Might this put the Anti-Semitism charges to rest?

Nevertheless, behold the equivalent of the W.M.D. in the War on Drugs: The just say no message of Devastating Dave(et.al.).

(Thanks to Lenlowland for the link.)

Here's another sermon, this one for a funeral by a man named Robert who died recently in New York.

I didn't actually know him.. but we had to choose a random obituary and make a sermon for Preaching Class.

millinerd: The blog with fabricated funeral sermons. Don't worry... I've got server back-up on standby.

He's here! He's here!

So there we were.. the place to see and be seen in theology today. The senior prom for Protestant intellectuals... a Hauerwas appearance!!!

We all gathered in early. Eager first year students anxiously awaiting, cracking the "Will you sign my Bible Stanley?" jokes. Second years know better (we made those jokes last year). Then the the cool kids. Professors from Princeton Seminary and University enter... no proceed to seats at the front. Cornel, Jeff, Stacy, George... It's a first-name-basis affair. Hugs are exchanged, hands are shaked. Ah... to be a theologian.

Then he arrives. A tie and blazer... with jeans and sneakers? - The irreverence! But oh we love him for it. We're here to see what he thinks about Niebuhr of century past, just like we showed up last year to see what he thinks about Bonhoeffer. Each time the Time Magazine article is mentioned and jovially dismissed. Each time the Texas cackle fills the room. Each time the token swear word is dropped. Each time it's a contest to see who asks the most pressing question... Each time the "Constantinian Christian" is indignted. Niehbuhr's problem: "Too many lunches at the Pentagon." Needless to say too many lunches with the Princeton faculty can have a similar warping effect... but I assume Hauerwas knows that.

Ah... theology in America.

millinerd movie review

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was as good as Dumb and Dumber was funny. Which is pretty darn good.

For a more sophisticated review, see this guy, who says:

"It's rarely a compliment when I refer to an actor as "straitjacketed," but the straitjacketing of Jim Carrey is fiercely poignant."

Too true! But he also says:

"This is the best movie I've seen in a decade."

Which makes me think he was subject to some strange surgery that removed all trace of the movie's imperfections from his brain.

Hellenize This!

Word has by now gotten around that Mel Gibson wants to do a movie on the The Maccabees. Should he ask my opinion for a title, as you've noticed, I have one pret a porter. All I ask is 1%.

(Incidentally, Hellenize This! was also the title of our Hebrew class' frisbee team this summer. Propelled as we were by our theme verse, "and the Gentiles were crushed" -1Mac. 5:21, the Greek class stood no chance.)

Charges of anti-Semitism for the movie have already begun. But isn't Maccabees about butt-kickin' Jews who heroically resist foreign encroachment? Isn't a Jew complaining about the movie like a Scot complaining about Braveheart?

Thanks to Ed for the tip-off to this curiosity.

Cast off your loans!

Like History? Well then this, my friends, is education. College is for education (right?). Seeing that education like that is available to anyone for free, I foresee a bourgeois revolution against the overwhelming cost of college. If we lay the groundwork now, it should be consummated at the convenient time when my kids will be looking to dad for college money. So... REVOLT!

But then again seeing that my aim may be to teach at college perhaps the revolution can hold off until I retire.

Bringin' da thundah!

Man this blog sure can get preachy, but I preached a sermon on Sunday, in which I attempted to steer a course between this (though the sermon was on that verse) and this... So why not post it as well? All hesitation was removed when I reminded myself that blog-reading is a voluntary enterprise.

Here is a bonus visual aid that may help should you so volunteer.

Fortunately, the Lord was with me, as He is with all occupations. Even jugglers.

Does the i-eucharist transubstantiate?

Guest Column!

Diogenes Allen whom I've mentioned before handed out the following list this morning and was kind enough to let me post it. The commentary is his as well.
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Ten Books that I (Dr. Allen) Recommend Highly:

1. A.J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom. A prolific writer on the theme of integrity in one's profession, such as journalism and medicine. This one is on priesthood and is his best. Made into a poor film with Gregory Peck.
2. Georges Bernanos, Diary of a Country Priest. More profound than Chronin. The story of a young, socially clumsy priest in a rural area in which the inhabitants are profoundly bored. It is a tale of courage, integrity, and God's grace reaching the most unlikely place. Also a film.
3. G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy. A very funny, but superb account of why the author is a believer. I think it best of its kind in the 20th century, including C.S. Lewis on the same theme. It was written in 1909 and has never gone out of print
4. Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers A communist defector who made his name with an account of the disillusionment of idealists in his novel, Darkness at Noon, Koestler was interested in the significance of science for human values and religion all his life. The Sleepwalkers is an excellent history of science and its impact that is nearly as readable as a novel. The alleged incompatibility of science and religion is thoroughly unmasked as largely the creation of politically motivated intellectuals, not scientists.
5. Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker. a great non-technical introduction to theology with considerable freshness by a mystery story writer who is one of the finest stylists of all times.
6 and 7. Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity and Works of Love. Of Kierkegaard's works among the most accessible to a non-specialist, and gives us the core of the Christian faith: the former is on the Incarnation, and the latter is on love of neighbor. Incredibly rich, even though harder work than all the forgoing books mentioned.
8. Michael Foster, Mystery and Philosophy Hard going, except for those who have studied a bit of philosophy in college. It is very short (less than a hundred pages) and was a series of public lectures. It is a great statement on the nature of revelation - of how we can know God - who is beyond the power of the human mind to comprehend. An old teaching considered in the light of a major atheistic philosophic movement that dominated the middle fifty years of the last century.
9. Raymond Brown, An Introduction to New Testament Christology. Brown claims that the majority of New Testament scholars on the Gospels agree that there is an essential continuity between what Jesus did, said, and taught about himself and the Church's teaching.
10. Dante's Divine Comedy Use the Dorothy Sayer's translation (yes, her again) in paperback. Her translation is lively, and her much needed notes are beautifully written. You can learn an awful lot about the nature of sins, their harmful effects, and the glorious life that becomes available as we become relieved of the burden of evil.
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Allow me to add links to his own books as well. The one on Postmodernity is my favorite, followed by his most popular text Philosophy for Understanding Theology. Dr. Allen would claim that the reason why theology is so often impoverished today is because theologians have not had the training to learn philosophy. Because theology is the meeting point of Scripture and philosophy, if you don't know the latter your theology will be inevitably limited, or (as is usually the case) politicized towards the left or the right. On the other hand, Sprititual Theology is an attempt to combat the overly-academic nature of theology which must be linked to the spiritual life if it is to flourish.

The Ladies of Liturgy

So if you like reading about the personal journeys of young, sassy, literate, Manhattan-based female Episcopalians - you now have your choice. Chloe Breyer, or Lauren Winner. (These were written a few years ago in the B.M. era, thus my getting the word to you late.)

Breyer wrote about her first year at General Theological Seminary. Winner wrote about her conversion from orthodox Judaism as a grad student at Columbia.

What's with all the "intelligent" Christians? What ever happened to the assenting masses?

"Even as regards those truths about God which human reason can investigate, it was necessary that we be taught by a divine revelation. For the truth about God, such as reason can know it, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors." - Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 1:1

Well, I guess they're not so much investigating the inscrutable as recording a personal journey, so it must be okay. But I couldn't pass up a good chance for an Aquinas quote to make me look like an "intelligent" Christian... it's all the rage. Get converted, get smart, get a blog or a book-deal... and you're in! Lose the sin, keep the sass.

By the way, between the two I recommend Lauren Winner, whose new book seems it may help Christian/Jewish relations which could perhaps use a boost.