T. D. "Primetime" Jakes

brilliant blurb from the Riddleblog on the future television ministry of T. D. Jakes:

Dr. Phil likes T. D. Jakes. So Dr. Phil is helping Jakes get his own national T.V. talk show in the Fall. Swell. How will Jake's version of modalism and his prosperity gospel help TV viewers? I can just see Jakes now, walking back and forth, wiping his sweaty brow, ranting, "Viewer, Thou Art Loosed Loosed!" "Reposition Yourselves."

(you got to admit Osteen's pretty square)

Current Soundtrack

its raining, that's a beautiful thing
Bon Iver makes my heart melt

Top Albums of 2007

I know it's late, the problem was every time I sat down to write my list I discovered something else. '07 was a pretty exceptional year of music. This is especially apparent relative to 2008 thus far. So here it is, my top 10 albums from 2007 in order.

1. The National - "Boxer"
Everything a rock n' roll album is supposed to be. Also put me over the edge and made me a fully devoted convert to horn parts in rock music. It appears the Boss was on to something after all. "Mistaken for Strangers" was probably my favorite song of the year which helps it claim the top spot. Who can beat this line anyway, "You wouldn't want an angel watching over you. Surprise, surprise they wouldn't want to watch." Isn't that the truth.

2. Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible"
How do you surpass "Funeral"? You don't. But this won't hurt. Besides, somehow a band of mostly Canadians keeps playing Obama rallies. Move over Fleetwood Mac.

3. Feist - "The Reminder"
Leslie Feist has soul.

4. Radiohead - "In Rainbows"
Nothing ground breaking, but soooo good.

5. Panda Bear - "Person Pitch"
I've never been a big Animal Collective fan. Perhaps its my sub-conscious allegiance to the Great Tradition of Boethius and Co. But Panda Bear's complex and beautiful album of Beach Boys on acid inspiration is great.

6. Steven Delopoulos - "Straightjacket"
Fantastic album. Beautiful folk music. Kind of like the best of Cat Stevens without the hokie album fillers and conversion to fundamentalist Islam.

7. LCD Soundsystem - "The Sound of Silver"
I'm a sucker for dance music what can I say?

8. Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago"
You'll find this in the dictionary under "beautiful and haunting." I think the problem with most singer songwriters these days is that they don't go spend time alone in the woods and write and record music. In my head this is the musical companion to Sean Penn's excellent film Into the Wild.

9. Bowerbirds - "Hymns for a Dark Horse"
I've read that this can be considered Appalachian folk music. Works for me.

10. Once - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
This has some of the best song writing I've ever heard on one album. The film was good but the music made the film for me so I decided to plop it on this list.

Honorable Mention:
Derek Webb - "The Ringing Bell"
Jens Lekman - "Night Falls Over Kortedala"
Menomena - "Friend and Foe"
Okkervil River - "The Stage Names"
The Tough Alliance - "A New Chance"
Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

"Biblical Theology relieves to some extent the unfortunate situation that even the fundamental doctrines of the faith should seem to depend mainly on the testimony of isolated proof-texts" - Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (Carlisle, reprint 1975) 17.

With the prevalence of emerging/ent theology in the American church the concept of propositional theology is commonly decried as obsolete. To a certain extent I am sympathetic to this view after doing time at a fundamentalist Bible college where systematic theology was often nothing more than the memorization of proof texts for various doctrines. Yet a real alternative to propositional theology is confessional theology that is undergirded by the sort of biblical theology that would be developed by Vos a couple hundred years after the Westminster Divines. "What is the chief and highest end of man?" asks WLC 1. The correct answer does not rely on chapter and verse, using Scripture as some kind of divine dictionary or key. Instead, we find the answer from Genesis to Revelation and reply "Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever."

Christians & Film

Film is far and away the most prevalent artistic medium that our society interacts with and therefore it is no surprise that one of the fastest growing theological disciplines is that of theologies of film. Sadly the direction this field is headed (or is already in) is a bit concerning. Over the winter break I read through the most popular evangelical introduction to the theological analysis of film in Robert Johnston’s Reel Spirituality. Johnston, an evangelical uses his own "transcendent" experience he had while watching Becket with Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole to argue for film being an important avenue for experiencing the Divine. Working (dubiously) with Barth’s concept of “parables of the kingdom," Johnson describes the cinema as a place where God can meet men and women on their own turf. Since many in our society no longer see the need for church, movies are a legitimate medium for spiritual experiences.
Johnston along with other pioneers in the emerging discipline of theology and film rely on the work of Paul Tillich and Jürgen Moltmann. For Tillich the Divine Spirit is manifest in the human spirit in both morality and culture. In relation to film when we witness the power and ingenuity of the human spirit on screen we experience the uppercase "S" Spirit of God. Drawing upon the work of Moltmann the Spirit's work is extended to all of creation where we are faced with the paradox of "immanent transcendence" in all of life. Johnston interacting with Tillich and Moltmann writes, "If the Spirit is active in and through the human spirit, then the potential for the sacred is present across our human endeavor. Yet Christian theology, though it might give lip service to the presence of the Spirit in all of life, continues largely to ignore such works of the Spirit in the mundane, the ordinary experiences of life" (Reel Spirituality, 97).
It is interesting and rather predictable that the church’s relationship to Hollywood seems to be on a pendulum that swings from total abstention and disdain to sacramentalizing the big screen. What this tells me is that for those of us who love the medium of film and understand that for the forseeable future it isn't going away, we have the important task of teaching our people how to be movie watchers. The question isn't whether our people will be seeing movies, but rather what movies will they be seeing? Those of us who see the artistic value of film and recognize that it isn't going away any time soon must teach our people to go to the cineplex able to discern both artistically and theologically what they are seeing before them. Theological presuppositions such as a robust view of common grace and the image of God must undergird the experience of going to the movies. We don't go to movies to find God but to experience the artistic gifts of men and women made in the image of God. Like a great novel we go to films to understand human nature better. To experience worlds unimaginablly different than our own.
To conclude, Kevin Vanhoozer best describes our role as Christians as we seek to better engage the culture around us. "The church is to be a community of interpreters. The church interprets what is going on in culture by offering theologically thick descriptions that inscribe our everyday world into the created, fallen, and redeemed world narrated in Scripture" (Everyday Theology, 55). More later on what it means to make our people better interpreters of film and all of life.

Onward Christian Soldiers

Be sure and read this disturbing article from the LA Times. Once again a group of American evangelicals are attempting to "take back" something else for Christ. This time it just so happens to be the military. I understand that war is certainly a place where hopelessness and man's inhumanity to man is seen vividly, driving otherwise oblivious young men and women to attend chapel services and so on. I also understand that there is a chaplaincy program that exists for just this purpose. But honestly, sending "care packages" filled with Bibles and video games about the Rapture seems terribly inappropriate. There are apparently a significant amount of Christians that must sanctify everything including the current war in Iraq. The war in Iraq is not a holy war with a Christian nation fighting under the Chi Ro against the Mohammaden infidels. The war instead, consists of men and women bearing the literal sword under the orders of the civil magistrate. As a Christian I am obviously in full support of the chaplaincy being there to comfort the soldiers and share the hope and comfort that is the Gospel of Christ. What I oppose is the blatant disregard of not only the United States Constitution but of decent graciousness and respect owed to even our unbelieving neighbors. May the church not only pray for the soldiers, but also for the significant number of evangelicals who feel it is necessary to send packages that consist of eschatological scare tactics to already stressed and burned out soldiers. May the American church seek wisdom in discerning that this current war is many things, but religious it is not. After all, "we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." As the author of the piece so lucidly puts it,

It's time to actively strip the so-called war on terror of its religious connotations, not add to them. Because religious wars are not just ugly, they are unwinnable. And despite what Operation Straight Up and its supporters in the Pentagon may think is taking place in Iraq, the Rapture is not a viable exit strategy.

Also, I understand the picture isn't really relevant or appropriate it's pretty dang funny.

A Light Beer Actually Worth Drinking

For those of us trying to watch our figure I highly recommend Skinny Dip by New Belgium. Finally a full flavored non-watered down light beer that is full of flavor. It's quite refreshing is very unique because of its being spiced with a kaffir lime leaf. Worth a try!

Skinny Dip on the Interweb as I like to call it