By Michelle Van Loon, one of Northern Seminary’s fine students:

When a renewal movement hits the church, things are bound to get messy. Some of the mess is the work of the Holy Spirit as he reanimates dry bones. Some of the mess comes when a bunch of broken human beings try to touch, help, hinder, or profit from the beautiful chaos. We’re a generation removed from the Jesus Movement of the late 1960′s. Poll after poll tells us that Evangelicalism, the primary beneficiary of this Movement, is having an identity crisis. Our children aren’t sticking around in our churches – and neither are many of us. We are known in caricature for our culture warring and mean-girl ways. Jesus is our brand, not our Lord. (Certainly not all of us fall into this category, of course. I’ve known lots of generous, forgiving, faithful Evangelical saints who reflect the love of Jesus through their words and works.)

The Church is in a state of transition in the West, though in the global South and East, she is growing like fruit-bearing kudzu. This transition here is an opportunity for a bit of spiritual housecleaning in the wake of the hippie-flavored chaos of a generation ago. Part of that housecleaning might perhaps create some space for reflection on the unintended consequences of some of our choices and desires. We reap what we sow.

To that end, I’m launching an occasional series in this space called The Jesus Movement’s Unintended Consequences. While some of these topics have been the subject of books and studies, I’m simply lobbing a few observations out there for all of us to consider as we grapple with where we’ve been so we can see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly….

(If you lived through the `70′s or like Broadway musicals, you know the next words in this sentence. For the rest of you reading this, the next words are “day by day“. Tambourine optional.)

Since we’re on the subject of music, I’ll start with praise songs. When we Jesus Freaks huddled around campfires or gathered in ad hoc prayer meetings during the 1970′s, our soundtrack included songs like:

• Come Bless The Lord *
• Pass It On
• Father I Adore You *
• Behold What Manner *
• Humble Thyself In The Sight Of The Lord
• Seek Ye First *
• and maybe even Day By Day

This music was as basic as it came; easy to learn, sing and play. Anyone who knew a few basic guitar chords could strum so a group could sing its praises to God. The hymns of older generations required so much extra equipment – organs, choir robes, practice, and the ability to carry a tune. The 1960′s taught us Boomers to question authority. Filter that questioning through the lens of the anti-institutional Jesus Movement, and we ended up with music that echoed pop culture’s ethos – our praise music was a hybrid of folk and California rock, with a splash of country. At the same time, there were stage musicians like Love Song, Barry McGuire, and Larry Norman who were proclaiming this stripped-down gospel through performance-based rock `n roll. But their songs were different than the campfire-style sing-a-longs we used to praise our Lord in small groups and eventually, in church.

What we wanted:

• Immediacy – An instant connection with Jesus
• Relevance – God was speaking our language, man
• Intimacy – He was speaking to each one of us personally
• Simplicity – We could focus on him, rather than concentrating on sometimes-antiquated lyrics
• Singability – The melodies were catchy and easy to learn
• Popularity – All our Jesus Freak friends were singing these songs, too

Forty or so years later, what we got:

• Immediacy, Relevance, Singability, Simplicity – Still hallmarks of contemporary praise and worship music
• Intimacy – Some of the lyrics are now so generic, they sound like love songs; the standard and not entirely undeserved bash is that they are “Jesus Is My Boyfriend” music
• Popularity – What was once sung around a campfire is now Worship Music, a big, big, HUUUUGE business
• Ubiquity – Formulaic, feel-good words don’t reflect the way Scripture talks about God or our humanity
• Immaturity – We learned that our preferences were king when it came to worship styles. Many churches were drawn into lengthy intramural battles over worship music styles; other congregations split

What desires and/or unintended consequences would you add to these lists?

* Mandatory to sing these in rounds. Men. Ladies. This side of the room. Now that side of the room. Far out. PTL!

It is Samuel V. Adams’ contention that the historical method cannot lead us to knowledge of God, and so his book — The Reality of God and Historical Method — is both a critique of N.T. Wright’s “critical realism” and an attempt to ground knowledge of God in theology (not history). There is a longstanding tension between NT experts/exegetes/historians and systematic theologians, not least because the latter often don’t do exegesis, assume conclusions, carry on the dialectics of the history of theology as if that history can all be assumed, and then also because the theologians use categories not organic to the NT and its world. Theologians, Adams contends, as he carries on the Kierkegaard to Barth to TF Torrance theological tradition, don’t think the historian can take us to God.

That theologians and historians proceed differently is well known, but few are as explicit about it as Adams.  Here is a good example of what I mean:

… that this knowledge comes about in a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is this God, revealed in this way, of whom theology must speak, and it cannot do so apart from the sort of confession that Chalcedonian Christology affirms. Apart from this, Jesus is just another “crucifiable first-century Jew?” (142, added emphasis)

Think with me about this for a moment. Does this not mean that no one could understand God until Chalcedon? (Ironic that he opens by quoting the apostle Paul from Colossians 1:15-20.) The apostolic tradition recorded in the NT is hereby swallowed into a mode of thought from four centuries later, right? What does this say about the Protestant emphasis on sola scriptura?

The historian doesn’t operate the way Adams does. The historian seeks to know what the text says or what the event was or what was said by investigating know-able evidence in context and then draws conclusions on the basis of that knowledge. The historian of the NT will bracket Chalcedonian categories, not because he or she disagrees with them but because of anachronism. As I read Adams, one can’t know unless one assumes Chalcedon, which is a way of saying the only ones who know are the theologians, orthodox ones at that, and Barthian-Torrancian at that.

He makes the limits of the historian known in this:

But to reiterate, knowledge that this is God with us is not derived from historical reasoning, but from the new birth that comes from God (142, added emphasis). [Thus, epistemology is rooted in soteriology, and that means the new birth dips us into knowledge of God in Christ and only in the new birth can this happen.]

This Chalcedonian Christology is reshaped or clarified by T.F. Torrance’s understanding of the relation of God to humans in Christ, in the hypostasis. Torrance breaks this into two movements: the anhypostasis and the enhypostasis. The former focuses on “God the Son” coming “to his creation” and assuming “humanity.” Logos/God the Son comes to humanity to become the person of Jesus Christ. The second term, enhypostasia refers to what he calls (mistakenly for the exegete, for the historian) “the return of the Son of Man,” by which he means “humanity, Christ’s human nature, is brought into the Godhead in this particular man, Jesus of Nazareth, by way of God’s ‘taking up’ humanity into the trinitarian communion, through the one hypostasis that is the Son of God, now fully human and fully divine” (146). Leading to these:

Knowledge of God is realized for humanity only in the knowledge that the Son has of the Father. We are given the gift of participation in this knowledge by the gift of the Spirit, who, in the act of rebirth, makes us to be subjects, in Christ, of God as object (147).

It is human subjectivity taken up into the subjectivity of the Son as one subjectivity that makes the incarnation such a profound and transformative doctrine for our understanding of what it means to be reconciled to God (147).

Which brings Adams back to the problem at hand: NT Wright’s historical method called critical realism and its inadequacy for knowledge of God. Here are Adams’ own words, by way of question:

Anhypostatically, when one is investigating the person of Jesus Christ—his aims and intentions as well as his acts—one is investigating the one divine subject, the Son of God. Yet enhypostatically, when one is doing this, one is also investigating the fully human nature of this one divine subject. How does one investigate, according to the normal methods of the historian, the subjectivity of the Son of God, even as he is given to us in his assumed full humanity? (148)

Framing it that way would probably drive off the historian. Adams creates a closed circle of language and categories that can only be known and investigated by way of a Barthian-Torrancian hermeneutic.

Adams finishes this christology section with a look at the baptism, and has an unusual interpretation. Inasmuch as the resurrection of Jesus was real and our resurrection will be real, he has this to say about a life toward death prior to our real death:

My suggestion is that the act of going in (or under) the water, symbolically or actually, rather than being simply a remembrance of Jesus death, or a sacramentally effectual washing, or a crossing of the Jordan, or an ordeal that must be gone through symbolically, is in fact the pledge that the life the baptized will now live is a life of discipleship lived on the way to the cross (150).

Stories of the victims at USA Today.

Merry Christmas, what a gift!

On Saturday in Rosemount, Minn., a couple dropped a check into a Salvation Army kettle outside a Cub Foods supermarket.

Their gift was a bit more than the standard holiday donation, though.

Well, okay. It was a lot more.

The couple’s check was for $500,000.

“Yes, we believe the check is definitely good,” Salvation Army spokeswoman Julie Borgen told the Star Tribune on Monday. “We have been in touch with the donors, but they want to remain anonymous.”

Yet again, what a gift!

TEMPLE, Texas – Fellow freshmen in first period see her every day, but no one in Ashli Taylor’s theaterarts class knows what happened.

“Not to be rude, but kids these days… not a lot of them are grateful for what they have,” said Taylor, 15.

Not long after she was born in November 2000, doctors diagnosed her with a congenital birth defect that caused cirrhosis of the liver.

As an infant, she needed a transplant to survive, and that organ came from her own mother.

“Not a lot of people — or my teachers — even know what happened,” Taylor said.

So in September, she opened up about it in a creative writing assignment. Taylor typed a page-and-a-half letter to a surgeon at Baylor who helped save her life.

“This is like the most amazing letter,” said Dr. Robert Goldstein to Taylor’s mom outside the teen’s classroom at Temple High School. “She is incredible to have sat down and done that.”

Goldstein performed the operation that removed part of the liver from Taylor’s mother. He drove two hours south from Dallas to Temple Monday morning to surprise the young recipient he had never met.

“Ashli?” he asked as he walked in with a small arrangement of flowers in his hands. “Guess who? Your mom’s surgeon. You wrote me a letter, Dr. Goldstein.”

Another pitiful debate among our news media about whether or not to use “Islamic terrorism.” Making a big point to use the expression becomes as insufferable as spending time avoiding the expressions. A Bonnie and Clyde-like couple, planned the event, evidence of destruction of all hard drives and phones and email accounts… all signs of not wanting anyone to figure them out. The fact is they slaughtered innocent lives.

A positive review of Preston Sprinkle’s new book:

Illinois — being refashioned by a few wealthy:

The richest man in Illinois does not often give speeches. But on a warm spring day two years ago, Kenneth C. Griffin, the billionaire founder of one of the world’s largest hedge funds, rose before a black-tie dinner of the Economic Club of Chicago to deliver an urgent plea to the city’s elite.

They had stood silently, Mr. Griffin told them, as politicians taxed too much, spent too much and drove businesses and jobs from the state. They had refused to help those who would take on the reigning powers in the Illinois Capitol. “It is time for us to do something,” he implored.

Their response came quickly. In the months since, Mr. Griffin and a small group of rich supporters — not just from Chicago, but also from New York City and Los Angeles, southern Florida and Texas — have poured tens of millions of dollars into the state, a concentration of political money without precedent in Illinois history.

Their wealth has forcefully shifted the state’s balance of power. Last year, the families helped elect as governor Bruce Rauner, a Griffin friend and former private equity executive from the Chicago suburbs, who estimates his own fortune at more than $500 million. Now they are rallying behind Mr. Rauner’s agenda: to cut spending and overhaul the state’s pension system, impose term limits and weaken public employee unions.

“It was clear that they wanted to change the power structure, change the way business was conducted and change the status quo,” said Andy Shaw, an acquaintance of Mr. Rauner’s and the president of the Better Government Association, a nonpartisan state watchdog group.

The families remaking Illinois are among a small group around the country who have channeled their extraordinary wealth into political power, taking advantage of regulatory, legal and cultural shifts that have carved new paths for infusing money into campaigns. Economic winners in an age of rising inequality, operating largely out of public view, they are reshaping government with fortunes so large as to defy the ordinary financial scale of politics. In the 2016 presidential race, a New York Times analysis found last month, just 158 families had provided nearly half of the early campaign money.

Philip Jenkins:

Every few days, ISIS militants in the Middle East carry out some new atrocity calculated to inflict shock and awe on Western opinion. They carry out barbarous executions, they destroy priceless items of cultural heritage, all duly filmed, and those acts have their effect worldwide. It’s a sad commentary on global opinion, though, that some of the most savage blows inflicted on the world’s cultural and religious heritage have gained nothing like as much attention. Assyrian sculptures and Greco-Roman temples are irreplaceable monuments of human civilization, but so too are the living churches now being uprooted. Christian communities have almost been obliterated in most of Iraq, and a similar process is underway in large areas of Syria. That humanitarian crisis is familiar enough, but far less understood is the significance of these churches now facing terminal crisis. In their time, they represented not just a distant fringe of Christianity, but its heart and core. Ironically, they decisively shaped the history of Islam, as well as Christianity.

ISIS supporters identify Christian homes with the Arabic letter Nun for Nasrani, Nazarene. That usage takes us back to an era when followers of Jesus were as likely to bear that name as the newer alternative, “Christian.” For centuries, Christians in those regions used the Semitic Syriac language, which is so near to Hebrew and Aramaic. For a millennium, Syriac was one of the great languages of Christian literature, scholarship and devotion, at least equal in significance to Greek and Latin. What we see being before our eyes are the last vestiges of that critical third component of early and medieval Christianity.

Will Hobson and Steven Rich:

For the vast majority of the more than 4,000 colleges and universities in America, athletic departments should lose money. Their football and basketball teams don’t appear on national television, apparel companies don’t pay them millions for endorsement deals and they don’t have stadiums and arenas generating millions in ticket revenue.

But for athletic departments in the “Power Five” conferences — which includes 48 public universities that complied with records requests — a failure to profit is not inevitable, but the result of an athletic director’s decision to outspend income.

The sports programs in these five conferences — the Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-12, Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference — are the wealthiest in the country, and they are wealthy because of football.

Men’s basketball is also a money-maker, but arenas are smaller than football stadiums, limiting ticket income, and the sport’s largest television deal is managed more socialistically. The NCAA controls television rights for the wildly popular March tournament, and every year divies up nearly $800 million among hundreds of schools.

Football — where championship television rights belong to the conferences — separates Power Five schools from everyone else. ESPN is in the midst of a 12-year, $7.3 billion contract to televise the College Football Playoff that will primarily benefit the Power Five. Three of the conferences have launched their own television networks, creating additional revenue streams.

Of which this is but a sampling by George Will:

University of Missouri law students, who evidently cut class the day the First Amendment was taught, wrote a social media policy that included this: “Do not comment despairingly [disparagingly?] on others.” A grammatically challenged Ithaca College professor produced this cri de coeur regarding the school’s president: “There have been a litany of episodes and incidents during [his] tenure here which have led to frustration because, when brought to his attention, the view of the protesters is that he has been unresponsive.” Symptomatic of Ithaca’s intellectual flavor is another professor, who says agriculture is “capitalist, racialized patriarchy.”

The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, an irony-free campus, declaredthe phrase “politically correct” a microaggression. The master of Yale’s Pierson College said his regrettable title reminds distressed students of slavery. Wesleyan University’s student government threatened to cut the school newspaper’s funding because it published a column critical of campus leftists. Wesleyan created a “safe space,” a.k.a. a house, for LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM students (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Flexual, Asexual, Genderf—, Polyamorous, Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sadism/Masochism). …

Some Johns Hopkins University students proclaimed themselves microaggressed by the possibility of a Chick-fil-A restaurant on campus. (Chick-fil-A’s chief executive defines marriage as Barack Obama did until 2012.) Mount Holyoke College canceled its annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” because it is insufficiently inclusive regarding women without vaginas and men who, as the saying goes, “self-identify” as women. “Gender,” said a student, “is a wide and varied experience, one that cannot simply be reduced to biological or anatomical distinctions,” and the show “is inherently reductionist and exclusive.”

Speaking of which, this sensitivity to so-called micro-aggressions begins with helicoptering to protect, by Amy Joyce:

A study published recently in the journal Education + Training found that there is an important line to draw between parental involvement and over-parenting. “While parental involvement might be the extra boost that students need to build their own confidence and abilities, over-parenting appears to do the converse in creating a sense that one cannot accomplish things socially or in general on one’s own,” wrote the authors, two professors from California State University Fresno. The authors of “Helicopter parents: An Examination of the Correlates of Over-parenting of College Students,” Jill C. Bradley-Geist and Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, go on to detail how over-parenting can actually ruin a child’s abilities to deal with the workplace.

Bradley-Geist and Olson-Buchanan, both management professors, surveyed more than 450 undergraduate students who were asked to “rate their level of self-efficacy, the frequency of parental involvement, how involved parents were in their daily lives and their response to certain workplace scenarios.”

The study showed that those college students with “helicopter parents” had a hard time believing in their own ability to accomplish goals. They were more dependent on others, had poor coping strategies and didn’t have soft skills, like responsibility and conscientiousness throughout college, the authors found.

Michael Baumann:

Football can be a force for good. The University of Missouri’s football team proved it earlier this month when student athletes took a facet of campus life that’s often decried—the cultural and economic dominance of college football—and turned it into a powerful leverage point in the pursuit of social justice.Football can build a sense of community for players and fans alike, and serve as a welcome escape from the pressures of ordinary life. The sport cuts across distinctions of race, class, geography, and religion in a way few other U.S. institutions do, and everyone who participates reaps the benefits.

But not everyone—particularly at the amateur level—takes on an equal share of the risk. College football in particular seems headed toward a future in which it’s consumed by people born into privilege while the sport consumes people born without it. In a 2010 piece in The Awl, Cord Jefferson wrote, “Where some see the Super Bowl, I see young black men risking their bodies, minds, and futures for the joy and wealth of old white men.” This vision sounds dystopian but is quickly becoming an undeniable reality, given new statistics about how education affects awareness about brain-injury risk, as well as the racial makeup of Division I rosters and coaching staffs. The future of college football indeed looks a lot like what Jefferson called “glorified servitude,” and even as information comes to light about the dangers and injustices of football, nothing is currently being done to steer the sport away from that path.

Roberto Ferdman:

“People decide to not do things all the time just because they’re alone,” said Rebecca Ratner, a professor of marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, who has spent almost half a decade studying why people are so reluctant to have fun on their own and how it may lead to, well, less fun overall. “But the thing is, they would probably be happier going out and doing something.”

Ratner has a new study titled ‘Inhibited from Bowling Alone,’ a nod to Robert Putnam’s book about Americans’ waning participation in group activities, that’s set to publish in the Journal of Consumer Research in August. In it, she and co-writer Rebecca Hamilton, a professor of marketing at the McDonough School of Business, describe their findings: that people consistently underestimate how much they will enjoy seeing a show, going to a museum, visiting a theater, or eating at a restaurant alone. That miscalculation, she argues, is only becoming more problematic, because people are working more, marrying later, and, ultimately, finding themselves with smaller chunks of free time.

Ferdman also reported on the lack of chefs:

Behind the swinging doors of restaurant kitchens around the country, things are getting a bit more chaotic. It’s not the sort of thing diners would not have noticed, because it’s happening behind the scenes, out of view. Orders are still coming in, and plates are still coming out. But there’s a growing problem that chefs and restaurateurs are talking about more these days.

Good cooks are getting harder to come by. Not the head kitchen honchos, depicted in Food Network reality shows, who fine-tune menus and orchestrate the dinner rush, but the men and women who are fresh out of culinary school and eager.

The shortage of able kitchen hands is affecting chefs in Chicago, where restaurateurs said they are receiving far fewer applications than in past years. “It’s gotten to the point where if good cooks come along, we’ll hire them even if we don’t have a position. Because we will have a position,” Paul Kahan, a local chef, told the Chicago Tribune last week.

Sandra Boodman:

[B. Paul]  Turpin’s experience illustrates the consequences of delirium, a sudden disruption of consciousness and cognition marked by vivid hallucinations, delusions and an inability to focus that affects 7 million hospitalizedAmericans annually. The disorder can occur at any age — it has been seen in preschoolers — but disproportionately affects people older than 65 and is often misdiagnosed as dementia. While delirium and dementia can coexist, they are distinctly different illnesses. Dementia develops gradually and worsens progressively, while delirium occurs suddenly and typically fluctuates during the course of a day. Some patients with delirium are agitated and combative, while others are lethargic and inattentive.

Patients treated in intensive care units who are heavily sedated and on ventilators are particularly likely to become delirious; some studies place the rate as high as 85 percent. But the condition is common among patients recovering from surgery and in those with something as easily treated as a urinary tract infection. Regardless of its cause, delirium can persist for months after discharge.

Because of the primal rebellion, God’s Eikons (image-bearers) are cracked and the God-created Paradise has become viciously perilous. Into this sin-caused mess and among messed-up people came Jesus, Israel’s Messiah. Jesus came as God’s Great Reversal: the One who would bring both people and creation back to the “very good”design and purpose of God. Back to shalom.

The gospel writer, Mark, does a bang up job of showing Jesus in action reversing the curse.

Does creation itself threaten us? Yes, at times. A storm on the Sea of Galilee tried to take out Jesus and the Twelve. Storms, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis—all take their toll on human life. Jesus merely speaks and nature obeys. What kind of human being is this that even the winds and waves obey him? Do dark, nefarious beings threaten human life? A “legion”of demons was slowly destroying an Eikon of God. Demons dehumanized the man. Jesus said “Enough!”The man was transformed; recreated by the word of Jesus into a witness to the Son of God’s power to save. Demonic activity still plagues this earth. The Bible isn’t just taking up space when we are challenged to “Be alert!”to the adversary’s schemes. The Enemy uses worry (the negative use of the imagination) and fear to press us down and shatter our souls. Jesus isn’t troubled; he’s in charge of the spirit realm. What about death? That’s the scariest and last vestige the Enemy uses to distract us from our purpose: bearing the image of God in this world.

Mark 5:21-43 presents the twin episode of Jesus halting a woman’s slow death by loss of blood and raising from the dead a twelve year old daughter of a synagogue president. Who is this man Jesus? Creation—both natural and supernatural realms are under his command. All that threatens us in these arenas is at the mercy of the mere words of the Son of God. Yet, the big scare is death itself. Jesus told the woman with the blood flow problem that her faith cured her. She could “go in peace (shalom)”and reunite with family, community and God. Shalom: such a beautiful word. Jesus took the dead 12 year old girl’s hand and simply said, “Damsel, arise.”The parents had experienced their worst fear—the death of a child. Jesus said to the father, “Do not fear; only believe.”The paid mourners ridiculed Jesus’assessment of the girl’s condition. The mother and father, Peter, James and John were “amazed with great amazement”when the little girl got up and walked around. Ecstasy to the 7th power! Who is this man called Jesus?

In each miracle story we see a common human action: someone comes to Jesus. The Twelve did in the boat in the hurricane. The demoniac did in Gedara. The poor woman with the blood loss and financial loss came to touch Jesus’garment. The well-respected, well-to-do Jewish synagogue president fell on his knees before Jesus. Jesus is the “go-to”man. Every form of threat against human life was met head-on by Jesus and conquered. Jesus is Lord.

The first readers of Mark’s Gospel, Christians (Jews and Gentiles in Rome) needed these accounts of Jesus’power over all that threatens human life. Ben Witherington III writes, “These Christians [to whom Mark wrote] were facing not merely marginalization in their own culture but possibly even execution”(35). Storms under Nero, like nothing before, were threatening the church. “Who is with us?”they would cry. “Fear not; only believe.”As they were dying, we hear from their lips, “Jesus is Lord.”

Want a church in Vancouver? Save your money.

Congregations looking to buy a place of worship are losing faith in Vancouver’s hot real estate market.

“To buy a church in Vancouver right now you have to spend at least $2 million,” said Leonardo di Francesco, with Church Realtors.

He has been selling places of worship for the past 20 years.

He says it’s a seller’s market right now with very few options out there for those looking to build a church, temple, mosque or synagogue in Metro Vancouver.

“It is really hard to find large places,” he said, “We have some churches that will spend $15 million on the Vancouver West Side, but we can’t find anything. It is very, very difficult right now,” he said.

di Francesco believes some owners are holding on to their properties because the market is so hot right now.

“About 15 years ago, we’d have six or seven churches on the market on at one time. Now they’re for sale but not as many,” he said.

Teachers, what do you do with cell phones in class?

That’s weird — Mary Bowerman:

Marriage means giving yourself to another person, right? A Canadian man took that ideal literally and proposed to his fiancée with a custom ring made out of his wisdom tooth.

Yes, sink your teeth into that one.

Carlee Leifkes and Lucas Unger met at a music festival in Canada earlier this year, and got engaged in California on Halloween, ABC reported.

Our President, losing his cool chill with kids.

Speaking of kids, Hayley Tuskayama:

Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music — nearly nine hours on average, according to a new study from the family technology education non-profit group, Common Sense Media. For tweens, those between the ages of 8 and 12, the average is nearly six hours per day.

The Common Sense census was designed to set a new statistical baseline for research on teen and pre-teen media use, said Jim Steyer, the group’s executive director. Even as someone who spends all day looking at these issues, Common Sense Media executive director Jim Steyer said he was staggered by the amount of time that young people are spending consuming media — and how little the government has done to explore what that means.

“Where is the research?” Steyer said. “We’re conducting the biggest experiment on our kids — the digital transition — without research.”

YIKES… nine hours?!

Quite the post, by Karina Kreminski:

As it turns out God did catch me and more. He provided for me in a way that was beyond what I could have imagined. But after I shared my story it was met with a hesitant pause rather than joy. Genuine questions followed from my friends: How could I be certain that God had provided uniquely for me? Why does God show up for some people but not others? Wasn’t I endorsing a form of prosperity theology which abuses the Scripture, “Ask and you shall receive”? What developed was a lengthy discussion around God’s interaction in our world and our individual lives. We all believed that God was our good heavenly Father but could we trust him to provide for us in the reality of our day to day lives?

It was a good conversation which gave me a lot to think about. However, as I walked away from that meeting I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of sadness. When I thought about it some more, I realised I was sad about the “hermeneutic of doubt” that had pervaded the dialogue that day.

I have noticed recently that among many of my friends be they Evangelical, post-Evangelical, Progressive or any other label we might use, this hermeneutic of doubt is a framework that is being increasingly used to assess experiences with God. On the one hand I am grateful for a healthy skepticism which helps many Christians grow out of a glib expression of faith which unthinkingly reinforces a private, consumeristic and, individualistic embodiment of Christianity. Sometimes Christians can sound embarrassingly patronizing, condescending and too heavenly-minded to be able to relate to anyone. Often, a more mature faith emerges as a person experiences a faith-crisis. This has happened to me and it caused me to seriously question for a season whether there was a God who was interested in me. When we grow up in an environment where we are told that we have our very own personal Jesus, it comes as a huge blow when we inevitably experience a disastrous event in our lives which causes us to question that. We realize that the whole world does not revolve around us but instead around God’s story. We have a choice then; Do we go deeper into our faith or do we farewell it?

However, when a healthy skepticism perhaps also mixed in with an unresolved faith-crisis, turns into a hardline hermeneutic of doubt, this can encourage Christians to embrace a philosophy that I think is perhaps more dangerous than opting out of Christianity altogether. Christians can become functioning Deists.

From Justin Taylor’s interview with Doug Sweeney about his new book about Jonathan Edwards:

Even though Edwards didn’t write a hermeneutics handbook, you argue that he primarily used four methods: (1) canonical exegesis, (2) Christological exegesis, (3) redemptive-historical exegesis, and (4) pedagogical exegesis. Could you explain what these are and how he used them in his quest to glorify God, understand divine revelation, and serve the church?

Sure, but, again, let me emphasize that Edwards did not write about this in a systematic way. This four-fold schema does not represent methods used intentionally by Edwards in an overall plan to interpret holy writ in a four-fold way. They simply organize and summarize the exegetical practices reflected in his writings.

Canonical exegesis (interpreting Scripture in light of Scripture in a pan-canonical way) showed him how the Bible cohered.

Christological exegesis (interpreting even the Old Testament in view of Jesus Christ and His work of redemption) showed him how it all centered on the love of God for the saints (the mystical bride of Christ).

Redemptive-historical exegesis provided a spiritual metanarrative that made sense of individual texts in light of the storyline that tied them all together.

Pedagogical exegesis gave him rules for faith and life, helping Christians play their parts in the story of redemption.

He thought that all four approaches should begin with a study of the text’s grammar and history (which he taught alongside them but did not often feature as an end in itself). He also thought they overlapped and even built upon each other to provide people of faith with a grand vision of God, His relation to the world, and the meaning of His Word. Taken together, these methods yielded a robust, thoroughgoing biblical theology that governed Edwards’ other, more occasional—and far more famous—publications.

Good story from Mark Black:

Artistic talent has no limits, despite what preconceptions might exist in the world. That is the case with photographer Geoffrey Mikol, who has Down syndrome. Mikol’s natural talent as a photographer is evident to those viewing and purchasing his artwork at art fairs around the Chicago area.

The 21-year-old Palatine photographer has been serious about photography for the past seven years. He took photography classes at Walt Whitman High School, outside Washington, D.C.

Solitary confinement? Kevin Johnson:

Craig Haney, a psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has long studied the effects of prolonged isolation, said the conditions of confinement represent “the most extreme example of how far our incarceration policies have gone in the wrong direction.”

“It benefits no one,” he said.

Last month, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether solitary constituted cruel and unusual punishment even for those awaiting execution. The court declined to consider the case, yet JusticeAnthony Kennedy has raised serious questions about the practice.

“Research still confirms what this court suggested over a century ago: Years on end of near-total isolation exact a terrible price,” Kennedy said in a June opinion on another case.  “The judiciary may be required, within its proper jurisdiction and authority, to determine whether workable alternative systems for long-term confinement exist, and if so, whether a correctional system should be required to adopt them.”

In March, Kennedy offered an even more blunt assessment. “Solitary confinement,” the justice told a congressional panel, “literally drives men mad.”

Getting kids to bed early makes for a healthier mom:

Children who get to sleep early are more likely to have better health but – perhaps even more importantly – also much happier, healthier mums, according to new Australian research.

Research to be presented at the Australasian conference Sleep DownUnder 2015 in Melbourne today has found that getting kids to bed early may be even more important than simply ensuring they have a long sleep.

The study questioned 3600 Australian children three times during their first nine years of life. It is the largest study of its kind and the first to decisively show how crucial it is to get littlies nodding off earlier.

“This is valuable information for parents, many of whom will know about how important it is for their kids to get lots of sleep overall but not much about how significant the bedtime itself is,” says lead researcher Dr Jon Quach, of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The University of Melbourne in Melbourne.

By John Frye

One of the most amazing set of parallels is that between the stilling of the storm on the sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41) and the exorcising of the legion of demons from a man of Gerasenes (Mark 5:1-20).  The turbulent storm on the sea is parallel to the terrifying existence of the demoniac. The disciples race to Jesus in the boat; the demoniac runs to Jesus in Gedara. Jesus simply speaks a commanding word to the violent storm and he does the same to the demoniac by saying, “Come out of him!”The results are similar. First, just as the winds cease and the sea calms, the man sits at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. What a contrast! The man was reduced to a naked animal roaming the tombs (the place of death) and crying out in ineffable pain. He became a terror to the townspeople. When Jesus speaks, the man instantly and dramatically changed. The townspeople are afraid. Both external threats (the storm) and internal threats (the demons) are not too much for Jesus to conquer. All threats to human life are under the command of Jesus of Nazareth.

When my oldest daughter was about 4 years old I took her to a kiddy carnival in a mall in Dallas, TX. She was so happy to ride the very child-friendly rides at the park. One ride was a miniature roller coaster. “Daddy, I want to ride that one!”  We got the ticket and she was strapped into the little cart. As the ride went around the small oval track, Leah began to cry. The sharp turns and little hill scared her. As she came by me, I shouted “This is fun”and I was smiling. Leah caught my eye. She took the next sharp turn and cried even more. I shouted, “This is fun!”as I smiled. She came around the turn and she looked happy. When she got off, she said, “Again, Daddy! Let me ride it again.”What was the change? She caught my eye. Daddy was happy; she could be happy.

In the storms of life, the most important thing is to catch our heavenly Father’s eye. My daughter, Leah, caught my eye. She saw me smiling and heard me saying, “This is fun.”It changed her experience of the scary ride. When we catch our heavenly Father’s eye, will our perception of the present circumstances change? I think so. Who has charge over the winds and the waves? Who loves us the most? These are the questions most important in a terrifying situation.

In both external threats (the storm)  and internal threats (the demons), the LORD of all, is Jesus of Nazareth. He alone can merely speak and make a dramatic difference in our experience. We can rest in his sovereign and compassionate authority.

Most of us are not demon-possessed, but we wrestle with worry or obsessive concerns for ourselves or others. Perhaps some of those others are loved-ones. Jesus can speak and make a dramatic and eternal difference. Do we believe it? There is One Who can simply speak the word and all is changed. The liberated man in Gedara was told to go and tell his family and friends all that the Lord had done for him. Mark observes that the man went and told all that Jesus had done for him. Jesus is Lord.

Cubs win! JJ Bailey, a pro-Cards St Louis reporter, has a wonderful summary that reveals quality writing about two quality baseball programs:

ST. LOUIS — And that’s how it ends: not with a whimper, but with a series of increasingly thunderous bangs. The 2015 season closed for the Cardinals in Chicago, after a young and wildly talented Cubs team launched ball after ball over the Wrigley Field walls.

Chicago finished the series with 10 home runs, bombarding Cardinal pitching and overwhelming the offense whenever it sought to reclaim ground. It was a brutal defeat for St. Louis fans, who watched their club lead baseball pretty much gate to gate this season, only to be felled by their most-hated division rivals….

Yes, an NLDS exit for baseball’s best team will leave a bruise, but for every club but one, the season ends in tears. The absence of utter success shouldn’t preclude enjoyment, and it certainly shouldn’t inhibit appreciation.

That elimination came at the hands of the Cubs adds a layer of misery for most, but the truth is Chicago earned their place in the next round. They didn’t cheat or get favorable calls, they played better, pitched better and, at times, were better coached. The Cubs exerted their will in the series and won on raw talent and a belief in October manifest destiny. They have fun playing baseball and are fun to watch playing it. They are driven by young stars and impressive arms. It might be tough to listen to long-suffering Cubs fan revel in their success, but the exuberance is earned and their wins weren’t cheap. If that doesn’t comfort fans, then they should work on building up that callous quickly, because Chicago’s 2015 is not an anomaly. They will be an excellent team for many years, and these types of celebrations will be a lot more frequent.

But that’s a good thing. The NL Central is more fun when there’s tight competition, and rivalries carry more weight when both teams are on equal ground.

The future is bright for the Cubs, but St. Louis showed the light isn’t confined to Chicago. Both of these teams have open road ahead, and watching them race each other will be a delight for baseball fans in the coming seasons. This moment is a clearly defined chapter break in the story of these two franchises, and many Cardinal fans who lived it don’t know what it feels like to be on the losing side of the narrative. That’s not a bad thing. Success triggers the most profound euphoria when it’s been tempered with failure. The Cubs and their fans are experiencing that firsthand. The Cardinals will have a winter to reflect on their loss and return hungry once more, and their fans will be rabid again. In the meantime, hats must be tipped toward Chicago and appreciative applause directed at St. Louis.

Next season will see two teams ready to hand the rivalry off to a new generation of players. It’s going to be fun.

Baseball is fun.

Don Phillips:

The Guardians are one of two indigenous groups on this eastern fringe of the Amazon that have taken radical action to reduce illegal logging. They have tied up loggers, torched their trucks and tractors, and kicked them off the reserves.

As a result, such logging has sharply declined in these territories. But the indigenous groups have faced reprisal attacks and death threats for their actions, raising fears of more violence in an area known for its lawlessness.

The clashes highlight the continuing grave threat to the Amazon, the world’s biggest remaining rain forest, which plays a crucial role in maintaining the world’s climate and biodiversity. From 2005 to 2012, deforestation plunged in Brazil, as the government increased its conservation efforts and cracked down on illegal loggers. But since then, the numbers have begun to creep up again. In 2014 alone, almost 2,000 square miles of Amazon rain forest were cleared by farmers, loggers and others.

Nightengale is right, but he’s got himself in a gas-bag of an article: get ‘er done, buddy.

CHICAGO – It will forever be known as the Chase Utley Rule.

Or, perhaps. the Ruben Tejada Rule.

Utley has had a wonderful career and will be revered in Philadelphia for helping the Phillies win a World Series, but all he’ll be remembered for – in the minds of casual fans, certainly- will be that slide on the night of Oct. 10.

It will be the night baseball changed forever.

The moment this postseason ends, the takeout slide at second base will be declared illegal.

Amy X. Wang, on Sweden going cashless:

There’s a conspicuous lack of cash on Sweden’s streets.

So ubiquitous are digital payments in the country that attempting a paper money transaction at a Swedish bank might provoke a suspicious stare or a report to the police. That’s according to Niklas Arvidsson, a professor at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Arvidsson, who specializes in industrial economics and management, found in a recent study that Sweden is on its way to becoming the world’s first cash-free society. He attributed the disappearance of Swedish banknotes to the country’s embrace of new technologies, the growth of mobile payment systems, and a governmental crackdown on corruption, which helps citizens feel safe about electronic money.

“Our use of cash is small, and it’s disappearing rapidly,” Arvidsson says. Circulation figures from the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, back up his assertion. [HT: LNMM]

Our President interviews our best novelist, Marilynne Robinson.

Kyle Schwarber: “I really don’t look at them as young guys. We’re good baseball players, that’s why we’re here,” said Schwarber, who has three homers and five RBI in the postseason. “You can’t look at it as young. We’re baseball players. We know what needs to be done.”

Smartphone addictions photographed: [check out the images]

This is the world under the influence of electronic devices.

It is an eerie place, filled with people who seemingly look past each other and into empty space. In reality, they are staring into their cellphones, tablets and other screens.

In a series of images for a project called “Removed,” photographer Eric Pickersgill captured that imaginary world, in which the devices we are tethered to have seemingly disappeared, leaving us unmoored and disconnected.

The images are jarring: a family at the dinner table, a couple just married on their wedding day.

What’s wrong with Twitter? Abuse. By Umair Haque:

Here’s my tiny theory, in a word. Abuse. And further, I’m going to suggest in this short essay that abuse — not making money — is the great problem tech and media have. The problem of abuse is the greatest challenge the web faces today. It is greater than censorship, regulation, or (ugh) monetization. It is a problem of staggering magnitude and epic scale, and worse still, it is expensive: it is a problem that can’t be fixed with the cheap, simple fixes beloved by tech: patching up code, pushing out updates.

To explain, let me be clear what I mean by abuse. I don’t just mean the obvious: violent threats. I also mean the endless bickering, the predictable snark, the general atmosphere of little violences that permeate the social web…and the fact that the average person can’t do anything about it.

We once glorified Twitter as a great global town square, a shining agora where everyone could come together to converse. But I’ve never been to a town square where people can shove, push, taunt, bully, shout, harass, threaten, stalk, creep, and mob you…for eavesdropping on a conversation that they weren’t a part of…to alleviate their own existential rage…at their shattered dreams…and you can’t even call a cop. What does that particular social phenomenon sound like to you? Twitter could have been a town square. But now it’s more like a drunken, heaving mosh pit. And while thereare people who love to dive into mosh pits, they’re probably not the audience you want to try to build a billion dollar publicly listed company that changes the world upon.

The social web became a nasty, brutish place. And that’s because the companies that make it up simply do not not just take abuse seriously…they don’t really consider it at all. Can you remember the last time you heard the CEO of a major tech company talking about…abuse…not ads? Why not? Here’s the harsh truth: they see it as peripheral to their “business models”, a minor nuisance, certainly nothing worth investing in, for theirs is the great endeavor of…selling more ads.

They’re wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. Abuse is killing the social web, and hence it isn’t peripheral to internet business models — it’s central.  [HT: JS]

Is this a better model or not? For the waiter staff or for the customer or for the owner?

If you happen to have a late-November reservation at the Modern, Danny Meyer’s two-­Michelin-star restaurant in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, here’s some good news: When the bill comes, you’ll no longer have to do any fuzzy math on a full stomach and a few glasses of champagne. Meyer, head of the Union Square Hospitality Group, announced Wednesday that he is eliminating tipping at his full­service restaurants, beginning late next month.

Unfortunately, there’s some bad news, too: Meyer’s initiative, which he is calling Hospitality Included, will raise prices 20 to 35 percent. So that $138 tasting menu could soon cost about $170.

The new policy will be rolled out at all of Meyer’s restaurants in the next year; Shake Shack, his fast-food chain — and his only D.C. presence — will not be affected by the change. But as the restaurant industry begins to rethink the way its employees are compensated, the no-gratuity business model — which has already been implemented in two local restaurants — may catch hold in Washington.

Though Meyer certainly isn’t the first restaurateur to eliminate tipping — restaurants such as New York’s Dirt Candy and Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., have already instituted service charges instead — his 13 restaurants will set a high-profile example for others in the industry struggling to retain an often low-paid staff.

Caitlin Dewey:

Technological change, as we know very well, tends to provoke linguistic and cultural change, too. It’s the reason why, several times a year, dictionaries trumpet the addition of new and typically very trendy words.

But more interesting than the new words, I think, are the old words that have gotten new meanings: words such as “cloud” and “tablet” and “catfish,” with very long pre-Internet histories. The reappropriation is rarely random; in most cases, the original meaning of the word is a metaphor for the new one. Our data is as remote as a cloud, for instance; catfish are just as tricky and unpredictable as an online love interest.

A must read:

When the nation’s top nutrition panel released its latest dietary recommendations on Thursday, the group did something it had never done before: weigh in on whether people should be drinking coffee. What it had to say is pretty surprising.

Not only can people stop worrying about whether drinking coffee is bad for them, according to the panel, they might even want to consider drinking a bit more.

The panel cited minimal health risks associated with drinking between three and five cups per day. It also said that consuming as many as five cups of coffee each day (400 mg) is tied to several health benefits, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

“We saw that coffee has a lot of health benefits,” said Miriam Nelson, a professor at Tufts University and one of the committee’s members. “Specifically when you’re drinking more than a couple cups per day.”

OK, Jeremy Affeldt, chats about what he won’t miss about pitching in the Major Leagues, including this about Wrigley Field!

Wrigley Field.

Yeah, that’s right, I said it.

Admittedly, the home of the Chicago Cubs is a national treasure. Visiting that ballpark should be on any baseball fan’s bucket list, and for good reason. On the surface, the place is gorgeous, and the building is a virtual time machine. But when you take a closer look—and I’ve read quite a few accounts from the fans’ perspective that seem to back my sentiments—all that shimmers most certainly is not gold.

While I realize that Wrigley is now undergoing a multiyear, multi-faceted renovation plan, I can only speak from my own experience. When I was with the Cincinnati Reds, we played a lot of games on the North Side, and I can tell you that the player facilities are an abomination. Not just by today’s standards, where players often find themselves taking advantage of luxurious clubhouses with every modern amenity imaginable, but by any era’s standards. Wrigley’s locker room (I can’t even really call it a clubhouse) is tiny. It’s virtually impossible to squeeze players, coaches and equipment staff in there at once, and when it rains—this happens quite often in the Chicago summertime—it’s absolutely unbearable.

And that mound. Every stadium has its quirks and home-field advantages, but the hill at Wrigley is another thing altogether. Not only is it different than other major league mounds, but it’s also different than the park’s warm-up mound! Maybe my feelings have a little something to do with me being winless at Wrigley (5.59 lifetime ERA!), but still, I won’t miss that place.

This, by Katie Botkin about Doug Wilson, is brilliant:

Let’s put this another way. Let’s claim that men who spend all their time deflecting accurate criticisms by trolling the internet hordes with shots about “small-breasted biddies” are themselves bulbous, unattractive effetes whose physical masculinity is obviously so tenuous that they need to assert themselves by regularly throwing verbal tantrums like two-year-olds obsessed with the idea that not enough people think they’re in charge. Actually masculine men don’t need to spend all their time convincing people that they’re masculine. Actually witty men don’t need to spend all their time convincing people they’re witty. Men who actually show honor to women — all women, not just the perfectly-dressed, perfectly-submissive ones — don’t need to spend time protesting that they’re nice to all the women who deserve it.

I’ve said all this, but note that I’m not necessarily insulting Doug Wilson with those statements. In fact, I’ll specifically say I’m not. See how Doug’s logic works?

It was easier to be skinnier back then, or it’s easier to be heavier today: either way. Olga Khazan.

A study published recently in the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practicefound that it’s harder for adults today to maintain the same weight as those 20 to 30 years ago did, even at the same levels of food intake and exercise.The authors examined the dietary data of 36,400 Americans between 1971 and 2008 and the physical activity data of 14,419 people between 1988 and 2006. They grouped the data sets together by the amount of food and activity, age, and BMI.

They found a very surprising correlation: A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. In other words, people today are about 10 percent heavier than people were in the 1980s, even if they follow the exact same diet and exercise plans.

Hungarian dilemma: helping refugees against the laws. Lauren Frayer:

Driving in rural, southern Hungary, especially at night, you’re likely to see people emerging from dark forests along the side of the road. They trudge along the highway’s narrow shoulder and sometimes flag down passing cars, asking for help.

They’re migrants and refugees who’ve entered Hungary by the tens of thousands in recent months, mostly en route to Germany and other northern European countries.

But it’s illegal for civilians in Hungary to help them get there….

“Basically, if I drive you across [the country] and you don’t have a visa, then I’m liable criminally,” says Marta Pardavi, a human rights lawyer with the Budapest branch of the Helsinki Committee. “We have advised volunteers doing this that there is a risk involved — the risk of a criminal procedure, of having to go to interrogations — and I think that risk is very real.”

But in southern Hungary, where most migrants and refugees enter the country from Serbia or Croatia, volunteers line up to offer them free rides — often right alongside smugglers, who charge them money. On one recent afternoon, NPR witnessed Serbian smugglers offering to transport people for 1,000 euros — about $1,125 — per passenger to the Austrian border.

Among the volunteers offering rides for free is Austrian Hans Breuer. He’s driven several Syrian families from the Hungary-Serbia border all the way to Austria — and he says he knows full well that what he’s doing is illegal here.

“I don’t ask the police — I just go. I’m constantly scanning the road, and if I see police, I go another way,” Breuer says. “I hope nobody will stop me. Maybe I’m risking prison time, and yes, that scares me.”

Greg Carey’s good sketch of The Gospel of the Blues by Gary Burnett:

Despite its essential role in opening the way to other musical forms, the blues remains a bit of a niche genre. I remember touring the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, where the blues were presented, along with bluegrass and gospel, as a precursor to rock. At that moment I determined to sample blues music from the early part of the twentieth century. Having grown up in Florence, Alabama, where the “Father of the Blues” W. C. Handy was born, the journey felt important to me. Gary Burnett, a biblical scholar, musician, and blues aficionado, says lots more learning awaits me. His “The Gospel According to the Blues” (Cascade, 2014) argues that listening to the blues might put us in better touch with the message of Jesus. (Check out Burnett’s blog, Down at the Crossroads.)

Some might object that Burnett isn’t necessarily blazing new trails. Decades ago Robert L. Short got the smart idea of writing “The Gospel According to Peanuts.” It’s hard to believe, but 14 years have passed since Mark I. Pinsky published “The Gospel According to the Simpsons.” For all I know, somebody’s done “The Gospel According to Star Trek”. Maybe even “The Gospel According to Men’s Fitness.” With all such books the challenge requires doing more than simply establishing points of contact and organizing the material chapter by chapter. The book needs to add value. Burnett makes his book worth our time in two ways…. [read on at the link]

Lekan Oguntoyinbo:

Diversity is increasingly becoming a priority for many historically black colleges. In recent years, many have worked diligently to attract international students as well as students of other races and ethnicities, especially Latinos.This is particularly true in states that have high numbers of Latinos, such as Texas.Some higher-education experts say that the mission of HBCUs to serve the historically disenfranchised strikes a chord with Latinos.Dr. Deborah Santiago, chief operating officer and vice president for policy at Excelencia in Education, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group that promotes the interests of Latinos in higher education, says that HBCUs generally tend to be more student focused and have faculty who are culturally competent, making them attractive to emerging populations such as Latinos.

That’s a view echoed by Dr. Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania.“HBCUs o­ften have family environments and Latinos feel more comfortable in these environments,” she says, adding that HBCUs generally have lower tuition and that this appeals to Latinos, many of whom come from lower-income families.

And if you RSVP, we’ll charge you! Sarah Larimer:

I’m mentioning it now because this is a story about a Minnesota woman who says she was billed after skipping a wedding to which she had RVSPed.

Yup.

Jessica Baker told KARE-TV that she and her husband received a $75.90 bill after missing the wedding that they had originally planned to attend earlier this year. The couple’s babysitter — Baker’s mother — fell through, which prompted the change of plans, the station reported.

Remember how I said sometimes stuff happens? Here is a real-life example!

“The invoice arrived in the mail yesterday,” Baker told the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis. “My first reaction was just, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve got to be kidding me.’”

“And then, when I read it, the whole thing, I just kind of laughed and had to call up my husband and go, ‘Uh, our friends sent us this bill for not making it to their wedding.’ And we kind of had a good laugh about it.”

The bill covered the cost of two meals, plus tax and a service charge, according to the station.

April Kelly-Woessner:

Second, I argue that youthful intolerance is driven by different factors than old fashioned intolerance, and that this change reflects the ideology of the New Left.  Herbert Marcuse, considered “The Father of the New Left,” articulates a philosophy that denies political expression to those who would oppose a progressive social agenda.  In his 1965 essay “Repressive Tolerance,” Marcuse (1965) writes,

“Tolerance is extended to policies, conditions, and modes of behavior which should not be tolerated because they are impeding, if not destroying, the chances of creating an existence without fear and misery. This sort of tolerance strengthens the tyranny of the majority against which authentic liberals protested…   Liberating tolerance, then, would mean intolerance against movements from the Right and toleration of movements from the Left.”

The idea of “liberating tolerance” then is one in which ideas that the left deems to be intolerant are suppressed. It is an Orwellian argument for an “intolerance of intolerance” and it appears to be gaining traction in recent years, reshaping our commitments to free speech, academic freedom, and basic democratic norms.  If we look only at people under the age of 40, intolerance is correlated with a “social justice” orientation.  That is, I find that people who believe that the government has a responsibility to help poor people and blacks get ahead are also less tolerant.  Importantly, this is true even when we look at tolerance towards groups other than blacks.  For people over 40, there is no relationship between social justice attitudes and tolerance.  I argue that this difference reflects a shift from values of classical liberalism to the New Left.  For older generations, support for social justice does not require a rejection of free speech.  Thus, this tension between leftist social views and political tolerance is something new.

I must admit, I find this discussion about the pastor-scholar to be a bit of a nuisance because most often the term “pastor” is the term most misunderstood. But Andrew Wilson:

I agree that the church needs more leaders who are both shepherds and scholars, credible and critical, in one nature. Missional-practical-theological-pastoral, as Polonius might have put it. Or, to invert a quip from Vanhoozer himself: like Paul, only taller.

But how feasible is it to be both a scholar and a pastor? I suspect many of us know individuals who, by aiming to be both a pastor and a scholar, have ended up being neither. More commonly, some aspire to be both equally, but indicate by their speech and actions—let alone by their weekly timetables—that they major in one and minor in the other.

When N. T. Wright and John Piper were exchanging books a few years ago, both insisted that they wrote as scholars and pastors, filling their books with pastoral concerns and scholarly footnotes in equal measure. But while they are two of the most outstanding contemporary examples of pastor-scholars, critics pointed out that Piper had not published any research on dikaiosunē—Greek for “righteousness,” the primary topic of their debate—for nearly 30 years, and that Wright had spent little time in lay people’s kitchens or around Alpha course tables. No doubt, there is a sense in which everyone who writes for the church should be both theologically and pastorally engaged. But the union of pastor and scholar, shepherd and academic, is elusive.