Reads of the Week
1) A Voice is Heard in Ramah by Suzannah Paul
"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children."
2) Starting a War: Racism in Falwell's Fight Against Drugs by Chris Attaway
"We should bear that in mind when we examine our drug laws: the anti-drug crusade in recent decades not only carries with it a concern for public health and safety but also an undue sense of moral and cultural superiority. Of course, you will rarely hear this in the rhetoric supporting the war on drugs, because racism and cultural privilege make for poor argumentative strategies in a culture which these days at least denies such things outwardly."
3) Fruitvale Station: Oscar, Trayvon, and Us by Craig Detweiler
"By recounting the murder of Oscar Grant III by a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer on New Year’s Day 2009, Fruitvale Station reminds us how familiar, repetitive and tragic Trayvon Martin’s death remains regardless of where you stand on ‘stand your ground’ laws. It puts a highly memorable face to yet another homicide, turning a statistic into a father, a son, and a brother."
4) George Zimmerman, Injustice, and My Slacktivist Outrage by Zack Hunt
"I hear about injustice and oppression
and all the other ills that plague society and I get pissed and I
might rant about it on the internet and maybe even donate a dollar or
two to some cause and then I do nothing. Ok, maybe that’s
overstating it a bit, I might join an online campaign or spend a few
hours here and there doing charity work, but I’m sure as hell not
putting my money, or my faith, whether my mouth is like Shane
Claiborne or the countless others who have radically changed the way
they live every moment of their lives."
5) Scripts We Live By by Scot McKnight
"It is hard to examine the evidence and let it form the script for that particular event. I trust our jury system as a wonderful system that gets us as close to justice as a system can get us even if at times it gets things dead wrong. But we must try, together. And try again. Until we get it right."
Honorable Mention
True Biblical Hospitality: Loving Immigrants, Strangers, and Enemies by Benjamin Corey
When God is Too Powerful by Bo Sanders
Meet the Racists! by Grace Biskie
Tweets of the Week
"Turns out blueberries aren't even blue inside in case you want to know why I have trust issues." - Emily Maynard (@emelina)
"And the House of Slytherin shall sup with the House of Gryffindor on the Lord's holy mountain." - Anderson Campbell (@andycampbell)
"After reading stats about singles,I said to my friend, 'Guess what single women do more than single men?' She said, 'I don't know. Cry?'" - Sarah Thebarge (@sarahthebarge)
On Pop Theology Week in Review
Intertwined With the Poor: What the Missional Movement Lacks by Lyndsey Graves
"We don’t want to offend anyone. Let’s take it out.”
When God Was a Beatle (or, What the Church Can Learn From Bonnaroo) by Jacob Campbell
"It’s a Friday night and ninety thousand people are lifting their hands and singing in unison with a god. In front of me is a young man, smoking pot as he sings; beside him, his girlfriend ingests a certain substance to enhance her experience."
Like a Complete Unknown: Rolling Stone, Tsarnaev, and the Face of Evil by Sebastian Faust
"Rolling Stone is facing blowback for their latest issue’s cover – a self shot of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers alleged to have committed the Boston Marathon bombing."
Song of the Week
"Drafty Rooms" by Fialta
Peace,
Ben
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