Weekly Meanderings

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 3:29 pm By Scot McKnight

Life lessons from Winston. Life lessons from Rick. Jamie plumbs how a movie shines its light on Christians. Chaplain Mike plumbs spiritual disciplines — very, very good ideas. J.R. Briggs plumbs lessons for young pastors. Ted’s good reminder. That’s what you call a good book review. Major public spectacles often have a story not told, but Wendy told this one. Very interesting post by Brandon O’Brien: “Either way, I’m curious to hear what y’all think about celebrity conversions. Any thoughts? Let’s... Read more

Church Attendance Numbers

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 8:10 am By Scot McKnight

From Michael Kruse: Read more

And America is not more just

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 8:12 am By Scot McKnight

… because Teresa Lewis was executed. It does not appear to anyone that she was falsely accused of plotting murder; it does not appear to anyone that her crimes were not abhorrent and heinous. But the death penalty does not bring justice; it exacts revenge. Jesus taught us to go beyond the lex talionis; we are taught that grace and mercy can bring restorative justice. How? The imprisoned can work until they die and their work can bring good to... Read more

News of Sad News

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 11:08 am By Scot McKnight

What are we doing about this in local communities? From the NYTimes: At a time of growing tensions involving Muslims in the United States, a record number of Muslim workers are complaining of employment discrimination, from co-workers calling them “terrorist” or “Osama” to employers barring them from wearing head scarves or taking prayer breaks. Such complaints were increasing even before frictions erupted over the planned Islamic center in Lower Manhattan, with Muslim workers filing a record 803 such claims in... Read more

Somewhere Today … (by David Opderbeck)

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 7:20 am By Scot McKnight

The Girl in the Cage, the Lion, and the Lamb Somewhere in America right now, there is a little girl locked in a dog cage. A man will bind her with duct tape. The man will sexually abuse her while another takes pictures and videos. The men will distribute these materials over a vast network of child pornography file sharing servers. Tens of thousands of other men will look at the pictures and videos, discuss them in chat rooms, use them as masturbatory tools, and demand more. And they will get more, much more. I know this is true because I’m teaching a course this semester on “Cybersecurity Law.” Most of the course focuses on commercial and public espionage – hacking, data theft, and so on. This week, however, the topic has been online safety – cyberstalking, harassment, obscenity and child pornography. Our guest speaker yesterday was the Brian Sinclair, Chief of the Computer Crime Prosecution Unit in Bergen County, New Jersey. While he mercifully didn’t show us any of the volumes of child porn his unit has seized over the years (it is technically a felony to display such materials even in an educational setting), he described in general terms the sorts of things that commonly appear, including what he noted as “disturbing recent trend” towards the literal caging of victims. Read more

Spiritual Disciplines … for a Church 4

Last updated on: September 28, 2010 at 1:36 pm By Scot McKnight

Quite the story in this chp: James Smith was invited to speak to a group of denominational leaders; they wanted him to speak about spiritual formation; he began with a funny story and then by listing the various "means of grace" that were part of the spiritual formation movement. It all went downhill from there, including a leader standing up and turning his chair around to turn his back to Smith; a few left; 55 minutes into his four-hour session he took a break; he was told it was not going well; he asked to leave; they took him to the airport. What to learn from this one? (Beside the obvious: learn the theology of the group you are addressing.) Read more

Can a Christian remain Christian in politics?

Last updated on: September 23, 2010 at 9:14 am By Scot McKnight

By the title of this post I am not asking whether a Christian can campaign for office on some kind of Christian platform. The nature of my inquiry instead is given the rough and tumble and even nasty nature of the world of politics, can a politician who embraces Christian faith run a campaign that looks Christian in character? Read more

Evolution and Environmentalism (RJS)

Last updated on: September 23, 2010 at 11:40 am By RJS

I am reading through a book of essays, Theology After Darwin (available from amazon UK or, as pointed out by a commenter, a search of Abebooks.com on author = Berry and title = Theology After Darwin will yield a USA-based source for a new copy of the book at a reasonable price (HT PB)). The fourth chapter, written by Ellen F. Davis is something of a sidestep from the general topic of evolution and theology. Nonetheless the issues she raises... Read more

Spiritual Disciplines … for a Church 3

Last updated on: September 28, 2010 at 1:38 pm By Scot McKnight

One of my favorite experiences with a church went like this: I asked the pastor what happened, and by that I meant how in the world did the "small group" grow into a 300+ church so quickly. His answer was simple: We began to ask people in our community one simple question: "How can we help?" He admitted they were doing things they never expected to do, but that one question -- call it the single-most important missional question -- can change a church if the church will listen, and will do. How have you seen Dallas Willard's idea (below) at work in your community? in your church? in your life? What are the characteristics of a serving community? Read more

Americolatry?

Last updated on: September 22, 2010 at 2:17 pm By Scot McKnight

Tim Dalrymple, in the hope of genuine conversation, has a post about the accusations of Americolatry. Jonathan Fitzgerald at Patrol declares that the Restoring Honor rally heralded the birth of a new national religion. David Sessions at the same magazine writes that “evangelicals…don’t really get” that they should be “far more worried about their own America-worship than they are about Glenn Beck’s theological errors.” Similar claims are easy to find at the Huffington Post, or Relevant, or any number of blogs. Yet I... Read more