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Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." (Is.30:21)
Browsing All Posts published on »December, 2008«
A Faith and Culture Devotional | Notes & Review
December 29, 2008
Thanks to Zondervan for my pre-release “bloggers” copy. (All notes and comments refer to that edition.) Kelly Monroe Kullberg, and Lael Arrington. A Faith and Culture Devotional. Zondervan, 2008. (302 pages). www.CultureDevo.com A Review at BookNotes blog: http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/a_faith_culture_devotional_dai/. iCrucified also received a pre-release copy. Set in very short (one or two page) readings, this 15 […]
Liturgy – The Tension Between Tradition and Innovation
December 27, 2008
Over the holiday weekend our family attended Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Santa Rosa. Having attended a Lutheran Elementary school and church as a child, a twinge of nostalgia welled up inside of me. But coupled with that sense of nostalgia was the sense of missing out on the dramas, the more contemporary styles of music…the […]
Blink | Notes & Review
December 27, 2008
Malcolm Gladwell. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Back Bay Books, 2005. (296 pages) “Thin-Slicing,” being “Fast and Frugal,” refers to the “ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” (23) In this opening chapter, Gladwell illustrates how this kind of “snap decision” making […]
Time to Reboot America
December 26, 2008
Another thought provoking Op-Ed article from Thomas Friedman. Here’s the brunt of his rant: My fellow Americans, we can’t continue in this mode of “Dumb as we wanna be.” We’ve indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that we can’t afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giant wealth-destruction machines, energy prices that […]
Evolution | Notes & Review
December 26, 2008
This 4-part, 8 hour series by PBS and WBGH is a fascinating and well-done production that charts through the issue of evolution, its development and socio-cultural implications. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/index.html Part 1, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea Darwin’s Dangerous Idea charts the, shall we say, the “evolution” of Darwin’s ideas and thoughts in and through the science community in […]
The Challenge of Jesus | Notes & Review
December 25, 2008
N.T. Wright. The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999. (202 pages). “Just as integrity demands that we think clearly and rigorously about Jesus himself, so it also demands that we think clearly and rigorously about the world in which we follow him today, the world we […]
The End of Reason | Notes & Review
December 25, 2008
I got this for Christmas. Thanks Ian! Here are my notes and reflections. Ravi Zacharias. The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists. Zondervan, 2008. (143 pages) In line with the many books published recently by the “new atheists,” as they’re called, Zacharias responds to them (in particular to Sam Harris and his […]
Newt Gingrich: Let’s End Adolescence
December 13, 2008
In discussing several topics on adolescence, education, and youth development, a friend referred me to this article by Newt Gingrich entitled “Let’s End Adolescence.” (Updated article and video here.) His solution is simple: …replace adolescence with young adulthood. But hastening that transition requires integrating learning into life and work. Fortunately, innovations in technology and in […]
The Religious Case For/Against Gay Marriage | Saying A Lot About So Little
December 12, 2008
While reading the current Newsweek cover article (“The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” by Lisa Miller), it struck me how much we say about how little the Bible mentions. The summation of the Newsweek article is found, really, in one sentence, The practice of inclusion, even in defiance of social convention, the reaching out to […]
California’s Proposition 8 | Reasoning Through the Rhetoric of Same-Sex Marriage
December 12, 2008
I received an email from a family member from the Courage Campaign to repeal proposition 8. There’s also a new post at Out of Ur entitled “A Win-Win on Same-Sex Marriage.” By now, everyone is well aware of the emotional and contentious nature of same-sex marriage (SSM) and there are thousands of posts/links regarding the […]
Become A Freedom Partner
December 10, 2008
The inaugural Podcast for IJM Freedom Partners was set out today, December 10, International Human Rights Day (read the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). In this podcast, Emmy Award-winning journalist and IJM Director of Media Relations Amy Roth takes you on a journey around the world to introduce you to some […]
December 30, 2008
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