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In that first breath of a new class: a professor’s thoughts standing at the podium on day oneThere is that moment at the beginning of the academic year when the professor comes into the classroom, sets down his or her stack of papers and books, moves to the podium and begins class. It is a very mundane moment in many ways. Students chatter away, texting friends, drinking expensive espresso drinks in shimmering travel mugs with café logos you don’t get the reference to and you move … There’s more to read here. High-Five or Fist Bump the Arts today: Take a moment today to give to the arts for 2011For those who have been around me for a while (or even a little bit) will know that a word that creeps into my lectures, academic writing, casual conversations and probably haunts my dream life is ‘poetry’. There is something in the act of the imagination that continues to drive and challenge what I believe is core to who we are and what we are called to be. Much of … There’s more to read here.
Posted in arts, culture, giving, The Kindlings Muse
Tagged Arts, Giving in 2011, IMAGE, Karin Stevens Dance, Taproot Theater, The Kindlings Muse
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Can you love God without a political party? Freedom of the Self and ‘Republicanity’In the introduction to my book Freedom of the Self, I open with a story regarding Rembrandt’s famous 1642 painting “the Nightwatch” I heard while viewing it a few years ago in Amsterdam that frames—both literally and figuratively—my concern with the church today and, in particular, a misguided loss of personhood for many faithful people. Those who have seen many of the 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon … There’s more to read here.
Posted in church, culture, Freedom of the Self, Jesus, missional, Models of the Church, theology, Uncategorized
Tagged church, culture, Faith, Freedom of the Self, Michelle Bachmann, pastoral vocation, politics, republican, shibboleth, theology
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Lenten music: Bonhoeffer, Dead Poet’s Society and the gift of being an alternative songI wanted to share a portion of a letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer written to his friend Eberhard Bethge while Bonhoeffer was in prison. Taproot Theatre is currently showing a marvelous dramatization of Bonhoeffer’s last days called “The Beams are Creaking” and it led me to re-read his Letters and Papers from Prison. Given that I just finished a book on pop music and that I think most naturally in … There’s more to read here.
Posted in belief, cantus firmus, culture, Dead Poet's Society, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, existential musings, faith, Imagination, Lent, music, theology
Tagged art, cantus firmus, Dead Poet's Society, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, existential musings, film, Lent, Letter and Papers from Prison, music, Polyphony of Life, Your Neighbor's Hymnal
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Lenten release: (just about) everything I learned about Lent I learned from U2As I discuss in the opening chapter of my 2010 book Freedom of the Self, popular music since the late 1960’s has been replete with claims of what it means to have identity in the world. Whether our sense of identity is bound up in the longing for love, the loss of our past, or the social injustice that removes people from seeing their true beauty and worth, popular … There’s more to read here.
Posted in Bible, Bono, culture, Freedom of the Self, kenosis, Lent, theology, U2, Uncategorized
Tagged Bible, bono, Freedom of the Self, kenosis, Lent, theology, U2
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“Love Wins” the blogosphere – thoughts on Rob Bell, universalism, and Christian cyber-fightsEither you only follow tweets for TMZ.com or ESPN Sportscenter or live under a rock away from the din and clang of the blogosphere if you haven’t heard the rumblings about Rob Bell’s upcoming book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived (HarperOne, 2011) which will hit bookstores on March 29th. For those following the flurry of activity, the basic issue … There’s more to read here.
Posted in belief, Bible, culture, emergent, Eucharist, existential musings, faith, Jesus, John Piper, Love Wins, Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell, secular, theology
Tagged church, Emergent, existential musings, Hell, John Piper, Love Wins, Mark Driscoll, pastoral vocation, Rob Bell, theology
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True Myth – there is no faith without fantasyArtist Dan Meth recently posted a map of the ‘fantasy world’ that pulls together over 30 different fictional/fantasy worlds into one glorious landscape – Narnia, Middlearth, Earthsea, Wonderland, Never Never Land, Oz, Whoville, Florian, the Land of the Lost, you name it. What I love about the map is how by glancing at it I am drawn back into the narratives, characters, plotlines and epic grandeur of these places that … There’s more to read here. When The Fantastic Four becomes Three: Learning about life when death isn’t realToday Marvel Comics released Fantastic Four #587 which continued the story that began some 50 years ago with four people whose life was changed forever by a gamma radiation blast in space which changed them into the comic book heroes known as The Fantastic Four. Yet issue #587 is a game changer of sorts. Over two years in the making, the storyline for the Fantastic Four has come to an … There’s more to read here.
Posted in art, belief, Comic books, culture, Death, Marvel, The Fantastic Four
Tagged art, Comic Books, Death, existential musings, Marvel, The Fantastic Four, The Human Torch, theology
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Glasgow, the stoning of Stephen and a lack of theological imaginationDoug Gay, a colleague who teaches Practical Theology at University of Glasgow, recently posted a citation on his Facebook page from Alastair Gray’s stunning 1981 novel Lanark that gave voice to much of what I been wrestling with for the past two weeks. For those not familiar with Lanark, it is reminiscent of James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses with echoes of … There’s more to read here.
Posted in Alastair Grey, belief, Bible, books, church, culture, economics, facebook, Glasgow, Jesus, Lanark, missional, theology
Tagged Alastair Grey, Bible, books, church, economics, existential musings, facebook, Lanark, literature, theology
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Žižek and Belief- why does God have to be so far away?As some of you on Facebook might know, I am now at a conference in Oxford where I presented a paper on continental theorist Slavoj Žižek. For some, the name Žižek is unknown and yet in the philosophical community he is causing vibrant conversations that both infuriate and enliven debates on, well, just about everything. My interest with Žižek is that as a leading Leftist theorist he seems to be … There’s more to read here.
Posted in belief, culture, economics, ethics, existential musings, faith, Žižek
Tagged church, existential musings, Philosophy, theology, Zizek
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© 2011 Jeff Keuss |