Next summer: The Cosmic Dance

Several years ago I read Gregory Boyd’s (and Edward Boyd’s) Letters From a Skeptic, and since then I’ve given out many copies of the book to friends and acquaintances who have questions about Christianity, or know someone who does. The book consists of correspondence between Gregory (a theology professor) and his father, Edward, who is a non-believer. It’s a great, non-threatening book for anyone to read, as nearly everyone will agree with at least one of the authors.

But, that’s all I’ve ever read of Gregory Boyd, until yesterday when I followed some links that let me to his blog, and from there to the Christus Victor Ministries page. Boyd is now Senior Pastor of some large church machine in St. Paul, MN. I’m not a megachurch fan, but as I read through his church’s website, I kind of liked it. Okay, enough background plugs.

Now, this upcoming book by Boyd & friends looks really interesting:

The Cosmic Dance

The site gives a brief explanation of the book as well a few sample pages. As I read through the short blurb about the book, which won’t be released for another year, it made me want to be one of Greg Boyd’s friends. Put this down on your calendar for next summer.

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Darwin or Design?

The blog world is all aflutter about the new audiobook Darwin or Design? by Jason Rennie. The book is available for download free (or a higher-quality version at a modest price).

The book features interviews with evolutionists such as P.Z. Myers, Sean Carroll, and Nick Matzke and ID proponents such as Mike Behe, Guillermo Gonzalez, and Mike Gene, and attempts to provide a fair and balanced look at the ID issue. The book also includes interviews with sci-fi author Robert Sawyer (Calculating God, a very interesting read) and journalist Denyse O’Leary (one of my favorite bloggers). The full list of chapters and guests can be found here.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of it yet, but the initial reviews have been positive. For anyone interested in the ID controversy, this sounds like a great deal (and hey, it’s free!).

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt, Reviews | 1 Comment

Worship in the key of C minus

First off, I have to admit that my title is not original. In fact, it’s pretty much a rip off from a post over at the Mere Comments blog, entitled Flatter the Emperor, Pander to the Crowd:

This post is dedicated to all you long-suffering parishioners out there who have to endure weekly services interrupted by showboating and shimmying choirs, singing music written in the key of C minus (that is no typo!) to lyrics that Ogden Nash would have been embarrassed to sign his name to.

(I happen to think Ogden Nash was brilliant, by the way.)

In the post, Anthony Esolen lists 6 traits that he sees as common to the great periods of artistic growth, then compares them to what he calls a “decadent age:”

By contrast, you can tell a decadent age by a shift from popular culture to mass entertainment, the loss of a canon of revered and universally understandable art, the decline in standards of education, the decline of crafts and trades, the abolition of separate “laboratories” or their absorption under a single jurisdiction (for instance, the expunging of the local element from all of our public schools), and the curtailing of political freedom, or the loss of material prosperity.

He then points out that the only exception our current liturgical composers (liturgical, I’m assuming, is used very loosely) have with the other decadent ages is the “loss of material prosperity.”

It is, I believe, a point well-made. I’ve said somewhat the same thing, only not nearly as well. Our contemporary pop theology, praxis and hymnody largely ignores both the historical Church and any sense of excellence. (It just makes you want to go to church, doesn’t it?)

Drift on over to Mere Comments and read the balance of the post, and see if you agree.

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A convenient myth

I’ve purposely avoided jumping into the global warming – oh, excuse me, global climate change – issue, as it’s just one more distraction. But, the mentality of the global warming crowd is so similar to that of the non-design evolutionists that it is worth at least mentioning. Note that the phrase “global warming” seems to have fallen into disuse, as not everyplace is warming. But, let’s ignore that for the moment (why be different?) By most accounts, the Live Earth thing was somewhat of a bust. Especially if you’re really an environmentalist. The figures I heard were that a quarter of a million tons of pollutants were created at the events, and that no money was raised. Apparently it wasn’t about money, it was about “raising awareness.” Tell me, is there anyone in the industrialized world who isn’t aware of global warming – ahem, climate change – by now?

Personally, I think the most socially important aspect of the event was the Spinal Tap reunion – “We’re premiering our new song called ‘Warmer than Hell’, which takes the view of the devil coming to Britain and remarking on how warm it is.” I also appreciated Chris Rock’s sentiment, “I pray that this event ends global warming the same way that Live Aid ended world hunger.”

Bobby Kennedy Jr. apparently came clean with the real point of at least his interest in the event:

Now you’ve heard today a lot of people say that there are many little things that you all can do today to avert climate change on your own. But I will tell you this, it is more important than buying compact flourescent light bulbs or than buying a fuel efficient automobile. The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all of these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D.C. — who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

So, it is a political issue, after all.

Here’s the deal: no one knows if global warming is happening. Or global cooling, for that matter (It was noted that Sydney, which hosted one of the events, has had the coolest June in 50 years). Or, if it’s unusual, or simply cyclical. The projections we have are based on computer models, that I understand create their own data. And, more recent projections show much less of an impact than originally thought. There’s some indication that the environment may in fact be returning to a more globally beneficial climate, that would bring an end to some chronic drought areas, resulting in more food, less hunger, and so on.

But, it seems that the facts are inconvenient, as Al Gore suggests. Only the real inconvenient truths were the ones left out of Gore’s movie, and were no where to be found at Live Earth.

Don’t get me wrong – I am all in favor of being environmentally responsible. As a Christian, I believe that it is sinful to destroy the planet that God gave us. Let’s clean up the rivers, our food sources, and the air. Let’s continue to require pollution standards, globally. But let’s try to be honest, and quit using issues like this as a mask for other agendas.

Posted in Politics/Current Events | 1 Comment