America's Linguistic Melting Pot

America's linguistic melting pot
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/20/americas-linguistic-melting-pot/?sr=fb052114linguisticmeltingpot130pVODtopphoto

by CNN's Jason Miks
May 20, 2014

Here at GPS, we love deep data dives. We also revel in the fact that America continues to be the melting pot that it has always been. So we were interested to see a piece on Slate.com last week analyzing the most common languages spoken in each state using U.S. census data.

This first map is predictable – other than English, Spanish is the most spoken language in almost all U.S. states. But watch what happens when you remove Spanish from the equation. Now there is the melting pot.

In Michigan, Arabic clocks in as the third most commonly spoken language.

In Minnesota, it's Hmong.

In Oregon, it's Russian.

It's Vietnamese in four states – Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Washington.

It's a Filipino language called Tagalog in Hawaii, California, and Nevada.

In four states, its Native American languages.

It's French in 11 states.

And in 16 states, it's German. If you're surprised at that number, according to recent census measures of countries of ancestry, people of German heritage outnumber all other groups in the United States – even Irish! Remember, until World War I, by some accounts, German was the second most widely spoken language in all of the United States. And that tradition seems to linger.

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Tagalog in California, Cherokee in Arkansas

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/05/language_map_what_s_the_most_popular_language_in_your_state.html

by Ben Blatt

May 13, 2014

What language does your state speak?

Illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker

Last month, I wrote about the fun and the pitfalls of viral maps, a feature that included 88 super-simple maps of my own creation. As a follow-up, I’m writing up short items on some of those maps, walking through how I created them and how they succumb to (and hopefully overcome) the shortfalls of viral cartography.

One of the most interesting data sets for aspiring mapmakers is the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Among other things, that survey includes a detailed look at the languages spoken in American homes. All the maps below are based on the responses to this survey. However, an ACS participant does not select his language from a list of predeteremined options; he fills in a blank box with his self-selected answer. For instance, some people answered the ACS with “Chinese,” while others gave specific dialects such as “Mandarin” or “Cantonese”. These were all treated as different languages in the ACS data and when constructing these maps. (See the raw data here.) New York is marked “Chinese” because more people responded with “Chinese” than any other language other than English or Spanish. If all Chinese languages (or languages under the umbrella of a larger language family) had been grouped together, the answers for many states would change. In addition, Hawaiian is listed as a Pacific Island language, so following the ACS classifications, it was not included in the Native American languages map. The spelling of each language is based on the language of the ACS.*

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

OK, that map is not too interesting. Now, let’s remove Spanish from the mix.

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

Given these new parameters, we now see a pair of Native American languages, Navajo and Dakota, on the map. Navajo is the most prevalent Native American language, with more than 170,000 speakers, while Dakota lags behind with just 18,000. According to the census, there are more speakers of Navajo in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona than there are speakers of other Native American languages in all other states combined.*

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

Here are a couple more language groups of interest. First, the Scandinavians. The census categorizes Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian as Scandinavian languages.

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

Next up, Indo-Aryan languages. For the purposes of this map, we consider Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali, Panjabi, Marathi, Nepali, and Sinhalese to fall into that category.

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

Finally, African languages. The choices here are Amharic, Berber, Chadic, Cushite, Sudanic, Nilotic, Nilo-hamitic, Nubian, Saharan, Khoisan, Swahili, Bantu, Mande, Fulani, Gur, Efik, Mbum, as well as “Kru, Ibo, Yoruba,” which the census lists as a single language.

Data source: Census Bureau American Community Survey. Map by Ben Blatt/Slate.

See more of Slate’s maps.

Correction, May 13, 2014: This article originally misspelled Arapaho in the map of most commonly spoken Native American languages. (Return.)

Update, May 16, 2014: This paragraph was revised to clarify the how the maps were constructed. (Return.)

My Journey Out of Inerrancy to a Broader Hermeneutic

Seeing the Son in a new Light

Relevancy22 was purposely created three years ago to debate the idea of Calvinism as the most sufficient explanation of God's free-willed universe. It does also debate the idea of inerrantism as the most proper foundation for biblical study. The following paragraphs will be hard to read - especially as it was for this author here when coming from his own inerrantist-informed Christian faith. However, as hard as it is to read these following paragraphs it must be said with as much grace and candor for those, like myself, who find themselves driven to discover a greater enlightenment of God's Word and divine will than the one provided by this line of biblical interpretation.

As such, an inerrant theology, or a hermeneutic of inerrantism, is a type of theology that occurs upon  an "inerrant" foundation where the Bible is literally read and believed. One subjected to ideas and beliefs about God, sin, man, and the bible, that are already pre-formed and classically bound, but are not coherent with contemporary science nor philosophy except to debate, criticise, and ostracize.

Weathering storms of uncertainty

Moreover, the term "intellectual" when used of the inerrant position has become a specious term used only by inerrantists of their own internally driven scholarship. More rather, the term "intellectual" outside of these conservatively dominated circles connotates the idea of a "religiously pre-informed church body" that has established its own hermeneutical rules (that is, rules of "knowing and epistemology") by conservative religious standards, preference, and prejudice. Rules based upon a set of closed systems, a closed bible, and a closed constituency unopen to contemporary theological construction. This has been spoken of in the sectional sidebar entitled "An Open Faith and Open Theology." I have also written a similar article earlier this month entitled, "The Problem of Faith and Religion in Christianity," and another a year ago entitled, "Voices of Dissent - Unfolding God's Love Within the Heart and Conscience of Humanity."

Accordingly, an inerrant study of past church history and theology, such as is done using "biblical word study" methods, or in a compendium study of systematic theology, will be arranged to support an inerrantist foundation with in-vogue subject matters. Appeal to the "outside world" of science, archaeology, church history, etc, is selective, uses nuanced circular reasoning, and is driven by systematic logicism, dogma, church folklores, and traditions. (And yes, all this has been discussed ad naseum in the past to help give  definition to what is meant by being Christianly orthodox without being inerrantly orthodox.)

Sailing the tradewinds of God's grace

As such, the inerrantist worldview construction is difficult to break from and usually cannot be accomplished by mere insiders alone. And when doing so, those wishing to break free may feel as if their God has become "unreal," while at the same time causing all church doctrine-and-theology to become similarly "untrue" as they each strained against their inerrant moorings. At once, great doubt and skepticism can arise to personally destabilize (or scandalize) the erstwhile believer burdened to move beyond time-honored Sunday School lessons and sincere biblical rhetoric by pastor or prof, family or friend, teacher or synod. This was mine own experience and it required the persistent presence of the Holy Spirit to get past so many of these fundamental barriers that had theologically-tethered my soul to its hard-fastened reef. Like a ship at anchor in safe harbor I did not expect to depart from my conditioned past to the siren shores of an unknown land. Nor to navigate across unfamiliar sea lanes on my own without a proper captain and provisions. Or to weather the storms of  fear and uncertainty so loathsome to my Christian faith but so necessary to its renewal. Especially because I would then become my own navigator which is never a very good idea to start an exploration upon when facing wreck, ruin, and foreordained apostasy.

However, the Lord continued to burden me without respite or relief. Who caused me to set sail and explore the oft neglected (or is it oft forgotten?), but very orthodox church doctrine, of Arminianism (think, basic Wesleyanism)... which is the polar opposite to the Calvinism I grew up within (note: Jacob Arminius was a contemporary of John Calvin). At once, when prayerfully coming across this doctrine, I could feel the inner release of the epistemological anchors that cabled mind-and-soul straining to break free of their more comfortable shore-bound moorings. And then, with the unlooked for help of science and process theology, the all-knowing (and much revered) philosophical notion of inerrantism had begun to be released from within to put me underway through newly discovered non-inerrantist philosophies (I will tell of these in a moment). One of the first was the approach of continental philosophy that proved most helpful in providing the foundational elements necessary for a theology known as process-relational thought. A philosophy that was opposed to the analytic thought that I grew up with in my Reformed tradition (think formulaic creeds and confessions). One that stressed existential thought and questioned all personal, social, and institutional motives, values, and beliefs. Even those of the authors of the sacred biblical text and leaders of the church.

But there were other epistemological drivers that helped to continue my journey across the turbulent seas of doubt and fear. One was the idea of  postmodernism that helped to "deconstruct" 19th century church enlightenment while providing a much needed antipathy for 20th century secular modernism which gripped my evangelical past. Though this idea of postmodernism had been much maligned within my fellowship for the past decade or two, I found the elements within postmodernism especially helpful in breaking free of the dogmatic certainty an inerrantist would feel to his or her's unquestioning (dogmatic) beliefs. Specifically, it helped to externalize my personal sense of self-awareness, group-awareness, and basic belief structures. And when once done, could re-position all within a post-modern, post-structural, post-foundational, framework. This was not an insignificant task especially as each area relates to specific personal beliefs and descriptors of one's confidences, assurances, values, and philosophies.

Discovering new Streams of Living Water

To these many areas I next approached the subject of God and man relationally through God's love as a theologically sufficient basis in which to throw off the last mooring lines of inerrantism. The idea of an open future (rather than a closed future of wrath and judgement) as a sufficient eschatological teleology found its home in open theism (while not denying the former, but simply altering its emphasis upon all of theology). And all the while I labored to constructively criticise inerrantism's self-contained system by  pointing out its basic weaknesses and deficiencies that would hold its faithful participants back by fear and uncertainty, divine wrath and condemnation, self-doubt and distrust, including a withering sense of personal retribution to any who may hold to a wider, broader, more relative world of post-foundational theology.

Hence, my seafaring journey over these past three years has been done sympathetically in knowledge of other similarly burdened wayfarers struggling with their own personal inerrantist positions. Who, perhaps, may not knowing which sea lanes to navigate upon to break free of its chaining bonds, nor may be able to find a more adequate sense of self-release (or personal respite) against past theological positions. Thus it is that I write of mine own discoveries by journaling of its theologic progress. In place of a inerrantist hermeneutic I now hold both an anthropologic - and relational - hermeneutic. One that must be Jesus-centered in all things. The one uses existential thought to interpret both the Bible and the would-be interpreters of the Bible of any era or time period. While the other focuses on God's grace and love as the primary passion and reason for His divine relationship with creation (remember the slogan, "Love Wins!?" Eh, verily!). It took many years to accomplish this task with any kind of sufficient theological argument or authentic biblical support against the austere religious background I was immersed in. And was done with great personal difficulty and struggle as core centers and foundations moved. But at the last, when the torrent broke I found myself writing feverishly (not perfectly, nor with full knowledge) by "journaling" of my steady progress out of the lands of conservative fundamentalism and evangelicalism, unto the broader planes of freedom's lands which held more promising - and theologically relevant - Jesus-centeredness. Jesus missional witness. And, Jesus-based pathos and service. One that was not centered upon its own theologies but upon a theology that could appropriately question itself as to its motives, values, and basic social drivers. For a theology that cannot question itself is a theology not worth knowing.

It was if my Pauline-driven doctrines had to be completely reset and re-orientated around Jesus and not simply God's Word (curious as that may sound!). And when once done, would find their Lord and Savior in greater proportion to the Pauline theology I had learned to apply and believe. Not one orientated around the church, but very God Himself. Not one orientated around man's preferences, but around the dissettling missional witness and pathos of Jesus. Nor one centered around my own enculturated values, but one having a shared sense of appreciation for other social values and mores beyond mine own culture. And it was wonderful. For there were the new lands of discovery thriving with freedom, living, and joy. Which were full of new hope and bright promise. For myself, this surprised discovery made under so difficult a process helped soften the blow I had experienced for so many long years by my inerrantist position - especially my previously tightened construction of the world. It opened everything up and I was glad to do it with great thanksgiving and praise to the Lord, our Saviour and Redeemer. Thus Relevancy22 was born as an online resource and reference site to help move similarly estranged wayfarers from a world of inerrant evangelicalism to a post-evangelical view of God, man, and the world, with an openness to our future and missional responsibility. One that might be known as post-Reformed (or postmodern) orthodoxy but not neo-Calvinistic nor neo-Reformed (see the next article below for further explanation). One that hearkens to the age-old rhythms of the Reformation itself that deeply understood the pathos of the church to be always reforming: "Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda" ("the church reformed and always reforming"). Amen!

Peace,

R.E. Slater

May 22, 2014
updated May 27, 2014

"Yes, Virginia, newer is better."

Continue to -

Index to past articles on "An Open Faith and Open Theology"

* * * * * * * * * *

John Calvin

The Troubling Trends in America's 'Calvinist Revival'

http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2014/05/20/troubling-trends-americas-calvinist-revival/

by Jonathan Merrit
[select additional comments by R.E. Slater]

May 20, 2014

Comments

When Mark Oppenheimer declared that “evangelicalism is in the midst of a Calvinist revival” in The New York Times earlier this year, he was only partially correct.

According to a 2010 Barna poll, roughly three out of 10 Protestant leaders describe their church as “Calvinist or Reformed,” a proportion statistically unchanged from a decade earlier. According to the research group, “there is no discernible evidence from this research that there is a Reformed shift among U.S. congregation leaders over the last decade.”

And yet, Oppenheimer is correct that something is stirring among American Calvinists (those who adhere to a theological system centering on human sinfulness and God’s sovereignty that stems from 16th century reformer John Calvin). While Calvinist Protestants—including Presbyterians, some Baptists, and the Dutch Reformed—have been a part of the American religious fabric since the beginning, Oppenheimer points to a more vocal and visible strain that has risen to prominence in recent years.

They’ve been called the “young, restless, and reformed” or neo-Calvinists, and they are highly mobilized and increasingly influential. Their books perform well in the marketplace (see John Piper or Paul David Tripp), their leaders pepper the lists of the most popular Christian bloggers (see The Gospel Coalition and Resurgence), and they’ve created vibrant training grounds for raising new recruits (see Reformed Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).

This brand of Calvinists are a force with which to reckon. But as with any movement, America’s Calvinist revival is a mixed bag. None can deny that many have come to faith as a result of these churches and leaders. The movement is rigorously theological* [think, inerrant theology, or a hermenuetic of inerrantism here - res] which is surely one of its greatest contributions. Just as Quakers teach us much about silence, Mennonites teach us much about peace, and Anglicans teach us much about liturgy, so Calvinists spur us on with their intellectual rigor* [as debated at this website here, "intellectual" has become a specious term used only by inerrantists of their own scholarship - res]. And yet, from where I sit, there are several troubling trends that must be addressed if this faithful faction hopes to move from a niche Christian cadre to a sustainable and more mainstream movement. (*See my opening comments above - res)

ISOLATIONISM

One of the markers of the neo-Calvinist movement is isolationism. My Reformed friends consume Calvinist blogs and Calvinist books, attend Calvinist conferences, and join Calvinist churches with Calvinist preachers. They rarely learn from, or engage, with those outside their tradition. (My feeling is that this trend is less prevalent among leaders than the average followers.)

The most sustainable religious movements, however, are those which are willing to ask hard, full-blooded questions while interacting with more than caricatures of other traditions. When neo-Calvinists insulate and isolate, they hyper-focus on those doctrines their tradition emphasizes and relegate other aspects to the status of afterthought. The Christian faith is meant to be lived and not merely intellectually appropriated. This requires mingling with others who follow Jesus, are rooted in Scripture, and are working toward a restored creation.

Gregory Alan Thornbury is a Calvinist Christian and president
of The King’s College in New York City. He encourages his
students to “read promiscuously.”
– Photo credit: New Southern Photography

Gregory Thornbury, a Calvinist and president of The King’s College in New York City, told me, “I think the ‘young, restless, and reformed” are different than the Dutch stream in that they tend to stay with authors and leaders that they know. It does run the risk of being provincial, but I don’t think it is intentional. There are universes where people stay, and they read the things they know.” [I tend to agree with this observation. I came from this same tradition and it takes some doing to read "outside" of one's comfort zone. - res]

To guard against this, Thornbury says he encourages King’s College’s students to be “intellectually gregarious” and to “read promiscuously.”

“People need to read outside of the tradition,” Thornbury says. “We say we want to have contact with people outside of our culture, but we ghettoize so easily.”

His words remind me of Yale theologian Miroslav Volf, who speaks of “thin” and “thick” expressions of religion:

“[Thin religion is] religiosity reduced to a single symbolic gesture. And once you reduce religion to that . . . you can project everything that you want onto that . . . [Thin religion] isn’t textured. It doesn’t have depth. It doesn’t have relief. It doesn’t rely on a long history of that religion with all the varieties of reflections that have gone on in the religion.”

Co-inhabitation with other Christians guards a movement against “thin” expressions of religion.

TRIBALISM

Another troubling trend I see in the movement is tribalism. This is the kinship tendency within a group to protect insiders while combating outsiders.

Several prominent Calvinists, for example, declined the opportunity to comment on this story due to fear that their words might be used to disparage the movement. Said one well-known leader via email, “I don’t want to be a brick in a wall that’s used against the tradition/movement I identify with.”

To be sure, neo-calvinists don’t shy away from controversy and aren’t reticent to critique those outside of the movement. (One might refer to some Calvinist’s blistering responses to Donald Miller’s announcement that he doesn’t attend church.) Yet these same leaders are often resistant, delayed, and then tempered with their critiques of other Calvinists who seem to stray.

An illuminating example of this might be the recent glut of Mark Driscoll controversies—from sexist comments to charges of plagiarism to proof that he bought his way onto the New York Times bestsellers list using ministry monies. Leaders in the movement were effectively mum until a select few broke the silence of late. The first accusations of Driscoll plagiarizing were revealed on November 21st, but the first truly critical response posted by neo-Calvinist mega-blog, The Gospel Coalition, trickles out on December 18th. One might compare this with the response to Rob Bell’s book “Love Wins” that was in full bloom before the YouTube trailer finished buffering.

Even those who were brave enough to critique Driscoll were mostly moderate. And several Calvinists told me off-the-record that many who offered full-throated criticisms of Driscoll—like Carl Trueman of Westminster Theological Seminary—have been relegated to the margins as a result.

Tullian Tchividjian is pastor and blogger at The Gospel Coalition who has been challenging neo-Calvinists from within the ranks. He announced just this morning that what he calls “the powers that be” were forcing him to take his blog elsewhere. The decision was less than ideal, he said, and is a result of having “some differences with some of the other contributors.” Tchividjian said the decision was “probably over due” since “the messaging of The Gospel Coalition has morphed over the last seven years.”

Tim Keller is a leading Calvinist pastor
and New York Times bestselling author.

We might also make mention of Tim Keller, a paragon among neo-Calvinists if there ever was one. Keller is a part of Francis Collins’ Biologos and a theistic evolutionist. He holds many of the same views that triggered the forced resignation of Old Testament professor Bruce Waltke from Reformed Theological Seminary. Another Calvinist leader, Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler, has called theistic evolution “a biblical and theological disaster” and said that Biologos leaders were “throwing the Bible under the bus” with “ridiculous” logic.

Because Tim Keller has become something of a prize hen for Calvinists—New York Magazine called him “the most successful Christian evangelist in the city”—you won’t likely hear other neo-Calvinists mention Keller’s views. Tribalists attempt to “clean house” when it comes to outsiders but “sweep under the rug” when it comes to insiders.

As Roger Olson, Baylor University professor and author of “Against Calvinism“, told me, “[Neo-Calvinist's are] a tribe, and they’ve closed ranks. Somehow they’ve formed a mentality that they have to support each other because they are a minority on a crusade. Any criticism hurts the cause. I’ve seen the same thing among feminists and black theologians.”

Olson says that when he speaks to Calvinist leaders, they will often critique the movement and its other leaders in private, but never in public. My experience has been identical.

“There is a fundamentalist ethos in [neo-Calvinism],” Olson says. “You get pats on the back and merits for criticizing outsiders, but not for criticizing insiders. There is a system where if you are young coming up in the ranks, you get points for criticizing or exposing those outside the movement but it’s not your place to criticize those who are above you in the movement itself.”

This tendency is more curious given that neo-Calvinists claim to be rooted in the ancient rallying cry, “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda” or “The church is always to be reformed.” You can’t maintain a constant state of reformation when you refuse to self-reflect, when you preserve for preservation’s sake, [when] your modus operandi is both “circle the wagons” and “fire the canons.”

Let me be clear: I’m not arguing that Calvinists should criticize themselves more harshly. Rather, I wish they might extend the same grace to others that they give to themselves.

EGOTISM

A final troubling trend I believe plagues America’s “Calvinist revival” is egotism. This one may sound like ad hominem at first blush, but I mean it more as an observation of the movement’s predominant tone. Talking so much of sovereignty and salvation and atonement can inflate the ego. It is the type of thing described in Helmut Thielicke’s book, “A Little Lesson for Young Theologians.” Attaining theological knowledge often leads to the idea that one is in a better place to understand God or more in tune with God.

As the ego inflates, the body rises and one begins to speak from above rather than from across. This is often seen in the way neo-Calvinists speak as if they are the arbiters of the term “gospel.” Search the term “gospel” on the web site of the Reformed publisher Crossway and you’ll see what I mean. Or listen to the way some neo-Calvinist leaders frame every ethical issue of the day, not as a difference of opinion among Christians of mutual goodwill, but rather an affront to the gospel itself.

“The perspective of many today is that if you aren’t a Calvinist, you don’t really have a grasp of the gospel,” Olson says.

Sometimes it seems as if Calvinists view themselves as judge, jury, and executioner of the Christian movement at large—determining who is faithful and not, who believes the gospel and who doesn’t, who is in and who is out. (One might call to mind John Piper’s iconic and infamous “Farewell, Rob Bell” tweet.) Some within the movement talk of God’s sovereignty while seeking to control the destinies of other Christians and often speak of man’s depravity with a haughtiness that undermines it.

As Scot McKnight, professor at Northern Seminary told me, “Calvinists can give really strong impressions that those who disagree with them are both unfaithful and that they theologically and intellectually lack courage. And that trend is relatively new.”

A large ego often precedes a harsh tone—an surefire influence limiter. Scholar Martin Marty says the religious world isn’t divided into liberal and conservative, but rather “mean and non-mean.” Those who opt for a mean or arrogant tenor—whether real or perceived—have a short-shelf life in the span of history.

Bethany Jenkins, director of The Gospel Coalition’s faith and work initiative, thinks some of her fellow Calvinists’ tonal problems may be unintentional: “I think some Calvinists have come to think that in order to be faithful you have to be strident, but you don’t need to be. As Tim Keller has said, ‘We are a chosen people, but we are not a choice people.’”

I reflect on the Apostle Paul’s observation that “Knowledge puffs up.” Which is to say, egotism is a human problem rather than a Calvinist one. Yet, the vice seems to afflict this movement with consistency. If neo-Calvinists don’t get a rapid infusion of humility—and quickly—then perceptions of egotism will be an albatross around their necks.

Though these problems are serious, I am for any movement that lifts up Jesus and proclaims the Christian good news. I have many friends within the neo-Calvinist movement that challenge me with their commitment to scriptural fidelity and the supremacy of Christ. If America’s “Calvinist revival” turns out to be a resurgence, I hope they abound in grace–both inside and out.

Ah yes, grace. Another cherished Reformed virtue.

---

Jonathan Merritt is senior columnist for Religion News Service and has published more than 1000 articles in outlets like USA Today, The Atlantic, and National Journal. He is author of "Jesus is Better Than You Imagined" and "A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars." He resides in Brooklyn.

"The Calvinist," by John Piper

continue to -

Index to past articles on "Calvinism v. Arminianism"

      

A little jammin' brings a little solidarity...

Amazing jam session - Three random guys sing together

Published on May 17, 2014

Description from Jaime Tatos Maldonado's video on Facebook:

'I was walking to Kroger and saw this guy playing a song. It sounded good so I

decided to record it. By the end of the song three guys started jamming. This

truly is music in its simplest form. It really reminds of the Austin days. Enjoy'.

Random Strangers Freestyle Together,

Show Us 'The Power Music Can Have On The Soul'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/three-strangers-sing-together-video_n_5352697.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000051&ir=Religion

The Huffington Post | by Ryan Grenoble

Posted: 05/19/2014 4:29 pm EDT    Updated: 05/19/2014 5:59 pm EDT

We've all been schooled in the perils of stranger danger, but who knew strangercollaboration could be so beautiful?

Exhibit A: This apparently spontaneous moment when three strangers joined together in song, captured on video by another bystander, Jaime Moldonado.

"I was walking to [the grocery store] and saw this guy playing a song. It sounded good so I decided to record it." Moldonado writes on Facebook. "By the end of the song three guys started jamming. This truly is music in its simplest form."

The guitarist has since been identified as Jesse Rya, a Texas musician, who says the moment reflects on "the power music can have on the soul."

"This is an example of how easy it should be for us to communicate," Rya added.

While some viewers believe the spontaneous outburst of song was staged, the Daily Dot argues to the contrary, noting "the universal pull of music, even among strangers, is a strong one."

Hey, stranger things have happened.

Book Reviews: "The Journey of Modern Theology," by Roger Olson

Amazon link here

Product Details

Hardcover: 720 pages

Publisher: IVP Academic (November 1, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0830840214

ISBN-13: 978-0830840212

Book Description

Modernity has been an age of revolutions—political, scientific, industrial and philosophical. Consequently, it has also been an age of revolutions in theology, as Christians attempt to make sense of their faith in light of the cultural upheavals around them, what Walter Lippman once called the "acids of modernity."Modern theology is the result of this struggle to think responsibly about God within the modern cultural ethos.

In this major revision and expansion of the classic 20th Century Theology (1992), co-authored with Stanley J. Grenz, Roger Olson widens the scope of the story to include a fuller account of modernity, more material on the nineteenth century and an engagement with postmodernity. More importantly, the entire narrative is now recast in terms of how theologians have accommodated or rejected the Enlightenment and scientific revolutions.

With that question in mind, Olson guides us on the epic journey of modern theology, from the liberal "reconstruction" of theology that originated with Friedrich Schleiermacher to the postliberal and postmodern "deconstruction" of modern theology that continues today.

The Journey of Modern Theology is vintage Olson: eminently readable, panoramic in scope, at once original and balanced, and marked throughout by a passionate concern for the church's faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will no doubt become another standard text in historical theology.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Great book, though I like the original better

by Clint Walker VINE VOICE

November 27, 2013

Format: Hardcover

Roger Olson is a prolific writer and a passionate theologian. I have followed his work from his [first] days at Bethel College and Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and have followed it with even more interest since he moved to Waco to teach at Truett Seminary at Baylor University.

I also long ago read 20th Century Theology. I had read it not in a seminary classroom, but as a pastor trying to make sense of where I was theologically, especially in relationship to some of the issues raised through postmodern philosophy and the emergent church movement (before it was called that). I loved the book, and its thesis of the development of modern theologies as a dialogue and dialectic between emphases on theology's understanding of the transcendence of God and the immanence of God made sense to me. It helped me become more grounded and able to articulate where I was in the context of modern theology and postmodern philosophy. 20th Century Theology was a game changer for me.

Now, in an update on the book's 20th anniversary, Olson has, in attempting to revise the old text, written a new text with the old text as the foundation. Instead of using a theological construct to tell what has happened in 19th, 20th and 21st century theologies, he has used a historical one in The Journey of Modern Theology.

Since what is happening in both books is a historical theology of sorts, both organizational systems are appropriate. Olson's new construct makes the development of theology come across as a more relational and personal story of people and ideas in a historical context. Which is all well and good. But I think it misses the sense of wrestling with God that the text it has meant to revise had.

---

All I Was Looking For--And More

by Amazon Customer

December 16, 2013

Format: Hardcover

I think that the greatest value of Olson's magnum opus--for most people--will be to confirm the best reading of many of these theologians. Given the complexity of these thinkers, it helps to have confirmation that you are reading them correctly

If you have the opportunity to sample only some of their work, which is the case with most of us not teaching this material on a daily basis, you really need a compass to help with the larger corpus you don't have time to read. This book is a great compass. I waited patiently for this book for over a year after hearing from the author that he was working on it. [Now,] after reading it, I can say that my patience has been well rewarded. 

The book performs that rare function that most books don't: It bridges the gap between general summaries and detailed treatments. That's really what most need, but few scholars achieve that goal. Writers either like to keep it general and simple for the lay reader, or they write a 700-page tome on one or [only] a few theologians. Dr. Olson covers the middle of the academic spectrum, and that--I think--is the appeal of this fine work.

The book is also a great complement to the author's previous book, The Story of Christian Theology, adding additional depth to that part of the history of most interest to many of us today. So the book is most definitely a big cut above a survey--in fact, it's much more than that. If clarity, accuracy, and fairness are your highest academic values, as they are for me, Olson is the scholar for you. For me, the chapter on Horace Bushnell was worth the price of the book. This chapter and others have led me to read more of Bushnell and a few others whose contributions are either forgotten, unknown, or under appreciated.

Highly recommended!

* * * * * * * * * *

Review of Roger Olson's "The Journey of Modern Theology"

by Bev Mitchell

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2014/05/review-of-the-journey-of-modern-theology-by-roger-e-olson-by-bev-mitchell/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rogereolson_051914UTC120551_daily&utm_content=&spMailingID=45928570&spUserID=Nzg4MDU4NjI4MjkS1&spJobID=442427976&spReportId=NDQyNDI3OTc2S

by Roger Olson

May 17, 2014

Comments

This book is written to grab you (gently) and introduce you to some of the most interesting people of the last four hundred years. Yes, most of them were philosophers and theologians, but they were people first and always people. Roger Olson knows these people, some personally, but mainly through careful, sympathetic reading of much of their work over a long career. The characters march across the pages almost as if the author is presenting his friends to us. He knows them well, and wants us to know them – not to always agree with them for that would be impossible, but to know them as people who had great ideas, to know what the heart of those ideas was and to know why these particular people had these particular ideas. And to know the human and intellectual context into which these ideas spoke.

In his two page note of required reading at the beginning, Dr. Olson says “This book’s primary intended audience is not scholars of modern theology but students, pastors and interested laypeople……. The goal…. is to inform readers about the lives, careers, major ideas, legacies and possible problems of these thinkers.” This lay person and lifelong student thinks that this mission has been admirably accomplished. All students of theology who love people and their ideas will get much from this volume.

[Those philosophers and theologians who were about] were all chosen for inclusion in this book because they made very significant contributions to Christian theology. Like today, they all worked in a time when how we ask and attempt to answer questions, and even the questions we think we should be asking, was in great ferment. In the century before the first and second world wars, many wanted, and thought they could find, sure answers to all questions. Others were concerned that we should not be so bold as to ask certain questions. Others thought the questions and answers already available should do well enough. Still others were not so sure about certainty and struck out like bold explorers who saw a need to know what lay over that hill or beyond that ocean. Some paid dearly for their audacity, all are heroes to someone. All were very human. Their journeys, taken as a whole, as a package, have much to say about where were are now as Christians trying to understand who we are, who God is and how we should relate to him and to each other.

By the thirties and certainly by the forties (1930s to 1940s), it was clear that some of the theological certainties were nothing more than illusions. Many of the hopes for human improvement were dashed. There had already been warnings from some that humans are not really the masters of their fate but now those voices, mostly long ignored, were being heard again. A strength of Olson’s treatment is how clearly he ties together voices across the great divide created by the two world wars. Thinkers like Kierkegaard, Coleridge, Bushnell, Barth, Niebuhr and Moltmann are linked together across the centuries. All this without leaving out or minimizing other threads from thinkers like Schleiermacher, Troeltsch, Bultmann, Tillich, and Whitehead. The contrasts across these lines of thought are made clear, but Olson does not miss many opportunities to show how important cross currents flowed for those with the good will to see.

The giants - and many of the lesser knowns - walk these pages. Importantly, the lesser knowns come off as significant contributors to a fascinating journey. They are simply lesser known, not necessarily lesser in any other way. Several of these ‘lesser’ lights were mediators. We are also given glimpses of how this sidelining of certain voices can happen. It’s not always a political or academic power process either. There are often fascinating personal and cultural dynamics at work in determining who gets remembered well. One of the mediators that I would highlight is I.A. Dorner because Olson’s presentation of him is a particularly good example of how lesser knowns are honoured in this book. Olson’s presentation of such people is a great strength. [Works by scholars such as Dorner] not only [help to] clarify the extremes (often represented by the big names) but also shows [to us] how much of the very good there is in the extremes, especially when moderated and modulated by rather different views.

In case you think that such a volume must of necessity deal with cut and dried dogmatic statements, systematized thinking that will leave you feeling completely satisfied that the intellect stands supreme, there is romanticism here too. Søren KIerkgaard makes several appearances because he influenced many, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge appears alone and in company with Horace Bushnell. Imagination shines forth not as the devil’s playground but, to borrow from Bushnell, as a “transcendently perceptive, creative, unifying power.” This aspect of theology is well represented throughout these pages.

On the science/faith front, we are shown how some theologians were prepared to let science drive the show, others wanted to build an impermeable barrier between the two while yet others at least envisioned the possibility of building something together that gets closer to the truth than either can alone. Philosophy is not ignored, rather philosophers are revealed as essential to the work of theologians, even for those theologians who wanted to avoid philosophy. The high drama between those, philosophers and theologians, who want to have answers to everything, even speculation anointed as fact, and those more comfortable with mystery, or just not knowing for now, is palpable.

There are liberals, conservatives, progressives and the unclassifiable here. If you read carefully, you may well come away with a much more nuanced appreciation of these often flammable designations. You may even be able to make a case for not paying too much attention to such labelling. There are really very few dividing lines, lines in the sand, when the views of these men (remember the time, they are unfortunately all men) are fully and fairly considered. Leanings, biases, blind spots, egos yes, but clear boundaries are not always so clear, or certainly permeable enough to allow valuable cross fertilization.

Often we are treated to biographical detail, not for its own sake, but integrated into the subject’s concerns, angst, faith and conflicts in such a way that we come to understand the theology or philosophy much better. These are all presented as real people. Great thinkers, yes, but people whose thoughts are not divorced from their life, culture or context. This is a history of real people who had great ideas. Sometimes they worked in an environment congenial to their thoughts, perhaps more often something of the hero was required in them to challenge what they believed to be error or mis-direction. Some were excommunicated, some were ostracized. It’s all here and it all belongs together to tell a great story.

The book is well organized so that it can be easily used as a reference. The sections on major theologians are easily found, and they tend to be grouped in a functional manner. The material on each major figure is also systematically organized making it easy to locate, for example, biography, summary, relation to science and relation to modernity. Sub-headings are provided for each one as well highlighting larger themes in their theology. These will become even more useful as the reader becomes familiar with Olson’s organizational style. All of these features will greatly facilitate comparative study.

A thematic thread runs through the work regarding science and faith. Olson frames it in the hypothesis that “much of modern theology is consciously or unconsciously constructed to avoid conflicts between science and Christianity”. The investigation of this hypothesis does not take up large parts of the text, but each major theologian is asked (via their written work) if this hypothesis makes sense, It’s beyond the scope of this review to summarize the results that Olson assembles, but it would be a good exercise to do so.

Because of the nature of this book, a survey with a bird’s eye view of a significant period of history, we will all miss a favourite or two in its pages. For me, though both are appropriately mentioned, not finding more on T.F. Torrance or C.S. Lewis was a disappointment. Olson covers this kind of unavoidable complaint early on with a quip regarding birds’ eye views “Not every bird’s, of course, but this bird’s.” This reminds me to briefly mention humour and its subtle possibilities. Overt humour is difficult to find in this volume, but there is a lightness, not at all quip-like or tongue-in-cheek, but a kind of joy present throughout. I think Dr. Olson had a lot of fun writing these pages. They represent the distillation of many years work and thinking, they include the sad loss of a friend and colleague who co-authored a previous volume of which this is more than a complete revision, but they show forth an author at the top of his game revelling in his subject.

Repost - 7 REASONS YOU’LL NEVER DO ANYTHING AMAZING WITH YOUR LIFE

Photo: Matilde Zacchigna

7 REASONS YOU’LL NEVER DO ANYTHING AMAZING

WITH YOUR LIFE

http://matadornetwork.com/life/7-reasons-will-never-anything-amazing-life/

by RAYMMAR TIRADO

March 26, 2014

Commment

1. Because you haven’t failed enough

Because you’re comfortable in your mediocrity. Because you choose not to try.

Because it’s easier to talk about learning that new language than actually learning it.

Because you think everything is too hard or too complicated, so you’ll just ‘sit this one out,’ or maybe you’ll ‘do it tomorrow.’

Because you hate your job but won’t get a new one. Because it’s easy to reject rejection.

Because while you’re sitting around failing to try, I’m out there trying to fail, challenging myself, learning new things, and failing as fast as possible.

Because as I fail, I learn and then adjust my course to make sure my path is always forward. Like annealed steel, I’ve been through the fire and pounded into shape. The shape of a sword with polished edges and a razor-sharp blade that’ll cut you in half if you’re not equally hardened.

2. Because you care what others think about you

Because you have to fit in.

Because you believe that being different is only cool if you’re different in the same way that other people are different.

Because you’re afraid to embrace your true self for fear of how the world will see you. You think that because you judge others, this means that those people must, in turn, be judging you.

Because you care more about the stuff you have as opposed to the things you’ve done.

Because while you’re out spending your money on new outfits, new cars, overpriced meals, or nights at the bar, I’ll be investing in myself. And while you try to fit in with the world I’ll make the world fit in with me.

Because I will recklessly abandon all insecurities and expose my true self to the world. I will become immune to the impact of your opinion and stand naked in a crowd of ideas, comfortable in knowing that while you married the mundane I explored the exceptional.

3. Because you think you’re smarter than you are

Because you did what everyone else did; you studied what they studied and read what they read.

Because you learned what you had to learn in order to pass their tests, and you think that makes you smart.

Because you think learning is only something people do in schools.

Because while you were away at college, I was studying life. Because instead of learning about the world in a classroom, I went out and learned it by living.

Because I know more than any piece of paper you could ever frame from a university. Because smart is not what you learn — it’s how you live.

Because I might not have a degree, but I challenge you to find a topic that I can’t talk to you about cohesively.

Because I could pass your tests if I had to, but you couldn’t stand for a single second in the face of the tests that life has thrown me. Tests that are not graded on a bell curve or by percentages, tests that are graded by one simple stipulation: survival!

4. Because you don’t read

Because you read the things you’re required to read or nothing at all.

Because you think history is boring and philosophy is stupid.

Because you would rather sit and watch E! or MTV instead of exploring something new, instead of diving headfirst into the brain of another person in an attempt to better understand the world around you.

Because you refuse to acknowledge that all the power in the world comes from the words of those that lived before us. That anything you desire can be had by searching through the multitude of words that are available to us now more abundantly than ever before.

Because you’re probably not reading this article, even though you know you should.

Because the people that are reading this already know these things.

Because you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

5. Because you lack curiosity

Because you get your news from copycat members of the state-controlled media.

Because you’re unwilling to ask this simple question, “What if it’s all a lie?” and accept the possibility that maybe it is. That, just maybe, the methods of mass media are under direct orders to keep you distracted.

Because you call me a know-it-all but refuse to call yourself a know-nothing-at-all.

Because I thirst for knowledge, regardless of the topic.

Because while you’re busy playing Candy Crush, or Megapolis, I’m reading about string theory and quantum mechanics.

Because while you waste your time with Tosh.0, I’m learning how to edit video, build websites, and design mobile apps.

Because if we were to go heads-up in a debate, I would crush you. I would make it a point to defeat my own argument, from every imaginable angle, in order to understand everything you might be able to use against me.

Because I would dedicate myself to understanding both sides of the argument so thoroughly that I could argue your side for you and win, even after having just handed you a defeat in the same debate.

6. Because you don’t ask enough questions

Because you don’t question authority [and when you do you don't know how to deal with it - res]

Because you don’t question yourself.

Because you don’t understand the power of properly placed questioning in life, respectful disagreements, and standing up for what you know to be right in the face of someone telling you otherwise. Unable to question reality, stuck in a self-imposed survival strategy within aMatrix-style monotony.

Because I know that you’ll give me all the information I need to destroy you by letting you talk.

Because I study human behaviors, and you ignore everyone but yourself.

Because I watch how you say the things you say just as closely as I listen to what you say, and you say way too much!

Because control comes not from spewing your ignorance like some incurable case of logorrhea but from properly structuring the context of your questions.

Because I study the premise of your argument and destroy it from the ground level before you even get a chance to establish your ideas.

7. Because you can’t handle the truth

Because you refuse to admit that you don’t even know the things you don’t know.

Because there isn’t an article online that would make up for all the time you’ve wasted in life.

Because even if I told you everything could be different tomorrow, you’d wait until then to begin doing anything about it.

Because even when you think I’m not, I’m aware of my surroundings.

Because you think that since I have not acknowledged you, it means that I have not seen you.

Because you walk around with your head up your ass, oblivious to the world around you, blissfully ignorant of the reality that sits so close to your face that if you stuck your tongue out, just once, you would taste it and realize how delicious the truth actually is.

Because you would become an instant addict, unable to pull yourself from the teat of truth, finally able to understand your lack of understanding. And then you would see. Then you would know the only thing holding you back from doing something truly amazing is you.

This post was originally published at Raymmar.com and is reprinted here with permission.

* * * * * * * * * *

Reflections on Renewal

*Loving this post! These truths work for anything.... Our sucky life with all its complaints. Our visionless jobs and careers. Our go-nowhere-relationships that suck the life right out of us and keep us from growing up, or acting with the authority and leadership that God has given to us. Or has riddled our lives with the toxic poisons of tongues and putrid hearts from the people closest to us who themselves have no vision, or loving care, for our well-being. Or our boxed-in-theology that complains too much and doesn't contemplate enough. That allows others to tell us what to believe-and-do without questioning why it is that we are attracted to that philosophy (or theology).

That ultimately we are the only ones who are responsible to make the spiritual choices for our head, heart, and soul. And that we alone are the ones to blame for our life rotting away on the outer edges of nothingness. For not realizing that the Lord God of Creation has empowered us through His Son Jesus, and by His Holy Spirit, to be everything that we should be through His atoning love and sacrifice. That self-empowerment begins with personal confession of sin and pride. That newness of life begins with Jesus and His sacrifice of redemption. That all of life's hurts, and angers, and sufferings, can become more meaningful moments of spiritual victory and connectedness when God leads and directs in all things in our lives.

No... not right away. It'll take years and years of pain and restitution to be resolved and rectified. But with each small victory can come greater personal growth and satisfaction that God's will is all we will ever need. Not our own will. Nor someone else's will. But God's will. Not money, power, status, or success. But God Himself. Who is the real source for our freedom, purpose, and meaning of life. And with this choice will come health, and healing, and joy, regardless of life's miseries and brokenness. This is what is meant by salvation. And it is the number 1 reason why your life may not suck after all. And it may be the number 1 reason why your life may mean anything at all. All praise be to God, the Savior of our souls! Amen.

R.E. Slater

May 19, 2014

1 John 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, andtestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he isfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.