This very world, this very contradiction—unabridged, unmitigated, unsmoothed, unsimplified, unreduced—this world shall not be overcome, but consummated. It shall be consummated in the Kingdom, for it is that world, and no other, with all its contrariety, in which the Kingdom is a latency such that every reduction would only hinder its consummation, whereas every unification [...]
Archive for October, 2009
this very world: the quotable Martin Buber
Posted in terra buberiana on October 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
lazy bums: 2 Thessalonians 3
Posted in textures, tagged 2 Thessalonians, biblical reflection, textures on October 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
With all the herding prowess of the aphorism, a popular saying corrals us into agreeing that the heavenly minded are no earthly good. The apostle Paul will have none of that kind of celestial religion.
In a letter that has much to say about transcendent matters, Paul directs a torrent of words to the necessity of [...]
fortunate sparrow: Psalm 84
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Psalms, textures on October 14, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Worship is a crystallized form of proximity to YHWH. The joy and completion we feel in worship do not demean similar experience elsewhere, for ‘liturgy’ is expansive without hegemony, inclusive with no eradicating instincts. Worship’s embrace shelters those it gathers in but none is lost there, none negated.
Though worship is an intensified version of wider [...]
smooth: riding the Hungarian rails
Posted in two hippos make an island on October 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
During a recent business trip to Sopron, Hungary, I booked flights through Budapest, supposing this to be the quickest way to the city of Sopron, way out on Hungary’s western border with Austria. I was wrong. Vienna would have been them logical choice.
No harm done. I purchased a Hungary Rail Pass through my US travel [...]
a home in Western Hungary: Hotel Fagus, Sopron
Posted in two hippos make an island, tagged Europe, Hungary, reseña on October 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A pleasant train ride from Budapest and an even shorter trip from Vienna, across the Austrian border, the lovely city of Sopron holds its own as a genteel border city in Central Europe. When your travels take you to Sopron (or even to a two-day trip, say, during a visit to Vienna), you needn’t think [...]
butts in seats: Seat Guide (iPod app)
Posted in maxing out the iPhone on October 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This very handy app has more than once alerted me to the need to change a seat before getting stuck with my feet wedged into the space left by an ‘electronics module’ under the seat in front of me. It’s not exhaustive. For example, the USAirways Embraer E90 that’ll take me from Philly to Indy [...]
Making Community Together: theological schools in concert
Posted in denkschrift, tagged theological education on October 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
An address delivered to the triennial conference of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education
Sopron, Hungary
October 2009
A concert is a lovely thing.
Whether the Hong Kong Philharmonic touching just last week such disparate notes as those composed by the early classical Haydn and the late Romantic Berlioz or U2 rocking Chicago’s Lincoln Park or a band [...]
supreme: Colossians 1
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Colossians, textures on October 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Paul’s articulation of Jesus’ being lies often at huge distance from the cautions language of the church’s later creeds. To make this observation casts no shadow either upon Paul or upon the creed-makers, for they were pursuing similar ends by very different means. Each employs his own code, so to speak.
Like all true monotheists, Paul [...]
joy’s discipline: Philippians 4
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Philippians, textures on October 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When the apostle Paul urges his readers to practice joy, he is not mixing categories. On the surface, one might expect the opposite. How can joy be commanded? How does one pursue and practice what is widely regarded as an epiphenomenon of fortunate circumstance? Or, to put things in more adversarial terms, who does this [...]
the unconventional mathematics of faith: Philippians 3
Posted in textures, tagged biblical reflection, Philippians, textures on October 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Apart from the fresh angle of view that faith in Christ provides, it is almost impossible adequately to discount human achievement and—more importantly—to abandon self-evaluation that employs such ’success’.
The apostle Paul could, for the sake of his argument, step back into the arena of conventional mathematics. Writing to his friends at Philippi, he could add [...]
Categories
-
Recent Comments
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
Pages
-
Blog Stats
- 39,854 hits
