First Year is Done.

Well, I finished up my first year. All in all, I feel as if I learned a lot, was stretched in ways that helped me grow, and am looking forward to the four month break. After a week of doing nothing but watching movies and checked out episodes of 'Bones,' I have started to compile my summer reading list. Last week, I read through Rob Bell's new book "Jesus Wants to Save Christians," and this afternoon I started working my way through Moltmann's "The Crucified God." Others making the list include: AJ Levine's "The Misunderstood Jew," St. Augustine's "Confessions," St. Gregory of Nyssa "the Life of Moses," Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is within You," and I may pick up Bonhoeffer's "Ethics" again. That's the initial list for now.

Peace.

David Dark: The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

A few years ago I was recommended a book by an author I had never heard of. But having trusted my friend (Thomas Bridges) I purchased "Everyday Apocalypse" by David Dark. The book proved to be an imaginative, informative, and serious look at ways in which 'apocalyptic' works its way into the present liberating us from our often times sincere yet misguided intentions. Dark does this through the medium of pop-culture: Flannery O'Connor, the Simpsons, Radiohead, and Beck. Here is a quote from this book. "If we're incapable of recognizing the subversive, satiric insight of something like "The Simpsons," our ability to apply ourselves to the joys of interpretation, or to view art well at all, has proven itself deficient."

While at Vanderbilt Divinity School, I was able to take a class with David Dark. (He's a PhD student in Religious studies). His third book was released through Zondervan last week. "The Sacredness of Questioning Everything" should be a good a read and I'm looking forward to spending some time with it over the summer. I was able to talk with Dark yesterday and was given a free audio copy of the book which is available to everyone who wishes to download it through zondervan. I was told to share it with anyone I knew, and was given permission to post it on my blog. So, free audio book of David's new book:

zondervan.com/m/sacredquestions.zip

ENJOY!

Christian Peacemaking Teams

A close friend of mine, Julia Bridges, is currently in the Israel/Palestine region with CPT, a christian peacemaking organization that asks the question: what would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline to nonviolent peacemaking as nations do to war? You can read about Julia's experience at...www.pursuit-of-peace.blogspot.com

More of Avery Paul

Joy and I were able to go to VA over the weekend and see the family. My brother Doug and his wife Elizabeth are adjusting to life with an infant. And she is a beautiful girl. I wanted to post some more pictures of my niece.

Avery Grace Paul: my niece

My brother and his wife just had their first born daughter. Born Febuary 20, she weighed in at 7 lbs. and 11 oz. Unfortunately, I live 11 hours from Doug and Elizabeth and will not be able to see Avery and the new parents until this weekend. Until then, here are some initial pictures. I look forward to posting some more after the weekend.

Excerpt from "Jesus and the Other Names"

This is actually a quote taken from David Bosch as used by Paul Knitter. I thought it worth sharing:

"Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put the church work above concerns of justice, mercy, and truth. Church people think about how to get people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world." (110).

Knitter actually uses this quote to generate a type of Kingdom oriented theology, practice and mission. This new 'regnocentric' (rather than Christocentric or even Theocentric) outlook recognizes that the church is not the mission of God but rather, "there is a church because there is mission."

The whole point that Knitter is trying to encompass is that if the church is not the mission of God, though it is still a necessary component of God's work of bringing about the Kingdom, then it may be possible to imagine other ways in which God is bringing about redemption and wholeness to creation.

It kind of puts a question mark next to the famous dictum: No salvation outside the church.

Calling All Stories

I will be preaching on the Beatitude found in Mat. 5, "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be sons of God."

One of my favorite quotes from Bonhoeffer is from his writing entitled, "No Rusty Swords" in which he says, "There can only be a community of peace which does not rest on lies and injustice." Justice and peace are intertwined. Without justice, there is no peace.

I'm looking for stories of people working towards peace and justice: recognizing injustice and actively participating in God's work of restoring creation.

Please, let me hear your stories.