Recommended Reading (Dan's Take)

Recently we at KBT (mostly me, but not without any input) have revamped the links. They're now categorized as recommended reading and fun links. Austin and I both read Buttersafe and play DF, so both of those are in fun links. Recommended reading is an amalgamation of our old links. I must confess I didn't feel comfortable as a Catholic linking to CARM or Monergism.com, which is why those were removed. I suppose I could also have linked to Catholic Answers, but that would have struck me as obnoxious on my part to do, perhaps more-so than the removal of the other two. However we did reach mutual agreement on linking to specific thinkers within sub-traditions rather than websites that more explicitly promote some sub-tradition or another. The new recommendations list is pretty balanced in terms of where exactly in Christendom the thinkers hail from, and after some conversation with Austin I've added John Piper's 'Desiring God' blog. I haven't actually bugged Mike yet to see if he's got stuff to add.

My linking to these sites doesn't constitute any necessary endorsement of the specific ideas contained or preached therein. It definitely doesn't mean that I endorse as Catholic everything said on any of these websites, even the ones labeled "Catholic." What it does constitute is my general endorsement of those who do the main writing on those sites, as thinkers, and my good faith that they all endeavor to seek the Truth.

If anyone who runs these sites happens to see this list, and I've got their tradition wrong, they should tell me so I can correct it.

So here's the list, as I've currently got it composed (Austin or Mike might add stuff later):

* A Minor Friar (Catholic) - Fransiscan Brother Charles reflects on lots of things.
* Alexander Pruss (Catholic) - Thomistic philosopher who writes about just about everything, it seems.
* Amateur Theological Musings (Catholic, really Theological Musings from an Amateur) - Interesting musings on theology and philosophy; this kid could be huge in the future.
* Catholic and Enjoying it (Catholic) - Mark Shea, an interesting fellow.
* Dangerous Idea (Arminian Evangelical) - Victor Reppert, who asks lots of interesting questions about everything and is a big proponent of Lewis's Argument from Reason.
* Desiring God (Reformed Evangelical) - Headed by John Piper, a bigger reformed blog. I must admit I didn't pay much attention to Piper, but having read a little of his blog and watched some videos, I'm pretty impressed.
* John Meunier (United Methodist) - If you read only one UMC small minister's blog a day, make it this one. John waxes awesome on everything from whether Wesleyans are Wesleyan, to the internal politics of the church, to Rob Bell.
* Mere Orthodoxy (??? Evangelical) - How can you not love a blog that takes its name from a combination of Lewis's Mere Christianity and Chesterton's Orthodoxy? Theologizing on everything over here.
* Mouw's Musings (Reformed Evangelical) - Richard Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary doesn't update ultra-often, but I find he is almost always worth the read.
* Parableman (Reformed Evangelical) - Jeremy Pierce is a philosophical grad student who asks interesting questions about lots and lots of things, from how we read texts (including Biblical texts) to philosophy of race.
* Sola Nobilitas Virtus (Catholic) - Kev Johnston often posts videos of Milton Friedman or people falling hilariously, but when he gets thinking, he gets thinking. He and I certainly disagree as to whether he gets it right from a Catholic or Christian standpoint, but he gets a lot of it right.

One last thing. I do not make this promise for Austin or Mike, but everything in the recommended reading list also goes in my RSS Feed Reader, with the intent that I read all of it, pretty much post-for-post.

Christian Carnival is Up

Over at Thinking in Christ. Enjoy!

Christian Carnival CCCXXVIII

Up over at parableman. Peruse/enjoy.

A Response to this Gulley Fellow

I got a tip on this from John Meunier. It's rewarding reading, because it's so wrong that the words I want to use are words a theology blog shouldn't use. It's forcing me to try and articulate why it's so wrong.

Readings of Scripture aside, I don't think I can square all the false implications he's made about the doctrine of original sin.

For starters, any Churches--the RCC I know for sure but I'd be willing to bet more than a few Protestant denominations--teach a kind of co-creation and co-operation of God and man that they see as being in perfect harmony with the notion of original sin. They might be wrong (I guess the Monergists might be right), but even if that be the case, they're still more biblically and historically Christian than this guy.

Apparently Gulley's never heard of all those joyous saints and philosophers whose belief in original sin combined with beautiful views of creation and God and humanity. Gulley's never read John or me, in our honest struggles to work out salvation in fear and trembling. If so, he should know better than this. But he doesn't know better. Most of this piece was crap, and most of the good advice can and has been acted on by persons who vehemently disagree with him. Maybe we're just too trapped in the unreasonable dogma of yesteryear to be enlightened like Gulley is. Maybe we're not the only dogmatists.

Looking at Grad Schools

This is a serious question for anyone reading this post:

Any ideas about places I might go to grad school?

I'm looking to study historical theology at least for the master's level. I'm pretty sure if I ever break into academia my research interests will include theology of sexuality and the Christian concept of human dignity (I'm particularly interested in the ways in which 20th century authors, especially but probably not only Catholics, have used the world's concept of dignity as a negative definition of the Christian concept.)

So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I kind of already know what Catholic places I sort of want to apply to (for instance, CUA and Notre Dame are on my list, still thinking on the Catholic GTU schools in Berkeley because I think I might choke on the little-l liberalism down there.)

If anyone knows of good Protestant schools especially for historical theology I'd like to know. I know a couple of other Carnival people either are or have been grad students in the past, so if you'd have anything about those to offer, let me know.

Christian Carnival CCCXXV

Hey all! It's time once again for the Christian Carnival! I'm excited that KBT has the honor of hosting this week. The Carnival, for anyone who doesn't know, is a hosting-rotated blog carnival open to Christians of Protestant, Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox persuasions. If you want to learn more about the Carnival you can go here. If you want to submit an article you can do so here.

Also, dude, this edition of the Christian Carnival also holds the distinction of being KBT's 100th post ever. Rock on. I was going to try and organize this week's posts into overly broad categories but most posts didn't fit so neatly in my neat little boxes, so I gave up on that. (There are three money-related posts this week, which makes me wonder if maybe God's trying to tell me something.)

There's lots of awesome stuff this week. I don't necessarily endorse every word of the posts below, but I found it to be all edifying overall, and challenging in those few places I disagreed. (However, I really hated that jerk Dan Lower. He never knows what he's talking about.) Twenty-five submissions in all this week! Special thanks to Jeremy Pierce of Parableman for being patient with my questions about hosting.

The Banditts
kilama gives us "The Death of a Nation," a piece on abortion in America with some interesting facts.

The Bible Archive
Rey Reynoso presents "Ethics Beyond Duty (1 of 4)" which is "guestblogger Xulon writ[ing] about ethics beyond duty." Lots of fun Scriptural-ethical connections here.

Boston Bible Geeks
danny presents "What Happened to Onesimus?" Some thoughts about the fate of the New Testament runaway slave. danny comments: "Philemon is an often overlooked book, could that be because we don't know how the story ends? This post looks for clues to tell us what happened to Onesimus."

A Christian Mommy
Siobhan McGirr gives us "Sleep Well, Christian Moms!" Siobhan reflects on the value of sleep.

Church Bible
Chad Maslak presents "Christian Praise and Worship," which contains some good thoughts on worship and praise.

Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet
Diane R writes "Working with Generations in the Church," noting "here is a primer on what is really going on generationally." Diane definitely made a connection I had not been so aware of before.

The Dating Divas
Tara presents "Let's Grow Old Together....", saying "I think that the sacredness of marriage is getting thrown out the window! I think that our journey though life should #1 - be focused on the Lord and #2 - be WITH our best friend! My friends and I started up a blog on which we post (weekly) creative and fun dates that we have taken our husbands on. This is to encourage us (...and to help out with the 'What Should We Do?' part...) to continue dating our spouses even AFTER we are married. My husband and I have been having SO much fun dating each other lately that it really bothered me lately when I heard some co-workers complaining about their husbands. I decided to write a post about my thoughts...thus the article: 'Let's Grow Old Together...' Enjoy!"

Doug Boude (rhymes with 'loud')
Doug Boude gives his "Top 20 Life Lessons for Husbands and Fathers." Doug's summary: "In this post, I've compiled what I consider to be the top 20 things that I believe, when implemented and adopted, maximize the success of a husband and/or father in his role in his household. Being a father of 8 children, 4 step children, and 2 grand children, I kinda feel like I'm speaking from experience here :)" Doug is also asking for ideas in comments if you've got them.

Free Money Finance
Free Money Finance's "The Bible on Money" offering this week is "The Bible on Debt". FMF's summary: "The Bible doesn't have a positive perspective on debt." No it does not.

Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength
Weekend Fisher presents "Silencing Iago," which is "about politics, people who sow discord among brothers, and becoming peacemakers." WF makes some interesting connections.

IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING
NCSue presents "Mom and the doctor giveth, then mom and the doctor take away." The story Sue tells here is truly heartbreaking and raises lots of moral questions.

Journey Across the Sky
Allen Scott gives us "Gov. Regulation Fails to Regulate Bad Behavior." Allen's summary: "The sound of the word REGULATION gives a sense of safety. It makes people think there are people paid to keep an eye on certain industries and practices to make sure they operate within the law. But it turns out that those who are paid to keep watch are watching something else.These are hired hands, employees paid to be there, they have no vested interest in the people nor the families they are supposed to be looking out for. They are merely getting paid to do a job and when something bad happens they are quick to push the blame elsewhere. They have no concern over the well being of someone living hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles away. The halls of the government are cold and hollow."  If Allen's right about regulation, something has gone seriously wrong.

keyboard theologians
I (Dan Lower) humbly offer "In the Meantime," a brief reflection on single-hood and discernment.

Mike Austin's Blog
Michael W. Austin reviews J.P. Moreland's The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism. Mike also gives some samples of ideas from Moreland's book.

Old Testament and Ecology
Justin Allison presents "God who brings rain in Zechariah | Old Testament Creation Theology," which he calls "part of my study on Creation theology in Zechariah."

Open My Ears, Lord
Janis Van Keuren writes "A Fragrant Praise to the Creator", noting, "the fragrant orange blossoms and the bee buzzing between flowers lift praise to God simply by existing." Wonderful reflection.

Other Food: daily devo's
Violet N. presents "Erecting memorials on our knees." Violet gives a touching reflection here. She remarks that "it’s comforting to think of petitions uttered on behalf of friends, kids, family members, communities, countries, leaders, even the world as little crosses beside the streets of heaven..."

Personal Finance By The Book
Joe Plemon writes about "Why to Build Wealth…Five Wrong Reasons and One Right One," with the teaser: "Is the phrase "wealthy Christian" an oxymoron? It all depends on the motives for building wealth."

Pillar on the Rock
Chris Krycho reflects on how God uses bad things that happen in life for the Good in "How Dirt Makes Us Clean."

Redeeming Riches
Jason asks the question of "How Much Should a Christian Give?" Jason summarizes: "Why is tithing such a polarizing topic!? Find out how much a Christian should be giving!" This is the first in a three-part series, and raises lots of questions--not all money related.

Rely on God in your personal development.
bewisest.com presents "Do your work with faith." The post has some good thoughts on faith in God and getting work done.

Taste{Full}
Tiffany DeLangie presents "Need a Little Inspiration?" Tiffany looks at some recent CCM CDs.

Thinking in Christ
Russ White gives us "Und Now, You Vill Be Healthy." Russ's comments: "The government is moving to regulate our salt intake with the explicit goal of 'changing our taste,' over time. What will be declared 'unhealthy' next?" This is a disturbing trend.

who am i?
Barry Wallace gives us "John Piper and Rick Warren." Barry's description: "Here are a few links to articles addressing the recent John Piper / Rick Warren controversy." It's well worth checking these links out. I'd heard a little about this controversy but they served as a good introduction to the issues at hand.

You Can't Mean That!
Steven Demmler presents "Karl Barth on Openness and Growth." Steven notes, "I let Karl Barth speak for himself on the topic of theological openness and growth."

I was glad for the opportunity to host this week. It was really interesting to read all the different submissions and immerse myself in the issues they raised. I should note that a guy named Dan presented "Jewish Chat and Israel Chat," but Dan and his blog are Jewish, so I couldn't include it in the Christian Carnival proper, but I figured I'd throw out the link in case anyone wanted to see it.

If you want to submit a post to next week's carnival, please follow this link. Again, the Carnival is open to the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants. Posts submitted need not be directly about faith or theology (e.g., they could be, among other things, about politics, homemaking, teaching, or underwater basket-weaving) but posts should proceed from a Christian world-view.

In the Meantime

These are some thoughts that started about a week ago when a TV show I was watching reminded me I was single. That was not a good day.

I don't know what my vocation is. Either it's marriage or it's some sort of consecrated single life (Holy Orders in that case, probably.) Anyway, I realized that day that I wasn't happy being single. I'm not sure why that is. Could be because I'm called to marriage, or it could be that I'm so afraid of turning into this guy* that I can't stop watching myself whenever I make a new friend of the female persuasion. Maybe I'm called to the Priesthood, but I'm really in denial (some of my reasoning for discerning away from the clerical state doesn't quite seem to hold up, to me.) Some days (not today especially) it's enough to make me want God to just slam one door shut, and open the other one wide. Just some kind of obvious sign. That'd be great.

Sometime, when I find and fulfill my vocation, I have a feeling that dealing with the fact of sexuality is going to get a lot easier. Because then I'll have a state I can accept, and live with; no more nebulous single-hood.

It'll come in God's time. In the meantime, please pray that I would be less neurotic when I meet women, and know when to relax and when to be vigilant. (Wojtyla's Love and Responsibility was a huge help in the way of a philosophical framework for living; book recommendations on the subject are good if you can think of any.) But if nothing else, prayer for discernment--in the immediate and in the vocational sense.

=========

* If this is your first XKCD comic, you might not want to browse the site. Sometimes it's a little less spiritual and a lot more offensive than that one. But that comic itself should be fine.

Christian Carnival CCCXXIV

Other Food has Christian Carnival CCCXXIV. Peruse and enjoy.


Also, oh man, KBT is hosting next week. This'll be interesting.

Baptism and Open/Closed Communion

John Meunier started some interesting discussion on his blog about whether baptism should be a prerequisite for taking the elements at communion. My choice of Church makes it obvious what I believe. But within a historically-minded Protestant framework like the Quadrilateral, I don't see the problem with saying "our communion is open to you if you have accepted Christ and been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." I certainly hope it's not unbiblical; as has been pointed out on Meunier's blog, this would be bad for the Early Church.

Christian Carnival CCCXXIII

Up over at You Can't Mean That!