![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/40\/2012\/09\/ChicagoSkyline.png\" "\\"ChicagoSkyline\\"")
<\/a>Kelli Marshall<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s candid, insightful reflections on the life of a doctoral student and then life with the PhD. \u201cAfter I completed my tenure as a VAP at the University of Toledo, both the husband and I were unemployed. We were living on Ohio unemployment ($400\/week), what we had in savings from the sell of our home in Texas (our virtual depletion of this is making our current home-buying problematic), and some funds from our gracious parents. We had 5 college degrees between us, over 30 publications and presentations to our names, and a combined 28 years\u2019 experience in higher education, and we still couldn\u2019t land jobs in our respective fields. The good news: the cost of living in Toledo is low,\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0low.\u00a0After a year of unemployment, my husband was finally offered and accepted a job in Chicago, which is where we are now. And thanks to the recommendation of a colleague, I\u2019m currently an adjunct at DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago, teaching\u00a0film<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0TV courses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\nShane Scott<\/strong><\/a> reflects on a biblical approach to economics: \u201cBUT \u2013 and here is where I would love some friendly discussion \u2013 \u00a0is it possible that those who \u00a0have shifted to the GOP because of biblical concerns about social issues unwittingly assumed that the GOP\u2019s policies on economic matters must also be more biblical? Does a commitment to the authority of Scripture demand a commitment to conservative economic policy?\u00a0I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0Here is a quick summary of what I think the Bible says about economics:\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Lawson on the \u201csneakers\u201d in worship<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cSo, this is 2012.\u00a0 Praise and celebration worship is everywhere.\u00a0 It has helped many churches experience unprecedented growth for two or three decades. \u00a0It\u2019s what we know.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we like to play.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we\u2019re good at. \u00a0So, of course, it\u2019s what we keep doing week after week.\u00a0 For most people, it is the only style of worship they have ever known.\u00a0 And so, like everything dazzling and new, while most are still contented, some are feeling trapped in a growing rut.\u00a0So, here\u2019s a little secret people in Christian higher education know.\u00a0 The sneakers have returned.\u00a0 They do not advertise it.\u00a0 Many do not post updates on it.\u00a0 They think their parents would disapprove.\u00a0 Their Youth Pastors might be alarmed.\u00a0 It is not that they don\u2019t want to worship.\u00a0 On the contrary, they just long for something they can\u2019t find in our Sunday worship or campus chapels.\u00a0 They are not sneaking off to Pentecostal<\/a> services.\u00a0 They are sneaking off to Mass.\u201d<\/p>\n Making decisions, too many decisions<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cThe president first touted the necessity of daily exercise \u2014 a habit that I endorse wholeheartedly. But what he said next was even more interesting: \u201cYou\u2019ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I\u2019m trying to pare down decisions. I don\u2019t want to make decisions about what I\u2019m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.\u201d\u00a0I share President Obama\u2019s practice of \u201croutinizing the routine.\u201d I eat essentially the same thing for breakfast each morning: a bowl of cold cereal and a banana. For lunch, I eat a chicken salad sandwich with a diet soda. Each morning, I dress in one of a small number of suits, each of which goes with particular shirts and ties.\u00a0Why do President Obama and I subject ourselves to such boring routines? Because both of us (especially President Obama!) make many decisions each day \u2014 decisions that are far more important to us than what we wear or what we eat for breakfast.\u00a0Making too many decisions about mundane details is a waste of a limited resource: your mental energy.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n Simon Gathercole\u2019s fine sketch of the \u201cGospel of Jesus\u2019 Wife\u201d<\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0Jesus has female disciples in the canonical gospels, who support his ministry (Luke 8), and who are part of his entourage generally. There is no reference to marriage of any kind, which is striking in a biography. (Suetonius\u2019\u00a0Lives of the\u00a0<\/em>Caesars, for example, mentions wives and fianc\u00e9es of all 12 of his subjects.) Other apocryphal gospels develop some of these relationships. So, for example, Salome who is a very minor character in the gospels (mentioned only twice, only in Mark\u2019s gospel), but she becomes significant in the\u00a0Gospel of the Egyptians<\/em>, and especially in the\u00a0Gospel of Thomas<\/em>, where she shares a couch with Jesus: it was a dining couch rather than a bed, but sharing a dining couch was still a louche thing to do, and effectively meant being married or lovers. The\u00a0Gospel of Philip\u00a0<\/em>might refer to Jesus kissing Mary, but the manuscript has some holes in at the key point! In a later text called theGreater Questions of Mary<\/em>, Jesus even \u2013 in front of Mary Magdalene \u2013 has sex with a woman whom he has produced out of his side.\u00a0Harvard Professor Karen King, who is the person who has been entrusted with the text, has rightly warned us that this does not say anything about the historical Jesus. She is correct that \u201cits possible date of composition in the second half of the second century, argues against its value as evidence for the life of the historical Jesus\u201d. But she is also right that this is a fascinating discovery which offers us a window into debates about sex and marriage in the early church, and the way Jesus could be adapted to play a part in a particular debate. If it is genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Fairchild<\/strong><\/a>, a prof at Huntington University, has a significant archaeological discovery \u2026 and it probably involved the apostle Paul!<\/p>\n Meanderings in the News<\/p>\n Who killed the liberal arts? Joseph Epstein speak<\/strong><\/a>s: \u201cFor many years, the liberal arts were my second religion. I worshipped their content, I believed in their significance, I fought for them against the philistines of our age as Samson fought against the Philistines of his\u2014though in my case, I kept my hair and brought down no pillars. As currently practiced, however, it is becoming more and more difficult to defend the liberal arts. Their content has been drastically changed, their significance is in doubt, and defending them in the condition in which they linger on scarcely seems worth the struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n Good idea, bad idea? What do you think?<\/strong> Charging customers a wastage fee<\/strong><\/a> for food not eaten in restaurants.<\/p>\n Molly Worthen<\/strong><\/a>: A tale of two Catholicisms in this election. \u201cAS the 2012 presidential race enters the homestretch, both parties vow that this election is not just a choice between different policies. It is a cosmic decision between \u201ctwo different visions, two different value sets,\u201d as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Behind the competing catchphrases lurks another contest, one that illuminates this war of worldviews. It is a tale of two Catholicisms.\u201d<\/p>\n Literary figures<\/strong><\/a> and the reality behind them.<\/p>\n Rules for writing<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Males and make-up<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cCho\u2019s meticulous efforts to paint the perfect face are not unusual in South Korea. This socially conservative, male-dominated country, with a mandatory two-year military conscription for men, has become the male makeup capital of the world.\u00a0South Korean men spent $495.5 million on skincare last year, accounting for nearly 21 percent of global sales, according to global market research firm Euromonitor International. That makes it the largest market for men\u2019s skincare in the world, even though there are only about 19 million men in South Korea. Amorepacific, South Korea\u2019s biggest cosmetics company, estimates the total sales of men\u2019s cosmetics in South Korea this year will be more than $885 million.\u201d<\/p>\n Sad story about Niger<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cIn Hawkantaki, it is the rhythm of the land that shapes the cycle of life, including the time of marriage. The size of the harvest determines not only if a father can feed his family, but also if he can afford to keep his daughter under his roof.\u00a0Even at the best of times, one out of every three girls in Niger marries before her 15th birthday, a rate of child marriage among the highest in the world, according to a UNICEF survey.\u00a0Now this custom is being layered on top of a crisis. At times of severe drought, parents pushed to the wall by poverty and hunger are marrying their daughters at even younger ages.\u00a0A girl married off is one less mouth to feed, and the dowry money she brings in goes to feed others.\u00a0\u201cFamilies are using child marriage, as an alternative, as a survival strategy to the food insecurity,\u201d says Djanabou Mahonde, UNICEF\u2019s chief child protection officer in Niger.\u201d<\/p>\n The 20 most significant developments in food and cooking<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cThe Royal Society, the UK\u2019s national academy of science,\u00a0had a question<\/a>: What are the most meaningful innovations in humanity\u2019s culinary history? What mattered more to the development of civilization\u2019s cultivation of food: the oven? The fridge? The plough? The spork?\u00a0To answer that question, the Society convened a group of its Fellows \u2014 including, yup, a Nobel Prize Winner \u2014 and asked them to whittle down a list of 100 culinarily innovative tools down to 20. That list was then voted on by the Fellows and by a group of \u201cexperts in the food and drink industry,\u201d its tools ranked according to four criteria: accessibility, productivity, aesthetics, and health.\u201d<\/p>\n Young adults ditching cars<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cNEW YORK (CNNMoney) \u2014 America\u2019s young people just aren\u2019t buying cars like they used to.\u00a0The share of new cars purchased by those aged 18-34 dropped 30% in the last five years, according to the car shopping web site Edmunds.com.\u00a0Some say the economy is mostly to blame \u2014 that the young aren\u2019t buying because they\u2019ve been particularlyhard hit by the recession<\/a>.\u00a0But others say the trend could be part of larger social shifts.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanderings in Sports<\/p>\n Theo tells the truth<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cCHICAGO \u2014 As a rough 2012 season nears its end,\u00a0Chicago Cubs<\/a>\u00a0president Theo Epstein was bold enough to suggest Friday that 2013 might not be much better when it comes to playoff expectations for the team.\u00a0That might not make the ticket department stand up and cheer but it goes along with Epstein\u2019s objective of being as forward as possible about the Cubs\u2019 rebuilding project.\u00a0\u201cI think obviously we really care about our fans and we want them to have a great experience, but we\u2019re trying to be transparent about it,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cWe have a plan and we have a vision and it won\u2019t happen overnight, but given the way of things I think this is the best way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kelli Marshall\u2018s candid, insightful reflections on the life of a doctoral student and then life with the PhD. \u201cAfter I completed my tenure as a VAP at the University of Toledo, both the husband and I were unemployed. We were living on Ohio unemployment ($400\/week), what we had in savings from the sell of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1735],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-meanderings"],"yoast_head":"\n