Jesus Creed
We’ve been gone awhile and that means Weekly Meanderings aren’t as plentiful as I’d like. But here’s what we’ve got. Enjoy.
TSK, the model for many of us when we begin blogging (including me), is (or his blog is) now ten years old.
John Piper, on twelve ways to glorify God at work.
Here’s another way: “Men, don’t let yourselves go!”
Krish Kandiah on Wayne Grudem’s new book on politics: “One of the things that I enjoyed about Grudem’s systematic theology as a young person was that Grudem did not sit on the fence about anything, he had clear views and made a persuasive case for all of them. But looking back it almost feels like everything was a primary issue of Grudem – there is no sense of “Christians differ on these issues, I maybe in the wrong here and so these are not issues that we need to divide over” instead Grudem seems to have very little respect for other views – there is a sense of omniscience in his writing – a sense that Grudem believes the Bible to be crystal clear on all the issues he looks at. There is very little engagement with views from the history of the church or from the global church.” And this is Krish’s conclusion, and I should say that Kandiah did not enjoy criticizing Grudem: “All of us are vulnerable to being influenced by our cultures, our upbringing and cultural location makes us vulnerable to seeing the Bible through our preferences, political persuasions. The best way to test our views would be to expose them to the whole biblical narrative rather than selecting prooftexts. If you work hard you can make the Bible say almost anything you want – how many of us have had conversations with Jehovah’s witnesses that use an identical prooftexting hermeneutic. They impose a theological system on the Bible that means they miss the point of its narrative. If we are not careful the Bible ends up being a mascot to support our own ideologies rather than allowing scripture to shape us. I was disappointed by this book it feels divisive, and lacks a wider theological awareness that you would expect of a thinker of Grudem’s caliber. Should it perhaps be retitled: Politics according Grudem, a one sided polemical text book?”
And Michael Mercer’s State of the Union on science-faith issues.
Meanderings in the News
1. The end of AIDS? “ON JUNE 5th 1981 America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported the outbreak of an unusual form of pneumonia in Los Angeles. When, a few weeks later, its scientists noticed a similar cluster of a rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma in San Francisco, they suspected that something strange and serious was afoot. That something was AIDS. Since then, 25m people have died from AIDS and another 34m are infected. The 30th anniversary of the disease’s discovery has been taken by many as an occasion for hand-wringing. Yet the war on AIDS is going far better than anyone dared hope. A decade ago, half of the people in several southern African countries were expected to die of AIDS. Now, the death rate is dropping. In 2005 the disease killed 2.1m people. In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, the number was 1.8m. Some 5m lives have already been saved by drug treatment. In 33 of the worst-affected countries the rate of new infections is down by 25% or more from its peak. Even more hopeful is a recent study which suggests that the drugs used to treat AIDS may also stop its transmission (see article). If that proves true, the drugs could achieve much of what a vaccine would. The question for the world will no longer be whether it can wipe out the plague, but whether it is prepared to pay the price.”
2. Keeping the brain alive: “In an award address on May 28 at the annual meeting of the Association forPsychological Science in Washington, D.C., University of Michigan psychologist John Jonides presented new findings showing that practicing this kind of task for about 20 minutes each day for 20 days significantly improves performance on a standard test of fluid intelligence—the ability to reason and solve new problems, which is a crucial element of general intelligence. And this improvement lasted for up to three months.”
3. There was no one like H.L. Mencken. A little of him is always enough; but without him we sometimes forget.
4. From Speroforum: “The Islamic party of Pakistan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and launched a campaign asking to ban the circulation of the Bible, described as a “pornographic ” and “blasphemous book”. This is a new attack against the Christian community in Pakistan, frightened by the attacks and threats suffered after the death of Bin Laden, already under attack due to the damaging effects of the blasphemy law, with the consequence of death penalty to those who insult the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad. The radical group Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, with its headquarters in Karachi, launched the campaign at a public conference.”
5. Kenan Malik’s fascinating observation that morality at times can be against scientific fact: “Scientific investigations, whether of ourselves or of the world around us, certainly can, and do, illuminate our moral judgments. Yet it is not difficult to imagine situations in which our moral reasoning requires us to reject the answers that scientific data or cost-benefit analyses seem to suggest – nor why such rejection would be rational from a moral point of view. To take the example that I used in the programme, suppose that in the future scientists really were to discover that racial differences are a biological reality and that one race is cognitively inferior to another, and that cost-benefit analysis showed indisputably that the best outcome for humanity was for that race to enslaved by another. How should we morally respond? Obviously (at least, I hope it would be obvious) by insisting that whatever facts science may discover about racial differences, and whatever may be the outcome of a cost-benefit analysis, there is a rational moral argument for treating all humans equally. Why should we treat all humans equally despite empirical evidence or cost-benefit analyses that suggest otherwise? Because all humans possess a certain integrity by virtue of being autonomous moral agents. Humans are moral beings living within a web of reciprocal rights and obligations created by our capacity for rational dialogue. We can distinguish between right and wrong, accept responsibility and apportion blame. No other animal – not even the great apes – exist within such a community and it would be cruel to treat them as if they do. That is why, for instance, we do not hold chimps morally responsible for their actions. All humans are, or potentially are, moral beings in this fashion and it is with respect to this that all humans can be deemed equal. The presumption of equal treatment derives from a profound insight about what it is to be human and no amount of empirical data about racial or other similar differences can alter that.”
6. Japan and the disaster and the gospel of action: “Recently a friend was speaking with a Japanese businessman; when asked how he [was] and how the Japanese [were], he responded, ‘We’re pretending that everything is okay.’” But clearly, everything is not okay, Oh stated. “All throughout Japan, there is a need to lovingly and purposefully engage people relationally and conversationally with the Gospel. The Gospel has only been truly heard when it’s been spoken and explained.” And the best way to speak and explain the message? Through a practical demonstration of the Gospel, which was most effective, the Harvard graduate explained, whether that included physical, emotional, or spiritual help. In an affluent nation like Japan, however, where people did not feel a need for any type of help, opportunities for Christians to practically demonstrate the Gospel were limited. But after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which demolished much of Japan’s northeast coast, exceptional opportunities were opened, giving Christians the chance to offer practical help while sharing the Gospel message.”
7. Knewton: Is Groupon a ponzi scheme? “I would love to be wrong about this. Especially given the fallout in the tech economy if Groupon blows up. But isn’t it really pretty obvious that Groupon is a massive Ponzi scheme? Let me first say that Groupon filing to go public is not proof of a tech bubble. There is no tech bubble, just a micro bubble here or there. Nor is the Groupon story even particularly interesting or important compared to what’s happening in Europe right now. But since it has filed for IPO and since all of us in the tech economy now must spend the next years hearing the breathless gossip, IPO hysteria, and requisite recriminations over the inevitable implosion — let us briefly examine the tulip mania that is Groupon.”
8. Is mental illness an epidemic, or …? Emphasize the word “seems” here: “It seems that Americans are in the midst of a raging epidemic of mental illness, at least as judged by the increase in the numbers treated for it. The tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007—from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling—a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children, well ahead of physical disabilities like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, for which the federal programs were created.”
9. Peter Bergen on the war in Afghanistan: “The death of Osama bin Laden will raise the inevitable question: What are we still doing in Afghanistan? The answer, of course, is that the mission in Afghanistan is about something bigger and more ambitious than eliminating Al Qaeda’s leaders—most of whom, in any event, are probably living in Pakistan, as bin Laden was when the United States finally tracked him down. No, the mission in Afghanistan isn’t about killing Al Qaeda members. It’s about stabilizing the country so that it can never again serve as the hotbed of extremism that it was until 2001, with all of the attendant national security and human rights problems that resulted.”
10. Unrecognized villages and Bedouins in the Negev: “The government is to consider a plan drafted in the Prime Minister’s Office to relocate close to 30,000 Bedouin residents of unrecognized villages in the Negev to expanded areas of existing Negev Bedouin towns such as Rahat, Kseifa and Hura. The plan would involve transplanting about 40 percent of the 71,000 Bedouin residents in the unrecognized locales. The relocated Bedouin would receive both monetary compensation and alternate land. Unrecognized villages lack necessary infrastructure, as a result of which they suffer from severe environmental and other problems.”
Meanderings in Sports:
By Dave Eggers, a true blue Cubs view: “We were at a place called Brixen Ivy, and yes, it pains me to type that pun as much as it pains you to read it. It’s just across Waveland, down the left-field line. From its location, you can get a vague sense of the action on the field, and every now and then you can even see the ball. If you squint, and lean forward just so, you can read the scoreboard. In this case, the Cubs were now down, 6-0.
Not that the score mattered much. I grew up with the Cubs, and I don’t remember the possibility of winning ever being high among the reasons we went to Wrigley. We went because the park was ragged and crumbling and lived-in, beautiful in an almost accidental way. The low brick wall behind home plate implied a game being played at the local elementary school. The ivy in the outfield hinted that the building was so old that nature was reclaiming it. We went for these reasons, and we went because the weather at Wrigley was always better there than anywhere else in Chicago. We went because you could pay $10 to park in someone’s driveway and $1 to use their bathroom after the game. Speaking of too much beer being drunk from cheap plastic cups, there was Harry Caray, too.
Winning, which the Cubs did do occasionally, was a superfluous kind of treat. It didn’t feel too much different than losing — just like when you’re at the beach, getting one flavor of ice cream doesn’t feel so different than any other. They all taste fine when you’re at the beach, right? Winning was great if it happened. Just like having good players was a nice but unexpected bonus. Ryne Sandberg? Greg Maddux? Mark Grace? Shawon Dunston? Thanks! In general, though, we were used to the good things coming amid a general mood of “so what.” The Cubs are still the only team to have an MVP, Andre Dawson, elected from a last-place team.
So, no, we didn’t go to Wrigley for the glory of victory.”
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