{"id":2482,"date":"2013-11-18T08:59:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T15:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=2482"},"modified":"2013-11-18T08:59:48","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T15:59:48","slug":"monday-morning-confessional-zombies-neo-cons-and-biographies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2013\/11\/monday-morning-confessional-zombies-neo-cons-and-biographies.html","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Confessional: Zombies, Neo-Cons, and Biographies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I confess that I want to like Zombie movies, but as yet have not watched any. I watched the old Donald Sutherland Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/em>, is that considered to be a Zombie flick? See, I\u2019m not even qualified to talk about the genre. I confess that sometime in my near future, I\u2019m going to go on a serious Zombie kick and catch up. It seems like the best critique of capitalism\/consumerism happening in popular culture. I confess that I would love recommendations on where to begin and how to proceed. Zombie fans???<\/p>\n

I confess that I am much too ready to critique. I spent last week reading on St. Francis of Assisi so that I could preach on his life, which I did yesterday. I was very convicted during the week by Francis\u2019s insistence that the \u201cbest critique of the bad is the practice of the better.\u201d I confess that it\u2019s difficult sometimes to know when to critique something and why. I think that I am trying to \u201cpractice the better\u201d in the way I live my life, but I often feel compelled to speak against some the bad, especially when I see so many people falling for it. \u00a0(Mark Driscoll comes to mind). I confess that I have been critical of the evangelical\u2019s wholesale acceptance of conservative politics. I confess that I often critique American culture on any number of issues from individualism, to consumerism, or nationalism. I confess that I\u2019m more and more bothered by my own critiques, even as I make them, even when I feel they are justified. The thing is \u2026 I\u2019m not sure I can stop. I\u2019m not sure I should stop. Still, I\u2019m inclined to confess this anyway.<\/p>\n

That being said, I reluctantly confess that I\u2019m embarrassed at the way conservative governors have done all they can do to thwart the implementation of the ACA, including Kansas governor Sam Brownback. Mostly I\u2019m upset with their refusal to expand Medicaid because this has hurt so many people. Here\u2019s a paragraph from John Blake\u2019s article on CNN\u2019s Belief blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coverage gap was created when 25 states refused to accept the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare. The people who fall into this gap make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and not enough to qualify for Obamacare subsidies in their state insurance exchanges. If they lived elsewhere, they would probably get insurance. But because they live in a state that refused the new health care law, they likely will remain among the nation\u2019s uninsured poor after Obamacare coverage kicks in come January.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I confess that I think poverty is a moral issue. I confess that I think the growing income disparity between the rich and the poor is a moral issue. I confess that the unholy marriage between evangelicals and the political right really needs to come to an end. I confess that this cannot mean a new marriage to the political left. It\u2019s time to learn to just be Christian.<\/p>\n

I confess that something smells at my office. I\u2019m not able to find the source of the smell, but it\u2019s all over about half of the building. Is it me? Am I the smell? I suspect that our cleaning service has changed to new cleaning products. It\u2019s nasty. I confess that I\u2019m burning so much incense in my office that my eyes are stinging. People are going to think I\u2019m smoking pot.<\/p>\n

I confess that I\u2019m on a biography kick as of late. I\u2019ve been taking stock of which books I\u2019ve been working my way through over the past six months because have been trying to decide what\u2019s next. (What\u2019s next will be the new Doris Kearns-Goodwin book Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism<\/em>.) I confess that I actually spent time ranking the books I\u2019ve gone through since summer from favorite to least favorite. Here\u2019s where I landed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. No Ordinary Time<\/em> (FDR\/Eleanor) \u2013 Doris Kearns-Goodwin<\/li>\n
  2. Truman<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 David McCullough<\/li>\n
  3. Team of Rivals<\/em>\u00a0(Lincoln) \u2013 Doris Kearns-Goodwin<\/li>\n
  4. The Hiding Place<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Corrie ten Boom<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Saint Francis of Assisi<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 G.K. Chesterton<\/li>\n
  6. American Lion<\/em> (Andrew Jackson) \u2013 Jon Meacham<\/li>\n
  7. Francis of Assisi<\/em> \u2013 Augustine Thompson<\/li>\n
  8. Amazing Grace<\/em>\u00a0(William Wilberforce) \u2013 Eric Metaxas<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I confess that I did not love Metaxas\u2019s biography of William Wilberforce. I\u2019m reading one by Stephen Tomkins right now and it seems a bit more thorough. Metaxas is a wonderful writer, but I always feel as though he skews his perception and portrayal of his subjects to fit his own political and theological views. He did the same with the Bonhoeffer book. Bonhoeffer and Wilberforce both come off a bit like neo-Calvinist evangelicals or Fox News neoconservatives. If you want to read a couple of good critical reviews of his Bonhoeffer book there is one here<\/a> and here<\/a>. The one from Christian Century has some interesting comments if you are interested.<\/p>\n

    I confess that I\u2019m working on edits for Shrink<\/em> again today. I confess that progress is not what I had hoped it would be. I confess that I try to make my role as pastor my first priority over and above writing. However, this has begun to make it difficult to meet my deadlines on this manuscript. I\u2019ve never missed a deadline before\u2026 I\u2019m a little shaky about this one coming up. I confess that I could use all the prayers I could get on this one.<\/p>\n

    Okay friends, I made my confessions. Now it\u2019s time for you to make yours:<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I confess that I want to like Zombie movies, but as yet have not watched any. I watched the old Donald Sutherland Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is that considered to be a Zombie flick? See, I\u2019m not even qualified to talk about the genre. I confess that sometime in my near future, I\u2019m going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[260,4,816,815],"class_list":["post-2482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biographies","tag-monday-morning-confessional","tag-neo-conservatives","tag-zombies"],"yoast_head":"\nMonday Morning Confessional: Zombies, Neo-Cons, and Biographies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I confess that I want to like Zombie movies, but as yet have not watched any. 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