This is just a reminder that if you read my site regularly, you need to update your RSS feeds to my new site. My first post over there is on Mark Driscoll’s new book, and his thoughts on dating. See it all here.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am retiring this particular blog, and am starting a new blog of the same name here:

dkam136.com

I am switching to the self-hosted wordpress because I want to be able to do more things with the site and use more versatile themes.  Update the RSS if you follow me on google reader or some other RSS syndidcation system

Thanks for everyone that follows me.

=)

Thoughts on Cultural Constructs
How do cultural constructs affect us?

Or perhaps this Calvin and Hobbes comic says something about Cultural Constraints:

A New Conservative Bible Translation?
We can’t figure out if this is for real, or if this is a joke, but apparently there is a new bible translation that is trying to get rid of “liberal” interpretations. I have linked you to Dr. Mariottini’s site where he talks about the many problems with trying to create a translation theologically rather than by trying to say what the original author’s actually intended. I know that it is difficult to do this, but it hurts my heart when I see people totally disregard the process for something more black and white.

The Lord’s Prayer
Mennonite Style

Hauerwas at APU
This is exciting! I hope I can go.

Baptism of the Special Needs
Internet Monk (Michael Spencer) has written a piece on what to do with the baptism of special needs children in the Baptist tradition. I come from a family of Baptists, although I do not consider myself baptist, so I can understand some of the complexities of the issue he faced. Baptism is a confusing endeavor for protestants because we moved away from the long tradition in the Catholic Church of infant baptism. Within our culture, we changed the meaning of baptism to something that protestants thought was more appropriate to “sola scriptura.” There is, however, no clear teaching from scripture on how baptism should work. There are many examples of baptism in narrative form, but no clear doctrinal positions we can necessarily make on the issue. I found Spencer’s post both interesting and confusing. I especially like Halden’s post on denying baptism.

New Music
New Music for Pete Yorn teaming up with actress Scarlett Johannsson. This reminds me a bit of She and Him (the teaming up of M. Ward with Zooey Deschanel). Click the link above to see a great deal on the album.

District 9: Movie Review
Still haven’t seen the movie? I suggest it.

Scot McKnight’s Thoughts on Jealousy vs. Envy
Scot McKnight talks about some of the differences between jealousy and envy (HT: Halden)

Slow Food
A campaign for children to eat REAL food that is fairly traded (HT: Andrew Jones)

Conversation between Church and Gay Community
A link above to an interesting conversation on elevating the conversation between the church and the gay community.

How to make Church Music Sound Great?
Well, perhaps it’s as easy as emulating those artists you love. Click the link above for the full story.

Zen Marketing
I wonder if you could insert the word Christian for Zen and get the same results?

Unconditional Praise
Who would have thought that praising children too much gives them less self-esteem? This is true too in a work environment. People need to be careful of giving too much praise to their employees, and to be specific when praising them. Don’t say, “Good job,” but, “I like how you do [insert specifically what they did well] because it [insert specifically how it helps the company].” Specific feedback is better because it helps the person know what they did right.

I randomly searched blogs on google today to see what popped up with the search term Bill O’Reilly.  I came across this story that gives the transcript of an interview Bill did with Bernie Goldberg a few days ago.

In the transcript, Goldberg gives three reasons why he thinks Fox News is criticized so often: (1) Fox News is consistently more conservative than the other major networks, (2) Fox News is successful despite its conservatism and (3) Fox News is provocative.

If I had to choose between watching the rants and rage of Bill O’Reilly over someone like Charlie Rose or Keith Olbermann, I would choose Rose or Olbermann almost any day.  So why do I watch Fox, and especially O’Reilly?  First, because I think O’Reilly is often comical in his talking points and with his guests.  He consistently belittles his guests and his talking points are little more than conservative propaganda spiced up to look centrist.

So why would do I watch it?

The same reason I find the circus entertaining: It entertains me while I eat my dinner.

I usually flip back and forth between O’Reilly’s show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann during the five o’clock hour.  Sometimes I feel guilty for boosting the ratings that O’Reilly so often opines about on his show, but sometimes I think it is worth the laughs I get from watching how idiotic he can sometimes be.

Trinitarian Social Programs
“…If the Trinity is a legitimate way of seeking to understand the nature of God, and the world is the realm in which the Church must make the nature of God known, then one must agree with Boff that the Trinity should be the Church’s social program. There is no greater place from which to judge this agreement than in considering how the Church’s Trinitarian theology works itself out both as a diligent pursuer of equality and as an initiator of personal and corporate equality.” (HT: Jonathon, you might as see his review on Don Miller’s new book)

On Capitalism, Growth, and Cancer
“Modern capitalism has created a world totally different from anything known before. Previous ages have assumed that resources are limited and that economics – housekeeping – is about how to distribute them fairly. Since Adam Smith, we have learned to assume that exponential growth is the basic law of economics and that no limits can be set to it. The result is that increased production has become an end in itself; products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production; a minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence…” -R. Bellah and associates, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, 114.

Obama Bashing and the Church
Bob Robinson, using quotes from Thomas Friedman, makes the case as to why Christians should not participate in the demonizing of President Obama.

Reading all over the blogosphere about the nature of “Christian Piracy” has led me to write about the importance of historical interpretative keys.  As an historian by degree, I read the History Teacher as it comes out in its periodical form each quarter.  One article in particular, Descent from the Ivory Tower (August 2009, The History Teacher), really got me thinking about the chasm between the professional historian and the people who use history as a means towards an end.  She quotes British Historian John Tosh, who says:

Professional historians insist on a lengthy immersion in the primary sources, a deliberate shedding of present-day assumptions, and a rare degree of empathy and imagination.  Popular historical knowledge, on the other hand, tends to a highly selective interest in the remnants of the past, is shot through with present-day assumptions, and is only incidentally concerned to understand the past on its own terms.

Tosh’s love for his craft reminds me of a theologian’s love for his craft of theology.  In a similar fashion, theologians and Bible scholars often deal with people who “pick and choose” from the Biblical texts.  These people come to theologians with present-day assumptions and apply them unilaterally to the Biblical text.

This is similar to what I see in the present-day debate on Christian piracy.  If you go through all the posts recently from Pete Rollins and others you’ll see (in somewhat convoluted fashion) what I discussed above (see my last post for links to these different people).  It appears to me that Pete Rollins has one interpretive key for the Somolian pirate situation and Richard has an entirely different interpretive key.

For instance, Richard says:

‘Well, if you ask a poor Somali woman whose children have been killed by the Somali warlords growing rich on the piracy (for that is yet another side of the story), the answer would be a no-brainer. The point is that there is a coherent moral vision to be applied, inescapably, and we practice that moral vision in community and in our tradition’.

Whereas, Pete says:

Yes they [the pirates] are often brutal and violent, but by stealing ships full of Tanks (bound for Kenya) and luxury goods (made often under horrific conditions) we need to go further and make the (non-symmetrical) connection between the subjective violence of the pirates (which should be condemned) and the objective violence of the system that they are directly attacking.

John Tosh would obviously think both know little of what they talk about.  Neither has probably taken extensive classes on the effects of the African Slave Trade or read many historical books on the history of the Somalian problems.  Sure, they may have seen Black Hawk Down or perhaps they have read an article or two on the problems in Somalia, but I doubt either of them speaks Somali or any of the other ethnic languages or have ever visited the region.

What seems to be happening here is the use of the Somali people to prove a larger theological point in whatever direction they wish to point it.  Rollins, laying the blame on the west, paints the Somali pirates as victims, whereas Richard paints them as the aggressors.  They both have their points, but I just think there is a problem using an anachronistic view of history to try and talk about theological issues.

I can understand what Brewer and others are trying to get across, but I simply don’t like seeing limited views of contemporary history and pirate history to try and make those points.  History can be very dangerous when it is painted in such skewed colors in either direction.

New Music: XYZ Affair
I found these guys on Kickstarter doing a campaign for their new album. Kickstarter is a great program if you are looking for people to support all over the world in whatever cause you like. I personally like being able to feel like I am helping out independent bands and artists.

The Nature of Piracy and Christian Theology
The children and grandchildren of Napster (a la limewire and vuze (Formerly azereus), in team with sites like pirate bay and isohunt, have shown us that there is no stopping the shift music has taken as the result of music “pirating.” If you have the time, you might look into what Pete Rollins has said on the subject and how Richard has responded (the posts can get somewhat convoluted). What all of this shows me is the importance of having an interpretative framework both for studying scripture, but also for studying history (both contemporary and ancient). This interpretative framework will guide everything in our lives including theology.

I wrote this song a long time ago, if I tagged you on facebook, that means that I think you will like it and/or you appreciate good music.  Click here to listen to the song on last.fm.  Here’s the lyrics:

When you’re walking on down the mountain side
You’re walking on down the old country road
And it don’t seem black and it don’t seem white
You just gotta settle for a little grayish light
You’re looking for love in the taverns at night
But you can’t find it in the skirts and shirts

It’s an old, old world out there
Yeah, it’s an old, old world out there

Just keep on down the open road
And whistle a tune until you’re broke
And don’t wonder if it could all be different
Of course it could
And don’t look back at the city on fire
Unless you want to be called Lot’s Wife
Cause things they burn in the battles of might
Sometimes it’s the only right

It’s an old, old world out there.
It’s an old, old world out there
My God, it’s an old, old world out there.

Open-Table Eucharist?
Mike makes a good case for it, while also citing those who disagree with him. One could get lost in the all the links he posted on the subject.

Cheap New Music: (HT: Steve)
—> Monsters of Folk: $3.99
—> David Gray: Walk the Line $3.99

For those of you who do not yet know Monsters of Folk, it is made up of Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Brights, Yim James of My Morning Jacket, and M. Ward. I have been listening to the full stream on myspace for the last few days and am very excited to own the album. I will probably be seeing them in October.

James McGrath talks about the difficulty of Historical Objectivity
As an historian myself, I found this post extremely helpful. It is so difficult (nay impossible) to talk about history in an objective manner.

The Neo-Cons are having more Town Hall Meetings
I’m not quite sure what to make of this…

The Anarchy of Success
How do we really know when something is successful? Andrew Gray has some good thoughts on this.

Clothes, Labels, and Students
Students and their need for designer clothes, and the problems it creates.