad I’ve ever seen. Is it for Iron Man? Is it for the Wall Street Journal? Does Oracle want readers of the WSJ to watch Iron Man 2, but not until it’s available on the iPad? Wait, no, they should buy it from iTunes… Oh bother.