Apr 16
Because it’s Friday, and because we’re all weary of the grinding rationalism that comes along with the science/faith debates, and because, well, just because this so darn silly (and, unfortunately, true), here’s a link that catalogues and offers sometimes hilarious commentary about the bizarre world of church names these days. Read more
For at least the last decade or so, I’ve been fairly sour on the contemporary Christian music thing. The reasons for this are many and varied (and likely very predictable as well), but probably not worth getting into here. Whether it is merited or not, I tend to view the whole American evangelical empire and all of the products it spawns with suspicion if not outright cynicism. Read more
There has been a lot of analysis and critique of James Cameron’s new blockbuster Avatar over the last few weeks, from withering indictments of its pantheistic proselytizing to paeans to the latent themes of redemption it contains. I’ve not yet seen the film (although I intend to), but from what I’ve read and heard, while it is a stunning visual spectacle, the story is fairly predictable and unoriginal. Read more
Well, we’re sitting here in the Calgary airport waiting to catch a plane back home and I’m continuing to make my way through Douglas Coupland’s JPod. I’ve been meaning to get acquainted with Coupland’s work for some time now and the Christmas holidays have provided the perfect opportunity. JPod follows the (fairly pathetic) lives of a bunch of twenty-something computer programmers who work for a gaming company as they traverse the dreary landscape of postmodernity. So far, it’s been an interesting read full of memorable passages. Read more
There was a memorial service at our church yesterday and as is often the case at these events, one of the songs that rang out was “Amazing Grace.” It’s a song that people love to sing—a song that touches us on a deep and personal level. For a variety of reasons, it is a very appropriate song to sing during times of mourning and remembering. Read more
Nov 6
I realize two cartoons in one week is a bit unusual around here, but this one was just too funny not to share. I promise to return to more substantial themes shortly 🙂
Once upon a time, my wife and I decided that our kids would not play hockey and, more importantly, that we would never be “hockey parents” (apologies to non-Canadian readers who may not appreciate all the unwelcome moral freight conveyed by this loathsome term). Hockey was expensive, it brought out the worst in both kids and their parents, it was expensive, it was unnecessarily violent, it was expensive, it involved unnecessary amounts of travel and early mornings at frigid rinks… and it was expensive. Read more
Scot McKnight has been blogging about the controversy generated by the TNIV announcement (see here and here for Scot’s thoughts; see also here for discussion on this blog) this week as well and offers the following humorous synopsis of the “tribalism” that accompanies the varied and sundry English translations. I suspect these resonate a bit more deeply south of the border, but they’re recognizable in the Great White North as well (and pretty funny, in my opinion): Read more
Jul 6
Well, we’re nicely into July now so I figured it was high time for a post about… hockey? What can I say—I’m as Canadian as they come. Like many kids growing up on the prairies, I was obsessed with hockey as a child. I played on ice, on grass, and on concrete. I played table hockey and video game hockey. I watched hockey religiously every Saturday night (we didn’t have a TV for part of my childhood so every Saturday night my brother and I would race across the yard to my grandparents’ house to watch Hockey Night in Canada on their black and white television). I collected hockey cards and my brother and I would spend hours arranging them according to every conceivable category, memorizing endless numbers of players and their statistics along the way. Read more
When I was at the University of Lethbridge a few years back, I needed a philosophy course in the summer to fill out my degree requirements and allow me to finish a year early. As I recall, there weren’t very many attractive offerings, so I ended up taking a course called “The Philosophy of Sport.” I thought this would be a kind of cream puff course without much substance, but it ended up being fairly interesting. Philosophers can subject a lot of innocuous looking activities to mind-numbing analysis, after all, so why not sport? Read more
Just over two years ago, while studying at Regent College in Vancouver, I posted the following tongue-in-cheek reflection on the theological significance of the comb-over. My stats counter tells me that I am closing in on 1000 views for this post making it quite easily the most viewed post in the short history of this blog (and providing me with an unsolicited dose of humility—I’d like to think I’ve posted on more important and interesting topics, but the numbers don’t lie…). Of course it’s possible that these lofty (for me) stats are due, in large part, to the fact that the post seems to pop up pretty high on the list when “combover” is entered into a search engine, but I prefer to interpret them as unambiguous evidence of my obvious wit and theological dexterity.
So, in honour of approaching the millennium mark for this post, and because it’s April Fool’s Day (and what could be more foolish than attempting to stretch a few wispy strands of hair across an otherwise barren skull… perhaps writing about it?!), I thought I would re-post a lightly edited version of the original. If nothing else, it provides a reminder that the theological graduate student is, indeed, a very peculiar animal. Read more
I remember a friend from graduate school remarking last year about the experience of reading David Bentley Hart and the challenge to one’s vocabulary this presented. While I have not read Hart’s magum opus (The Beauty of the Infinite), I did enjoy The Doors of the Sea and am currently making my way (slowly) through his recent collection of essays entitled In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments. Let’s just say that the online dictionary is getting a workout… Read more
Periodically, I receive puzzled queries as to why I have not joined the rest of the human race in the mad flock to “connect” on Facebook. There are a number of reasons why I refuse to do this—many of them undoubtedly rich in theological depth and razor-sharp in the penetrating cultural critique they represent—but none as flat-out hilarious as the ones in this piece I came across via Arts & Letters today. Here’s two quotes to whet your appetites: Read more
For those tracking the progress of my pre-Easter reading project, I do continue to pick away at N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God (my pace has slowed considerably over the last few weeks—that’s going to have to be addressed if I’m to finish in time). Right now, I’m in the middle of his discussion of various views of the resurrection in the Hebrew Bible and how these differed from the views of the ancient Greeks. Read more
Feb 5
I couldn’t resist, given the topic of the previous post:
Substitute your own mindless content here. Or go do something more productive.
H/T: Strange Herring via First Things
As I’m trying to get the kids lunches packed, homework in backpacks, shoes, jackets, gloves, toques, and who knows what else ready to go by 8:35 this morning, I noticed one of my daughter’s math worksheets lying on the kitchen counter. Normally, my eyes are not particularly drawn to anything math-related (I think my kids are already pretty much bumping up against the ceiling of their father’s mathematical competence in grade two!), but for some reason I spied the following question and answer: Read more
Well, the city is blanketed in an unusual amount of snow, and Christmas is certainly in the air. This morning I was off to see the always interesting children’s school Christmas concert. I tend to approach these events with a high degree of curiosity—especially in our post-Christian context. What organizational gymnastics, I wonder, will the organizers have to go through to present a non-offensive, politically correct program for the many and varied attendees that will be present yet at the same time say something remotely significant that honours the season? I genuinely feel for those who have to organize these things. It can’t be easy. Read more
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