May 2012
8 posts
“Truth, nature, imagination, affection, love, hope, beauty, joy. Those words are...”
– Wendell Berry (via)
“We tell stories to continue ourselves. We all think an exception is going to be...”
– Ken Burns
“Live your Life. Live your Life. Live your Life.”
– Maurice Sendak
On Friday I graduate with a Master of Theological Studies degree from Truett Seminary at Baylor University. It’s a strange feeling. Even though I’ve been taking classes at Truett since 2007, I’ve never really considered myself a student. I only took one or two classes each term, and I took more than one break over the five and half years (I can’t believe it’s been...
“What you do is to take the different bits of material which you have gathered...”
– A recipe for producing ideas circa 1939
“How do you take spiritual direction from a church that seems to be losing its...”
– Maureen Dowd (HT: Andrew Sullivan)
April 2012
8 posts
“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client...”
– Saul Bass
“We all really need to listen to each other, including to the boring bits....”
– Sherry Turkle (via)
“What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure...”
– Barbara Brown Taylor (via: Brian McLaren)
The Turing Problem (via Radiolab)
Radiolab is doing amazing work—this short episode is a great example.
March 2012
10 posts
“On my reading, what is being called for by Kierkegaard is a rigorous and...”
– Simon Critchley (HT: @KSMoody)
“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,”...
Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they...
“I feel like the theme of the show, when it’s over, is that it’s hard...”
– Matthew Weiner on Mad Men (via)
On (not) praying in church
“I’m going to keep this brief: I think that we should stop having spoken prayers in worship services.” - Tony Jones
I know this is provocative, but I appreciate it. Go read the rest of Tony’s thoughts on this topic at Adam Walker Cleaveland’s blog.
WatchAlain de Botton: Atheism 2.0
“True faith in God is not living with a conviction that everything is going to be...”
– Gordon Kaufman (via)
February 2012
6 posts
“The things I thought were so important - because of the effort I put into them -...”
– Thomas Merton (HT: Perrodin)
“For me, faith is fidelity to an infinite demand which has to be underwritten by...”
– Simon Critchley (HT: Eliacin)
January 2012
4 posts
“That may be the greatest thing The Moth does. The final legacy of The Moth may...”
– Catherine Burns (via)
Guests
These photographs by Christopher Bucklow are quite stunning (gallery images via DLK). I was first exposed to Bucklow’s work on the cover of David Eagleman’s Sum. I highly recommend Eagleman’s book, but only the first edition—don’t buy the more recent editions without the Bucklow image! You can view more images from this series at Bucklow’s website. I think...
December 2011
7 posts
Favorite Albums of 2011
I listened to more music than ever this year because of Spotify. Here are my favorite albums—not necessarily the best albums of the year, but rather the ones I found myself listening to over and over. (By the way, you can find many of these mp3 albums for $5 or less right now at Amazon-see links)
My Favorite
Civilian, Wye Oak
By far my favorite album of the year. I didn’t listen...
“‘People mustn’t try to understand what I am saying through my works. People...”
– Anselm Kiefer (via)
“We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new...”
– Eric Weiner
“Faith then is the experience of being taken up in the experience of meaning, of...”
– Peter Rollins
November 2011
6 posts
Reviewing Peter Rollins' "Insurrection"
I haven’t had a chance to put together a proper reflection or review of Peter Rollins’ new book, Insurrection. However, after reading a response to Rollins’ book at The Church & Postmodern Culture blog I felt compelled to post a brief review at Amazon. Here’s the content of that review:
“The subtitle of Insurrection is ‘to believe is human to doubt,...
October 2011
12 posts
“The temptation to be resisted is the temptation of meaning itself.
…I claim...”
– Slavoj Zizek