Archive - December, 2008

Where have all the iTunes gone?: A Community Library.

December 31, 2008 in community, entertainment, friends, lyrics, music, people with 7 Comments

While I was in the process of downloading some music I encountererd a number of errors from iTunes. My account was deducted the cost of the songs/albums but I did not actually receive my purchases. After reading some online forums and attempting some "fixes" that didn’t work I logged in to my iTunes account and clicked "purchase history." I was then able to "Report a Problem" and iTunes resent the files as "Available Downloads." I hope no one else runs into the problem I did but if so, hopefully that information may help.

I have received a number of music recommendations via blog comments and/or text. I extend thanks to my wife Sarah, unique music connoisseurs Ryan Walker and David Ballenger , friend and mentor John Ballenger, friends and neighbors Beau Carlson, Mary Long, and James Smith , my sister Nancy Keller, friend and peacemaker Matt Frye , czars of czarcasm Lee Yowell and Justin Nowicki , baby sitter Amanda Doran, thoughtful Mike Rodden and Cody Snouffer , Emergent Dan Rex, Columbus Emergent Cohort leader Greg Lyons, and 2 Amish Women.

I am building my iTunes library on the musical tastes of those within my community. I use the word community loosely here as it includes family, neighbors, old friends, current friends, college students, and online connections. Nonetheless I am seeking to value the thoughtfulness and input of others in my life. All the above mentioned people have included their music recommendations. Are there any comments, negations, affirmations, or other unique ideas based on the following list of artists?

Bon Iver // City and Color // Broken Social Scene // Amos Lee
Hannah Montana // The Glorious Unseen // Greg Laswell // Over the Rhine
Ingrid Michaelson // Iron and Wine // David Gray / David Cook
Sleeping at Last // Justin Nozuka // Matt Nathanson // NeedToBreathe
Missy Higgins // Warren Barfield // Coldplay // Sandi Patty
Gaither Vocal Band // Ray Boltz // John Tesh // Deathcab for Cutie
Sigur Ros // Stephen Speaks // Eric Peters // Framing Hannely
Barry Manilow // Jason Mraz // Copeland // Fleet Foxes
John Coltrain // Cat Stephens // Anathallo // Augustanas

Your recommendations.

December 26, 2008 in entertainment, music with 17 Comments

Last year I had my iPod stolen from our vehicle. My parents purchased a new and better iPod for me for Christmas this year. I am very thankful. I then received an iTunes gift card from Sarah’s parents. So… without revealing my current iTunes library I am asking for your recommendations. What albums and/or songs should I purchase from iTunes?

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Where have all the contradictions gone?

December 24, 2008 in consumption, culture, television with 2 Comments

I would like to have a new LCD flat screen. I hope you didn’t read my post (or… if you haven’t maybe you should): "Where have all the television’s gone? "

Why?

Why do I keep eying new televisions? Do I NEED one? Am I addicted to cultural norms? Do I want to impress people? Do I enjoy wasting time watching movies? Am I staying connected with culture? Have I found value in the conversations that birth from viewing a quality film such as Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind, or The Dark Knight? Do I place too much value on visual stimulation? Am I addicted at any level to screen viewership? Is my desire good? Does possession of a flat screen sustain life? Am I just another American consumer? Are my desires natural? Do my desires contradict those that represent the reality of the Kingdom of God?

Please help me sort this out.

Peace to you, N.T. Wright.

December 22, 2008 in N.T.Wright, peace, Theology, writing with 5 Comments

Peace to you:
A series offering peace to those who have dramatically effected my thinking and life.

N.T. Wright.

Your writings and lectures are sound and insightful. Simply Christian is, indeed, the current equivalent to Mere Christianity. I have begun Surprised by Hope and highly appreciate your take on eschatology. Though you like my handwriting I cannot measure up to your jottings of shorthand+calculus+latin+whatever-else-you-wrote that captures the quickness of your thought. Next time we get to take a picture be sure to stand still rather than being so wobbly. Hopefully, I will have completed the volumes of The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection and the Son of God by the end of the summer.

TIME Magazine: CHRISTIANS WRONG ABOUT HEAVEN, SAYS BISHOP.

Bishop of Durham

DURHAM (94th Bishop of), (Nicholas) Tom (Thomas) Wright
  

Lords career
    Entered House of Lords 2003
  

Political interests
    Coal, farming, education, constitutional reform
  

House of Lords
    Rt Rev the Lord Bishop of Durham
House of Lords
London

Peace to you, Miroslav Volf.

December 22, 2008 in humility, love, peace with 0 Comments

Peace to you:
A series offering peace to those who have dramatically effected my thinking and life.

Miroslav Volf.

Your book Free of Charge and the excerpts that I have read from Exclusion and Embrace have allowed me to think more clearly and humanly about giving and receiving rightly. It was good to be with you at Princeton where your responses to some problematic questions were articulated patiently with immense thoughtfulness. Your words are not marked by an agenda for the self but rather with respect and value for the other. Peace to you, Miroslav Volf.

Director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture
Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology

B.A., Evangelical-Theological Faculty, Zagreb
M.A., Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Theol., University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Professor Volf’s recent books include Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace(2006), Archbishop of Canterbury Lenten book for 2006; Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (1996), a winner of the 2002 Grawemeyer Award; and After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (1998), winner of the Christianity Today book award. A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf was involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican Council for Promotion of Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (most recently in Christian-Muslim dialogue). A native of Croatia, he regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

BOOKS CLICK HERE FOR ORDERING INFORMATION

The Sun Is Not Afraid of the Darkness: Theological Meditations on the Poetry of Aleksa Santic, 1986

Zukunft der Arbeit — Arbeit der Zukunft. Der Arbeitsbegriff bei Karl Marx und seine theologische Wertung, 1988

Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theology of Work, 1991

Gerechtigkeit, Geist und Schöpfung: Die Oxford-Erklärung zur Frage von Glaube und Wirtschaft 
(ed. with Hermann Sautter, 1992)

The Future of Theology: Essays in Honor of Jürgen Moltmann
(ed. with T. Kucharz and C. Krieg, 1996)

Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, 1996

After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity, 1998

A Spacious Heart: Essays on Identity and Belonging
(with Judith M. Gundry-Volf, 1997)

A Passion for God’s Reign: Theology, Christian Learning, and the Christian Self
(ed., 1998)

Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, 2005

Where have all the televisions gone?

December 21, 2008 in consumption, death, deconstruction, dialogue, entertainment, family, giving, health, image, relationship, sociology, television, video with 8 Comments

Has anyone attempted to buy a "box" television from a store recently? I hope not. If you have you would have found yourself to be greatly disappointed in the selection of these now archaic entertainment devices. Where have all the televisions gone? They have disappeared – stricken from the market unless one is buying a used product through ebay or craigslist or at a local garage/yard sale.

This holiday season the plasma/LCD flat screen television appears to be one of the most highly marketed products targeted toward the average consumer. And why shouldn’t it be? Americans are wasting hours and hours of their lives everyday consuming images and propaganda without much consideration of the quality of information consumed and the quantity of time spent disassociating from human to human interaction. So if such behavior is going to be the culturally and sociologically imposed norm then why not do it in high style? Shouldn’t we all use our hard earned money to get the highest 1080p clarity on a 3.5" deep 52" HDTV with 3 HDMI inputs, 2 component video inputs, 3 composite inputs, 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and a partridge in a pear tree? Afterall, it’s not as if there are people in our world who could benefit from our research, technology, and resources in order to provide food, basic medical care, and clean water. Plus, it’s much more comfortable to zone out in front of a screen rather than enter into a meaningful and self-disclosing conversation with another human being. And who wants to spend time interacting with their family anyway?

Where have all the televisions gone? No where. The old, heavy box version has simply been replaced with a cleaner, brighter, sleeker version, increasing and enabling addictions to biased and unintelligent "news" sources, the distorted, sexualized lives of "celebrities," life-destroying gaming systems, and individualization.

Tis the the season.

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Where have all the politicians gone?

December 19, 2008 in election, empire, media with 8 Comments

The 2008 election is just over a month passed. Barack Obama has yet to be inaugurated (coming to an unfair and unbalanced new station piping through an overpriced plasma/LCD screen near you on January 20, 2009). During October and the first couple days of November many people had changed their Facebook profile pictures to images of campaign propaganda or the smiling face of one’s preferred presidential candidate. Conversation about political issues was a seeming constant. Debate. Argument. Bantering. Battering.

Does anyone even care anymore? I have been trying to keep on the president elect’s office appointments. There is a life altering "economic crisis" going on. Yet I don’t hear all the conversation and political engagment. Is our reality determined by the media attention given to any certain issue at any certain time? Does anyone even care anymore? Where have all the politicians gone?

A Post on Being Post.

December 18, 2008 in jesus, labels, postmodern with 4 Comments

I am…

POSTconservative.
POSTatheist.
POSTchristendom.
POSTmodern.
POSTcolonial.
POSTlapsarian.
POSTenlightenment.

And I follow Jesus.

No More Emergent: Undoing an Oxymoron.

December 16, 2008 in Church, Ecclesia, Emergent, jesus, love, missional, religion with 11 Comments

I initially put an exclamation on the title of this post only to immediately realize that the statement is not drastic, dynamic, or detrimental. But yes, it’s true: No more "Emergent." Well, ok. Not really. How can a "generative friendship," "network," or "conversation" cease to exist? OK… bad question but… anyway… Some readers may be disappointed at a potentially perceived misleading title but allow me to explain. In late October, Emergent Village posted A Letter from the Board to the Friends of Emergent . The letter (should you be an apathetic trend-follower or choose to not read it and remain a critic of "Emergent" without reading primary sources) outlines in significant detail the thought given to deinstitutionalizing the organization side of Emergent. The Press Release explains it very well. I thought this would be worth mentioning since many say that the Emergent movement … church … organization … network/friendship/conversation argues against large institutions yet maintains its existence as a large and quite structured organization. The Press Release states that, "the Emergent Village board of directors has decided to take a significant step away from institutionalization, ‘gifting’ the organization back to the grass-roots networks that birthed it. To this end, Emergent Village will “flatten” the organization by discontinuing the national coordinator position and significantly reducing the organization’s fundraising."

In the midst of all the re/unstructuring, those associating themselves as a part of the growing, generative, network of friends defined four values for which Emergent stands:

1.) Commitment to God in the Way of Jesus.
2.) Commitment to the Church in all its Forms.
3.) Commitment to God’s World.
4.) Commitment to One Another.

So… any "emergent" thoughts? Some in my context at MVNU say that "Emergent" is evil and dangerous. Others idolize some of the supposed leaders or spokespeople of "Emergent." Where do you stand? Is "Emergent" unifying, meaningful, and needed or is it divisive, futile, and pointless?

Hauerwas at Jacob’s Well.

December 11, 2008 in Church, discipline, Ecclesia, jesus, Theology, thought with 2 Comments

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One of my professors was an advisee of Stanley Haurewas at Duke Divinity School. A thought by Hauerwas that is painted on a wall at Jacob’s Well in Kansas City, Mo. reads:

"The work of Jesus was not a new set of ideals or principles for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but the establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing and self-sacrificing love in its rituals and discipline. In that sense, the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message, but to be the message."

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