Stepping back a few feet

A good friend of mine gave me a book recently and wanted to know my reaction to it. The book is Rapture Ready! by Daniel Radosh. From the inside cover flap: "Written with the perfect blend of amusement and respect, Rapture Ready! is an insightful, entertaining, and deeply weird journey through the often hidden world of Christian pop culture. This vast and influential subculture--a $7 billion industry and growing--can no longer be ignored by those who want to understand the social, spiritual, and political aspirations of evangelical Christians."

The book delivers on that promise. Each chapter describes the author's exploration of a different facet of American Christian culture, from Christian bookstores to CCM to Christian theme parks. Radosh, a self-identified liberal New York Humanistic Jew, is self-aware enough to acknowledge that there are nuances of this world that he simply cannot "get" as an outsider, but his insight is often painfully keen:

"The largest subset of Christian gifts is apparel. Christian T-shirts are the uniform in which evangelicals under thirty suit up for battle, and the companies that make them are constantly scrambling to come up with slogans and designs that appeal to today's youth, generally to embarrassing effect: 'God is my DJ'; 'Jesus has skills'; 'I'm like totally saved.' The marginally more ambitious shirts attempt to impart a lesson: 'Life would be so easy if everyone read the manual'; 'Friends don't let friends go to hell'; 'Modest is hottest.' The tangled rationale of that last one--we can persuade girls to dress in a way that does not attract sexual attention by telling them that doing so will attract sexual attention, especially if they wear this form-fitting shirt--begins to hint at the tension in bending Christian messages to pop-culture forms." p. 12.

Radosh raises an obvious question that Christians themselves seem to be too close to see: What is the relationship between the gospel and the medium? Where does one end and the other begin? Is there even a line between them?

I don't know the answer to those questions, but I have to wonder whether in the context of the gospel, distinctions between message and medium are irrelevant, or at least futile. I'm no rhetorician (and some of my friends are, so I have to tread lightly here), but it makes sense to me that a "message" addressing fundamental world-view carries with it so many basic assumptions even about media that its very expression begs questions it seeks to answer. I know that sounds vague, but I'm not sure I understand it precisely enough to describe it better. Maybe it can be likened to cross-cultural communication barriers: two people speaking the same language from different backgrounds and with different life experiences attach different assumptions and nuances to words, so that they can carry on a whole conversation and each come away thinking that they understood each other, but have entirely different ideas of what the conversation was about.

The conversation Christians are trying to have with nonchristians, and vice versa, is just like this--the proverbial two ships passing in the night. Radosh starts to see the distance between the ships when he chats with a fan at a Frank Peretti book-signing:

"'What do you think of the villains in his books?' I braced myself for a blast of vitriol.

'I think he has a little bit of mercy towards them. He doesn't really paint them as totally evil.'

What?

'It's the perspective he brings,' Terri explained. 'They just, you know, are pawns. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.'

I had been reading Peretti through secular eyes. To a Christian, the dastardly liberals are not so much villains as victims. It's not their fault they're possessed by demons. But if I felt a slight diminishing of hostility, I also saw any hope of mutual accommodation go up in a blast of sulfurous smoke. It may shock Peretti, but these days, much of what liberals really anguish about behind closed doors is how to find common ground with people of faith. And now I realized that for at least some people, common ground will never be possible because they don't object to specific ideas that can be reframed or adjusted. They object to Satan, whose bidding we are doing. They may not hate us--they may believe they love us--but they hate him, and they won't negotiate with him either. We want to persuade them, reason with them, listen to them, and accommodate them. They want to save us. It's not even the same playing field." p. 110-111.

If you've ever wondered what "we" look like to "them," this book is my number one recommendation. If you haven't, well, you should. You might learn something.

HT to Eric G. for the book. Thanks a ton. So far I think it's spot-on.

Grab a paddle.

From WNDU:

New all time records were set for rainfall this weekend in Michiana:

Friday rain: 0.23"

Saturday rain: 6.58" (all-time record....the rainiest day ever!)

Sunday rain: 4.07" (record for the date)

3 Day total: 10.88" (this beats the rainiest month ever...in 3 days!)

September rain so far: 13.65" (record for any month...the rainiest month ever)

The old monthly record for South Bend was June of 1993 when we had 10.86" of rain. We have now obliterated that number in the first 14 days of September, 2008. But, the incredible part is that we beat the old record in only 3 days...Sept. 12, 13, 14, 2008.

Props to the Fighting Irish for pulling off a very exciting win over Michigan in what turned out to be half a football game and half a mud-wrestling match. You guys are troopers!

It's good to keep them a little peckish.

more music charts

Welcome to Itasca

This weekend was the Weekend of Paint. Buckle your seatbelt for a virtual tour:

The kitchen is no longer an eye-crossing blend of white walls and off-white cabinets and counters. We went for a color called "nutmeg" that we saw in a paint brochure and fell for at first sight. It makes me want to eat something.
The entry hallway no longer looks like the entrance to a sanitarium. Eventually we'll break up that very brown wall with a mirror. The thing on the left wall there is a mail holder Gena picked up in Kyrgyzstan.

The living and dining rooms are mostly sunflower yellow with a dark brown accent wall. I was afraid it would turn out looking like a butterfinger, but it's actually not bad. As a bonus, the brown wall manages to make the very unattractive wall unit air conditioner less conspicuous.

My room is mostly "parchment" with an accent wall in "oatmeal." The cooler tones work well with the Asian theme.
Also I found the perfect frame for this lovely wedding picture of my great-grandparents that I acquired at the recent family reunion. You can't tell from this resolution, but they were a handsome couple. Athena moped through the weekend. She had to get some booster vaccinations on Saturday, and so she was sore and sleepy and just generally miserable. I think she's back up to speed today, judging by the way she was tearing around the house this morning.

A scene often repeated

more cat pictures

Study Aids for the Desperate

My Evidence prof showed this in class to introduce this particular class of hearsay exceptions. Laugh away, but this is actually the only reason I can remember them. So if you see me singing during the bar exam, you know I'm on a hearsay question.

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Requiem concert - Part 4

This has been my latest study music of choice. Couldn't tell you why. I'm especially fond of the Hosanna, beginning at about 3:00. Who puts a drumset in a Requiem, honestly? (Um... Andrew Lloyd Webber? Who else?) But it works. There's a joyful abandon to it.

T minus 5 days

Pie Jesu

Pie Jesu, qui tollis peccata mundi
dona eis requiem.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi
dona eis requiem sempiternam.

(Merciful Jesus, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.

O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
grant them eternal rest.)

Share the Road

Bikes are a great way to get around, but South Bend and the surrounding areas could do more to make it less hazardous. Yesterday I biked to Osceola, about 9 miles from my apartment, and encountered not a single bike lane. I'm not above riding on a sidewalk if one is provided and the road is narrow and busy enough, but even the few sidewalks I encountered were in such bad shape I was better off on the road.

Last week a South Bend man on a bike was injured in a hit and run on Cleveland Rd. He died from the injuries on Monday, leaving a wife and four young children.

I hope his death wakes up locals to the need for better bike infrastructure, since it is a fairly popular form of transportation around here. Meanwhile, I think it's time I stop putting off the purchase of a helmet.

Fun with herbs

One of my favorite things about not winter is fresh herbs, particularly basil. Basil leaves make an excellent garnish on everything from fried eggplant (which I made last Friday) to corn from the frozen veggie section (a regular in my apartment). Once you get used to the full, sweet flavor of the fresh stuff, it's hard to feel the same way about dried basil. The problem with basil, though, is that 40 degrees and a strong breeze will kill it; it doesn't do winters (or even late falls) very well. This summer my basil plant is growing spectacularly (thanks to daily waterings and plenty of full sun), and I was trying to find a way to preserve some of that bounty for the winter. [That's the basil AFTER I cut off about a third of it. Also a zinnia--ain't it cute?] Here's one excellent method I came across:

Gather 3-5 branches of basil, 2-4 stems of fresh mint, a few sprigs of parsley, and a small handful of fresh oregano. Rinse them all,shake dry, and de-stem. Dump all the leaves in a blender and blend on high. Add chopped or crushed garlic to taste. Add extra virgin olive oil and blend until it turns into a paste. Add grated Parmesan cheese and continue to blend. You'll need a lot of cheese-probably at least a cup, and you may need to add some more oil to keep the consistency. I also added a bit of garlic salt, but I think I wouldn't next time. Some people also like pine nuts or other kinds of nuts, but I didn't have any. I'm sure it's good. I've also heard of adding lemon juice.[clockwise from top: parsley, catnip, thyme, oregano, garlic chives]

The resulting pesto is excellent over pasta or on just about any form of carbohydrate you can think of. I mixed mine with some vermicelli and topped it with a few of the cherry tomatoes off my tomato plant. It made an excellent side for the broiled salmon. I poured the leftover pesto into an ice tray. When it's frozen I'll remove it to a freezer bag and in the winter I can just add a cube to a pot of pasta for a taste of fresh summer! I can't wait for my basil plant to regrow so I can make another batch![To the left of the tomato plant is the mint that has crept in from the neighbor's yard. I'm not complaining.]

Pretty pictures

Go treat your eyes to the pictures at Light and high beauty, Brendan's photoblog. Seriously, it's good stuff.

The Best Advocate

I've taken to listening Tim Keller's sermons in the car and at the gym sometimes. Unfortunately they have to be purchased, but they are well worth the money. Lately I've been listening to Keller's series on Hebrews. This excerpt is one I listen to over and over again. I don't think it will ever get old:

When I first became a Christian, I heard of this, that Jesus Christ intercedes for us before the Father, and it was of no comfort to me at all, and one of the reasons was it sounded bizarre. And it was also of no comfort to me, partly because, I think, of some of the ways in which I had seen lawyers profiled in court. And because of what I saw in some of those high profile trials, I really misunderstood what this was all about. And here’s what I thought was happening, and here’s why it wasn’t any comfort to me:

I figured every day Jesus came before the Father with a kind of case load. And He’ll pull out a folder, “Keller.” So He looks up and He says, “Ah, yes, Father, You know all these promises he says he’s made to change and change, and he’s doing it again anyway… But please give him a break. For My sake… Give him one more chance. I know he means well. This one more time, this could be it, and You owe me—I went to Earth and all those things. So, pretty please, I ask for mercy for my client. I throw myself on the mercy of the court.”

And then I expected, I guess, that the Father would say, “Well, all right.”

And here’s the reason why that was of no comfort to me: Because I understood that what Jesus was doing—if that’s the intercessory work of Jesus Christ—spinning to get mercy out of the Father, I thought to myself, how long can He keep that up? Because why wouldn’t one day finally the Father—there’s no particular reason why one day the Father couldn’t just say, “Look, he’s a minister now! It’s too late. I’ve had it—he can’t keep doing things like this.”

But that’s not at all the kind of advocate Jesus is. You see, an effective attorney doesn’t just wheedle and cajole and emotionally manipulate the jury and the judge—sometimes that might work, but actually, frankly, how long can you keep that up? An effective attorney has a case. And according to this passage [Hebrew 7], Jesus Christ is not up there asking for mercy. When you ask for mercy, that means you’ve lost the case. Do you know what He’s up there doing? Look, verse 27 and 28: "Unlike the other high priests who does not need to offer sacrifices day after day first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, rather, He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.”

This is what Jesus is saying, as it were (it’s metaphorical, but I’ll get to that in a second): “Father, You demand justice. You are a just God. And my friends here, the people on whose behalf I’m speaking, are guilty. But I have made payment—there is my blood—and it would be unjust to get two payments for the same debt. Therefore because I’ve made payment for this debt, I am not here asking for mercy for my brothers and sisters. I am not here asking for mercy—I demand justice. Your very justice, Your very righteousness demands Your complete embrace and acceptance of them throughout eternity.”

That’s an infallible case! The book of Isaiah says that righteousness and justice, the divine justice and righteousness of God is inexorable so that the mountains are like dust in a scale by comparison.

Why she's named Athena

I have a new kitten. I have been told that it isn't quite appropriate to name such a cute little fuzzhead for the goddess of war. Ha! I'm sure Puck has a few thoughts on the subject.

REGULATION PENS AND PENCILS, July 1, 2008

Beginning with the July 08 bar examination, applicants may not use or have in their possession or at or near their testing seats pens, pencils, or other writing instruments, including highlighters and markers, OTHER THAN the pens and pencils distributed by the Board at the time of the examination. All other pens, pencils, and writing instruments must be placed away from applicants in the space designated by proctors at the front of the test room, along with purses, bags, backpacks, study materials and other personal possessions that are permitted in the test room. On Tuesday, each applicant will receive 2 pens for answering the essay portions of the exam; if both pens fail, replacements will be provided. On Wednesday, each applicant will receive 2 pencils for answering the MBE. Manual sharpeners will be available at the proctor table, and replacement pencils will be available as well.

Class, culture, and love. And good journalism.

This morning I got lost in a powerful piece of journalism that is both profound and horrifying. In a Plain Dealer (Cleveland) issue, Joanna Connors tells in raw prose the story of her rape. If the article stopped there, it would be sad, terrible, and perhaps a bit cathartic, but it doesn't stop there. It's really a story about her search for the meaning of it all--who her assailant was, why, and what the intersection of their lives reflects in American (and human) society.

The whole story is long, and several parts of it brought me to tears, but the following passage from is one of the most poignant. The writer had learned that her assailant died in prison, and she tracked down his sister to meet her. She had just explained who she was and why she was looking for him, and the sister reacted:

"I know what rape is," she finally said. "I was raped myself. But I asked for it, because I was on drugs and I was prostituting. It was just me, being stupid."

She said she never reported it to the police because, hey, what the hell, you're prostituting, what do you think you're supposed to get? Besides, the first time, the rapist was a white guy, and she knew the cops would never go after a white guy for raping a black prostitute. And the second time, she was trying to get crack.

"I asked for it," she said.

It was like a script from the hot-line training I'd done at the Rape Crisis Center.

"No, Charlene," I said. "You didn't ask for it. It was not your fault."

She shook her head, tears rolling down her face. "If I hadn't of been so stupid," she said.

"You know, that's what I was saying to myself for 20 years," I said.

She wiped her tears.

"Yeah, but it's different," she said. "I mean, you had a good job, and my brother had no right to do that to you."

I knew what she was saying: that I was not a drug addict or prostitute, and she was, so she deserved what happened and I did not.

But I also heard what went unspoken: I was white, I had money, I had an education, I had parents who did not hit me.

I had all the things Charlene had not had in her life. She was used to being a victim. It was her world. It was not my world.

"Charlene," I said. "Those guys had no right to do what they did to you, either."

She wiped at her tears again.

"It's terrifying," she said. "Especially when you think they're going to kill you."

"I know."

This is probably going to sound like a non-sequitur, but I'm going to say it anyway (because it's my blog, that's why): This is why Christians need to care, and care actively, about social poverty. They are the only ones who can really get it. I'm going to stereotype some political terms, and I know there are exceptions and nuances, but the terms are handy and I can't think of a way around it that's not unwieldy, so here goes:

Liberals do care about poor people. For that I applaud them. But they do so for the wrong reason. They help poor people because they believe that they, as people, have human dignity and are thus deserving of help. I'll accept everything in that sentence up to the "and." They do not deserve help. Many people who grew up poor do not make stupid financial decisions, work hard, and do not commit crimes. Ultimately people are responsible for their actions, and poor people are no exception. To say otherwise would be grossly disrespectful of their human will and moral autonomy.

Conservatives frequently don't care about poor people for just that reason. If people are in trouble, it's often their own fault and we are under no obligation to help them. And they are right. Sort of.

But here's what they miss: There is only one thing separating "us" from "them." Grace. We mess up too. Hopefully we mess up in less drastic (and criminal) ways, but we mess up. Had we harder lives and less fortunate backgrounds, it is possible (and statistically likely) we'd mess up more. That doesn't mean we should excuse the messing up, big or small. But it does mean we should be compassionate because we, of all people, should understand grace more profoundly than anyone else, right? We've tasted it, benefited from it. It is only right that we should extend it. We don't help people because they deserve it; if they deserved it it wouldn't be grace. There is inherent good in reflecting the qualities of God: We have been filled with grace, and His grace in us should not help but overflow. Being tightfisted with grace raises a serious question about whether we have really understood it--or received it.

HT to Ryan for the article. I highly recommend reading it, but do so only when you have some time and emotional energy to spend on it. It's well worth it.

Pronto.

I need a Neil Diamond LP. Do they even make those?

More on Carbon Footprints

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

in which Africa is noticed

Wondermark by David Malki

Wheaton fires a prof over his divorce

Apparently the prof declined to share details with the administration, so they couldn't evaluate whether or not the divorce was biblically justifiable. Story here. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I'm all about private, religious colleges sticking to the standards they had the profs sign. I don't question their "right" to do this--employment is at will, and even if he had tenure, I'm sure there was a clause in there that allows this... freedom to contract and all that...

But on a more pragmatic level, the quotation from the prof, "I also don't want to be in a position of accusing my spouse, so I declined to appeal or discuss the matter in any way with my employer," strikes a chord. We paint Joseph positively for wanting to put Mary away privately rather than publicly accuse her, right?

Maybe this is a disciplinary matter that would be better left to the church? Perhaps the school would be wise to alter their employment terms to "in good standing with a local church that holds to _____ confession." Wouldn't that take care of their concern about their professors being of good moral character without having to involve them in these kinds of situations?

Of course, the prof could as easily object to "publicly accusing" his wife to the church [leadership]. But I might have less sympathy for that. If you can't be transparent with church authority, maybe you need to reevaluate the extent of your individualism.