adam moore | blog

Annie Vought (via: In the Make)

Tue, 29 May 2012 14:17:26 -0500

Annie Vought (via: In the Make)

"Truth, nature, imagination, affection, love, hope, beauty, joy. Those words are hard to keep still..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:29:00 -0500

“Truth, nature, imagination, affection, love, hope, beauty, joy. Those words are hard to keep still within definitions; they make the dictionary hum like a beehive. But in such words, in their resonance within their histories and in their associations with one another, we find our indispensable humanity, without which we are lost and in danger.”

- Wendell Berry (via)

"We tell stories to continue ourselves. We all think an exception is going to be made in our case,..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:21:56 -0500

“We tell stories to continue ourselves. We all think an exception is going to be made in our case, and we’re going to live forever. And being a human is actually arriving at the understanding that that’s not going to be. Story is there to just remind us that it’s just okay.”

- Ken Burns

"Live your Life. Live your Life. Live your Life."

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:58:10 -0500

“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...

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:24:40 -0500

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 that long…). I guess I never fully believed it all would eventually add up to a degree. Apparently it has.

I started taking classes at Truett because I could. I work at Baylor, which allows me to take classes for free. I did my undergraduate degree in religion and after earning a master’s degree in education I was pretty sure for any further education I would return to religion and theology. This degree was just a good way to continue thinking about things I cared about, while also moving back in the direction of theological study. I like reading, thinking, and discussing what I read and think about, and it was free, so I couldn’t really go wrong (right?).

At one point during my time at Truett I was pretty sure I wanted to go toward a PhD after finishing this degree, but more recently this hasn’t felt like a great option for me, at least at this point in my life. Also, while I am deeply interested in theological study, I’ve realized I’m more passionate about how what I read and think about relates to the actual life of faith and to communities of faith, so I’m not sure the sacrifices of PhD work would be worth it for me, even though I’m sure in many ways I would enjoy it.

All this leads to the question I get a lot these days, at least among my friends and family who actually knew I was working on a degree. The question, of course, is: “What are you going to do after graduation?” In fact, I’ve been facing this question for quite awhile. Most people, it turns out, go back to school for a specific and practical purpose. This just wasn’t true for me. I did it because I wanted to, because I liked it. But the question has come all the same, and it comes from within me even more often than from those around me. The simple answer is that nothing is going to change—at least right now. I’m going to continue on in my current job at Baylor and enjoy a little extra time. But what about further down the road? What comes next?

For at least 15 years my deepest passion has been centered around matters of faith, and specifically working with communities of faith. The problem has been that for almost that same amount of time I haven’t fit very well within the traditional forms of church around me. As a result, I’ve never made a living or spent the majority of my time doing what I cared most about. Of course, that’s not terribly unusual, but it’s also not particularly satisfying. As many of you know, I’ve worked on various projects over the last several years in an effort to put into practice some of the things I am most passionate about—most notably VOID collective—but I’m not sure how this all fits together. How do I do this kind of work on the side, while also maintaining a separate career and trying to nurture a healthy family life? These questions continue to be significant challenges for me.

I guess the purpose of this unusually personal post (at least for the past few years) is to help some of you understand where I am right now. Additionally, and probably more importantly, in knowing these things I hope some of you might join me in thinking about what’s next for me. Over the past year or so I decided not to think too much about these questions and instead to just concentrate on finishing my degree. But now that I have finished this degree I think it’s time to reflect more deeply on what comes next. I hope some of you will join me for this part of the journey. I could use the help.

“Postcard from 1952” from Explosions in the Sky

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:08:06 -0500

“Postcard from 1952” from Explosions in the Sky

"What you do is to take the different bits of material which you have gathered and feel them all..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:08:00 -0500

“What you do is to take the different bits of material which you have gathered and feel them all over, as it were, with the tentacles of the mind. You take one fact, turn it this way and that, look at it in different lights, and feel for the meaning of it. You bring two facts together and see how they fit. What you are seeking now is the relationship, a synthesis where everything will come together in a neat combination, like a jig-saw puzzle.”

- A recipe for producing ideas circa 1939

Photo

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:40:23 -0500

"How do you take spiritual direction from a church that seems to be losing its soul?"

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:42:20 -0500

“How do you take spiritual direction from a church that seems to be losing its soul?”

- Maureen Dowd (HT: Andrew Sullivan)

Light sculpture by Makoto Tojiki (via)

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:13:27 -0500

Light sculpture by Makoto Tojiki (via)

"I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that..."

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:04:27 -0500

“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me. It’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”

- Saul Bass

"We all really need to listen to each other, including to the boring bits. Because it’s when we..."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:02:01 -0500

“We all really need to listen to each other, including to the boring bits. Because it’s when we stumble or hesitate or lose our words that we reveal ourselves to each other.”

- Sherry Turkle (via)

"What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart..."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:04:39 -0500

“What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.”

- Barbara Brown Taylor (via: Brian McLaren)

the end of analog

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:35:52 -0500

the end of analog

The Turing Problem (via Radiolab)

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:01:00 -0500

Radiolab is doing amazing work—this short episode is a great example.

A statement by Professor Marc Ellis about his current situation...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:01:48 -0500

A statement by Professor Marc Ellis about his current situation at Baylor.

"On my reading, what is being called for by Kierkegaard is a rigorous and activist conception of..."

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:55:00 -0500

“On my reading, what is being called for by Kierkegaard is a rigorous and activist conception of faith that proclaims itself into being at each instant without guarantee or security, and which abides with the infinite demand of love, the rigor of love.”

- Simon Critchley (HT: @KSMoody)

“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” Wendell Berry

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:57:00 -0500

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 will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

HT: Dan Hughes (via)

"I feel like the theme of the show, when it’s over, is that it’s hard to be a person."

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:23:00 -0500

“I feel like the theme of the show, when it’s over, is that it’s hard to be a person.”

- Matthew Weiner on Mad Men (via)

New Sigur Rós is coming!

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:15:41 -0500

New Sigur Rós is coming!