Unglued

I’ve subscribed to the magazine Paste for the past year, but I will not be renewing the subscription. There were things I liked about getting the magazine in my mailbox every month. The CD sampler that came with every issue was always worth listening to, and in a few cases I learned the hard way that the magazine put the very best (or perhaps the only good) track from a recently released album on each sampler. This has nothing to do with why I’m letting my subscription expire. I’m letting it expire because of the magazine’s billing – not the cost of the magazine – but how it describes itself as “signs of life in music, film & culture.”

If “signs of life in music and film” means positioning the magazine to be the indie version of Rolling Stones then congratulations are in order. If “signs of life in culture” is a way of saying “we also review video games” then mission accomplished, baby! But I expect more, much more from a magazine with such a promising and hopeful tagline. Sadly, the magazine just trades in hero-worship of Britney and Madonna for the likes of Neko Case and Cat Powers. It blindly raves over Wes Anderson films in lieu of Jerry Bruckheimer blockbusters. Now I’m a big fan of “The Covers Record” and Rushmore so I like the idea of a magazine which features this side of the music and film industry, but Paste really doesn’t offer anything more than a platform for the popular for being odd and obscure to market itself to people who don’t like swimming in the mainstream.

Recording on an independent label does not make a musician’s work refreshing or redemptive; it just means the artist has chosen (or was forced to choose) a different route. Justifying reviews of video games because they are an art form – do we even have to go there? Maybe I could buy into this logic if the magazine didn’t regularly review video games that glamorize the carnage of war. After all, nothing says “signs of life” like “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures!”

Fortunately there are alternatives to Paste. NPR’s podcasts of “All Songs Considered” canvasses the music scene and host Bob Boilen always provides the proper ratio of introduction and review to actual song content. And Brent Thomas now offers several episodes of his podcast “the Habañero Hour,” which features Christian music that isn’t content to simply pattern itself after the Top 40. Recently my friend Scott began a new blog which is really a forum for several friends to recommend music and movies we’ve enjoyed. While I don’t expect Scott, Tim or any of my other friends to say something really earth-shattering about Scarlett Johansson covering Tom Waits (see the June 08 issue of Paste), I’m optimistic that even as I become unglued I will still manage to find true signs of life in the culture.

Paging All Complementarians - Hello is anyone out there? Hello...

Supposedly all Conservative Evangelicals are ecstatic over the addition of Palin to the McCain ticket. I don't buy it. I think that the "leaders" of Conservative Evangelicals were looking for anything that would give them an excuse to run arms wide open back to the GOP after they got to air their grievances about the not-so Conservative McCain. These leaders have chosen party politics over what should be one of their most significant issues: the family.

Check out Cindy McCain's egalitarian response to a question on "the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" about Palin's ability to be both mom and veep:

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:
“As a mother who has raised four children yourself, do you think it’s appropriate for questions to be asked about how she’s going to manage the vice presidency, potentially the presidency in an unforeseen circumstance, while she has a large number of children, five children, an infant with special needs and a daughter who is pregnant?”

Cindy McCain’s response:
“These questions would not be being asked if she were a man, and quite frankly I’m insulted by it. I’m insulted by anyone that would assume that just because a woman has children she can’t do her job. She not only can do her job, but she brings with her a different kind of perspective. A mother with a special needs infant – that absolutely brings a different perspective to this whole discussion about human rights and the rights of others who are less fortunate. She also brings with us, you know a mother of a large family who has done all that she has done and has done it really well, myself being a mother of a lot of kids, running a business, working with my husband, doing the non-profit charity stuff, all women know that we can do it, we can do it really well and the more you give us the better we are.”

Dear Lou (part one)

Lou Dobbs wrote “A Call to the Faithful” recently and I’m pretty sure that he considers himself to be addressing religious Americans and Evangelicals in particular. So in the next two posts I take it upon myself to respond. Disclaimer: Please note - even though I may use the third person pronoun “we” repeatedly, I know that I can’t possibly speak for all of the faithful. If you think I get a few things (or everything) wrong feel free to let me know.


Dear Lou,

I’ve only watched your show a handful of times, but I did get your letter. It seems you aren’t too crazy about Christians in the public square. I can’t say I agree with you there, it is after all public, and, you can’t expect us to leave God out since we the faithful are after all faithful.
Truly, I don’t think your spat is with most of us, but really it’s more about Jim Wallis, who is speaking out against your stance on illegal immigration.
Come on Lou, this is really much to do about nothing. First of all, why wouldn’t Jim choose Jesus over you? We all want to choose Jesus over you. Shoot Lou, I want my wife to choose Jesus over me. I sin and He never has or will, He died for her sins and I didn’t, and He’s Lord and I’m not. It really is that simple.
Second, I find it very interesting that you make an appeal to Scripture even after you get all worked up about we the faithful encroaching on the state with our beliefs. So which is it Lou? Is it okay for us to look to the Bible to understand God and the world He created or isn’t it? I think by your own admission, you know it is perfectly legitimate for us to enter into these kinds of dialogues, but regardless of what you think we the faithful will continue to attempt faithfulness to God in all avenues of life.
Third, I think you got it right. This is something we the faithful like to consider part of “common grace.” In Abraham Kuyper’s important book, Lectures on Calvinism, he writes:

The highest duty of the government remains therefore unchangeably that of justice, and in the second place it has to care for the people as a unit, partly at home, in order that its unity may grow even deeper and may not be disturbed, and partly abroad, lest the national existence suffer harm.”

Now Lou, we know you’re a smart guy and you’ve pointed out that the issues in regard to illegal immigration involve both justice and the safety of U.S. citizens, what you may not know is that it is precisely because of Romans 13 that Kuyper writes in this manner. So read more Kuyper and less Wallis and you may find out that even though Kuyper would choose Jesus over you there’s still a lot of common ground.

Respectfully,

We the Faithful

Dear Lou (part two)

Dear Lou,

Again, thanks for the call. We addressed the true subject of your letter, your anger at Jim Wallis for countering your crusade against illegal immigration, so let’s talk about the smoke and mirrors part of your letter.
First of all, why go after Jim Dobson? You can’t be serious! We the faithful are grateful for the attention he’s given the family over the years, but the man is wildly off his rocker these days, and we would appreciate it if you ignore most of what he says. The latest flap about him endorsing Newt Gingrich over Fred Thompson is just the latest example. We the faithful would rather recite the prose of T.S. Eliot, who said: “It must be clear that I do not mean by a Christian State one in which the rulers are chosen because of their qualifications, still less their eminence, as Christians”, than listen to Dobson off topic.
Now about the infamous Land Letter. Yes, it is possible to justify superficially the advent of many wars via the manipulation of Augustine’s Just War Theory. The Land Letter should remind us of the dangers of trusting neoconservatives disguised as preachers. I can’t help but nod in agreement with Bill Kauffman when he writes, “the soft young men in three-piece suits who write their little pamphlets proving that whatever slaughter our government is currently engaged in is a ‘just war’ should be laughed back to the seminaries they quit,” but let’s not use Land (or those “soft young men”) as the straw to reduce JWT to hay. It should be noted that Augustine’s principles for what qualifies military action as either just or unjust stands in line with what we agreed was the highest duty of government: “that of justice.”
So Lou, we (the faithful) plead with you, don’t confuse the loudest guys in the room for speaking for the rest of us. You’ve probably heard by now that one of the signers of the Land Letter, D. James Kennedy, closed the doors to his Washington office on the same day you sent your letter to us. You might consider that a personal triumph – fewer Christians in Washington, hooray! But there are quite a few of us who are glad he’s not on K Street or M Street misrepresenting us and confusing the roles of the church and the state. We believe that God has given both the church and the state to man, and, both possess distinct purposes as determined by the same God who created and sustains them. We also believe that we need to continue to seek God because as sinners, even we the faithful lose sight of God’s priorities and the justice that can only be defined because God has established it. In spite of the fact that we get it wrong sometimes, we will not disengage from the public square, because the square only exists because the God who put the stars in place has shown us in His Word what the He requires of us and it is “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with… God” (Micah 6:8).

See you around,

We the Faithful

Virginia Tech and the Streets of Laredo

“But please not one word of the man who had killed me.
Don't mention his name and his name will pass on."

NPR ran a short story this morning regarding how the media has not consistently reported the name of the Virginia Tech terrorist.



I don’t care how his name is pronounced. The word order of his name is of no use to me. I don’t want to read his writings or watch his videos.

The people who were murdered are the names that reporters should make sure they pronounce correctly and consistently. Instead of figuring out the killer’s name or trying to understand what was going on in his head, go to this NPR story which reflects on the lives of this tragedy’s victims.

Confessions of a Book Addict

Sometimes I hold my breath right before I walk into a bookstore so that first inhale of pulp-filled air is fully appreciated.

Going to a friend's to watch TV? Yeah I got a book for that, it's called one I've already read and underlined extensively so that I can brush up on the finer points.

I read at stop lights.

My idea of being social is sitting at a table with others while reading.

Hello, I'm Sean Dennis and I'm addicted to books.

So here's my biggest problem: I can't recommend a book for you. There are a number of good books I've read so far this year that I would love to tell you to read, but I can't do it. I could play it safe and only endorse the books that are of the evangelical theological persuasion, but it seems a shame that we can't talk about the books that have really forced me to think. It's one thing to read Francis Schaeffer (and if you haven't you should - consider that a recommendation) and say "isn't the Christian worldview great!" It's another thing to read a book by a non-Christian and think like Schaeffer about the worldview it presents and critique it from the perspective of Schaeffer's understanding of God, man, and the world.

But suggesting a book to read isn't exactly like suggesting a movie title at Blockbuster (trust me I wore the shirt and shirked the responsibility of trying to do away with brick and mortar stores by pressing customers to sign up for the online movie pass). Most books worth reading take the investment of time to read and think on. I can't suggest a title because I don't know what your time is worth. Although I will say if you're watching "Deal or No Deal" and "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" every night then you can afford to read anything.

I can recommend one book for you, but the book you should read, How to Read Slowly, is written by a kindred spirit. In chapter six, "A Time to Read: Knowing What to Read and When," James Sire writes,

You see, I have a problem. I read too much. I pay attention to plot, image, character and theme when I should be paying attention to wife, sons and daughters, the peeling house paint and the leaking toilet tank. Actually, I need advice about how to spend time not reading. So perhaps I'm not qualified to advise others.

So I'd like to thank my brother for noticing my leaky toliet and fixing it for me, thus allowing me more time to read, and even though I can't recommmend any books (other than Schaeffer and Sire - who really provide primers for reading the works of others), I do have some suggestions:

1. Go to the jungle, but don't spend your money there.
I use Amazon all the time to look up titles, and I'm constantly updating my wish-list for family who know that the only thing I want for Christmas is a couple of books, but I don't buy from Amazon because it's just bad economics.

2. Get to know your local independent bookseller.
It's not only good for your local economy to buy from a neighbor instead of an online business, but chances are that guy behind the counter is just waiting to engage someone in a conversation about good books. Since you've already read Schaeffer and Sire, you can present your understanding of any book from a consistent Christian perspective which hopefully will be a chance to bring the gospel into everyday conversation.

3. Support your local library.
Keep that book an extra day or two and be sure to pay the applicable fines. I'm willing to bet that the library in your town is full of "out-dated" books (I prefer the term "classics"). Sure Mitch Albom may be all the talk in your suburban Starbucks but his mush pales in comparison to the great works that are just collecting dust on a shelf downtown.

4. Tolle lege!

The vindication of the pater familias

In birding-speak, my dad is a life-lister. I am not. I do not compile my sporadic lists into one master list of all birds previously encountered, because as an amateur (read: lover of) I find it more enjoyable to take in each sighting without frantically looking to see if a lifeless list gets a new check mark on it.

My dad, the life-lister, is always on the hunt for a strange bird. Our birding excursions sometimes go like this:

“Look it’s the extremely rare…”
“No dad, it’s a Red-tailed Hawk.”

“Hey, I think that duck over there isn’t on my list.”
“Really, you don’t have a Mallard on your life-list?”
“You think that’s a Mallard?”
“Yes dad, it most certainly is a Mallard.”

You can call me a sour grape if you want, but I don’t discriminate. My binoculars give equal time to the Red-tailed and the Ferruginous Hawk.

So it’s probably a good thing I wasn’t with my dad at our home church in Michigan this weekend when he spotted a Mountain Bluebird, a bird that should not be in Clyde Township or anywhere in the Great Lakes State for that matter (we may have trash heaps from Canada, but we don’t have mountains).

I can hear myself saying, “No, dad it’s some kind of warbler that you can’t make out from here.”

The female Mountain Bluebird has stuck around and birders (armed with life-lists, no doubt) are traveling from all over the state and as far away as Minnesota to catch a glimpse.

Congratulations on the sighting, dad! I promise to cut you some slack the next time we go out together.

(picture taken by Scott Jennex)

Saying goodbye to our old Kentucky home

The rarely updated and seldom read Evangelical Free Market is getting a new home. No we aren't switching to a new website, we're moving to Tennessee (more on that later).

Even if it's front porch isn't big enough to congregate on, the little Cape Cod on Lancashire has been a great home. We'll miss the aroma of Krispy Kreme and Tai Siam in the backyard while throwing a golf ball for Seamus. It will also be hard to come to terms with the reality that our days of walking to Heine Brothers Coffee at the Loop, the Highlands farmers' market, ear-X-tacy, and other original Bardstown Road establishments are drawing to a close. Most of all, we're grateful for the opportunities we've had to enjoy the company of friends and family whether it's meant a kitchen, living room, den, and backyard full of people or just time well spent with one or two guests. Thanks to all who shared life together with us in this place.