Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Shey and I are moving tomorrow and things have been really busy trying to move during the school year. But we are excited, and looking forward to the great view that will soon envelop us. I'll try to post some pictures of our new place and the view, especially with the leaves changing all around us when I get a chance...
We won't have internet for a bit until we figure out if this high-speed antenna and new form of technology is going to work...so, I may be incognito a bit longer on the blog, but hopefully I can post something one night while I'm up at school...
Friday, October 20, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Plato and the Sovereignty of God
so over on some message boards that i hang out at every once and a while to try to be in conversation and to have a chance to write out some of my theology with people who i expect will disagree and with whom i would also usually disagree with also had started a discussion about the notion of the age of accountability, and most of the people at the board starting explaining two things that are very reformed and very Calvinist.
1. Children and babies are born into sin, and though we hope God will judge them mercifully, we don't know what will happen to them.
2. It is God's prerogative as to how he'd like to deal with these children and babies who die at young ages, and who are we to question God or his judgments.
both of these notions scare the crap out of me, and tell me a lot of what these folks think about God and his wrath, and they pose a huge unbreakable (and unchallengeable) wall of God's sovereignty in between God's relationship with humanity. talking about this stuff of course led into a discussion of hermeneutics, a time of defining what the gospel "really is", sin, and on and on about things that really probably can't happen on message boards or blogs because it is like trying to smash what takes some theologians 13 volumes to say in a few really loooong posts. which is dumb too because i am still deconstructing a lot of my own theology anyway, so i'm learning what i think often as i write...
but tonight in philosophy for theology, we were discussing Plato's allegory of the cave and a passage stuck out to me that helps illuminate how intertwined the reformed doctrine of the sovereignty of God and Platonic order of realities are:
"And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never seen absolute justice?
Anything but surprising, he replied."
There is this question seen here in Plato's writings that who do the visible beings think they are trying to believe that they understand the Idea of justice from the highest Good? Who are they to question the Good, for their feeble minds are seeing but reflections of the shadows or perhaps the images of justice, but not the idea of justice...
and this reminds me of the reformed doctrine that tries to say through omission, that who are we to question God, if it is of God's desire to send little children and babies to hell, God is able to make such decisions...but in making these claims, we fail to think about what this actually says about the nature of God and how God acts. can we not say that we don't believe that this is how a good God, who pursues and longs to be in relationship with his creation would act?
1. Children and babies are born into sin, and though we hope God will judge them mercifully, we don't know what will happen to them.
2. It is God's prerogative as to how he'd like to deal with these children and babies who die at young ages, and who are we to question God or his judgments.
both of these notions scare the crap out of me, and tell me a lot of what these folks think about God and his wrath, and they pose a huge unbreakable (and unchallengeable) wall of God's sovereignty in between God's relationship with humanity. talking about this stuff of course led into a discussion of hermeneutics, a time of defining what the gospel "really is", sin, and on and on about things that really probably can't happen on message boards or blogs because it is like trying to smash what takes some theologians 13 volumes to say in a few really loooong posts. which is dumb too because i am still deconstructing a lot of my own theology anyway, so i'm learning what i think often as i write...
but tonight in philosophy for theology, we were discussing Plato's allegory of the cave and a passage stuck out to me that helps illuminate how intertwined the reformed doctrine of the sovereignty of God and Platonic order of realities are:
"And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never seen absolute justice?
Anything but surprising, he replied."
There is this question seen here in Plato's writings that who do the visible beings think they are trying to believe that they understand the Idea of justice from the highest Good? Who are they to question the Good, for their feeble minds are seeing but reflections of the shadows or perhaps the images of justice, but not the idea of justice...
and this reminds me of the reformed doctrine that tries to say through omission, that who are we to question God, if it is of God's desire to send little children and babies to hell, God is able to make such decisions...but in making these claims, we fail to think about what this actually says about the nature of God and how God acts. can we not say that we don't believe that this is how a good God, who pursues and longs to be in relationship with his creation would act?
Thursday, October 12, 2006
a little help
So I sort of alluded to the idea that I will be working on an essay for a book to be published later this year or early next year with the two guys over at The Nick and Josh Podcast (or see their blogs over on the right in my blogroll). They have a pretty fun, interesting, don't-take-yourself-too-seriously series of insightful podcasts that feature interviews with all kinds of people associated with Emergent (e.g. Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt) while also going outside of the box a bit to meet with people like Sammy Andraos a Christian exiled from Lebannon during the bombings by Israel, or musicians like Derek Webb (who is giving his latest CD "Mockingbird" away for free right now).
One of the things that has come up in the rapid growth in listeners has been a desire to find ways for other young voices in the church to have a chance to speak up. So the idea of publishing a book (perhaps even yearly) has been born out of a desire to provide space for new voices at the table of both the Emergent conversation and the church at large.
I thought this was a great idea, and last week I emailed Nick and Josh about the idea of writing about the need for a generous dialogue amongst the current church leadership and the rising generation of leaders that will soon come into the places of leadership in the church (both locally and globally). (April you may remember a conversation that I had with Sheila about this in some email conversations that she talked to you about?) So, I have a lot of work to do still in writing the peice, but I must say that I am really excited about the opportunity to write...
One of the neat things that is happening in the publishing of this book is that we are using an on demand publisher and editing the book ourselves to help cut down on the costs. One of the ways that we could use some help is in offsetting some of the actual publishing costs. Nick has graciously offered to give all of the money of sales of his cd "qara"(you can see a picture in the top right of this post) as means of fundraising for the book. Cost is $6.50 for his album of some good music, and the proceeds go towards helping a group of young authors find their voice in the church conversation. (To buy, go to Nick's blog and click on the album at the top right of his sidebar, which will take you automatically to a paypal transfer site).
One of the things that has come up in the rapid growth in listeners has been a desire to find ways for other young voices in the church to have a chance to speak up. So the idea of publishing a book (perhaps even yearly) has been born out of a desire to provide space for new voices at the table of both the Emergent conversation and the church at large.
I thought this was a great idea, and last week I emailed Nick and Josh about the idea of writing about the need for a generous dialogue amongst the current church leadership and the rising generation of leaders that will soon come into the places of leadership in the church (both locally and globally). (April you may remember a conversation that I had with Sheila about this in some email conversations that she talked to you about?) So, I have a lot of work to do still in writing the peice, but I must say that I am really excited about the opportunity to write...
One of the neat things that is happening in the publishing of this book is that we are using an on demand publisher and editing the book ourselves to help cut down on the costs. One of the ways that we could use some help is in offsetting some of the actual publishing costs. Nick has graciously offered to give all of the money of sales of his cd "qara"(you can see a picture in the top right of this post) as means of fundraising for the book. Cost is $6.50 for his album of some good music, and the proceeds go towards helping a group of young authors find their voice in the church conversation. (To buy, go to Nick's blog and click on the album at the top right of his sidebar, which will take you automatically to a paypal transfer site).
No matter what, whether you can help by buying a cd or not, I'll keep you posted as the book progresses, and I look forward to sharing with you more as things happen...
Monday, October 09, 2006
reading week
well reading week for The Leland Center is going down this week. Which couldn't have come at a better time. Besides being a little stressed from school and church, Shey's great-grandmother passed away this morning...it's sad, but kind of beautiful too. This will be the first funeral in a long time that I feel like I can actually celebrate the life of the person gone...
So on this day, I thought that I should tell a good story or two of the wonderful woman Evelyn Spah who left us this morning at the wonderful age of 94. First, I should let people know that the first kegger i ever went to was for "Vera's" 90th birthday party a few years back, complete with a Senetor or two, and a lot of fun family stories. It was one of those great evenings with Shey's family that I still look back on and think of all the fun that we will still have together...
One of the neatest things about Vera and her husband, was that they were famous for many things, including some neat showbusiness acts and Vera's husband was one of the few survivors of the Hindenburg crash. If you get a chance to check out any documentaries on the History channel looking at the Hindenburg and its inevitable demise, you'll likely see an interview with Shey's great grandmother as she describes the Hindenburg coming down and watching her contortionist husband hang on to the outside waiting until the Hindenburg was close enough to the ground for him to fall off (which he did, and survived!). Much of the video footage of the Hindenburg flying (before its crash) comes from Evelyn's husband trip on the zepplin. Anyway, she was a great storyteller, always wanting to discuss her travels around the world and a life of love and family. she'll be missed...
so things may be a little scattered on the blog, b/c between family stuff the next few days, I'll be working on a chapter for a book that I get to write that Nicholas Fiedler and Josh Brown are working on putting together...
So on this day, I thought that I should tell a good story or two of the wonderful woman Evelyn Spah who left us this morning at the wonderful age of 94. First, I should let people know that the first kegger i ever went to was for "Vera's" 90th birthday party a few years back, complete with a Senetor or two, and a lot of fun family stories. It was one of those great evenings with Shey's family that I still look back on and think of all the fun that we will still have together...
One of the neatest things about Vera and her husband, was that they were famous for many things, including some neat showbusiness acts and Vera's husband was one of the few survivors of the Hindenburg crash. If you get a chance to check out any documentaries on the History channel looking at the Hindenburg and its inevitable demise, you'll likely see an interview with Shey's great grandmother as she describes the Hindenburg coming down and watching her contortionist husband hang on to the outside waiting until the Hindenburg was close enough to the ground for him to fall off (which he did, and survived!). Much of the video footage of the Hindenburg flying (before its crash) comes from Evelyn's husband trip on the zepplin. Anyway, she was a great storyteller, always wanting to discuss her travels around the world and a life of love and family. she'll be missed...
so things may be a little scattered on the blog, b/c between family stuff the next few days, I'll be working on a chapter for a book that I get to write that Nicholas Fiedler and Josh Brown are working on putting together...
Thursday, October 05, 2006
netflix = amazing goodness
so about midway through the summer Shey and I finally got our act together and signed up with netflix. i must say, i don't know what anyone is thinking by continuing to rent movies from blockbuster (or insert other lame movie rental store here: ) netflix is a wonderful collection of movies, documentaries, educational films (Shey is a teacher), and tv shows. it has been awesome, besides a slight detour through cape cod with dawson and crew this summer, Shey and i have been chewing up movies and especially some great documentaries lately.
two documentaries that i would highly recommend are: Born into Brothels and Boys of Baraka
Born into Brothels is a look into the lives of children growing up in the red-light district in Calcutta, as they struggle to get an education, find a way out, and find hope for the day-to-day. One of the ways that Zana Brinski (who is living in the red-light district among the families) attempts to help these children find a voice is by giving them a camera, and helping them to take pictures. In taking pictures of their families, their homes, their cities, their simple and yet complex beauty, these students find their voices amongst the terrible noise that surrounds them.
Similar to Born into Brothels is Boys of Baraka, a story about African-American male middle school students living in Baltimore that are fighting against the odds that 76% of them will not graduate high school (this is from 2004). In both humor and harsh reality, we are able to catch a glimpse into the lives of a few middle school boys trying to break the cycle of disadvantage, poverty, sin, racism, and brokenness in their neighborhoods. I laughed and cried a good bit in this movie. To be honest, it is the first movie in a while that shook me up and made me ask some hard questions about God and life... (e.g. How could God possibly have predetermined a life for these boys born into such a crappy environment and situation?, What are some of the systemic changes that need to take place to reverse this statistic?, How the heck is this going on only an hour and a half from my house?)
and the last movie i'd highly recommend of late is Bamboozled. I saw this movie in college when I was taking a class called "Major Black Authors" (which was supposed to be taught by an African-American woman, who left shortly before school was to start, and thus class was taught by some random 30-something white dude from UVA) at JMU. (On a side note, the professor for this class used to talk with his eyes closed/fluttering in rapid and stumbling phrases, for 2 1/2 hours at a time.) This movie helps us to take a look at some of the systemic racial sins that pervade the media, stereotypes, history, and current perspectives. This movie is bringing more Spike Lee movies to the Hayden's house in the coming weeks...
two documentaries that i would highly recommend are: Born into Brothels and Boys of Baraka
Born into Brothels is a look into the lives of children growing up in the red-light district in Calcutta, as they struggle to get an education, find a way out, and find hope for the day-to-day. One of the ways that Zana Brinski (who is living in the red-light district among the families) attempts to help these children find a voice is by giving them a camera, and helping them to take pictures. In taking pictures of their families, their homes, their cities, their simple and yet complex beauty, these students find their voices amongst the terrible noise that surrounds them.
Similar to Born into Brothels is Boys of Baraka, a story about African-American male middle school students living in Baltimore that are fighting against the odds that 76% of them will not graduate high school (this is from 2004). In both humor and harsh reality, we are able to catch a glimpse into the lives of a few middle school boys trying to break the cycle of disadvantage, poverty, sin, racism, and brokenness in their neighborhoods. I laughed and cried a good bit in this movie. To be honest, it is the first movie in a while that shook me up and made me ask some hard questions about God and life... (e.g. How could God possibly have predetermined a life for these boys born into such a crappy environment and situation?, What are some of the systemic changes that need to take place to reverse this statistic?, How the heck is this going on only an hour and a half from my house?)
and the last movie i'd highly recommend of late is Bamboozled. I saw this movie in college when I was taking a class called "Major Black Authors" (which was supposed to be taught by an African-American woman, who left shortly before school was to start, and thus class was taught by some random 30-something white dude from UVA) at JMU. (On a side note, the professor for this class used to talk with his eyes closed/fluttering in rapid and stumbling phrases, for 2 1/2 hours at a time.) This movie helps us to take a look at some of the systemic racial sins that pervade the media, stereotypes, history, and current perspectives. This movie is bringing more Spike Lee movies to the Hayden's house in the coming weeks...
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
figuring all this stuff out
So after creating this blog, I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn, and that I should've signed up for Blogger's beta version of blogging. So after messing around with a lot of stuff, I am now switched over to the beta version, have a profile pic up, and am messing around with stuff to figure out how i can make things smoother, look how i want, and give me the most options for types of posts and links that i want to have...
i have to say, messing around with html and all this junk is kind of fun (as long as i keep saving my current stuff so i won't lose it). anyway, technology can be a pretty sweet thing (though of course it causes just as many problems often times than it solves, and can often have a costly effect on our lives and community (thanks Wendell Berry), but today i like it).
anybody want to come pack up my apartment for me?
i have to say, messing around with html and all this junk is kind of fun (as long as i keep saving my current stuff so i won't lose it). anyway, technology can be a pretty sweet thing (though of course it causes just as many problems often times than it solves, and can often have a costly effect on our lives and community (thanks Wendell Berry), but today i like it).
anybody want to come pack up my apartment for me?
Monday, October 02, 2006
Finally (can I say finally in my first post?)
So I'm finally doing more than blogging on other people's sites and lurking without having a blog of my own. Though I finally am starting a blog, this is my first post, and I'm probably supposed to say something sentimental or of some profound sense of why I'm starting to have my own blog or whatever. To be honest, we probably don't need another young, white, middle-class dude saying stuff and filling up the world with more words...but I thought it would be fun, and would keep me honest and open for a bit, and I miss the practice of writing out some of my thoughts...
Thus, "Moments of Recognition" has been born. (or insert whatever lame introduction to a blog you'd like) A good friend of mine had written about this notion that maybe faith and belief are wrapped up in simple and beautiful recognition of God. This was something that Shey and I had been talking about for weeks, this idea and notion that prayer, faith, and belief are centered in moments of recognition where God is seen or heard, touched or whispered, abundant or close. And sometimes these moments, especially when they happen in community, when God is recognized, a simple and yet wonderful beauty is found.
So I hoped that this blog would provide a time to share and reflect on some of these moments, and some of the absences of these moments too. Of course I hope these moments will also include some insights into the culture, church, theology, seminary, and community that I find myself in these days...so I've finally arrived to only begin...here's to another new blog to distract me from studying...
peace...
Josh
Thus, "Moments of Recognition" has been born. (or insert whatever lame introduction to a blog you'd like) A good friend of mine had written about this notion that maybe faith and belief are wrapped up in simple and beautiful recognition of God. This was something that Shey and I had been talking about for weeks, this idea and notion that prayer, faith, and belief are centered in moments of recognition where God is seen or heard, touched or whispered, abundant or close. And sometimes these moments, especially when they happen in community, when God is recognized, a simple and yet wonderful beauty is found.
So I hoped that this blog would provide a time to share and reflect on some of these moments, and some of the absences of these moments too. Of course I hope these moments will also include some insights into the culture, church, theology, seminary, and community that I find myself in these days...so I've finally arrived to only begin...here's to another new blog to distract me from studying...
peace...
Josh
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