Something unexpected to cheer up your weekend.

Anyone know what happened to John B's blog?

Edit: seems to be back up now.

It is time to announce the return of...

THE BOOK CONTEST

Here are the rules. Anyone may nominate a book to me. Nominations which I have already read will be discarded. Each person may only nominate one book (discraded entries do not count for this purpose). The total number of entries shall not exceed ten (10) books. I will promise to read each nominated book during the year and report on it. The book which I judge to be the best will be the winner and will earn the nominator a free book from their amazon wishlist (so please be sure to set one of those up if you plan to play).

The first two entries have already been made, so time is limited. Any sort of book is acceptable, provided that it is not out of print or terribly expensive. Even so, I could try to get it via Inter-library loan, so nominate away. My typical interests are history, biblical theology, language, economics and good fiction, though I'm happy to try anything else as well.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend of the last 10 years, Pitt Tomlinson, for recommending to me Albert Borgmann's book Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology. Borgmann is a professor of philosophy at the University of Montana, and, like other philosophers, has the talent, for better or worse, of writing far denser prose than other sorts of writers. This is not a drawback, though, when the writing is clear, nautrally interesting, and not translated from German.

The portion of the book I most enjoyed is his chapter on the virtue of courage in modern society. Beginning with a look at the courage of the rescue workers on Sept 11, 2001, he asks the question of whether courage in modern society reuires an extraordinary crisis. Typically virtues have been said to only develop through practice, so this would seem to be a difficult quandry. Drawing on the analysis of William Miller (The Mystery of Courage, 2000), he talks briefly about Aristotle and Aquinas on courage, noting that for each of them, their primary models for courage (Homeric heroes for Aristotle, the martyrs for Aquinas) lived centuries before their own writing, thus each felt this quandry of how courage was to be relevant in their day.

Certainly one challenge to be courageous in our society is the lack of obvious dangers. We would (should) not consider as virtuous the intentional taking on of easily preventable harms. Borgmann here points to the moral harms provided by the lifestyle encouraged by ou technological culture:

You come home from work, frazzled and spent. You walk into the kitchen and are not surprised that the children have left already and your spouse is not yet home. You find yourself walking to the refrigerator; you take what you like most and put it in the microwave. You stare at the paper on the kitchen table; it's Wednesday, your favorite tv show is on, followed by a game of the home team. Your pulse quickens a little. The show is good, your spouse comes home, you exchange a few words, the game is boring, you move to the den to do an overdue memo on the omputer. But first you check your email, the latest news, you happen on the ESPN web site. They offer you a video game, you play it for a while, your spouse is going to bed. You decide to call it a day.

Has this been an un-Christian evening? You have not coveted your neighbor's spouse, you have not stolen anything, you have not ordered anyone around. What you have done seems unexceptional. There were moments of a pleasant sort of freedom when you were able to eat what you liked at the time you liked, while watching the program you liked. There were moments of mild excitement when you anticipated the game or started to play the video game. Sullennessmay have overtaken you in the end, but at least you id not have to presume on anyone's time or attention.

Borgmann describes this "cocoon of autonomy" as being "incapable of redemption", but then moves to the alternatives which are at hand:

Here on the shelf is the poetry we could read to one another, there in the cornerare the flute and guitar we could play together. Right next to the kitchen is the dining-room table we could gather around. nd not far from our home are the playing fields where we could teach our daughter tennis or join a softball league with our beloved. There is the museum where local painters are showing their work and the concert hall where the citizens' symphony plays.

These are the places where patience is tried and generosity rewarded, where disappointments can't be escaped and grace descends in what Virginia Wolff calls moments of being. Those places are the precincts of faith where redemption comes into view again as the perfection the world cries out for.

It's hard for me to imagine that I have readers who don't also read Joel's blog, but just in case, make sure you read his post on his daughter's prayers.

Mythology and James Frey (in case you care).

Regarding the issue of the Danish cartoon conflagration, I express my soldarity with the comments of Kendall Harmon. Thanks to Todd for the link(s).

Just finished reading Christopher Lasch's The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics. Lasch's work traced the idea of progress and "progressivism" through the works of (generally) american intellectuals and thinkers from the early 19th century through the 1980's. While a great deal of it was interesting, I do tire of the "history of ideas" method of talking almost exclusively about famous authors. It would be refreshing to see more work done with newspapers and magazines and other guages of more popular opinion. One of the magazines he did cite which was of interest to me, though I imagine it would be tricky to find today, is a series which was done in The Nation in the 1920's called "These United States", a profile of each state in the union. These were apparently highly influenced by the work of Mencken and thus were often quite negative in their assesment, though this was not always the case. I believe Willa Cather was commissioned to write on Nebraska and found plenty of virtues to mention.

The book is quite lengthy and covers quite a few topics. One portion towards the end I thought I would share at some length, as it is one of my pet topics:

...Relentless "improvement" of the product and upgrading of consumer tastes are the heart of mass merchandising, and these imperatives are built into the mass media at every level.

Even the reporting of news has to be understood not as propaganda for any particular ideology, liberal or conservative, but as propaganda for commodities--for the replacement of things by commodities, use values by exchnge values, and events by images. The very concept of news celebrates newness. The value of news, like that of any oher commodity, consists primarily of its novelty, only secondarily of its informational value. As Frank Waldo pointed out many years ago, the news appeals to the same jaded appetite that makes a spoiled child tire of a toy as soon as it becomes familiar and demand a new one in its place. As Frank also pointed out ( in The Rediscovery of America, 1930), the social expectations that stimulate a child's appetite for new toys appeal to the desire for appropriation: the appeal of toys comes not to lie in their use, but in their status as possesions. "A frsh plaything renews the child's opportunity to say: this is mine." A child who seldom gets a new toy, Frank noted, "prizes it as part of himself." But if "toys become more frequent, value is gradually transfered from the toy to the toy's novelty . . . The arrival of the toy, not the toy itself, becomes the event." The news, accordingly, has to be seen as the "plaything of a child whose hunger for toys has been stimulated shrewdly." We can carry this analysis one step further by pointing out that the model of possession, in a society organized around mass consumption, is addiction. The need for novely and fresh stimulation becomes more and more intense, intervening interludes of boredom more and more intolerable.

One of the hats I wear in life is as music director for the men's singing group at CGS. Last night was one of our rare "outside gigs". We had been requested to sing at a retirement/assisted living community in Durham, so we put together 30-40 minutes of music we had either sung recently or could learn pretty quickly (i.e. a couple of barbershop arrangements). The two of us who have small kids brought our wives and babies along to enjoy the show. During on of the first songs my son crawled over to me and grabbed my leg. We were singing Ralph Manuel's lovely Alleluia, a piece I know quite well, so I decided to drop my music and pick John up while I was singing. All was well and good until he decided to join in. His "ra-ra-ra-ra" fits in pretty well with "alleluia", so it wasn't too bad, but it did throw me off just a little bit. The audience loved it though, so no regrets there.

Andrew Postman on Neil Postman.

As we approach the holy season of SuperSunday, let me pose to you my favorite football trivia question. It's my favorite because I came up with it myself. No answers from thse who've gotten this from me in person.

How many US states are home to exactly two NFL teams? What are those states?

I vote for this guy for my favorite ukelele player. Thanks Chris.

We had the local director for Pregnancy Support Services speak at our church today on the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision (it was also, oddly, the 20th anniversary of the founding of our church). Here is Todd's post on abortion and the episcopal church. Read it and weep.

Monetary news of the day, for those who like that sort of thing.

Don't you wish you could have seen this? (google video link via AKMA)

Somebody try this out for me, alright?

Another of these silly things. I was going to call it dumb, but it's from my wife, so I'll just call it silly.
Four Jobs I Have Had:

Tour Guide
Landscaper
Life Insurance Salesman
Janitor at a Funeral Home


Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

The Castle (probably the (non-veggie) movie I have seen the most of in the last few years)
The Hudsucker Proxy
Waiting for Guffman
Brazil

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over
I don't typically read the same books very many times at this point in my life but I'll answer this the best I can

I've read though the Patrick O'Brian saga twice, and probably will again
I'm planning on rereading all of the Robertson Davies novels over the next year
Johann Sebastian Bach's Well Tempered Clavier
Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces

okay, those last two were a different sort of reading, but I do read those over and over and haven't grown tired of them yet.


Four Places I Have Lived:

West Bloomfield, Michigan
Wildwood, New Jersey
Durham, North Carolina
Houghton, New York

Four TV Shows I Watch:

I'll just list my old favorites since we don't watch (live) tv anymore

The Simpsons
Seinfeld
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Firefly

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:

Clearwater, Florida
Gull Lake, Michigan
Vienna, Austria
Stockholm, Sweden

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

Well, lessee, I go here to sound smart,
I go here for amusement,
I go here to feed my addiction,
and here to find out what's going on in my house.

Four Favorite Foods

(I'll just list ones I like to make)
Borsch (got a big pot in the fridge right now)
Black Bean Soup
Omelettes
Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce

Four Places I'd Like To Be Right Now:

(I'll take "right now" as "places I generally enjoy")
L'viv, Ukraine
Mebane Public Library (will probably be there later today)
Boone, NC
Church of the Good Sheherd

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:

Al
Paul D
Mark (just cuz I never see him do these things)
and, Michael (NOT Kristen)

Interesting (and lengthy) article here about the changing place of sex in american thought and media here. I think one quibble I might have is that I tend to use the term "liberal" simply to name the sort of capitalist ethic which is the dominant ideology in america, rather than as a contrast to "conservative", but I'm weird that way.

Our sermon yesterday by our beloved Jerry Currin (available here) was perhaps the most "catholic" sermon I think I'll ever hear in a prebyterian chruch. I just love my church. Jerry, btw, was a baptist for a long time.

A happy Trogday to all my readers. Or at least those who know what I'm talking about.

Here is the consummate love song for today's youth.

Is this A) creepy, or B) really creepy.

"Till we can become divine we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for a change we sink to something lower."

I thought this was a fascinating look at the problems of advertising on the internet.

As for my resolution, you can view the first part of my 2006 reading list here. I am very systematic in my reading, so I know these are approximately the first 20 books I'll read this year.

My new year's resolution for this year is simply to keep track of the books I read. I read about 150 last year, but I didn't keep any notes and have a hard time remembering exactly what I read and didn't read, thus making any sort of year end list like this a little tricky. I'll try to post a few highlights though.


Also, feel free to chime in if you'd like to see me reprise my best book contest. I did this two years ago, allowing people to nominate the book they thought I would like the best, with a free book being given out as a prize. I like doing this just to get great recommendations from all you readers.

Thanks to AKMA for pointing to this post on the issues of choosing to play at evil in online gaming. I haven't played World of Warcraft, so I'll have to take Castronova's word on how things work there.

I used to play online games quite a bit, namely Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot. In Camelot there were no particularly evil races, simply three nations of sorts all in perpetual war with the others. In Everquest, it was a bit more complicated. You could play an orc or a troll (or a dark-elf), which were considered "evil" races, but the only real consequence of that was that you had restrictions on trading in most of the cities. In terms of gameplay, it was pretty much all the same and evil races joined up in parties with good races all the time.

But I think Castronova is quite right to be asking the sorts of questions he is. I have found that gamers take very little time to reflect on the ethics that might be involved in playing their games, aside from the issue of what constitutes cheating or fairplay within the game. As I suggested in the comments on AKMA's site, I think this lack of reflection may be defensive, as players today often spend huge amounts of time within online games and don't want to consider the idea that there could be something morally vicious about doing so.

I've been reading a little bit of philosophy this week (Coppleston, I'm afraid). This, coupled with some recent comments by John Derbyshire on The Corner, reminds me of a thesis which I have long been convinced of. Let me explain briefly. Derbyshire has been responding to a number of emails from people about the subject of Intelligent Design. He has said publicly that ID has nothing to do with "science", at least the way he understands the two things. In responding to the emails he received about this, Derbyshire has stated that he has no training in, nor interest in philospohy. He has an interest in what scientists actually think and do, and based on that, thinks that ID is a side issue.

While I feel competely incompetent to argue about science/design/philosophy/theology issues (as they relate to each other), it reminds me of my thesis about philosophy as an acadmic practice. My thesis is that academic philosophers should be required to take on some sort of interest outside of philosophy proper with the idea of being able to make contributions to that field. While scientists (as one example) are certainly free to dabble in philosophy to their hearts content, I think it would still be valuable to the science community to have a very careful philosopher look at their field. It may often be the case that the conclusions scientists draw from their work are unwarranted, or that their starting theses are dependant on untenable premises.

The subject of cosmology/origins/design seems to be one particular area where I think a great deal of care and rigor would be valuable.

I don't remember who I saw mention Pandora first, but I just got a nice surprise when my "Little River Band" station started playing Black Sabbath's Children of the Sea (with Dio on vocals). Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just didn't see it going with my soft 70's sounds.

This is why I love anthropolgy. People are endlessly fascinating. Especially weird people.

A page from Louis De Bernieres' lotest novel, Birds Without Wings. Perhaps some of you read Corelli's Mandolin? The narrative voice here, btw, is Turkish.

Ever since the year 1189 in the Muslim calendar, which was 1774 in the Christian, the Russian Empire had exercised a policy of religious expurgation every time that it expanded into newly conquered lands. In the Crimea, in the Caucasus, in southern Ukraine, in Azerbaijan, Kars-Ardahan and Laz, the Russians massacred and displaced the Muslim population, swamping the Ottoman Empire with refugees with which it could not cope. It is impossible to calculate the number of deaths, or to reimagine the manner in which these murders were perpetrated. It was a perduring holocaust, but, unlike the more famous one of the Second World War, it is uncommemorated by the world because it received no publicity at the time or afterwards. No monuments have been raised, no dates of comemoration have entered the calendars, no religious services have been held, and no hindsighted pieties have been repeated for our edification. The Russians replaced these slaughtered populations with Christians, preferably of Slav origin, but in the absence of Slavs, they made do with Ukrainians and Armenians.

It is curious that the Russians, calling themselves Christians, and like so many other nominal Christians throughout history, took no notice whatsoever of the key parable of Jesus Christ himself, which taught that you shall love your neighbor as yourself, and that even those you have despised and hated are your neighbors. This has never made any difference to Christians, since the primary epiphenomena of any religion's foundation are the production and flourishment of hypocrisy, megalomania and psychopathy, and the first casualties of a religion's establishment are the intentions of its founder. One can imagine Jesus and Mohammed glumly comparing notes in paradise, scratching their heads and bemoaning the vain expense of effort and suffering, which resulted only in the construction of two monumental whited sepulchres.

Good analysis of Charlotte Simmons here.

I challenge you to find a stranger product desciption than this one. Ever. Anywhere. Or, for that matter, a longer one.

Call me strange, but I think this is a terribly important story for public education. If you were to eask the question of when the debate was which argued that coed classes are better than single sex, the answer is never. I don't think there's ever been an argument (other than cost or convenience) which showed some sort of advantage to coed classes, particularly in grade schools.

Weird bit of NBA nostalgia here. I very distictly remember watching this game on tv in my room, wondering just how high the score would go.

My churchmate and singing buddy, Daniel Carter, now has a blog it seems.

If you are Scott Cunningham, you need to read this one, ASAP.

As Mark says, I think this is a very important article for presbyterians to consider.

My friend Rance assembled this list of early Christian quotes about violence and the christian life. I hadn't seen a number of these, so I'm posting them here for your perusal:


Matthew 5:3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and
falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the
same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:38-42
"You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH
FOR A TOOTH.' But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but
whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your
coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give
to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to
borrow from you."

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places.

I Peter 3:8-17
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly,
kindhearted, and humble in spirit; do not repay evil with evil or
insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were
called so that you may inherit a blessing.
For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS,
MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.
HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD;
HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.
FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS,
AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER,
BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But
even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are
blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED,
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the
hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a
good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered,
those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for
doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

Justin Martyr
And when the Spirit of prophecy speaks as predicting things that are
to come to pass, He speaks in this way: "For out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more." And that it did so come to
pass, we can convince you. For from Jerusalem there went out into
the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no
ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to
every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the
word of God; and we who formerly used to murder one another do not
only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we
may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing
Christ. For that saying, "The tongue has sworn but the mind is
unsworn," might be imitated by us in this matter. But if the
soldiers enrolled by you, and who have taken the military oath,
prefer their allegiance to their own life, and parents, and country,
and all kindred, though you can offer them nothing incorruptible, it
were verily ridiculous if we, who earnestly long for incorruption,
should not endure all things, in order to obtain what we desire from
Him who is able to grant it. (First Apology 39)

Justin Martyr
And we who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every
wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike
weapons, - our swords into ploughs, and our spears into implements
of tillage, - and we cultivate piety, righteousness, philanthropy,
faith, and hope, which we have from the Father Himself through Him
who was crucified. (Dialogue with Trypho 50)

Clement
For it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained. War needs
great preparation, and luxury craves profusion; but peace and love,
simple and quiet sisters, require no arms nor excessive preparation.
The Word is their sustenance. (Instructor I 12)

Origen
And to those who inquire of us whence we come, or who is our
founder, we reply that we are come, agreeably to the counsels of
Jesus, to cut down our hostile and insolent wordy swords into plows,
and to convert into pruning-hooks the spears formerly employed in
war. For we no longer take up sword against nation, nor do we learn
war any more, having become children of peace, for the sake of
Jesus, who is our leader, instead of those who our fathers followed,
among whom we were strangers to the covenant. (Against Celsus 5 33)

Irenaeus
For the Christians have changed their swords and their lances into
instruments of peace, and they know not how to fight.

Irenaeus
Nor an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, for him who counts no
man his enemy, but all his neighbors, and therefore can never
stretch out his hand for vengeance. (Proof of the Apostolic
Preaching 96)

Ignatius of Antioch
Nothing is more precious than peace, by which all war, both in
heaven and earth, is brought to an end. Therefore have need of
meekness, by which the prince of this world is brought to nought.
(Epistle to the Trallians 4)

Athenagoras
How, then, when we do not even look on, lest we should contract
guilt and pollution, can we put people to death? And when we say
that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder,
and will have to give an account to God s for the abortion, on what
principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the
same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created
being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed
into life, to kill it. (A Plea for the Christians 35)

Tertullian
But now inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may
turn himself unto military service, and whether the military may be
admitted unto the faith, even the rank and file, or each inferior
grade, to whom there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices
or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and
the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the
devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot
be due to two masters--God and Caesar. And yet Moses carried a rod,
and Aaron wore a buckle, and John (Baptist) is girt with leather and
Joshua the son of Nun leads a line of march; and the People warred:
if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a
Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a
sword, which the Lord has taken away? For albeit soldiers had come
unto John, and had received the formula of their rule; albeit,
likewise, a centurion had believed; still the Lord afterward, in
disarming Peter, unbed every soldier. (On Idolatry)

Tertullian
...we who hated and killed one another, and on account of their
different cultures would not live with men of a different country,
now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray
for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those who hate us
unjustly to live comformably to the good precepts of Christ, to the
end that they may become par-takers with us of the same joyful hope
of a reward from God the ruler of all. (First Apology 14)

Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus
Inquiry shall likewise be made about the professions and trades of
those who are brought to be admitted to the faith. ?A gladiator or a
trainer of gladiators, or a huntsman in the wild beast shows, or
anyone connected with these shows, or a public official in charge of
gladiatorial exhibitions must desist or be rejected. A heathen
priest or anyone who attends to idols must desist or be rejected. A
soldier of the civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to
refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath;
if he is, unwilling to comply, he must be rejected. A military
commander or civic magistrate that wears the purple must resign or
rejected. If a catechumen or a believer seeks to become a soldier,
they must be rejected for they have despised God. (Hippolytan
Canons)

Lactantius
For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open
violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns
us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful
among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage
in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself, not to accuse any
one of a capital charge, because it makes no difference whether you
put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the
act of putting to death itself which is prohibited. (The Divine
Institutes)

1st Council of Nicea
As many as were called by grace, and displayed the first zeal,
having cast aside their military girdles, but afterwards returned,
like dogs, to their own vomit... (Canon 12)

Cyprian
The whole world is wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the
case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, is called a virtue
when it is committed wholesale. Impunity is claimed for the wicked
deeds, not on the plea that they are guiltless, but because the
cruelty is perpetrated on a grand scale. (To Donatus 6)

What would it look like if Jackie Chan was a young Russian? (8 min video clip)

Time is limited if you want to get this for someone special for Xmas.

Wow. Interesting read.

In the spirit of Paul Cantor's Gilligan Unbound, I thought it would be fun to compare the (original) Star Trek with Joss Whedon's Firefly with the aim of thinking about how popular culture has radically shifted over the past 30 years. Unfortunately my html skills aren't up to making a side by side look, so you'll have to bear with my presentation. For the benefit of any of you who haven't seen Firefly, I'll mention quickly that like Star Trek, it is a set of stories about a space ship which travels from planet to planet, though Firefly has more of a Western feel to it instead of being a traditional sci-fi show.

Aims:
Star Trek: to explore the galaxy in servive to the galactic federation, with the typical result being the use of force to overcome the local way of doing things, unmask religious pretensions, and often use overwhelming force to bring about defeat or conformity to liberal/democratic priciples (you'll need to read Cantor's book for a full discussion of all of that if you are skeptical).

Firefly: Typical aim is some sort of short term money making enterprise where the members of the ship need to use all their cunning to escape in one piece.

Ship's Crew:
ST: an ethnically diverse group of staff members all serving to further the overall aim of the federation. Only three of these play a significant role in developing most of the plot lines.

Ff: a diverse group made up partly of staff relatively loyal to the captain, but also including some who have ended up on the ship by accident. Each character on the ship plays a part in the stories and each has a separate way of looking at their position onboard.

Power/Technology:
ST: The Enterprise is a state of the art warship, equipped with the highest levels of weaponry available. These weapons often come into use in the stories. The characters are personally armed with sophisticated weapons and other medical and communication devices, relying heavily on these technologies to acheive their aims.

Ff: The ship is an obsolete model, completely devoid of weapons. While some of the characters will use firearms, these are generally old fashioned guns. Because of their overall powerlessness, the characters rely on wit and trickery and bravery rather than technology for the most part.

Government:
ST: The Federation is viewed as a benevolent force trying to civilize the galaxy. The cast serve the federation generally without question and do not dispute it's views of governance.

Ff: The Alliance is generally portrayed as a poweful enemy to the cast. Its views of governance are hidden but assumed to be corrupt and insidious. The ship tries to avoid and work around the influence of this government.

Captain:
ST: Cpt Kirk is a tradition naval commander, expecting total and immediate obedience to his commands. All decisions are ultimately his and he only allows hs senior officers to question him or discuss decisions.

Ff: Captain Reynolds is much more like the captain of a commercial ship. He is employer to some of the crew but others have a more ambiguous relationship with him. One character rents space on the ship and expect the captain not to enter her shuttle without permission.

I could go on, but perhaps you would like to add some of your own.

Just made it back from vacation after driving for about 12 hours today. Fortunately our son was well behaved today, making things much easier on us.

Had good visits with both my family and Lenise's. Glad to be home again though. Diodn't get much reading done while away ;(

Is there anything wrong with typical american ideas about educating children? Read the third paragraph in this article before answering.

Being contrary has become so much a part of me that it is both instinctive and predictive. By contrary I don't necessarily mean being disagreeable, but rather always wanting to look at things from the opposite of the way way most would.

By way of example, tonight I finished a class in ESL teaching methods. Generally speaking we studied one way or method of teaching each week and tonight we gave presentations (either visual/poster or written) giving our reflections and impressions of what we had learned.

Of all the methods we studied, the one which most captured my attention in reading about it was the one called the Silent Way. In true contrary fashion, Silent Way advocates refuse to use the term "method". The keys principles of the Silent Way are the use of silence to encourage student initiative and having the teacher concentrate on observing the students rather than leading. I think I was the only student in our class who felt that this was truly interesting. It just appeared too counter-intuitive to most I think.

I think the use of silence as a pedagogical technique is disturbing to americans so used to "multi" media. We are not accustomed to reflection, to self-initiative, or to silence, especially in a classroom.

One other oddity I noticed in class had to do with a method known as CLL. This now stand for Community Language Learning, but apparently the initial initial once stood for "counseling". The idea here is that language learning is a problem faced by, particularly, the adult immigrant, and the teacher can play the role of counselor in help the student through this problem. One of the interesting techniques associated with this method is having the teacher stand behind the students, to be in more of a helping position rather than in front. The idea is to avoid being intimidating.

Regarding this method I heard at least two of my classmates say that they felt very uncomfortable with the idea of "counseling" anyone, that peoples problems were their own business. One tonight said "I have enough of my own problems." This strikes me as a very strange attitude for a potential teacher. It reminds me of Stan Hauerwas' comments about people who refuse to teache morals to their own children, preferring to let them "make up their own minds". The term he uses for this attitude is moral cowardice.

Just a few thoughts I wanted to get down upon reflection from this class.

Would you do this to your spouse?

Thesis: email feedback (i.e. customer complaints) work much better with bricks and mortar stores than with online stores. Developing.

(edit) Followup: Had a bad experience at a restuaruant on Sunday. I emailed the store manager and the general feedback dept to tell them my story. I got two emails the next day apologizing and a phone call today from the district manager. The original problem had to do with them basically not caring about a comlpaint I had in the restaurant, but they seem to have made up for it pretty well.

Ukrainian history in the news.

Interesting interview with Nuremberg prosecutor Whitney Harris here. I like this quote particularly:

Harris: I am totally convinced that Adolf Hitler was only a name that symbolized the absolute and worldwide breakdown of morality in the 20th century. It started in 1914 with World War I when everyone killed everyone and no moral standards remained. Revenge was the order of the day and any excuse was permissible. And afterwards? What did the communists do in Russia? And the Japanese in China?

Three cheers for mathemeticians. Who said that math was impractical?

I'm very impressed by this.

Just in case you missed Napoleon on Letterman, here it is.

Ok, so who makes better music videos, Chinese kids or suburban white kids?

I'll happily paypal you a dollar if you can read this story out loud to someone without either making mistakes or laughing.

I recently enjoyed reading Doomed to Fail : The Built-in Defects of American Education by Paul Zoch. Zoch does an admirable job in tracing the origins and major figures of the "progressive" movement in american education and discusses the negative consequences on student learning and achievement. The foremost idea here is the teacher-centric model, the idea that student learning is dependent (almost entirely) upon the quality and methods used by teachers.

One portion I read with particular interest was his look at the impact of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences thesis on the public schools. While I'm sure that Gardner is a brilliant man and is on to somethig or other with his theory (briefly, that intelligence is multivariate and each person has some measurable amount of intelligence in at least eight disctinct areas), the manner in which this theory is applied to educational theory has had poor results. When students are made to believe that they are, e.g., primarily kinesthetic learners, they have a built in excuse to tune out lectures o blackboard demonstrations since they are led to believe that they just aren't designed to learn that way.

One portion of the book which I found intriguing but wished I had more knowledge about was regarding John Dewey's ideas about education serving the needs of the community. Zoch seemed oblivious to what I consider the obvious point that education must have some sort of teleology, and that that teleology should reflect what society feels children should become through participation in the schooling system. Thus the question of how many students develop some competence in Latin seems to me to be entirely secondary to the question of what purpose is served by teaching Latin in the school system. Something for mew to look into another day.

The book ends with a brief look at what Zoch considers a model school system in terms of creating academic success--the Japanese schools. This was fascinating to read about as a contrast to american attitudes. In Japan it is universally taught and believed that academic success is a function of the amount of work devoted to it. Academic lectures are simple, straightforward, and boring. The idea is to present information in as clear a manner as possible so that the students can grasp it and then practice it.

I found myself wondering to what extent the "Japanese method" could flourish on american soil, but then I consider that in fact it is the method, more or less, of the top american schools already.

A new answer to the question of what bears do in the woods. Believe me that the whole article is worth reading. (Sorry--now with actual link.)

I want to give a big public thanks to Alastair for sending me a copy of Walter Ong's Orality and Literacy, which I just finished. Ong has a tremendous range of knowledge of classical studies, anthropology and literary theory, among other things. The book explores the differences between oral and written communication. This is putting the matter much too simply though. Ong demonstrates how very deeply the technology of writing (and, later, print) affects human thinking. Thus for people who are primarily oral people (say, in a culture without writing), thoughts are organized very much differently from writing cultures.

Ong mentions here and there some of the implications of his studies on biblical and theological studies. This becomes very complex. For one thing, the ancient Hebrews were one of the first, if not the very first, peoples to use an alphabet for writing, and were among the few to write down sacred truths or sayings of history. On the other hand, though, the world in which the Old Testament was written was primarily an oral world. Somewhat less so for the New Testament, but orality, demonstrably, still played a big part in communication.

Would be very interesting to study this book in a church small group. Someday I'm going to find that small group that reads interesting stuff like this together :)

Just as a political schema, this seems on target to me. It sounds like he doesn't actually know any fundamentalists though. The author is one of today's better sci-fi novelists.

Sin boldly so the rest of us can laugh at you.

I've lost count of how many times I've heard David Bowen preach and thought to myself, "I have the best pastor in the world." You could listen for yourself here if you like. He does try to make his sermons as local as possible, so there are usually a number of inside jokes and so forth, but to me that's part of the charm of having him be "our" pastor. The analogy he drew today between Hosea's description of Israel and a designated driver who gets drunk was one of the most inspired illustrations I think I've ever heard.

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."

Since my amount of content has been poor lately, I figured I'd make up for it in quality.

Related to the last post, this past week I read Edward Humes' School of Dreams, a journalist's account of a year in the life of one of the highest performing public schools in the United States.

One of the most amusing portions of the book detailed a visit to Whiteny High from Neil Bush, bother of the president (the one who's been barred for life from the banking business). Bush, since his scandal, got involved in an education initiative known as Ignite!, which seems to be a software based learning program based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory. While Gardner's work, which I've just recently gotten familiar with, is interesting on its own merits, the education software turned out to be a set of different games trying to teach school subjects in a variety of ways. When the Whitney students tried it out they quickly figured out the easiest method for each activity, found it trivially easy, and proclaimed it worthless.

In the Q&A session, Bush told the students that the idea was to make education easier for everyone. Some of the students responded that maybe the problem is not that education needs to be easier, but that some students need to work harder. This answer seemed to baffle Bush. Whitney students, btw, are known for the astonishing amount of homework and extra-curriculars they take on in an effort to get placement in the top colleges.

I would love to mention the big science project assigned in physics class, but I don't want to give it all away.

Best article I've seen yet on technology and education. Unfortunately for those of us who are already computer addicts, it is long, so we may not be able to read more than the sidebar quotations.

What a terrific quote from Bonhoeffer.

Wow. Jonathan Lethem gets the Bigmac of grants. Lethem is one of my favorite novelists. I can't think of anyone else whose imagination as a writer is greater than his.

Oh, and another classic parenting story from Bill Harris.

I'll be away for the weekend, but if you need some entertainment in the meantime, you can check my nephew's brand new blog. Make sure to read his profile.

Sorry for no blogging lately. Haven't been especially inspired. For some edifying reading, if that's what you are looking for, go over to the ekklesia project website and read some of their pamphlets. If you become a signatory to their principles, they will send you a copy of each new pamphlet when it is published. Might be interesting to discuss here some of their principles.

A new breed of reality show. Key quote: "Those voted out of the seven-member herd might be eaten."

Interesting news for any of you living (or driving through) New Hampshire. Live free or die!!!

Out of the "10 funniest religious jokes", this was the only one I really liked:


St Peter decides to take the day off to go fishing, so Jesus offers to keep an eye on the Pearly Gates. He is not sure what to do, so Peter tells him to find out a bit about people as they arrive in Heaven, and this will help him decide if he can let them in.

After a while, Jesus sees a little old man with white hair approaching who looks very, very familiar. He asks the old man to tell him about himself. The old man says, "I had a very sad life. I was a carpenter and had a son who I lost at a relatively young age, and although he was not my natural child, I loved him dearly."

Jesus welled up with emotion. He threw his arms around the old man and cried, "Daddy!"

The old man replied, "Pinocchio?"

A not-quite-so heart warming story.

Last night we finished watching the BBC production called The Barchester Chronicles. It was produced in the early 80's and is based fairly closely on the Trollope's The Warden and Barchester Towers. The acting was just superb throughout. The main part of Dr Harding was played wondefully by Donald Pleasance. Also outstanding was Alan Rickman as Obadiah Slope. Anyone who has seen Keeping Up Appearances would also recognize Clive Swift as Bishop Proudie. One can only surmise that a role like that prepared him well to play Richard Bucket. Very highly recommended and available through Netflix.

I remember having a moment or two just like this guy. He is in the unfortunate situation, though, of trying to express himself to his fellow junkies. You might notice the follow up discussion where they generally seem to miss the point. (Warning: link might contain a bad word or two)

A brief thought occasioned by reflecting on some of Stan Hauerwas' writings on the ethical significance of Jesus life as recorded in the gospels. There seem to be four basic positions held by the Israelites of Jesus day regarding their relationship to the kingdom of God. The first was that of the Sadducees who seemed to feel that the kingdom was not necessarily distinguished from present reality, and thus the best option is to participate as fully as possible in the workings of politics as they are.

The second option was, perhaps, the polar opposite. This is the position of the zealots. The zealots felt that the existing government, both by the Romans and by collaborators, was so unholy that it must be opposed by force. You wouldn't want God to accuse you of standing by idly while the wicked do as they please, would you?

The third option is that of the Essene/Qumran community. They believed like the zealots that the existing powers were evil, but the solution was to remove themselves from that community so as not to be polluted by it.

The fourth option was that of the pharisees. This was somewhat more moderate than the others, to my point of view. Thier position was that God, when He showed up to clean house, would recognize His own folks by their strict observance of the Torah.

All of these opinions I think could be given a pretty good defense based on a few OT proof texts, if you wanted to get defensive about them. But what I want to mention is that a great deal of Jesus teachings and actions could be interpreted as a response to these four positions. He condemns the Sadducees for not believing in resurrection, i.e., for not believing that God is ultimately just and will vindicate those who suffer injustice.

Jesus position on violence is spelled out for the zealots in the Sermon on the Mount. It is not that violence is unjustified, but that God has another way for His true followers to act, namely to suffer at the hands of the wicked without complaint.

Jesus response to the separatists is shown very visibly in how He deals with those who were unclean-- He does not stay away from them, but makes them clean by His presence.

And, more well known I think, Jesus responds to the pharisees both by rejecting observance of some of their practices as well as accusing them of hypocrisy. He tells His followers that their righteousness must be "greater than that of the scibes and pharisees." While God certainly wants His people to be obedient, he does not want this in the way of the pharisees.

FWIW

Only click here if you are involved in youth ministry. No one else allowed. I mean it. If you start laughing, I'm going to think you clicked on it.

I never thought I would ever feel magnet envy.

Thanks to my fine friend Todd Granger for this link. Now if some ignorant person comes up to you and says "well, what about the crusades?" you can say, "gee, I'm glad you asked." I suppose you'll have to memorize the whole thing for proper effect though.

Thought for the day: John Taylor Gatto is probably our country's most underrated genius. Here's a good essay for those who don't feel like they have time to read Postman's Technopoly.

Man attempts to re-enact the story of the prodigal son, fails to even get started.

via blogdex, I ran into this pretty touching link. Too bad many of the people who need this info probably can't access it right now.

I have often heard it said that comedy can be a much more honest avenue for exploring serious issues than drama. Just as an aside, one example of this case being made is in Paul Cantor's exploration of the changing face of american thoughts about globalization in his Gilligan Unbound, a book I highly recommend.

Anyhow, what I meant to write about was Nick Hornby. Hornby has developed a reputation, due to the successful screen adaptations of his novels, as a modern comedic writer of a very high caliber. His characterizations of modern urban English life play on banality in a way not entirely dissimilar to Wodehouse in the previous century. His last two novels, though, have moved into some fairly serious realms. In 2001, his novel How to be Good focussed on a character who asked herself whether working in a helping profession was enough to qualify her as a good person. Hornby seems to take seriously the question of how we can find goodness in a time and place which has left the christian religion behind. I hate to put it this way, but I did feel pity for the author as he tried so hard to find a new definition of the good life but seemed to come up empty.

Hornby's newest novel, A Long Way Down seems to have gone a step further. If the quest for the good life is unsuccessful, what remains? The novel begins with four people all finding each other on a rooftop, each seriously contemplating suicide. After some conversation they make a pact with each other to watch out for each other for 6 weeks, to stay alive for at least that long. Each of the characters has very different reasons for wanting to end life, and each comes from a very different perspective. The chapters rotate sequentially through the viewpoints of each of these characters.

I haven't quite finished it yet, so I won't comment too much more tonight. I'll add that it made an interesting contrast to my other reading for the week, Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. Eco's work also deals with the question of meaning and how to go on living, but from a very different perspective. The main character, Yambo, begins the book with a case of amnesia. This is not a total amnesia, but one which blocks out all of his autobiographical memories. He can still remember virtually every book or poem he read or any song he heard.

When Yambo's wife asks him what he wants to do after he leaves the hospital, he realizes that without any sense of where he has been, he has no idea at all where he should go next. The majority of the book which follows has Yambo trying to learn his own history. Who were his past loves? What happened to Italy in his lifetime?

I though the chllenge to understand where we have been to know where we should be going to be a very powerful one, though, with all of Eco's writing, I feel like I probably missed about half of what he included.

"Do you see any flippin' Saskwaches?" I love it.

How far would you go to see your name in print?

Here's a man with an idea.

Due to a number of conversations, both on- and offline, I have been thinking about what I'll call the problem of baptism. The problem I'm referring to is this--what should I say, as a person with a fairly high view of the sacraments, to someone whose sole claim to being a Christian is that he was baptized as an infant?

I phrased it that way because I was thinking more about what sort of rhetoric to use with a real person than about trying to get theologically precise about the situation. I came up with a little analogy. Tell me if if this seems helpful.

Me: So you say you were baptized.

X: Yep. I guess that makes me a Christian.

Me: What if we think about it this way, X. Let's say you hired someone new at your office. You sent him a letter informing him that he has been hired, but he never actually showed up to work. Would you say that person is working for your company?

X: Of course not.

Me: Baptism is a little like that. It is supposed to mark the beginning of your life as a Christian, just like being hired marks the beginning of your work.

X: Well, I have gone to church for Christmas services. That should count for something.

Me: Ah, so the hiree shows up for the complany annual picnic. NOW does he work there?

X: I guess not. Plus, even if he wanted to come to work after all that time, he'd probably have a few things to get stright with the boss.

Me: I think you're getting it.

Why were these invented AFTER I grew up?

I think this is good enough to become a poster. I vote to replace all copies of "Footprints" with Mark's aphorism.

I think it is about time for me to give out some awards. All of you bloggers out there have worked so hard to keep me entertained that I think you deserve some recognition. I just have to come up with the categories. Things like "best blog I've been too lazy to link to on my sidebar". Feel free to nominate yourself for a specific category.

The wifely one just sent me a nice article on some of what is going on within walking distance from our house. Maybe you should think seriously about why you haven't moved to Mebane yet.

Pretty much what I expected.

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering. Albus Dumbledore 80% Ron Weasley 75% Remus Lupin 75% Harry Potter 70% Hermione Granger 70% Severus Snape 60% Sirius Black 60% Ginny Weasley 55% Lord Voldemort 35% Draco Malfoy 30% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

Since I often enjoy stating the obvious, I might as well link to an article doing so. In this case, the subject being the problematic nature of "rights" as the basis of society. Most of the writers I've seen on this trace the problem to a lack of common account of the good, but its all the same.

We'll be out of town all week, so no blogging 'til next week. Sorry.

Since I'm writing on pauline theology, I guess I should go ahead and link to this startling news about E P Sanders.

Started reading Krister Stendahl today. What a refreshing and clear way he has of talking about the work and teachings of Paul the apostle. One of the interesting points he makes (and this is old hat for some of you out there) is that Paul seems to have nothing resembling a guilty conscience. He refers to his conduct as judged by the law as "blameless". The only sin he confesses to in his life (and does regret, without doubt) is the persecution of the church (I Cor 15:9), but then he immediately talks about how hard he has worked to make up for it (I Cor 15:10), pausing to clarify that that work was "not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

Anyhow, that is just a sub-sub-point under his overarching thesis that what Paul was adressing, particularly in Romans and Galatians, was not trying to establish the doctrine of how we become saved (justification by faith), but that this doctrine was one Paul developed to support his argument that the Gentiles can enter into the covenant with the God of Israel without going through the law as the Jews did.

One other interesting point he made which I hadn't thought through before, is the difference in Paul's attitude towards circumcision and the dietary laws. With the latter, he feels free to make allowances (Romans 14:1ff), but with circumcision (Galatians), nothing of the sort. While these were both aspects of the law, of course, circumcision was the sign of entering into, and promising full submission to the law. Paul argues in Galatians, Stendahl says, relying strictly on quotations from the Pentateuch, that the law was not eternal, and that it was flawed, given as a result of transgression (possibly due directly to the golden calf idol), and that it did not come directly through God, but was mediated by angels and by Moses.

Stendahl points out that many post-reformation readers of Galatians seem to think Paul is saying that the Gentiles must first turn to the law to learn of their sinfulness. This is nearly the opposite of Paul's actual point. Interesting stuff.

I never tire of saying positive things about my church, but there's one thing that got me thinking. Quite often during an infant baptism, that pastor will say something about the day when the child makes the christian faith their own. I'm not necessarily uncomfortable with that, but I wonder why it is necessary. Is there something wrong with someone clinging to the faith of their parents throughout their life?

I suppose every baptized Christian faces temptations to renounce their faith at various times, so one can always, in those moments, decide to abandon their parents faith. But why does there have to be a transition from "their" faith to "my" faith?

Also, on a related question, if (the majority of) presbyterians are going to practice adult only celebration of the communion meal, why are we not allowed to celebrate the elevation of a child to this new adult privilege? If it's a such a big deal to keep the children out, why can't it be a big deal when they are let in?

There. I've now touched on my only major problems with my local church. Besides the fact that they don't serve wine. I guess that bring the count up to three now.

A good video clip of nature's most well armed killing machine.

Good editorial about the problems of teaching reading in high schools.

I knew it was only a matter of time before we saw this story.

Thought of the day:

If success in life was correlated with rate of reading books, Harriet Klausner would be running the world.