One of my favorite authors is Anne Fadiman. Formerly editor of Civilization and American Scholar, Fadiman came on my radar screen with her fabulous book of familiar essays on books and reading called Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. When she talked about her various book fetishes, and especially her detestation for those who mark their place in a book by flipping the book over in such a way that could potentially crack the spine--well, suffice it to say that I had a major crush on her. My wife knows that I secretly gave our daughter the middle name "Anne" to honor Anne Fadiman (and also Anne of Green Gables, but that is a different post). Because of my crush on Anne, I bought every issue of American Scholar in which her column, "At Large and At Small," appeared. Although she was forced out at the Scholar as editor, thankfully her essays have been collected and published as At Large and At Small. Once again, Fadiman demonstrates that she is the Queen of the Familiar Essay and friend of all those who enjoy the polite conversation of that form.
And so, she points the "gentle reader" to the biography of the perfecter of the familiar essay form, Charles Lamb ("The Unfuzzy Lamb"); to the champion of 19th century Romanticism and his penchant for running away ("Coleridge the Runaway"); and to her own history and biography as it merges in her passions for "collecting nature," "ice cream," and "coffee" (each with a laugh out-loud moment). But there are very thoughtful essays her as well, especially her reflections on the culture wars ("Procrustes and the Culture Wars") and on patriotism post-9/11 ("A Piece of Cotton").
These are essays to cherish not only because of the content, but because of the graciousness of form and style. I can almost imagine myself sitting across the table from her, sipping on a grande pumpkin spice latte, engaging in humorous and thoughtful dialogue (at least on her part). And in some regard, the best essay writers are able to engage in a dialogue with their readers in such a way that they take the common places of life and point them to something more. That is why they become such friends and why I return to Anne Fadiman's books again and again.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
El Hombre, no. 2
[For El Hombre, no. 1, see here]
For Cardinals fans, the season was not a complete loss (after all, the Cubs lost in the first round of the playoffs). In addition, Albert is collecting postseason awards: Sporting News' Player of the Year and MLBPA's NL Outstanding Player. Surely he is set up to win his second NL MVP this season.
For Cardinals fans, the season was not a complete loss (after all, the Cubs lost in the first round of the playoffs). In addition, Albert is collecting postseason awards: Sporting News' Player of the Year and MLBPA's NL Outstanding Player. Surely he is set up to win his second NL MVP this season.
Preaching what is true and precious
Wise words from John Piper:
A word to preachers. Truth and falsehood is a good pair of categories to use when deciding what to preach. Speak truth not falsehood.
But there is another crucial pair of categories. God tells Jeremiah that he must use this pair if he would be faithful: Therefore thus says the Lord: “...If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19)
In deciding what to preach make these two judgments: Is it true and is it precious? Preach what is both. If it is true, preach it with authority. If it is precious, preach it with passion.
One great reason why some preaching leaves people unmoved is that preachers seem unmoved. Is this precious or isn’t it? That is the question in the hearts of the people. If it is, why don’t you sound like it?
The great battle of preaching is to see what's true and to savor what's precious. Weak seeing and weak savoring are a curse to God’s people.
Brothers, plead for deliverance from this curse. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. They are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalms 19:9-10).
A word to preachers. Truth and falsehood is a good pair of categories to use when deciding what to preach. Speak truth not falsehood.
But there is another crucial pair of categories. God tells Jeremiah that he must use this pair if he would be faithful: Therefore thus says the Lord: “...If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19)
In deciding what to preach make these two judgments: Is it true and is it precious? Preach what is both. If it is true, preach it with authority. If it is precious, preach it with passion.
One great reason why some preaching leaves people unmoved is that preachers seem unmoved. Is this precious or isn’t it? That is the question in the hearts of the people. If it is, why don’t you sound like it?
The great battle of preaching is to see what's true and to savor what's precious. Weak seeing and weak savoring are a curse to God’s people.
Brothers, plead for deliverance from this curse. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. They are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalms 19:9-10).
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wendell Berry on the Web
For whatever reason, I've just now stumbled across Wendell's publisher website that has an excellent set of resources for his writing, especially a map of Port William and a genealogy of the town. These things were flyleaves for his recent books, but now you can print out PDF versions, which could save you having to flip back and forth to keep everything straight.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Bear Market
I'd be lying if I said I was unconcerned by the eight days (counting today) of major losses that the NYSE has absorbed. Each day, I get to work and have the NYSE website up following the market; each day, I see the Dow get hammered; and each day, I go home a bit depressed.
I'm not depressed for myself--I have hardly any stocks except in my 403(b) plan and I'm young enough that I would expect that these losses will be recouped down the road. But I think about all those who are hurting as a result of these losses--a friend whose wife's stock has dropped from $59 to $2; a family member who has to guide his organization through these difficult times; another family member who just retired and now is wondering whether he left too early. I think about our endowment and the endowments of other evangelical seminaries; I think about those saints in our congregations who support ministries through their stock dividends.
No doubt there are those whose lives are characterized by greed. But it is important to remember those people (and institutions) who have invested funds in the stock market as a way of supporting their families, funding their retirements, or even supporting their biblical and spiritual mission.
It is at these times that my heart and mind are pulled back to Psalm 62: "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us." I take my heart to God--he is a refuge and a rock, even in a world that seems like it is shaking. I can pour my heart out to him, because he hears in his strength and his might. And I find him to be salvation and glory, even when I find I must tighten my belt a bit. I wait for God in silence and hope that he will speak.
I'm not depressed for myself--I have hardly any stocks except in my 403(b) plan and I'm young enough that I would expect that these losses will be recouped down the road. But I think about all those who are hurting as a result of these losses--a friend whose wife's stock has dropped from $59 to $2; a family member who has to guide his organization through these difficult times; another family member who just retired and now is wondering whether he left too early. I think about our endowment and the endowments of other evangelical seminaries; I think about those saints in our congregations who support ministries through their stock dividends.
No doubt there are those whose lives are characterized by greed. But it is important to remember those people (and institutions) who have invested funds in the stock market as a way of supporting their families, funding their retirements, or even supporting their biblical and spiritual mission.
It is at these times that my heart and mind are pulled back to Psalm 62: "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us." I take my heart to God--he is a refuge and a rock, even in a world that seems like it is shaking. I can pour my heart out to him, because he hears in his strength and his might. And I find him to be salvation and glory, even when I find I must tighten my belt a bit. I wait for God in silence and hope that he will speak.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
The Green Bible
After the Baby Boomers
While American evangelical leaders pay attention to sociological data, they more typically read George Barna or Thom Rainer, church growth experts who utilize social trends to chart the way forward for churches. The person to whom these leaders should pay attention is Robert Wuthnow. The Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, Wuthnow has contributed seminal books that have set the conversation for understanding American religion, particularly The Restructuring of American Religion (1988). What sets him apart from both professional sociologists and evangelical church growth gurus is his coupling together of sociological rigor with a deep love for Christianity and the church.
This combination makes After the Baby Boomers important reading for all those who desire to reach and teach our current generation of young adults. Wuthnow suggested that most sociologists of religion as well as congregational leaders still remain overly focused on the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964), both as a subject of study as well as potential influence on American religion. Against this, he noted that the current generation of young adults (those born between 1965 and 1981) represent a significant share of the population and demand appropriate research that demonstrates continuities and discontinuities with the ways their parents approached Christianity.
As the major contribution to such research, Wuthnow observed that “the single word that best describes young adults’ approach to religion and spirituality—indeed life—is tinkering” (p. 13; emphasis his). This tinkering approach was clearest in the chapter on spirituality: there Wuthnow helpfully broke down the younger generation’s tendency both to “church shop” (which “involves tinkering with one’s religious loyalties by looking for a congregation to attend” and eventually join) and “church hop” (which “involves going from one congregation to another, rather than settling into a single congregation”; pp. 114-5). He suggested that this generation of young adults is more likely to shop for a church home or hop from church to church because of greater mobility, higher social class of parents, generally higher education levels than previous generations.
Young adults’ also seem to tinker with their beliefs. While opinion polls suggest that young adults are neither less orthodox nor more secular than previous generations, Wuthnow noticed that these young people are more likely to engage in “pick-and-choose orthodoxy” that suggests a hedging that allows them to honor traditional beliefs while making their way through the modern world. For example, an young adult may affirm both that the Bible is without error and literally true and that other religions provide pathways of salvation; or he or she may affirm both the biblical account of creation and scientific evolution without worrying about how to harmonize the two accounts.
All this raises the issue of choice, which is seen as an American cultural good and a key value for young adults. Empowered to make determinations about work, schooling, marriage, beliefs, and values in ways that are fairly unprecedented in world history, this generation of young people utilizes its power to choose in ways that are creative at times and banal at others. Creativity comes in approaches to belief: while a young person may be raised in a Christian congregation, he may couple Christianity with thoughts from the Qur’an, The Celestine Prophecy, New Age, and Buddhism (cf. pp. 113-4). On the other hand, it appears that young people value popular culture—and particular streams of it—as meaningful for their spiritual journeys. For example, one of the most important spiritual contexts for prayer or meditation, more important than reading the Bible, is listening to music. And the music these young people prefer is overwhelmingly contemporary pop or rock music; far from being musical omnivores, this generation speaks the language of (generally banal) pop music.
That said, surprisingly, this generation does not want contemporary Christian or gospel music in their worship services. While Baby Boomers overwhelmingly prefer that kind of music for worship, the younger generation does not. In fact, only 12 percent of those in their twenties whom Wuthnow surveyed said “they would like to see their congregation have a service featuring contemporary music” (p. 224). However, young adults see culture as providing important means for answering the deeper questions of life and desire their congregations to engage with contemporary music, movies, and the arts as important for spirituality.
In the end, the most important factor for involving young people in congregations resides with young people themselves: marriage and children. Wuthnow’s study showed the least represented age group within congregations to be twenty-somethings; these young people come back to the church in their thirties as they married and had children. However, Wuthnow pointed out that the thing that should give congregational leaders pause is that this generation is either marrying later and having children later or not even marrying or reproducing at all. In addition, this generation is even more committed than their parents to the type of lifestyle which demands two incomes in the household. As a result, churches must be creative in figuring out how to minister to single adults in their twenties while preparing to assist them as they marriage and have children in their thirties.
Often witty, always insightful, I found Wuthnow’s book a rich feast for thinking about the generation of students which I teach. But I also found it interesting to read about my own generation; as a Gen Xer (born 1970), it was fascinating to see attitudes which I shared as well as ways in which I differed. There were so many places that I said to myself, “Yes, he’s got that right.” As a result, those who care about this rising generation of young people cannot afford to miss this book.
This combination makes After the Baby Boomers important reading for all those who desire to reach and teach our current generation of young adults. Wuthnow suggested that most sociologists of religion as well as congregational leaders still remain overly focused on the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964), both as a subject of study as well as potential influence on American religion. Against this, he noted that the current generation of young adults (those born between 1965 and 1981) represent a significant share of the population and demand appropriate research that demonstrates continuities and discontinuities with the ways their parents approached Christianity.
As the major contribution to such research, Wuthnow observed that “the single word that best describes young adults’ approach to religion and spirituality—indeed life—is tinkering” (p. 13; emphasis his). This tinkering approach was clearest in the chapter on spirituality: there Wuthnow helpfully broke down the younger generation’s tendency both to “church shop” (which “involves tinkering with one’s religious loyalties by looking for a congregation to attend” and eventually join) and “church hop” (which “involves going from one congregation to another, rather than settling into a single congregation”; pp. 114-5). He suggested that this generation of young adults is more likely to shop for a church home or hop from church to church because of greater mobility, higher social class of parents, generally higher education levels than previous generations.
Young adults’ also seem to tinker with their beliefs. While opinion polls suggest that young adults are neither less orthodox nor more secular than previous generations, Wuthnow noticed that these young people are more likely to engage in “pick-and-choose orthodoxy” that suggests a hedging that allows them to honor traditional beliefs while making their way through the modern world. For example, an young adult may affirm both that the Bible is without error and literally true and that other religions provide pathways of salvation; or he or she may affirm both the biblical account of creation and scientific evolution without worrying about how to harmonize the two accounts.
All this raises the issue of choice, which is seen as an American cultural good and a key value for young adults. Empowered to make determinations about work, schooling, marriage, beliefs, and values in ways that are fairly unprecedented in world history, this generation of young people utilizes its power to choose in ways that are creative at times and banal at others. Creativity comes in approaches to belief: while a young person may be raised in a Christian congregation, he may couple Christianity with thoughts from the Qur’an, The Celestine Prophecy, New Age, and Buddhism (cf. pp. 113-4). On the other hand, it appears that young people value popular culture—and particular streams of it—as meaningful for their spiritual journeys. For example, one of the most important spiritual contexts for prayer or meditation, more important than reading the Bible, is listening to music. And the music these young people prefer is overwhelmingly contemporary pop or rock music; far from being musical omnivores, this generation speaks the language of (generally banal) pop music.
That said, surprisingly, this generation does not want contemporary Christian or gospel music in their worship services. While Baby Boomers overwhelmingly prefer that kind of music for worship, the younger generation does not. In fact, only 12 percent of those in their twenties whom Wuthnow surveyed said “they would like to see their congregation have a service featuring contemporary music” (p. 224). However, young adults see culture as providing important means for answering the deeper questions of life and desire their congregations to engage with contemporary music, movies, and the arts as important for spirituality.
In the end, the most important factor for involving young people in congregations resides with young people themselves: marriage and children. Wuthnow’s study showed the least represented age group within congregations to be twenty-somethings; these young people come back to the church in their thirties as they married and had children. However, Wuthnow pointed out that the thing that should give congregational leaders pause is that this generation is either marrying later and having children later or not even marrying or reproducing at all. In addition, this generation is even more committed than their parents to the type of lifestyle which demands two incomes in the household. As a result, churches must be creative in figuring out how to minister to single adults in their twenties while preparing to assist them as they marriage and have children in their thirties.
Often witty, always insightful, I found Wuthnow’s book a rich feast for thinking about the generation of students which I teach. But I also found it interesting to read about my own generation; as a Gen Xer (born 1970), it was fascinating to see attitudes which I shared as well as ways in which I differed. There were so many places that I said to myself, “Yes, he’s got that right.” As a result, those who care about this rising generation of young people cannot afford to miss this book.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
New Covenant Seminary websites
Today, we launched three new websites in place of our previous websites. We know have a new Covenant Seminary-specific website with new faculty pages; a redone "Worldwide Classroom" site (that replaces our Covenant Worldwide site); and a new Living Christ360 website, which is the media ministry of the Seminary with daily broadcasts and devotionals from Bryan Chapell. Obviously with any new website, we have some kinks to work out; still, they are wonderful upgrade over what we had previously.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
American Denominational History
Yesterday, in my mailbox, a copy of a new book arrived to which I contributed an essay, American Denominational History: Perspectives on the Past, Prospects for the Future, edited by Keith Harper (University of Alabama Press, 2008). These are mainly historiographical essays on denominational history that chart the past fifty years and propose new directions for the future:
- Catholic Distinctiveness and the Challenge of American Denominationalism by Amy Koehlinger
- New Directions on the Congregational Way by Margaret Bendroth
- Presbyterians in America: Denominational History and the Quest for Identity by Sean Michael Lucas (you can read this essay here, here, and here)
- From the Margin to the Middle to Somewhere In Between: An Overview of American Baptist Historiography by Keith Harper
- "Everything Arose Just as the Occasion Offered": Defining Methodist Identity through the History of Methodist Polity by Jennifer L. Woodruff Tait
- Black Protestantism: A Historiographical Appraisal by Paul Harvey
- Mormon Historiography by David J. Whittaker
- Interpreting American Pentecostal Origins: Retrospect and Prospect by Randall J. Stephens
- "We're All Evangelicals Now": The Existential and Backward Historiography of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism by Barry Hankins
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Seen on the web
This is a new semi-regular installment of things (TV voice, please) "SEEN...ON THE WEB":
Carl Trueman's brilliant piece on Machen's Christianity and Liberalism, especially the end: "Theological students should reach for Machen's little book every year to remind themselves that orthodoxy does not equate to obscurantism, but that there is something really at stake here in the struggle between orthodox, supernatural Christianity and everything else. Indeed, I would venture to say that this is the second most important book that theologians could ever read."
The online conversation over the Denenominational Renewal conference talks, which on the whole has been wonderfully civil thus far. Yours truly posted today in response to Jeremy Jones' thought-provoking piece on "Renewing Theology."
Carl Trueman's brilliant piece on Machen's Christianity and Liberalism, especially the end: "Theological students should reach for Machen's little book every year to remind themselves that orthodoxy does not equate to obscurantism, but that there is something really at stake here in the struggle between orthodox, supernatural Christianity and everything else. Indeed, I would venture to say that this is the second most important book that theologians could ever read."
The online conversation over the Denenominational Renewal conference talks, which on the whole has been wonderfully civil thus far. Yours truly posted today in response to Jeremy Jones' thought-provoking piece on "Renewing Theology."
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Culture Making
A couple of days ago, I had some time to read on a flight to Philadelphia, and so was able finally to finish Andy Crouch's new book, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling. I have to admit that the pre-pub buzz around the book didn't make me very hopeful; as I've noted before on this blog, I'm a bit of a contrarian when it comes to various cultural phenomenon. If people tell me that something is a must-read, I tend to be a bit skeptical.
That said, I was pleasantly blown-away by Crouch's book. Several quick thoughts:
Divided in three major sections (Culture, Gospel, and Calling), he covers all the major ground in ways that surprise and often delight. For example, his working definition of culture ("culture is what we make of the world" p. 23) is helpfully teased throughout the book, especially in the "Gospel" section where he provided a biblical-theological telling of culture.
Not only this, but it strikes me that seeing culture as a human artifact coheres nicely with anthropological and various theological understandings of culture (thinking of Clifford Geertz and H. Richard Niebuhr). Thankfully, Niebuhr's taxonomy doesn't appear in the book until the book is 2/3rds through; this has the salutary effect of actually doing "new" and helpful work on the issue outside of the conventional wrestling with the classic taxonomy.
I loved the approach of talking about "postures" and "gestures" toward culture. To me, this seems to incorporate George Marsden's observation (to which more people need to pay attention) that the Niebuhrian taxonomy is limited because the various "Christ v. culture" approaches can actually occur at the same time. Crouch recognizes this when he talks about postures as our "learned but unconscious default position" and gestures as an appropriate move or response toward particular opportunities and/or challenges. And so, condemning, critiquing, copying, or consuming culture can all be appropriate gestures or even postures depending on circumstance and the cultural good considered.
One of the best sections on the book was the chapter on "power." So many unconsciously imbibe the postmodern critique of power without recognizing the reality of power and authority when it comes to culture. Not only does Crouch defend well cultural power as a "good," granted by God, but also suggests a Christian approach to the use of power, namely service. Helpfully juxtaposing Princess Diana and Mother Teresa as types of power, I found this to be an extremely helpful and important chapter.
One last thing to praise was the chaste humility of the book. The chapter, "why we can't change the world," was exactly the right tonic for so much of evangelical (and Reformed/Kuyperian) cultural transformation rhetoric. Rather, God is the one who is transforming culture; that is his mission, not ours. [One place that is starred in my copy: "Beware of world changers--they have not yet learned the true meaning of sin" p. 200] God's call to us is to pay attention to what the Maker of the world is doing in his world and to join in his culture making. While some may find this chapter deflating, it was actually quite encouraging to me--I could never figure out how to change the world anyway.
All to say, Culture Making probably is one of those rare must-read books that comes along every so often. A book of rare learning, helpful and accessible synthesis, and godly humility, it might actually change the evangelical culture on how to make and engage culture. If so, all I can say is thanks be to God.
That said, I was pleasantly blown-away by Crouch's book. Several quick thoughts:
Divided in three major sections (Culture, Gospel, and Calling), he covers all the major ground in ways that surprise and often delight. For example, his working definition of culture ("culture is what we make of the world" p. 23) is helpfully teased throughout the book, especially in the "Gospel" section where he provided a biblical-theological telling of culture.
Not only this, but it strikes me that seeing culture as a human artifact coheres nicely with anthropological and various theological understandings of culture (thinking of Clifford Geertz and H. Richard Niebuhr). Thankfully, Niebuhr's taxonomy doesn't appear in the book until the book is 2/3rds through; this has the salutary effect of actually doing "new" and helpful work on the issue outside of the conventional wrestling with the classic taxonomy.
I loved the approach of talking about "postures" and "gestures" toward culture. To me, this seems to incorporate George Marsden's observation (to which more people need to pay attention) that the Niebuhrian taxonomy is limited because the various "Christ v. culture" approaches can actually occur at the same time. Crouch recognizes this when he talks about postures as our "learned but unconscious default position" and gestures as an appropriate move or response toward particular opportunities and/or challenges. And so, condemning, critiquing, copying, or consuming culture can all be appropriate gestures or even postures depending on circumstance and the cultural good considered.
One of the best sections on the book was the chapter on "power." So many unconsciously imbibe the postmodern critique of power without recognizing the reality of power and authority when it comes to culture. Not only does Crouch defend well cultural power as a "good," granted by God, but also suggests a Christian approach to the use of power, namely service. Helpfully juxtaposing Princess Diana and Mother Teresa as types of power, I found this to be an extremely helpful and important chapter.
One last thing to praise was the chaste humility of the book. The chapter, "why we can't change the world," was exactly the right tonic for so much of evangelical (and Reformed/Kuyperian) cultural transformation rhetoric. Rather, God is the one who is transforming culture; that is his mission, not ours. [One place that is starred in my copy: "Beware of world changers--they have not yet learned the true meaning of sin" p. 200] God's call to us is to pay attention to what the Maker of the world is doing in his world and to join in his culture making. While some may find this chapter deflating, it was actually quite encouraging to me--I could never figure out how to change the world anyway.
All to say, Culture Making probably is one of those rare must-read books that comes along every so often. A book of rare learning, helpful and accessible synthesis, and godly humility, it might actually change the evangelical culture on how to make and engage culture. If so, all I can say is thanks be to God.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Rock n' Roll and Redemption
In yet another book that attempts to find all the redemption offered beneath a dirty hood, here is a new book on The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen (somewhere my dad is groaning). Although I'm not sure how much a Unitarian Universalist minister-author really gets "the Gospel," these ten themes look intriguing enough to make me buy the book. I've done a talk on a similar topic, "A Reason to Believe: Spiritual Longing in the Music of Bruce Springsteen," so I think there is something to do this. Suffice it to say, I'm intrigued.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Keller and Edwards
If one needed more proof that Tim Keller has undeniable links with Jonathan Edwards, (try to) read his sermon notes here. Trying to discipher this reminded me of many hours trying to figure out JE's abbreviations and other preaching "symbols." (to put it kindly).
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Observations from the BMW Champsionship, no. 2
Some observations from being at the BMW Championship yesterday:
Cool: old skinny guys wearing slouch hats with logos from tournaments thirty years ago; players who are willing to sign autographs during practice rounds; people who know who Bubba Watson is (unlike the guy I was sitting next to on the second hole); BMW owners (they get to park very close to the entrance); tournament planners (the first thing you walk into past the entrance is the merchandise tent--cha-ching).
Drool: tee-shirts; untucked shirts (this is a golf tournanment; tuck your shirt in and wear a belt); people who don't know anything about golf (I think it should be a requirement for people to know the four most recent major winners to go to a golf tournament); people who press up against the lines while sitting on the fairway so that you can see the tee box.
Cool: old skinny guys wearing slouch hats with logos from tournaments thirty years ago; players who are willing to sign autographs during practice rounds; people who know who Bubba Watson is (unlike the guy I was sitting next to on the second hole); BMW owners (they get to park very close to the entrance); tournament planners (the first thing you walk into past the entrance is the merchandise tent--cha-ching).
Drool: tee-shirts; untucked shirts (this is a golf tournanment; tuck your shirt in and wear a belt); people who don't know anything about golf (I think it should be a requirement for people to know the four most recent major winners to go to a golf tournament); people who press up against the lines while sitting on the fairway so that you can see the tee box.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Observations from the BMW Champsionship, no. 1
Instead of buying Cardinals tickets this year, I dumped the whole amount into buying a week pass to the BMW Championship, which is being played in St. Louis this year. For those of you who follow golf, you know that the BMW is the renamed Western Open, which had been played in Chicago from 1962 to 2007. Now, it is a rotating tournament, moving between Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis.
I thought that buying the tickets was a no-brainer. They were allowing juniors to go free with a paying adult and this would be our big chance to see Tiger Woods (I followed Tiger and Jack at Jack's last PGA Championship in 2000 at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky). Well, obviously, following Tiger is not possible this year.
And it struck me that if Tim Finchem (commissioner of the PGA Tour) wanted to know what life would be like in professional golf without Tiger Woods, he is discovering it right now. Once Tiger had surgery on his knee in the days after his ridiculous victory at the US Open, it sucked the life out of the golf season. And it sucked the life out of important tournaments like the BMW Championship.
I mean, this should be important--the third of four playoff tournaments for the FedEx Cup with $10 million in the balance, tickets should have continued to sell, buzz should still have been generated, etc. But wandering around the golf course today, I was struck by how few people there really were there for a practice round and how little buzz there was on the course. Granted, the Deutsche Bank Championship just got done last night; the players arrived last night and this morning; and perhaps over the weekend, people will get into it. And granted, it is not fair to compare this to a major championship--I went to the Monday practice round for the 2000 PGA and the excitement was palpable.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder if Tiger were coming, whether it would have been different. I think it would have been: St. Louis has never seen Tiger up-close and personal (we would have in 2001, but the AmEx Championship was canceled because of 9/11). We would have gone crazy with Tigermania. There would have been 40,000 tickets sold (as opposed to 25,000) and people would have wanted to be there, even for a practice round.
Instead, it felt less like an important tournament and more like a side tour stop, less playoff and more John Deere Classic. It is a shame, really. I'll still be going to as many tournament rounds as possible. But it would have been great for St. Louis golf if it had been what we thought it was going to be.
I thought that buying the tickets was a no-brainer. They were allowing juniors to go free with a paying adult and this would be our big chance to see Tiger Woods (I followed Tiger and Jack at Jack's last PGA Championship in 2000 at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky). Well, obviously, following Tiger is not possible this year.
And it struck me that if Tim Finchem (commissioner of the PGA Tour) wanted to know what life would be like in professional golf without Tiger Woods, he is discovering it right now. Once Tiger had surgery on his knee in the days after his ridiculous victory at the US Open, it sucked the life out of the golf season. And it sucked the life out of important tournaments like the BMW Championship.
I mean, this should be important--the third of four playoff tournaments for the FedEx Cup with $10 million in the balance, tickets should have continued to sell, buzz should still have been generated, etc. But wandering around the golf course today, I was struck by how few people there really were there for a practice round and how little buzz there was on the course. Granted, the Deutsche Bank Championship just got done last night; the players arrived last night and this morning; and perhaps over the weekend, people will get into it. And granted, it is not fair to compare this to a major championship--I went to the Monday practice round for the 2000 PGA and the excitement was palpable.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder if Tiger were coming, whether it would have been different. I think it would have been: St. Louis has never seen Tiger up-close and personal (we would have in 2001, but the AmEx Championship was canceled because of 9/11). We would have gone crazy with Tigermania. There would have been 40,000 tickets sold (as opposed to 25,000) and people would have wanted to be there, even for a practice round.
Instead, it felt less like an important tournament and more like a side tour stop, less playoff and more John Deere Classic. It is a shame, really. I'll still be going to as many tournament rounds as possible. But it would have been great for St. Louis golf if it had been what we thought it was going to be.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
PTI
My favorite program, Pardon the Interruption (PTI), is always better when both Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon are present. They were very funny today...
The Surprising Work of God
Over vacation, one of the books I finished was Garth Rosell's new book, The Surprising Work of God. Rosell, former director of the Ockenga Institute at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, uses the relationship between Harold John Ockenga and Billy Graham as a lens through which to understand modern evangelicalism. Suggesting that the period right around 1950 was crucial for contemporary evangelicals, Rosell explores some of the forgotten names and personalities of the period.
This book has some real strengths and stunning disappointments. For the strengths: 1) Ockenga deserved a book like this; a fascinating figure, the book reads like a biography for the first hundred pages. Rosell clearly has mined the riches of the Ockenga personal papers in order to present a compelling picture of this quintisential evangelical. 2) The focus on the 1950 Boston Crusade provided an interesting lens on Graham's ministry. My only regret here was that Rosell doesn't appear to have interacted with Peggy Bendroth's brilliant Fundamentalists in the City, which closes with the Graham campaign.
But the disappointments, candidly, outweighed the strengths. 1) There was a bit of distracting filler in the book: the lengthy introduction to historic evangelicalism (pp. 22-35) and the discourse on Charles Finney's contribution to education (pp. 189-95) serve as examples of material that a good editor should have removed. 2) Even more, while the 1950 Boston meetings were interesting, it wasn't clear that Rosell made the case that these meetings launched a worldwide movement. If anything, one could make that case for Graham's 1954 Harringay meetings or the 1945 Youth for Christ meetings in Chicago or a range of other important crusades.
3) Yet more, the book felt like it lost focus. While the main focus was Ockenga, the book spends the last three chapters outlining his vision for evangelicalism (Reclaiming the Culture; Renewing the Mind; Reaching the World); and then, it just stops. We go from the late 1950s to his death and the book is over. No mention, really, of the Fuller years (so interestingly covered by George Marsden in Reforming Fundamentalism that my wife actually read the book); no mention of Ockenga's presidency at Gordon-Conwell; no mention of Park Street's continued pulpit ministry in the 1950s and 1960s. The book just ends.
And that seems like the missed opportunity of this book. While Rosell could have painted a compelling picture of evangelicalism through the ministry of Harold John Ockenga, for whatever reason, the book's thesis became divided and ultimately lost. While it proved an interesting read for a summer vacation, it was not the important book on one of twentieth-century American evangelicalism's most important leaders that it could have been.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Finally saw the Boss
This past Saturday night, I was able to fulfill a long-standing desire and saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. It was an amazing concert--29 songs, almost three hours and fifteen minutes. I've clipped in what my favorite Springsteen website, Backstreets, wrote about it.
A real humdinger, and I like it like that. As the last notes of "Twist and Shout" died away, the buzz and general consensus was "best night of the tour." Of course, comparing these final Magic nights to performances from 2007 is like apples and socket wrenches. But no question, St. Louis was a peak performance, with a mind-blowing setlist and the energy to match. As the show stretched to three hours and 15 minutes, with two false endings to "Badlands," Mighty Max simply tearing up the drums, and three songs after "American Land"... Bruce didn't want to get off the stage, and the energized crowd didn't want to let him go.
It all started with "Then She Kissed Me," Bruce's spin on the Crystals classic that he last broke out in 1975. A delirious opener, a song I thought I'd never hear, but hey, we've come to expect such things this month. What I didn't expect was that it would be just the first of five classic covers in the set -- six, if you count the resurrected "Not Fade Away" intro to "She's the One." After granted requests for "Rendezvous" and a full-band "For You," Bruce returned to the signs and said, "As soon as we started doing these requests, people started getting very sassy. Very sassy. Trying to stump us with stuff we played 23 or 30 years ago. Tonight we'll challenge the band... and probably most of the audience, too!" Harold Dorman's "Mountain of Love" followed, a wall-of-sound cover that put me firmly on the path to Springsteen fanaticism when I first heard it on the Main Point '75 recording so many years ago. And in the nine-song encore, three more rock 'n' roll rave-ups -- "Detroit Medley," "Little Queenie," and "Twist and Shout" -- took it over the top.
But the oldies were only part of what shot this one into the stratosphere. Sizzling guitar on the return of a revitalized "Gypsy Biker," "Adam Raised a Cain," and the tour premiere of a muscular "Cover Me," Bruce taking two leads. And then there were the epics: "Backstreets," "Jungleland," and "Drive All Night." Traditional sing-alongs like "Hungry Heart" and "Sunny Day" went out the window to make room for this trio, and judging by the reaction, they were just as crowd-pleasing, if not more. "Backstreets" was played for a sign after "Mountain of Love" -- Bruce laughed, "We know this one!" After "Mary's Place," Steve could be seen miming a steering wheel to get the word around the stage. Bruce showed the "Drive All Night" sign to the crowd, and after an initial cheer there was an extraordinary hush, the whole place seeming to sit back to let it wash over. With the stage bathed in purple and blue light, it was a magical performance -- soulful, understated playing from the band led to tremedous crescendos, and then, if anyone had forgotten, Clarence reminded us of his power on that horn. "Better than Giants Stadium," a friend said to me halfway through the song... and it only got better from there.
For the first "extended play" song after "American Land," Springsteen decided to set a wrong right. "We got the hometown of Bob Costas here, am I right?" In case you haven't followed the corrections coming out of NBC, both Costas and Brian Williams have offered mea culpas for reporting that Springsteen dedicated a song to Olympic wunderkind Michael Phelps -- "news" that thrilled Phelps himself -- when no such thing ever happened. Well, it hadn't happened until St. Louis. Costas had conculded his correction by writing: "Now if The Boss could just cover our butts by giving Mr. Phelps a shout-out on Thursday night in Nashville, or Saturday night in my hometown of St. Louis -- a show I’d definitely be at were I not in Beijing -- I think I'd feel a lot better." Though he didn't have a sign, Bruce decided to grant that request. He made good retroactively on the news reports, continuing with a knowing smile, "We're gonna send this one out to Michael Phelps. Eight golds -- whew!" And again, very deliberately, "To Michael Phelps," before launching into "Thunder Road." Not "Born in the U.S.A." as reported, but Bob, Brian... butts are covered, you're in the clear. (And Brian, thanks for the shout-out.)
From there, the whole place was fist-pumping go! go! go! for "Little Queenie" -- hey, this is Chuck Berry's hometown, too. And no one actually expected the band to stick around for yet another one, but a prominent sign reading "Sophie loves Bruce" was just the excuse Springsteen needed to keep things going. "We gotta do one for Sophie!" he shouted, kicking off "Twist and Shout" to wring the last drops of energy out of the Scottrade Center. Bless you, Sophie, wherever you are, and hail, hail rock 'n' roll.
Setlist: Then She Kissed Me/Radio Nowhere/Out in the Street/Adam Raised a Cain/Spirit in the Night/Rendezvous/For You/Mountain of Love/Backstreets/Gypsy Biker/Because the Night/Not Fade Away/She's the One/Livin' in the Future/Cover Me/Mary's Place/Drive All Night/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands* * *Encore: Girls in Their Summer Clothes/Jungleland/Detroit Medley/Born to Run/Dancing in the Dark/American Land/Thunder Road/Little Queenie/Twist and Shout
A real humdinger, and I like it like that. As the last notes of "Twist and Shout" died away, the buzz and general consensus was "best night of the tour." Of course, comparing these final Magic nights to performances from 2007 is like apples and socket wrenches. But no question, St. Louis was a peak performance, with a mind-blowing setlist and the energy to match. As the show stretched to three hours and 15 minutes, with two false endings to "Badlands," Mighty Max simply tearing up the drums, and three songs after "American Land"... Bruce didn't want to get off the stage, and the energized crowd didn't want to let him go.
It all started with "Then She Kissed Me," Bruce's spin on the Crystals classic that he last broke out in 1975. A delirious opener, a song I thought I'd never hear, but hey, we've come to expect such things this month. What I didn't expect was that it would be just the first of five classic covers in the set -- six, if you count the resurrected "Not Fade Away" intro to "She's the One." After granted requests for "Rendezvous" and a full-band "For You," Bruce returned to the signs and said, "As soon as we started doing these requests, people started getting very sassy. Very sassy. Trying to stump us with stuff we played 23 or 30 years ago. Tonight we'll challenge the band... and probably most of the audience, too!" Harold Dorman's "Mountain of Love" followed, a wall-of-sound cover that put me firmly on the path to Springsteen fanaticism when I first heard it on the Main Point '75 recording so many years ago. And in the nine-song encore, three more rock 'n' roll rave-ups -- "Detroit Medley," "Little Queenie," and "Twist and Shout" -- took it over the top.
But the oldies were only part of what shot this one into the stratosphere. Sizzling guitar on the return of a revitalized "Gypsy Biker," "Adam Raised a Cain," and the tour premiere of a muscular "Cover Me," Bruce taking two leads. And then there were the epics: "Backstreets," "Jungleland," and "Drive All Night." Traditional sing-alongs like "Hungry Heart" and "Sunny Day" went out the window to make room for this trio, and judging by the reaction, they were just as crowd-pleasing, if not more. "Backstreets" was played for a sign after "Mountain of Love" -- Bruce laughed, "We know this one!" After "Mary's Place," Steve could be seen miming a steering wheel to get the word around the stage. Bruce showed the "Drive All Night" sign to the crowd, and after an initial cheer there was an extraordinary hush, the whole place seeming to sit back to let it wash over. With the stage bathed in purple and blue light, it was a magical performance -- soulful, understated playing from the band led to tremedous crescendos, and then, if anyone had forgotten, Clarence reminded us of his power on that horn. "Better than Giants Stadium," a friend said to me halfway through the song... and it only got better from there.
For the first "extended play" song after "American Land," Springsteen decided to set a wrong right. "We got the hometown of Bob Costas here, am I right?" In case you haven't followed the corrections coming out of NBC, both Costas and Brian Williams have offered mea culpas for reporting that Springsteen dedicated a song to Olympic wunderkind Michael Phelps -- "news" that thrilled Phelps himself -- when no such thing ever happened. Well, it hadn't happened until St. Louis. Costas had conculded his correction by writing: "Now if The Boss could just cover our butts by giving Mr. Phelps a shout-out on Thursday night in Nashville, or Saturday night in my hometown of St. Louis -- a show I’d definitely be at were I not in Beijing -- I think I'd feel a lot better." Though he didn't have a sign, Bruce decided to grant that request. He made good retroactively on the news reports, continuing with a knowing smile, "We're gonna send this one out to Michael Phelps. Eight golds -- whew!" And again, very deliberately, "To Michael Phelps," before launching into "Thunder Road." Not "Born in the U.S.A." as reported, but Bob, Brian... butts are covered, you're in the clear. (And Brian, thanks for the shout-out.)
From there, the whole place was fist-pumping go! go! go! for "Little Queenie" -- hey, this is Chuck Berry's hometown, too. And no one actually expected the band to stick around for yet another one, but a prominent sign reading "Sophie loves Bruce" was just the excuse Springsteen needed to keep things going. "We gotta do one for Sophie!" he shouted, kicking off "Twist and Shout" to wring the last drops of energy out of the Scottrade Center. Bless you, Sophie, wherever you are, and hail, hail rock 'n' roll.
Setlist: Then She Kissed Me/Radio Nowhere/Out in the Street/Adam Raised a Cain/Spirit in the Night/Rendezvous/For You/Mountain of Love/Backstreets/Gypsy Biker/Because the Night/Not Fade Away/She's the One/Livin' in the Future/Cover Me/Mary's Place/Drive All Night/The Rising/Last to Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands* * *Encore: Girls in Their Summer Clothes/Jungleland/Detroit Medley/Born to Run/Dancing in the Dark/American Land/Thunder Road/Little Queenie/Twist and Shout
Dr. Wilber Wallis (1912-2008)
It is with great sorrow that we announce the recent passing of one of the Seminary's founding fathers and a great man of faith: Dr. Wilber B. Wallis, who went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, August 20, 2008. Dr. Wallis, who had been in declining health for several years, died peacefully in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 95 years old. The entire Seminary community grieves with Dr. Wallis's family and friends at the loss of this faithful servant of God, yet we rejoice as well that he is now face to face with the Savior whom he loved so much.
A founding member of the Covenant Seminary faculty, Dr. Wallis had a full and illustrious career as a pastor, scholar, administrator, and dedicated churchman. He taught in the Seminary's New Testament department from 1956 until his retirement in 1982, when he was granted emeritus status. In addition, Dr. Wallis translated the book of Acts for the New International Version of the Bible, was a contributor to the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible and the NIV Study Bible, and, along with his wife, Marie (who preceded him in death by several years), the co-author of Troop School for Christian Soldiers, a manual for instructing children in the Christian faith.
We extend deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues of this remarkable man. Though he will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him, we celebrate his life of faithful service and look forward to the day when we will be reunited with him in glory.
A memorial service for Dr. Wallis will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 28, at The Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2143 North Ballas Road, St. Louis, MO 63131. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Wilber B. and Marie C. Wallis Scholarship Award Fund at Covenant Theological Seminary.
A founding member of the Covenant Seminary faculty, Dr. Wallis had a full and illustrious career as a pastor, scholar, administrator, and dedicated churchman. He taught in the Seminary's New Testament department from 1956 until his retirement in 1982, when he was granted emeritus status. In addition, Dr. Wallis translated the book of Acts for the New International Version of the Bible, was a contributor to the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible and the NIV Study Bible, and, along with his wife, Marie (who preceded him in death by several years), the co-author of Troop School for Christian Soldiers, a manual for instructing children in the Christian faith.
We extend deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues of this remarkable man. Though he will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him, we celebrate his life of faithful service and look forward to the day when we will be reunited with him in glory.
A memorial service for Dr. Wallis will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 28, at The Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2143 North Ballas Road, St. Louis, MO 63131. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Wilber B. and Marie C. Wallis Scholarship Award Fund at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Back in the saddle again
Well, I'm officially back at work. Actually, that happened on Monday, but today was the first day that I was able to get away to blog. Our vacation was wonderful--I got up Mt. Pisgah, went to Devil's Courthouse, had lunch on Sam Knob, and prayed Psalm 8 on John's Rock. We splashed in Courthouse Falls (and Hooker Falls; Triple Falls; and Bridal Veil Falls); played lots of Rook; and watched the sun set each night beyond Toxaway Mountain. It was a very good time away.
Also read a bit. I took all those books, but only finished four: Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible; Eugene Peterson's Working the Angles; Garth Rosell's Surprising Work of God; and William Guthrie's The Christian's Great Interest. Now, it is time to crank up for the semester--this is retreat week when the Seminary President's Cabinet retreats on Monday and Tuesday; the faculty on Thursday; and we welcome the new students on Friday. We are also moving into our new Founders Hall (I'm sitting on the floor in my current office right now; my secretary thought it was so funny, she took a picture). Sometime I need to finish my syllabi (I'm teaching Ancient and Medieval Church History; Story of Christianity; and Jonathan Edwards).
It was good to be back home on Sunday, to worship at our church and to preach there in the evening. And it was good to sit at a meeting today with faculty and enjoy the brotherhood we have. Even though I miss the mountains, it is good to start a new semester and to appreciate God's calling to this place and task at this time.
Also read a bit. I took all those books, but only finished four: Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible; Eugene Peterson's Working the Angles; Garth Rosell's Surprising Work of God; and William Guthrie's The Christian's Great Interest. Now, it is time to crank up for the semester--this is retreat week when the Seminary President's Cabinet retreats on Monday and Tuesday; the faculty on Thursday; and we welcome the new students on Friday. We are also moving into our new Founders Hall (I'm sitting on the floor in my current office right now; my secretary thought it was so funny, she took a picture). Sometime I need to finish my syllabi (I'm teaching Ancient and Medieval Church History; Story of Christianity; and Jonathan Edwards).
It was good to be back home on Sunday, to worship at our church and to preach there in the evening. And it was good to sit at a meeting today with faculty and enjoy the brotherhood we have. Even though I miss the mountains, it is good to start a new semester and to appreciate God's calling to this place and task at this time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)