Ninth Sunday after Pentecost O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
From Jen Hatmaker’s blog, a bit of a rant of frustration that appeals for toleration in all directions, and an opinion piece that may well express the heart of the next wave of American Christians: This is precisely how I feel about the Chick-Fil-A debacle and all the other accouterments of the culture wars. I am so over it. I’m so over the fear mongering and hate propaganda. I’m over the political posturing and power plays. I’m over the finger pointing and... Read more
My friend, Michael O’Neil, in Perth, wants to know what is a good novel to introduce him to America? When Kris and I went to South Africa, I thought reading Alan Paton’s famous novel, , was the ticket — but it was from a different era. So, who has some good recommendations for Michael? We’ve been painting the house recently, and I have been listening to and enjoying Wendell Berry’s That Distant Land. For me, it is a window into another... Read more
This review comes from our friend up in Grand Rapids, Ted Gossard. Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life During the past five decades coinciding with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls there has been a renaissance of knowledge pertaining to the time of Jesus and a few centuries preceding him during the Second Temple period. What has come to light is just how Jewish the Christian faith is. We discover a... Read more
Well, we had some time off from Weekly Meanderings when were in Iceland and Denmark, but they’re back … … and again, thanks to RJS for monitoring the blog while we were gone, and I can’t thank her enough. She’s been attached to this blog for five years or more, contributes regularly, and has helped to establish the tone. And, thanks to Vose Seminary folks — Brian Harris and Michael O’Neil — and to the Tabor College Adelaide folks —... Read more
Tomorrow Kris and I will make our annual trek to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs vs. the Cards. My father is a Cards fan, and the only person he’s ever cheered for on the Cubs was my son, Lukas, when he was playing in the Cubs organization. One of my father’s former students, way back when basketball players were still shooting two hand set shots, Bill Roberts, who is also a Cards fan, invites my father and mother and... Read more
Michael O’Neil, from Perth, has found a soft spot in this blog: I am woefully unconversant when it comes to movies. So, when someone sends us a post about movies, we’re all over it! Thanks Michael. America mostly attends movies on Fridays and Saturdays — so far as I know — so here we go… Oranges and Sunshine (2011) was a hard movie to watch, for us Aussies, at least. Based on a true story, the sometimes heart-warming and sometimes heart-wrenching... Read more
From The New Yorker: What’s your favorite Springsteen song? Nearly half a century ago, when Elvis Presley was filming “Harum Scarum” and “Help!” was on the charts, a moody, father-haunted, yet uncannily charismatic Shore rat named Bruce Springsteen was building a small reputation around central Jersey as a guitar player in a band called the Castiles. The band was named for the lead singer’s favorite brand of soap. Its members were from Freehold, an industrial town half an hour inland... Read more
Tim Stafford had an article Listening to Chinese Christians in the March/April issue of Books and Culture on a book by Liao Yiwu, God Is Red. Liao Yiwu is a poet, street musician, and chronicler of modern China who has persisted in antagonizing the Chinese government. After the Tiananmen Square massacre he wrote a protest poem that helped get him imprisoned for four years. Later he traveled about China describing lives of people who don’t fit the Chinese ideal— “hustlers... Read more
Matthew Levering, a Catholic theologian at Dayton University, examines Christian eschatology in the Catholic tradition but first asks if that theology is biblical (Jesus and the Demise of Death: Resurrection, Afterlife, and the Fate of the Christian, Baylor, 2012). What we also are treated to in this clear and versatile academic book is direct engagement with Tom Wright’s approach to eschatology, especially in his The Resurrection of the Son of God and Surprised by Hope. In a sentence, the problem can be... Read more
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