What are the chances?

Lest anyone think that I have never experienced crime - all that needs to be said is that I lived in Mason City, Iowa during my high school years.  Mason City has the highest crime rate per capita in the state of Iowa.  I've had my car broken into, been threatened with a baseball bat - twice, had someone come up to the passenger side of my car at a stop light and start punching my friend, not to mention the murder and kidnapping that went on.  However, for the last 13 years my wife and I have lived in communities where locking your door at night is optional.  (Although I always did it out of habit... not locking your door at night in Mason City was just asking for it.)  So it came as a bit of a surprise yesterday afternoon, as I returned from the grocery store, to see a bunch of cop cars, with lights flashing, staking out a perimeter just yards away from our apartment building.  At first I thought it was an accident - but then I got an email from the seminary:  someone had robbed the local bank at gunpoint.  He walked into the bank, showed a gun, asked for money, took a hostage - and as he fled fired two shots at an off duty police officer.  Crazy.  From the sounds of it such activity is rare for this little neighborhood, St. Anthony Park - I guess we're getting the whole big city experience.
   Here's the story.

I'm not trying to make light of the situation - I'm sure the bank teller is pretty shook up - but bank robberies ain't what they once were.  Obviously this guy was no Jesse James - getting caught in Wisconsin after stopping for a few drinks and crashing his van.  I'm guessing there won't be a book or movie deal.

Swimmin' with the Fishes

For those who don't know my kids are obsessed with the water.  Even the youngest - who can be a bit anxious about the world - is starting to become very comfortable splashing around.  For the past 4 years my kid's most treasured possession has been the $10 inflatable Wal-Mart pool we bought shortly after moving to Sioux Center.  All summer long - every day it wasn't either raining or frigid - my kids would swim.  Needless to say have to live in an apartment meant the pool was left behind.  I'm not sure who felt worse about it - the kids or mom and dad.

I think it's an established fact that smells are the quickest way to memory recall.  Although I'm not a good swimmer - one whiff of lake water and I'm trippin' down memory lane.  As kids we didn't swim in pools very much - we took at trip to the lake.  The sand, the cool water, the junk food - and the fish.  We would go to Green Lake - a very clear and cold lake - which allowed us to see the small fish that would nip at our ankles.  We'd splash around awhile, get sand in every crevasse possible, then fall asleep during the air conditioned ride home. 

We knew yesterday was going to be a hot one - ended up being 95 with high humidity - so we filled the cooler, loaded up the van, and went in search of the beach.  We ended up at Square lake - about a 40 minute drive to the northeast.  It wasn't a very big lake, but the beach was nice, not very crowded, and the water was crystal clear.  So clear, in fact, that we could see fish swimming around.  The kids swam like crazy, diving to the bottom looking for snail shells and submerged treasure.  (There were actually 2 guys in the water with metal detectors searching for some guys wedding ring.  The guy had only been married for 3 days and lost his ring in the water.  They ended up finding it after about 20 minutes of looking.)  After a few hours of swimming and snacking we headed back to the apartment - with the kids snoozing.  I know I'm not supposed to relive my childhood through my kids - but I am very grateful for our time at the lake.  I'm curious to know how they will remember all of this stuff...I guess we'll find out in 10 years or so.

Moving Forward Back

There's a Temple of the Dog song called Pushin Forward Back.  For some reason this morning I have the catchy refrain in my head.  My family and I just finished moving to St. Paul this weekend.  Back to school with me... I need to get smarter to keep my job.  So for the next two years I will take courses at Luther Seminary and try to sharpen my insights.

I'm originally from Minnesota - the big town of Willmar.  I've been infatuated with the Twin Cities since I was a kid.  The few times my parents would take us to Valley Fair, a Twins game, or the great white north, I was mesmerized by the tall buildings and winding four lane roads.  I've always wanted to live here... and now here I am.  I ripped my family up from four years of putting down roots in Sioux Center, Iowa.  Four years was plenty of time for my older kids to become best friends with the neighbor kids.  Enough time to finally coax the two Hispanic kids from across the street to come play soccer with us.  Enough time to become "regulars" at local restaurants and coffee shops.  More than enough time for my wife's family to get used to the idea of having us around.  Then, like a band aid, with one violent motion .... here we are, sitting on the western edge of St. Paul on a humid August afternoon.

I can tell the kids are a bit out of sorts.  They have all cried at one point or another... and our youngest - who will be three in a few weeks - told my wife she wanted to sleep in the "crib" at "her house".  Hopefully they will be alright... everyone says they will.  "It will be good for them" I've heard more times then I can count.  I hope they're right.

In the mean time I guess we'll have to make due.  We've been to Ikea already - and my oldest daughter is bound and determined to go to the Mall of America for some reason.  (She heard there is a roller coaster inside...and some doll store).  My son - well he's already reaped the benefits of living in the area.  Yesterday we took the bus downtown to Target Field and took in a ball game.  At this point he mainly goes to eat hot dogs and drink soda - but that's not that much different then his old man.  He got a free baseball bat for being a kid - and we saw the Twins beat the Mariners 4-0 behind a solid outing by Francisco Lirano.  Oh well... I guess we'll have to make the best of it.

"We Buuuuurn Them!"

This blog title is the answer to a question posed in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.  "What do we do with witches?"  Maybe the more appropriate question this morning is:  "What do we do with heretics?"  I found out yesterday that I made an unfortunate list - a list of three people deemed to be "heretical" by a certain group of people who shall remain nameless.  I guess "they" have been reading my blog...(Shhh... they might be reading right now!) ... it goes without saying they didn't like what they read.  That's fair - blogs are public and if I was really worried about what people thought I shouldn't risk putting it on the internet.

What gets me are the reasons I'm a heretic.  I guess if you appreciate certain parts of a theologian's thought you have to buy the whole thing.  Does that mean that if I appreciate Luther's theology at certain points I'm an anti-Semite?  Or... if I think Calvin is spot on about some things I'm a platonic dualist?  Or... if I very much appreciate Kuyper's insights I'm a racist?  I guess so.  I have two links on my blog - one to N.T. Wright and one to Karl Barth.  N.T. Wright has taken some heat lately on the issue of justification.  Frankly, I'm not even sure the people in question have read Wright's three main academic works - (the big ones...) - they seem content to take other people's words for it.  Yes - Wright wants us to see Paul in the context of 1st century Judaism and not in the context of medieval Roman Catholicism.  Makes sense to me... of course this doesn't mean Luther and Calvin are wrong... it just means they were fighting a different, albeit related, fight.  Sigh....

As for Barth - what can I say... guilty.  I guess we are not allowed to develop in our theological thought.  I guess the way we speak about God and how he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ should not address the world in which we live.  I guess the cultural and philosophical developments of the last 400 years don't matter - they must somehow lie outside the reach of Christ's Lordship and therefore the gospel cannot engage them.  (Wait... isn't Luther's penal / substitutionary view of the atonement indebted to Anselm's "satisfaction atonement theory" which is very much connected to the structures of feudal society?)  What I appreciate about Barth is that his perspective engages the cultural world in which we live - the philosophical, linguistic, and social developments of the last century.  This doesn't mean I agree with him on everything. Sigh...

I was under the impression that the focus of the reformation was not to establish some static system of thought that would exist for all time, but to be "always reforming" - always engaging the world in which we live with the gospel.  This is why I believe we need to engage contemporary theological and philosophical thought as we wrestle with the contemporary issues facing the church and the world.  Just so you know... I still very much appreciate the profound theological insights of Calvin and Kuyper.

For those who are "interested"... I'm currently engaging the work of philosopher Slovoj Zizek - specifically his book with John Milbank entitled The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic?  Check it out... but you might feel some heat.  To quote my father - in law... "It's hot in these Rhinos."

Lost

Yes... I admit it.  I was hooked on Lost.  My wife and I got into it late... 2nd season... so we spent one summer watching all the back episodes.  Since then we have watched (or should I say taped and watched... yes we still use VHS tapes) every week it has been on.  I'll admit there were times when I thought it was extremely close to "jumping the shark" - I didn't particularly like the time travel episodes - but we stuck with it and put the whole thing to rest last night.

I admit to being surprised by the ending - only because I thought it would be too obvious to have it be about death.  I had read early on in the series about those who thought the Island was a form of purgatory... which sounded interesting... but since it was out there I didn't think the writers would go there.  Not that the Island was purgatory - as Jack's father insisted it was all real - but the side ways reality had to have been purgatory... especially since Ben refused to go into the church because he had to work some things out first.

I'm not sure what I think about the ending.  There were many questions not answered...most of them pertaining to the Island.  I thought the "man in black" or smoke monster issue was totally under resolved - landing with a metaphorical thud with "smoke Locke" hitting the rocks.  (Why didn't Jack turn into a"smoke monster"?  Because he was "the one"... he had drank the "kool aid"?)

What was I hoping for?  Not sure... maybe that Jack would become the smoke monster once again trapped on the Island - left to contend with Hurley as he sought a way to leave.  (After all - Jack was the one obsessed with leaving for most of the show...) That as one plane took off another would crash - starting the whole cycle over again.  Or... that they were all patients in a mental ward.

Overall it was good... not great... but good.  The ending was satisfying but I'm not sure it will stick with me like the final episode of The Sporano's.  I still think the final Sporano's episode was a work of genius - it's all there if we have eyes to see.  I guess it goes without saying that Tony Soprano could kick the crap out of Jack Shepard any day.

Sophia and Gender

I'm reading the book She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse by Elizabeth Johnson for an independent study with a female student.  I can't say that I consider myself a "feminist" by any stretch of the imagination.  I refer to God as "He" and "Father" - and I attend a church that does not allow women to preach or even sit on the council.  Not that I don't have "feminist"impulses...I believe that women should be allowed to preach from the pulpit, and I'm not convinced that the way we understand sexuality in the church is very helpful.  I just finished Jacques Ellul's The Subversion of Christianity in which he argues that  in the beginning Christianity was egalitarian, only to inherit essentially pagan views of gender through the years.  Johnson, who I believe is Roman Catholic, makes simliar, and quite convincing claims.

Once again today I opened my mouth in Gen 300... imploring students to rethink our understanding of gender and sexuality.  I appealed to St. Bernard, Hildegard of Bigen, Julian of Norwich, and implicitly presented Jurgen Moltmann's Trinitarian understanding of gender and the image of God.  I argued that the reason there is little difference between the sexual practices of Christians and non Christians is because we share similar views of sexuality and gender.  So often gender and sexuality are portrayed as additives - not really essential to our human identity.  This leads, I believe, to a utilitarian view of sex (primarily as a means of reproduction and orgasms) as well as a dismissal of any serious engagement of gender issues.  What if being made in the image of God included our sexuality?  What if gender was considered an essential part of our human identity?  What if sex really correlates with divine perichoresis?  I asked these questions today in class.  The response?  They thought I was making up "stuff".

I tried to tell them this discussion is as old as Christianity itself.  I tried to tell them that I'm not smart enough to come up with this on my own.  I tried to allude to the mystical perspective of Calvin who talks about being united to Christ in love... becoming one with Christ... language that drips with sexuality.  I tried to tell them that if we reclaimed even a small part of this perspective of gender and sexuality the sexual practices and perspective of the Christian community would be wildly transformed.

One students was interested... perplexed enough to talk to me after class.  The rest were either irritated, amused, or indifferent.

Another glorious failure.

Smart People and Polar Bears

I've been keeping up with the tragic news of the professor from Alabama who shot up her colleagues, apparently after being denied tenure.  A few days ago I was part of conversation with colleagues regarding the exploits of profs at some of the most prestigious schools in the country.  While they may have been geniuses in their fields... such discernment obviously did not translate into other areas of life.  How can people so smart be so incredibly stupid?  I know, I know - the answer is sin, total depravity, blah blah blah...  Such answers are not very satisfying.

I've been teaching at the college level now for almost 4 years.  I'm in the midst of trying to get into a PhD program (emphasis on the "trying" part).  I recently read the blog entry of a woman who has seemingly been rejected by a program she thought she had a good chance of getting into.  Her words reminded me of the politics involved with the process - not that the many other aspects of life are any less political.  The process of applying to 7 different programs, visiting 4, being silently rejected by 1, left waiting by the other 6 - has been eye opening.  Don't get me wrong... I met with many wonderful scholars of high integrity with whom I would love to study.  I also have, at this point anyway, a positive feeling about beginning a PhD program - even after listening to some well intended people tell me about the dark night of the soul that is the dissertation.  That being said I can't help but wonder about a simpler life.  By simple I don't mean a life without problems... a friend recently reminded me that to switch professions is to trade one set of problems for another.  What I mean by "simpler" is to take life as it is given... to not have to dissect every word, every action - to live a healthier distance from the abyss of cynicism.

I don't pretend to understand why smart people do very stupid things.  Yes... I'm sure depravity has something to do with it.  This afternoon I watched my kids play in a snow cave that I dug out for them -  they were pretending to be polar bears trekking across the arctic snow.  I tried to remember what it was like to lose oneself in play... to act like a polar bear without having to philosophically justify the ontological possibility of actually being a polar bear.  Maybe I'll spend the night in the snow cave and give it a try.

A Good Pagan

I sometimes think I would have made a wonderful pagan.  I love the music of Led Zepplin... their sound makes me think of druids and norsemen - in part because it makes me think of The Lord of the Rings.  The pulsing beat of heavy metal music has made me happy ever since I began to learn to play the guitar... nothing gives me more pleasure then a power chord fused with gutteral screams and a 4/4 rhythm.

 I love to experience and reflect upon the natural world.  Even though I am deeply immersed in a tradition that emphasizes the development of creation - most of the time I want to leave it alone.  I find there is something awe inspiring about the sight of ruins... the created world taking back our human attempts to control the natural world.  Lately I've been reading Norse myths - maybe as an attempt to recover my heritage - or relive my comic book days.  I loved reading comics about Conan the Barbarian and Thorr, and I am particularly fond of Tolkien's essay On Fairy Stories in which, while discussing the relationship between history and myth, he envisions the voice of an angry red haired Scandinavian farmer thundering through the mountains.

I'm teaching the Theology senior sem. course again this semester - which I very much enjoy.  Last time I taught it I had students read G.K. Chesterton.  I appreciate Chesterton's generosity (except, ironically, toward Calvin and Calvinism!).  I can't remember the source but I do recall reading a selection in which he discusses how Christianity does not abolish the festivals of paganism... it absorbs them.  Christianity takes them up - changes their focus - and allows the party to continue.  For Chesterton Christianity provides the freedom to engage, and dare I say enjoy, ancient mythology, greek philosophy, and Led Zepplin.  The tradition of which I am a part wants to discern all things pagan from all things that are biblical and therefore distinctly Christian.  A difficult endeavor - more difficult then we are willing to admit I think - but I get it.  But I will always have a Chesterton side to my theology because it gives me the freedom to be a bit pagan... to be able to be Christian and still listen to Them Crooked Vultures.

The Antichrist in a Brave New World

The Christian conception of God – God as god of the sick, God as a spider, God as spirit – is one of the most corrupt conceptions of the divine ever attained on earth.  It may even represent the low-water mark in the descending development of divine types.  God degenerated into the contradiction of life, instead of being its transfiguration and eternal Yes!  God as the declaration of war against life, against nature, against the will to live!  God – the formula for every slander against “this world,” for every lie about the “beyond”!  God – the deification of nothingness, the will to nothingness pronounced holy!

Friedrich Nietzsche The Antichrist


I used this quote in class today along with some quotes by Karl Marx and Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials).  I referenced them in the context of a discussion of the book Brave New World - specifically the question: When does Christianity become soma?  I happen to think the end of Brave New World is brilliant - the Savage hangs himself - in some ways crushed beneath the weight of the Brave New World.  I asked the Gen 300 students if that should be the fate of the Christian community ... trampled by the brave new world around us.  Or - has Christianity become more like Mustapha Mond - hell bent on gaining power in the form of efficient control and manipulation...keeping the masses in a perpetual state of numbness.  


Obviously Nietzsche believed that Christianity is hostile to life - forcing humanity into an upward posture in which we try to break away from our humanity, away from passion and emotion, always looking toward something else.  We become enslaved to a form of divine determinism that erodes our humanity and the vitality of earthly life.  While I may not be able to go with him the full way, I believe his critique is important.  Religion - Christianity included - can become a means of control.  Walter Brueggemann refers to this as the "Royal Consciousness" - the domestication of God for the sake of military, economic, and cultural power... the sacrifice of life, passion, and vitality for the sake of stability. 


I raised this with the students today as an attempt to jolt us out of our slumber.  It is easy to read a book like Brave New World and think that its not talking about us - that it refers to some future danger or at least the "world out there."  But certainly it doesn't refer to us...we are Christians after all.  My purpose today was to suggest that not only is the Brave New World upon us... but that we have unknowingly fallen prey to bouts of the "feelies", "orgy porgy", and "soma."  


Martin Luther, in the context of scholasticism, referred to the god who is not God - warning against the domestication and idolatry that results from the absolutizing of doctrinal systems.  Such a god may be used to enslave, corrupt, and numb... but it is not the God of the bible.  Brueggemann suggests we follow the example of the Old Testament prophets who lamented, raged, poetically and passionately proclaimed the word of the Lord in the face of the Brave New World.  The question I left for students to struggle with - What does it mean to follow a crucified Christ in a Brave New World?  Did they understand the question?  Do I understand the question?  Not sure...

Christ-ianity

When does a belief system become unhooked from the thought of the person it was originally based upon? That was the question I had as I listened to the spring convocation address a week or so ago.  The speaker used the occasion to argue for just war theory - suggesting that only college freshmen should be excused from the naiveté of non violence.  The rest of us who might have such leanings are just dumb.  We're dumb because we don't know how the world works.  After all, evil is real - Nazis were real.  Isn't it interesting that it's always Nazis - its always Hitler.  What about the German Christians who allowed, dare I say supported, Hitler's rise to power?  I'm sure Romans 13 was invoked to legitimize the establishment of the Third Reich.  Is it possible that the very arguments used to support a "just war" against the Nazis provided the justification for the Nazi party?  Just a thought...

Funny thing about war... it seems like those who actually have to fight in them don't like them very much.  My grandpa would never talk about WWII - until he inexplicably started talking into the tape recorder.  Four to five tapes later what I remember most were the tears in his eyes as he talked about coming onto the beaches of Normandy after the D-Day invasion.  And when he said the only people who like to play dress up and march in the memorial day parades were the pencil pushers... the ones who didn't actually have to kill anyone.  My father says the same thing.  The big difference between my grandpa and my dad is that my dad won't talk about Vietnam.  He told me where to put the tape recorder in no uncertain terms.


Yet there we were - the faculty of a Christian college being lectured on the merits of just war.  Very little mention of the teachings of Jesus.  No discussion of whether the teachings of Jesus are normative for the Christian community.  It seems we've done Jesus a great service - we've taken his teachings into the 21st century.  We've used him to justify military retribution in the name of liberal democracy and freedom.  Divine justification for weaponized drones and military occupation.  When does a belief system detach itself from its teacher?  When we begin thinking we know better...