In his recent post “Why Novak is completely worthless in every way imaginable,” Halden criticizes Michael Novak’s outlandish post at the First Things blog in which he calls for not only economic sanctions on Iran but also a ‘preventive’ attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Halden attacks Novak for the absurdity of seeking to violently secure the hill on which Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Evan has responded critically to Halden in a post entitled “Is Halden Doerge completely worthless in every way imaginable?” Evan doesn’t seem to understand why Halden would be so incredibly harsh in his post. It turns out that Evan actually has a personal connection to Novak and so this is obviously shaping his response.
Evan’s not interested in arguing with Halden about the merits of Novak’s post or Novak’s work in general. Rather, he is ultimately concerned about the harshness of Halden’s style of critique. And so he concludes his post with the following: “My advice to folks who are interested in blogging about theology would be, frankly, to not blog like Halden often does. I think it’s a mistake to do so, and that it can foster a stunted ability to interact with other people.” Now, I am all for reasoned and balanced critique over polemical hyperbole, but the truth of the matter is that Michael Novak is, to borrow Eugene McCarraher’s phrase, one of “Satan’s favorite sock puppets.” And so critique, even polemical critique is necessary. Considering his huge influence on lay Catholics (which is, by the way, comparable to the late Richard Neuhaus), his recent remarks should be called out for what they are: sub-Christian. Evan admits to having never read much of Novak’s work, and perhaps this is the most telling aspect of his post against Halden. Frankly, Michael Novak is doing awful work. This is the bitter truth. Critiques need to be leveled against him, in every forum, whether it be academic or a more informal blogging forum. Now I am sure Novak is a nice guy and a perfectly sincere Christian, which is precisely what makes his work so insidious. I don’t know about you, but as someone who has painfully labored through much of Novak’s work in the past, I’m with Halden on this one. And for the record, my advice to those interested in theology blogging is to learn the art of provocative blogging from the best of them–Halden Doerge–but be sure to take some time to learn from Evan’s “level-headed” blogging too.
The recent lull around here can be attributed to me really needing to attend to some important matters–like finishing my master’s degree–if I want to have a job in September. In the past month I have managed to basically complete my master’s thesis on John Howard Yoder and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which is now in the hands of my thesis committee. I spent this past week seriously relaxing on a farm and by a lake in eastern Ontario with my (pregnant) wife and 2 1/2 year old son. Things will probably remain quiet around here, as I prepare for comprehensive exams (this Thursday and Friday) and a German reading exam scheduled for September 4th. Following all that, on September 10, I begin teaching three sections of an introductory theology course at St. Thomas. Hopefully once school is in session I’ll have more time to attend to this blog–at least until the baby comes in November.
So, as you can see, I’m trying out a new blog “appearance.” I still have to work out the header (this is a default image), but I wanted to get some feedback first. What do you think of this look compared to the last one?
My dear friends Drew and Dana Johnson recently launched culture goes POP! a blog devoted to “rants, raves and reviews about movies, music, and media.” The husband and wife duo make for a real team. From Dana’s recent post Why I Love Iron Man to Drew’s Remembering Sydney Pollack, they’ve managed to kick off their new blog with a bang. Dana and Drew are my go-to experts on all things related to film and they want to become yours as well. There’s my pitch -subscribe now.
Happy new year! I’m looking forward to a fresh start of blogging after a long semester.
This year I hope to blog about the following:
- Atheism
- Christianity Since the Enlightenment
- Global Liberalism and the Future of Islam
- “Suicide Bombing” vs. “National Security”
- Religious Pluralism and the Gospel
- American Civil Religion
- Theological musings on Capitalism
I am ecstatic about the fact that two of my dearest friends have started blogs this week, Joel Mason at The Herb of Grace and Ben Lindwall at Journey Something.Joel Mason works in student life at St. Stephen’s University in New Brunswick, Canada. Joel is a wonderful lyricist and songwriter and is passionate about all things theology. To give you a taste of what’s to come, here’s a quick blurb from his blog:
The idea of grace given with a cost speaks to me when i think about the many corrupt systems in our world. That we must repent for our part in it. call the powers back to their God-given duty, to serve the commonwealth, this much is becoming clearer and clearer to me; that this is a more faithful declaration of the gospel in the world than much i have before encountered, of this i am convinced.
Ben Lindwall is a youth pastor at Church of the Open Door. He is a kind and wise soul. Ben has a wonderful way with words – he’s a poet, a painter, and a social activist. Much of his blog is devoted to issues of justice and peace. Here’s a blurb from one of Ben’s poems called “Who Knocked Down the Wall“:
But the spear pierced their sides
They felt so forsaken, my God, my God
If only they knew it was Promised Land
If only they could be forgiven
For where they live and how they are raised
The men, the women, the children
Brown eyes, tan skin, dark hair
Fingerprints, footprints, and vocal chords
Bled for hours into that Middle Eastern soil
So, as you can see I’m excited! I highly recommend that you to subscribe to Joel’s blog and subscribe to Ben’s blog.
I seem to be experiencing some problems with my blog right now. So, this is just a test post.
I’ve decided to give the blog thing another attempt. In order to encourage me, or inspire me, to write a bit more, I’m trying a new blog server. I have found blogger to be really annoying, which hasn’t helped my blog count. So, I’m going to try WordPress. It already seems a lot more user-friendly and I like the layouts a bit better. I hope to be writing more this Fall. As many of you know, Marcia, Owen, and I moved from St. Stephen, New Brunswick to Minneapolis, Minnesota earlier this month. I am transferring from a M.A. in biblical studies to an M.A. in systematic theology at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity (University of St. Thomas). I have my first class tonight!
I’m taking the following three courses this fall:
Theology of the Church, Eucharist, Catholic Social Teaching
I hope to frequently post class reflections and papers, so stay tuned.
I haven’t been blogging because life has been crazy lately. Our close friends from Minnesota, Ben and Jen, recently came to visit us. We spent some time on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia and the rest in St. Stephen. We had a wonderful time catching up with them. The semester is in its final days here at SSU, though this doesn’t really affect me too much, as my program doesn’t really work on a semester-by-semester basis. SSU drama is in full-swing; however, this doesn’t seem to affect me much anymore either. Though I’m deeply involved with the people at the university, it is just so typical. There are no real surprises – first years will be first years and fourth years will be fourth years. And all the individuals who live here (i.e. the “senior community”) – their responses stay pretty much the same. It seems as though decades of the same experiences of the same behavior, the same tension, all have little bearing on the way in which people respond to present events.
The past two months have gone by quickly. It seems like Owen was born yesterday. He is growing and changing everyday now. Of course, this new bundle of joy has also posed challenges. Owen has been a very content baby, to be sure, but he is a baby.
Marcia and I went to Halifax, Nova Soctia this weekend to spend some time with dear friends. We stopped in at Craig and Anneliese’s house and had a chat about blogs. I expressed by deep frustrations with the lack of comments for the last two months on my blog and told him that I was considering shutting it down. He replied: “I’ve been reading your blog and I’ve commented and you haven’t replied to my comments.” Ah, I haven’t received any comments. And then I realized that I had been getting “junk” comments and so I had set my blog to “moderate” the comments, which means that they all need approval from me first. Well, today I searched around and what do you know? I found 18 comments! wow! Thanks for commenting! Sorry I haven’t been able to reply to any of them. Now you know why! And now I know that people have been reading it AND some people did comment on my birthday!
Thanks for reading!
Now here’s some pics of the eastern shore in Nova Scotia and pics of the baby!
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