Reads of the Week 1) The Blue Period: An Origin Story by Ta-Nehisi Coats "I don't think a human gets to see all of this before dying. But I want to see as much of it as I can. And here is the key thing--it thrills me to see it. I love seeing it. I love knowing. The knowing is its own reward. The ability to frame the question is it's own gift--even if you can't quite name the answer." 2) Where I Stand by Jen Hatmaker "We don’t get to abandon the theology of love toward people; the end does not justify the means. That is not Christ-like and it is certainly not biblical. As a faith community, it is time we relearn what “speaking the truth in love” means. Something that actually feels like love is a start. If the beginning and end of love is simply pointing out sin, then we are doomed." 3) Humanity - Spirit of the Poor Link Up by Aaron Smith "I am more than someone with bipolar, more than my stance on gender equality, even more than my faith and devotion to Jesus. I am fully human, and my humanity is complex. I am more than what shows in crisis, in passion, and in devotion. I am all of these things, and more. I am what is revealed in the normal moments, in the moments just before I fall asleep, in the mornings before coffee. This humanity of mine shows it’s self at work, at church, in the kitchen, when I am giving my son a bath, at the doctor’s office, riding public transit. Everywhere I am, there is my humanity." 4) On Broken Pastors and Golden Calvesby Seth Haines "We’re all looking for a lock-tight faith, one that allows escape from the clutches of the strangling sins common to men. We want to believe in the ideal, that we’ve been crucified with Christ, therefore we no longer live, but the sinless, perfect Christ lives in us. But fumble though we may, grope as we must, white-knuckle as we can, we still struggle with living an actualized, in-dwelt life." 5) The Psalms as Liberation Theology by Richard Beck "The thing that strikes you about the psalms when you read them straight through is how oppressed and beleaguered is the psalmist. Enemies, hecklers, back-stabbers, two-faced friends, violent oppressors and economic exploiters abound. This goes to the source of lament in the psalms. Rarely is the lament about, say, the death of a loved one. The lament is generally about oppression, about the victory of the oppressor." Honorable Mention You Are Allowed Your Process by Jamie Wright Disunity in Reading the Same Bible by Nate Pyle The Splenda Level of Friendship by Megan Gahan Tweets of the Week "Fun first date idea: Force a connection because you're afraid to be alone." - @mdob11 "If I die unexpectedly can everyone just do the right thing and pretend I was a way better person than I am?" - @AnnaKendrick47 "'Religious liberty has never been more under attack,' said Ted Cruz while zero lions ate him." - @indecision On Pop Theology Week in Review On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 55 - Villainous Villainy "This week on the show Ben, Sebastian and Jesse tackle the topic of
villains." Ten Thoughts About the Noah Movie from Someone Who Has Been Resolutely Not Paying Attention by Lyndsey Graves
"I have not been paying attention to anything about the new Noah movie. Here are my thoughts about it." A Theology of Filthy Rags by Charity Erickson "The other day my mother brought a green suitcase to my house, full of random crap from my old bedroom." Time is a Trap by Ben Howard "Time is, in a very real sense, a trap." Song of the Week "The Book of Live" by Peter Gabriel
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by Ben Howard Reads of the Week 1) I'm a Downward Mobility Dropout by Stina KC "At first, my moral outrage fueled conversations about petitions and tenant rights and lawsuits. We could stay and fight. But then I started leaving the apartment for most of the day, camping out at my parents’ house so my daughter wouldn’t be tempted to play at the windows. Soon, we were apartment searching and then signing a lease and suddenly it wasn’t my problem anymore." 2) God is Dead: Or When Professors Become the Bogeyman by Krista Dalton "As a phd student, as a young scholar, as a person driven by questions from the moment I first opened my eyes as a child, this fear of me, this projection of me as the bogeyman, baffles and pains me. I am not trying to destroy your faith by making you think about history, context, and theory. I am not an enemy because I desire intellectual exercises in addition to my spiritual practice." 3)My Scary Airplane Story by Rachel Held Evans "We chatted for a while and I found myself relaxing. When we hit another patch of heavy turbulence I focused on taking deep breaths. Mr. Businessman rested his elbows on his knees and concentrated on the floor. I can say with some confidence that everyone on the plane was either scared or medicated." 4) For When I've Been An Earthquake by Jen Hatmaker "Finally, the dark night forms us in ways that set us free to love boldly and compassionately. On the night Jesus’ friend betrayed him, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and then gave it. And in the same way, Jesus takes us, blesses us, breaks us, and gives us to a hurting world to be God’s very presence. 'The dark night is a key part of God’s missional purpose in the world,' Daniel Shrock writes, and I’ve seen it too many times to deny it." 5) Dark Night - An Antidote to Self-Improvement Christianity by Chuck DeGroat "But Big Feelings can also wound and offend, even unintentionally. Or totally intentionally. As one who tends to buck the system, who often has a problem with The Man (whoever he is), sometimes my prophetic bent unfairly injures. Truthfully, my heart always stands with the Little Guy, the Underdog, the Marginalized, the Misfit, and because I lean toward inclusion and reform and struggle with power paradigms and hierarchies, I sometimes sweep good people into the fray and issue an indictment where one is not deserved." Honorable Mention Shame and the Schisms of the Church by Richard Beck Too Busy to Be a Reconciler by Christena Cleveland To Myself On a Regular Day by Lyndsey Graves Tweets of the Week "I don't observe Halloween because of its pagan origins. For reasons of
consistency, I don't observe Wednesdays or Saturdays either." - Jason Boyett (@jasonboyett) "We accept the Oreos we think we deserve." - Matt Johns (@MattJohns1983) "My kid just named the pirate ship on her adventure map 'The Black Ship of Total Rejection.' I can't make this stuff up." - Andrea Levendusky (@theorganicbird) On Pop Theology Week in Review The Spirituality of Horror by Charity Erickson "In my opinion, the horror genre is a perfect genre for Christians to be involved with."
The Martyr Ghost Stories, Volume 1: The Tale of Saint Lucy by Sebastian Faust "In the ancient city of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea, there lived a wealthy woman and her daughter Lucy, in a great mansion." The Martyr Ghost Stories, Volume 2: The Zombie Saint by Sebastian Faust "In the cruel city of Rome, founded on its seven hills, in the reign of Diocletian, Saint Sebastian died." I Didn't Grow Up With Saints by Ben Howard "I didn't grow up with saints. Actually, that's only half-true. I grew up in a world full of saints, but they were relegated to hospitals, football teams, and large cities in Missouri." Song of the Week "Keeper" by Shovels & Rope
by Ben Howard Reads of the Week 1)I Sit On a Man's Back, Choking Him... by Fred Clark "I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and therefore justice is to me a terrifying threat. If the world suddenly became a just place, I’d be the first one up against the wall." 2)Everyone's a Biblical Literalist Until You Bring Up Gluttony by Rachel Held Evans "In short, we like to gang up. We like to fashion weapons out of the verses
that affect us the least and then “clobber” the minority with them. Or better
yet, conjure up some saccharine language about speaking the truth in love
before breaking out our spec-removing tweezers to help get our minds off of
these uncomfortable logs in our own eyes." 3)Dreaming of Mandela by Roger Cohen "I have been dreaming of Mandela. An old idea: He who touches one human
being touches all humanity. I have been murmuring his name: He broke the
cycle of conflict by placing the future above the past, humanity above
vengeance." 4)In the Dust, In the Back Row, Kneeling by Anne-Marie Heckt "Perhaps only through falling, realizing his fallenness, and then
acting out of love and surrender anyway, Launcelot was the perfect man.
The man made perfect, and so of use to both God and man." 5)Sunday Night Church by Jen Hatmaker "We live in a strange, unprecedented time where face-to-face
relationships in actual time and space are becoming optional. It’s
tricky, this online connection, because it can be so meaningful and
true, and I’ve personally experienced it give way to actual in-real-life
friendships I treasure. But it can also steal from friends on porches, the ones who know your middle name, talking about real life over cheese and wine." Honorable Mention
"Last night I dreamed I was at a church award ceremony and the award for "Most Prophetic" was given to Yoda. It was awesome." - Jonathan Harrison (@jonateharrison) "I'm shocked that Ice Cube had time to bash Dwight Howard in between breaks of filming 'Did the Check Clear Yet?'" - Keith Law (@keithlaw) "After one week of VBS, our 4-year-old Joe has kindly informed us that he now 'knows more about Jesus than anyone else in the world.'" - Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) On Pop Theology Week in Review
