The Morality of Acceptance
For most of this week I’ve been wrestling with the book of James. It’s one of the best sections in the entire New Testament...you’ve got the actual brother of Jesus talking about how to live out this thing that his brother started. And one of the main ways James says to do that is to be a part of a community that doesn’t show favoritism. Most of the run in with celebrities that I have had, have been disastrous. I met Houston Nutt one time, and I think he almost called security on me. But the worst (and I’m really tipping you off to how nerdy I can be) was when I met the theologian, Walter Bruegemmann. We were both at a conference, and I went up to him, shook his hand

Manufactured Beauty
Last week I heard a story on NPR about an interesting development in India. Since their county has about 1/6 of the world’s population and their economy is beginning to rise, they are becoming targets for major marketing campaigns. But one of those campaigns is surprising. It’s directed toward Indian men. For Cosmetics. The marketing firms have discovered that creams that lightens someone’s skin have really sold well to Indian women. So they’ve also begun to peddle it to the men. They’ve realized that this is a huge market and so they’re trying to persuade Indian men that they need a new look. They’re telling them that “white is hot,” but the im

Church at N.A.A.C.P. Awards
I’ve got a lot of grad school this weekend, but I wanted to leave a real quick post of this video that I found earlier this week. This is Bono giving a speech at the N.A.A.C.P. awards. Bono does a good job of eliminating the divide that we have made in our culture between the Sacred and the Secular. U2 consistently lives in the world of art and justice sometimes making the two interchangable. What I love about this clip is how church breaks out toward the end. At the N.A.A.C.P awards Bono test

A Theology of Creation
The other day on 30 Rock, Kenneth (the backwater Christian) who is my favorite character on the show, was asked what his favorite subject was in school. He said “Science...Because I love the Old Testament.” Now the show is known for taking light hearted jabs like that to all different kinds of tribes, but behind every joke.... When I was growing up in Homeschool/Highschool one of my assignments was to do a lot of reading, and then give a speech on Creation Science. I read apologetics, and Gen

A Gentle Subversion
I took this picture on our trip to Ephesus a few years ago. Since then it has made the regular rotation for my desktop image, I’ve even talked about on this blog before. I’ve found myself somewhat haunted by it. And here’s why. This is an underground first or second century symbol. It stands for Ixthus Christos Theos (all the first letters of this phrase in Greek make this symbol. The phrase me