Rain and the Rhinoceros

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!

It has been nearly a week since my last post. I was doing so well there for awhile. I hope I didn’t lose any readers during this time. Unfortunately, the reason why I haven’t been writing is because I haven’t felt like I’ve had anything to say with certainty. It is always hard for me to write anything unless I feel very certain about it. Of course, things will never be certain, but I will continue to act certain when I feel the moment. Lately, I have constantly been trying to put things in place in my head. Sometimes things just rock me around so much that trying to place them in a framework of thinking is difficult and sometimes impossible. When I can’t seem to order ideas in my head because they are too powerful, then I begin to feel uncertain about everything. Have you ever had such a powerful experience that you can no longer think the same way? There is sort of that period of confusion because your view of the world has just been shattered before your eyes, and then things start to come to focus. And, once again, you are certain about your new mindset, until the next mind boggling experience occurs. I am sort of in that state of confusion (post-mind-boggling) stage – and that is why I have had trouble writing. But, today the sun is out for the first time – i think all week? So, I think I feel a little better today – it is sunny and warmer. I am at cahoots and I am happy and content with my confusion for now.