Nuclear-free zone?

Wow! That's all I can say after reading this at Christianity Today. Who would have thought that conservatives would be leading a charge to eliminate nuclear weapons?

In other words, the United States presently faces a rapidly-closing window of opportunity — the "tipping point" referred to by Shultz, above. We can either doggedly cling to our own arsenal, ensuring that such weapons will eventually be used against us, or lead an international process toward a world with zero nuclear weapons.

If this world sounds like a hippie, leftist fantasy, consider that a non partisan supermajority of the former secretaries of state, defense, and national security advisers have endorsed the vision and a process to get there — including Colin Powell, Jim Baker, Frank Carlucci, and Melvin Laird, as well as a dozen additional top foreign-policy officials from the Reagan administration. And newly declassified documents offer overwhelming historical evidence that Ronald Reagan was a fervent — and utterly misunderstood — abolitionist.

Read the whole article and dream; Bonhoeffer would have loved it!

500 pound gorilla

Once upon a time there was a river in Brazil. It was the largest river in the world. Then the Internet came along and a young man decided that he wanted to sell books on it. He named his company after that river. Today, it has become the 500 pound gorilla in the bookselling trade.

A few years ago, this company began to expand by buying other companies. One of the companies purchased was a small print-on-demand (POD) company. No one thought much about it at the time, since the company was small and didn't seem to have a good customer service record. Fast forward to this month...

It appears that people who try to sell POD on said river's site now need to use only that company, or lose their coveted "Buy now" button, and free shipping with it.

Why am I talking in ciphers? I guess I don't want to give any glory to them, but enough of that; let's talk straight:

Amazon's POD subsidiary BookSurge is telling people that if they don't switch their POD to them, the "Buy Now" button will be turned off. So what, you say? Well, let's allow someone else to tell you who is an expert:

Amazon/BookSurge would make money two ways on Amazon.com sales - first the fee for printing the books, and then 48% of the list price of each sale through Amazon.com. Lightning Source allows its customers to set their own discount rate for Amazon and other retail sales, and does not force POD publishers or authors to pay "48%."

Furthermore, it could take the larger POD publishers months to submit their book files to Amazon/BookSurge, at a considerable cost and number of man-hours. This makes the deal even less attractive. Finally, while the initial list of books submitted by POD publishers could be submitted to Amazon/BookSurge for free, the contract states future books would cost $50 each to process. The cost for individual authors to publish through BookSurge is considerably more, with an average publishing package cost of more than $1,000.

Since Amazon/BookSurge does not offer Ingram distribution (Ingram distribution is considered imperative in the industry for bookstore sales), any company that accepts the Amazon/BookSurge deal, who desires to keep offering Ingram distribution, may need to maintain two copies of the book files. Since the Amazon/BookSurge current specs don't match the Lightning Source specs, future book files, both interior and cover, may need to be formatted separately. So, they would have to pay double the setup fees and might have to do double the formatting work as well...or pay designers to do double the formatting work.

Likewise, self-published authors who believe they must have Ingram Distribution AND an active "buy" button on Amazon to be successful may need to pay double the setup fees (to a POD publisher AND Amazon/BookSurge), and also may need to create two separate sets of formatted files.

<idle musing>
Hmmm, can you say anti-trust?

While I am no big fan of self-published books—I believe in peer review and not because I work for a publisher!—I also believe it has its place for books that have a print run of 30-50 for families or community organizations, churches, etc. This move by amazon has some serious repercussions for the POD world, and also for the book world, whether you are an author or reader.

Do take the time to read the whole article and feel free to comment here. I don't censor comments except for profanity. You can disagree with me and sing the praise of amazon if you want, but remember that every penny you spend there is an endorsement of this new policy.

Support your independent bookseller (of course that includes Eisenbrauns)
</idle musing>

SBL Regional conferences

Every Spring (and late Winter), there are regional SBL, ASOR, ETS, etc. conferences all across the United States. We go to some of them, mainly the ones that are within a reasonable driving distance. But, for the rest, we just send catalogs and order forms—with a conference discount, of course. Once in a while, we even take out an ad in the conferences program book.

Here is the ad we recently sent for the EGLBS (Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society) meeting next weekend.

Late Easter

Ben Meyers has a guest post with an Easter Sermon worth reading. I quote but a small paragraph:

Am I suggesting that forgiveness become the central plank of the West’s ethical foreign policy against terrorism? A counter-question: why the absolute astonishment, indeed repugnance, with which Christian themselves react to such a suggestion? Does it not, in fact, demonstrate – in the sense of “what difference does it make to our discipleship?” – that we do not live the truth that Jesus is the risen Lord, that we ignore the events of Holy and Easter week, as well as his life and teaching, that we honour the seventh beatitude more in the breach than the observance; rather we live as if Caesar (in whatever guise) were Lord, as if the events recorded in our tabloids rather than the stories of Jesus in the Bible define the “real” world, as if violence rather than peace were the origin, goal, and very grain of the universe? If being Christian trumped being American, British, or whatever, and if the church itself practiced a politics of peace, then at least we would have something to say to government that wasn’t the mere echo of its own loud voice.

<idle musing>
In order to get the full impact, you should read the whole thing. No Payback! I love that refrain.
</idle musing>

Large church/small church

There is a good, honest look at some of the advantages—and disadvantages—of house churches over at the House Church Blog. Here is a snippet:

I have seen the benefits of moving away from more traditional structures and into church forms that are simpler:

* Small, so that community and family can be experienced
*Participatory, so that every person’s gift is valued and developed
*Non-positional in leadership status, so that submission is mutual and leadership is situational and gift-based
*Non-programmatic, so that mission, discipleship, and leadership training is relationally-oriented
*Simple, so that it supports a 24/7, Jesus-following way of life

Yet, I have also noted the many downsides of working with simple/house churches:

*Community/family life in small groups is challenging.
*Despite good intentions, the consumer attitude of “what’s in it for me” can still be the prevailing attitude.
*We can talk a lot about a 24/7, Jesus-following lifestyle, but the reality is often that the only real change is that we gather in a small, participatory gathering rather than a large, stage-oriented one.
*Participatory gatherings, that seek to have the Holy Spirit lead, often fall short of such an ideal.
*Simple/house churches can become a place for Christians who are done with traditional church, for whatever reason, but who are not really ready to move forward into something truly, substantively different in terms of lifestyle.

He goes on, and a bit later opines “Our communities/gatherings must consist of people who are living or learning to live dynamic, purposeful, intimate, prophetic, missional Christian lifestyles rather than just being house-sized containers for passive Christians to gather in.”

And, “I am concerned that we fall into the “downsides of working with simple/house churches” (mentioned above) precisely because we sink into the habit, once again, of just “doing church” rather than living out the type of ministry and lifestyle that Jesus modeled.”

Good food for thought...

Final quote

This is the final quote from Atonement for a "Sinless" Society:

Jesus' ontological coherence comes ultimately not from his 'goodness' as the Second Person of the Divine Trinity, but because of his relationship to the Third Person—the Spirit of God. By implication, this must also be true of all who seek a similar liberating narrative. We are freed from our self-seeking and self-justifying and enabled to love only by the presence of the Spirit in our lives—a Spirit who becomes part of our personal history as we 'confess', allowing God to become the author of our lives.Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 186.

The book ends with a response by Robin Parry, the academic editor at Paternoster Press, and a counter-response by the author.

This book was very enlightening for me; I felt like I suddenly understood how people under about 35 think. I knew about postmodern thought, but this showed some of the practical ramifications of it in people's lives. I highly recommend the book.

Congratulations to our Webmaster

Our webmaster, Andy, has just made a public announcement—they are expecting a pair of new babies this fall!

Galatians 2

Good meditation on Galatians 2:20 over at My Utmost for His Highest:

Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ . . . ." He did not say, "I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ," or, "I will really make an effort to follow Him"-but-"I have been identified with Him in His death." Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.

He continues through the verse. Go read the whole thing, it is short, but excellent.

Friday's quote

Especially appropriate for Good Friday:

For here is recognition that the absence of mutual, undistorted, unpolluted relating, which leads ultimately to death, is anathema within Jesus' ontology—so much so that death has no hold on him. The resurrection is not an addendum or a postscript. What is true of Jesus and his atoning work up to and including his final moments on the cross is also true, indeed more so, once the tomb is empty.Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 185

<idle musing>
I especially like the line "The resurrection is not an addendum or a postscript." So true! The resurrection is the heart and soul of Christianity. Without it, we are still dead in our sins, as Paul says in I Corinthians 15.
</idle musing>

Thursday quote

"...the drive to 'Sameness' causes a division between 'Us' and 'Them;. As such, rituals and liturgical practices, like the Eucharist, which are supposed to deny the absence of relational dysfunction and instead promote the presence, if only symbolically at times, of mutual, undistorted, unpolluted relating, have been used to demarcate an in-group and an out-group—'sinners'. Add that to the autonomous philosophies of the Enlightenment and the Eucharist becomes, as it so often has, an individual at a table faced with an awesome sacrifice for sin instead of a table of fellowship where a community gathers to retell a story of at-one-ment"—Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 179

Wednesday quote

The encounter between self and community can be a healing one. It allows 'long-silenced voices to tell for themselves stories that question and counter those that dominate and oppress'. It also flags up the responsibility of the community to live and act in such a way that 'thickens' rather than denies the new story of the 'sinless' or chronically shamed person that is beginning to emerge from the narrative of atonement. For as we begin to 'confess' and 'repent' by re-storying ourselves, the community becomes a witness to the emerging self. there is a ready-made 'audience' that not only verifies the existence of the new narrative but that also, significantly, adds life and richness to the storied-self by linking their own stories to it. To make the 'Other' significant in this way is important, for, at its birth, our new storied-self has the 'Other' written into the centre of the plot.Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 176

Matthew 11

<idle musing>
I was reading in Matthew 11 the other day, and noticed something I had never seen before: in verse 2, the narrative uses XRISTOS:

ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ἀκούσας ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πέμψας διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτῷ σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν;

When John heard in prison what the Messiah (TOU XRISTOU) was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" NRSV

The use of XRISTOS here is unusual in the narrative of Matthew; XRISTOS only occurs at the beginning of Matthew (in the birth narrative), at Peter's confession, in the passion week narrative, and here. It seems Matthew was specifically setting up a contrast between the works of Messiah and the doubting of John as to whether Jesus really was Messiah.
</idle musing>

Tuesday quote

This is the 'sin' that pervades our 'sinless' society: 'our determined effort to live our lives as if God were not the author of our lives'. The result is an inevitable dysfunction in all of our relationships. Atonement, therefore, must be found in the counter-narrative that begins with Adam's desire to narrate his own life; continues with the history of God's people, Israel, who sought often to do the same; and finally encounters the betrayal and failings of the disciples that call our own to mind. The apex of this narrative is discovered in the intent, testing, submission and narrative coherence of Jesus. Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 166

<idle musing>
This is the heart of our problems! We want what we want when we want it, in the way that we want it, and only in that way and time. In short, we want to be God, but we aren't, and can't be God. So, salvation is to save us from ourselves, hence the recurring narrative in the gospels and epistles of "death to self" and "take up your cross."
</idle musing>

What is church?

Out of Ur has a good article on the church, not as an institution, but as a body of believers. Here is a nice little snippet:

“This is what highly institutional consumer Christianity fails to grasp [methodology versus Spirit empowerment]. It reduces ministry to a predictable machine where the right input results in the desired output, and then invites religious consumers to engage the test-engineered institution for their spiritual nourishment. It is also the assumption behind a good number of the ministry books, conferences, and resources we produce every year. But I don’t believe the Spirit of God is laying dormant waiting for the institutional church to compose the right BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) so he can be unleashed the way a pagan god is conjured by an incantation. God is a person, not a force. And his Spirit does not empower programs or inhabit institutions but people who were created in God’s image to be the vessels of his glory.”

He goes on to ask a number of very good questions. By all means, read the whole.

I see that Alan Knox has linked to it; here also with some good commentary.

Monday quote

“The post-industrialized self is sinned against, not sinner. They are the helpless victims of social structures, institutions and corporate bodies. It is with these perpetrators that responsibility lies, not with the 'innocent victims' of their distorted practices. Obligations and responsibilities lie fairly and squarely with institutions in the story the post-industrialized self tells. Therefore, there are no duties they have failed to fulfill, no forbidden acts about which they should feel guilty, no 'sins' that need confessing.

“...Though on occasion the storied-self (what we have said and done) may be sufficiently aware of the grammar of relating to consciously act in a way that damages relationship with 'Others' through our own deliberate fault, more often than not the storied-self is generated out of ignorance and weakness. To recall Jesus' own words once more, they do not know what they are doing for they are, socially and relationally, pre-moral. Their failing is an ontological one, beyond the ability of the self to act differently, living as they do in the absence of mutual, undistorted, unpolluted relating.
Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 163-164

Wi-Fi

The latest Prometheus is priceless. Having just come back from a trip, I must say wireless is wonderful.

Friday quote

The story of the atonement does not call on readers to see Jesus as a get-out clause, one who will live a life of narrative coherence for them and allow God to author his life so that they do not have to. It is more that the reader is called to identification—an identification which, for the post-industrialized self, requires the story of the 'Other' (Judas and the other disciples) as much as the story of Jesus. For it is they who reveal the self as being without narrative (ontological) coherence. They are the ones who demonstrate what it means to live in the absence of mutual, unpolluted, undistorted relating. Jesus, by comparison, opens up the radical possibility of the removal of that incoherence of the self, but only by the willingness to walk a similar path of intent which will require an act of repentace: living with God as the author of our life by dying to self and embracing the 'Other' in a act of at-one-ment. In this way Jesus' story leads the post-industrialized self 'exactly to the “places” he must occupy with his person: on the one hand, to the place of the person rejected by God and before God; on the other hand, to the place of a child living near with God', and with his, or her, fellow human beings.”— Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, pp. 144-145

Friday

I'm sitting in a motel room right now in Bloomington, Indiana. I came here Thursday morning to appraise a library for someone. They are going to donate it and needed a valuation for tax purposes. It is a large library—about 4000 volumes, plus an additional 1000 pamphlets. The books range from biblical studies to Judaica, with a good bit of Qumran and Classics thrown in for good measure.

This is the first trip with the new laptop, and the wireless is working very well. My old laptop had a separate card that you had to plug into the PCMCIA slot. Of course, it didn't always work, and the range was poor. But, the MacBook has it built-in, and very easy to configure. I'm enjoying it, as I kick back and type this.

At the place, they brought in cable Internet just so I could use it. They tested it Wednesday, and it worked fine, but Thursday when I plugged in there was nothing. Bad Feeling! We called up the supplier and talked to them. At first they wanted to blame it on my machine :( I told them that was not the the problem and asked them to ping the modem. They couldn't. Hmmm, can't be my machine, then can it? So, we rebooted the modem and everything went along just fine.

I have about 5 more hours of appraisal left for Friday, and then I head home, a 3.5 hour drive. If it is anything like Thursday, it will be a beautiful drive. Meantime, I updated the books I'm reading and books read on the side bar for the first time in a while. I was hoping to get to the blogroll, but I'm too tired. Maybe this weekend..

Heaven?

“If we love heaven rather than God, then our efforts are directed toward our own interests.”—Vincent Bruemmer, quoted in ”— Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 128.

Wednesday quote

“For the post-industrial self, the compassionate response of the father turns this story [the prodigal son] not into an account of pride and guilt or confessed sin that is forgiven. Rather, it is a story about an isolated, alienated and fragmented person who is unconditionally welcomed by a father just as he is. The story of the prodigal son is about the creation of a valued-self through valuing that person. The relational dysfunction that is so obviously present in the narrative is absorbed by the father on the return of his son, bringing the at-one-ment they both desire.”— Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 116