Egregious Reader

"During the years 100 to 600, most theologians were bishops; from 600 to 1500 in the West, they were monks; since 1500, they have been university professors. Gregory I, who died in 604, was a bishop who had been a monk; Martin Luther, who died in 1546 was a monk who became a university professor." Jaroslav Pelikan I would like to see a return to the theologian bishop. That is one of the reasons I like N.T. Wright, Leslie Newbigin, Eugene Peterson and even Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They were all pastors as well as scholars. The world (especially in the industrialized west) has too many academics and not enough pastors.

Hans von Balshazar (probably the greatest catholic theologian of the last century) said that the danger for people who live in cities is that they begin to think the world is man-made. Everywhere they look is the towering accomplishments of man or the business of man. I think our lives can become these mental cities that Balshazar warns about. We are busy with so much, worrying or accomplishing so much that we can think of our life as man-made. What can we do? His answer about real cities is that we need to walk in the woods on occasion or visit a field. We need to see that the world is giant and utterly God-made. I think the same can be said about Kris's phrase "margins of silence." We need to carve out time to sit with God in a quiet space or sit with the scriptures in a quiet space and remember that our lives are God-made. That God is the one at work forming us and shaping us and guiding us ... and filling us with life.

I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy." O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress

August 24, 1961 Is it a new country In another world of reality... I awoke To an ordinary morning with gray light Reflected from the street, But still remembered The dark-blue night Above the tree line, The open moor in moonlight, The crest in shadow. Remembered other dreams Of the same mountain country: Twice I stood on its summits, I stayed by its remotest lake, And followed the river Toward its source. The seasons have changed And the light And the weather And the hour. But it is the same land. And I begin to know the map And to get my bearings. Dag Hammarskjöld, the 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations. He died in a plane crash in September of 1961 en route to negotiate a cease-fire. He and fifteen others perished. This is the last entry from his diary that was published after his death. (I like this because I feel myself lost in a new country and hope to get my bearings soon ... and that I know the map.--jason)

I started weekly door quotes on my office door. Just gives me a chance to value one quote from my weekly readings and share it with others. So, I thought I would post it here as well ... this is the quote of the week. (Two this week ... they are connected). "Not only is recreational sex no fun, but consumer sex is profoundly anti-social. The sexual revolution has retarded people's ability to create community life and to relate to one another. Even worse, our modern sexual moral code does not cultivate an attitude of respect for others, in spite of our elaborate schemes of equality and our hypersensitive habits of speech. To the contrary, our modern sexual ways have led us to believe that we are entitled to use people." Jennifer Roback Morse from "Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World" We have to ask ourselves where this idea of sexual liberation is really leading us. Its perhaps very clever of us to look down on those poor suppress...

Has anyone really given him a listen? Holy Cow! Its good stuff. A friend of mine just sent me a package that included a record called "Complete and Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul" and I challenge you to find me a song as good as Sweet Lorene or Tennessee Waltz ... every song so far is amazing. Sittin' at the dock of the bay must have just been what made it on the radio with the Eagles and Alabama. But this is the good stuff.

This is from his commentary on John (commenting on 1:5): "Human life is not just the story of life and light. There is also death and darkness. This is a fact. If we ask "Why is there darkness?" we do not receive an answer. God did not say in the beginning, "Let there be darkness." He said, "Let there be light," and he "seperated the light from the darkness." The darkness ... is what confronts one who turns away from the true source of his being, tires to find its meaning elsewhere, and is thereby plunged into meaninglessness. But the light shines in the darkness. We know that there is darkness only when we look away from the light. The light does not eliminate the darkness, but it goes on shining. There is no peaceful coexistence of light and darkness. The business of light is to banish darkness, and darkness remains the background to the story which John will tell--up to the moment when Judas walks out of the light of the Upper Room into t...

"Yes, we are much less naked in the face of dread diseases but still ultimately naked in the end." --- Eric Cohen thoughts on his book Shadow of Progress: Being Human in the Age of Technology He laughed a little after he said it ... I think he was actually referring to nuclear weapons and the nearness of even greater forms of death ... but couldn't help but think about our lack of modesty as well.

1st - Read all the scriptures about marriage. Especially 1 Corinthians 7 and make sure you read it for yourself. Paul says: "To the married I give this command - not I but the Lord - that the wife should not seperate from her husband and that the husband should not divorce his wife." Are you taking this very seriously (you, not your wife that is thinking about leaving you or just might do it)? Paul and Jesus don't let you work on your relationship with God apart from following his commands. You can't both "seek God for your life" and disobey his commandments. 2nd - Everywhere in scripture it is understood that the man will work to provide for his wife and children. This does not mean the wife doesn't work (in an agricultural context which was true for some of the portions of the bible, both man and wife are financial partners and have chores and duties in their business), but it does mean that the man must be responsible for it all and make sure his wife...

1. Have you ever heard the idea that post-modernism with its emphasis on choosing reality and relativism and loss off all dogma (because all dogma is just a power play) ... truly leaving us without any viable pattern of existance is really just a big cover for the global empire? Think about it, what does big business and post-modernism have in common? Personal choice. One is theory consumption (as opposed to looking to elders or even to lessons learned over generations) and the other is product consumption. We all think we are lonely kings, deciding morality, style, and vocation ... We think we are individuals, but in reality we are just levers in one vast machine accomplishing someone else's progress. Bob Dylan said it best ... this isn't simple progress, this is SuckSess at its best. 2. I would take the old view of responsibility and duty any day. MEN you are called to make the home safe. You neglect it at your peril. You have no purpose outside of defending vulnerable homes ...

I have always liked the name Percival for three reasons: 1. It is the name of one of the famous Knights of the Round Table. 2. It means to pierce the mystery. 3. I love Walker Percy. Today I was doing a little online research about Percival (you guessed it wikipedia) and come to find out he was the knight who found the grail (later with Galahad) and healed the fisher king. The fisher king is the wounded king and his wound has immobilized him and made him impotent to rule. So all he does all day is fish behind the castle. The result is that his kingdom is in ruin and is referred to as The Waste Land. This is what Eliot wrote his famous poem about. Percival heals him by asking him a question: "What ails thee?" or something like that. This blog is given to that question. What ails thee? Since the fall the sacredness of man has been wounded fatally. Christ has made the hope of restoration real, but only if we will stop fishing and recognize our wound ... the Fisher king was wound...