A Baby Bunny With A Backpack and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

by Ben Howard

Reads of the Week

1) Unstoppable Grace: Thoughts on the Gay Christian Network Conference by Rachel Held Evans

"I speak at dozens of Christian conferences in a given year, and I can say without hesitation that I’ve never attended a Christian conference so energized by the Spirit, so devoid of empty showmanship or preoccupation with image, so grounded in love and abounding in grace. As one attendee put it, 'This is an unapologetically Christian conference.'"

2) The Privilege of a Subway Swipe by Krista Dalton

"In plainer terms, I am well-read in race, feminism, disability, and gender issues. I follow people from each of these groups in order to learn more. And yet, the simple act of a subway swipe was beyond my privilege purview."

3) When This Is My Best Life Now by Preston Yancey

"We were disagreeing about something to do with God and when I saw the crack in your argument that had to do with knowledge or having read so-and-so or such-and-such and I pounced and tore you open and left you gutted. I say this twist of theological knife as if I have always believed it. As if this particular insight or position or belief was woven into me from my making. But it wasn’t. I read it last week."

4) The Heart of Wisdom: Chasing and Rest in Ecclesiastes by Richard Beck

"In this sense, then, Ecclesiastes is very much about idolatry, about our attempts to secure meaning and significance through human achievement or entertainments. The idolatrous thirst for yithron--for profit, advantage or gain--is revealed to be vanity. Because life is hebel. We are hebel. Anything we construct and worship is just going to wash away. Our idols will not last."

5) Why I'll Always Be A God Believer (About the Day I Was Going to Die) by Benjamin Corey

"I don’t know how to explain what happened in that moment, but I can tell you this: when people talk about being 'born again' I know when that happened to me."

Honorable Mention

The Body of Christ, the Balloons of Salvation: On Christian Balloon Twisting by Martyn Jones

Semon on Baptism, Belovedness, and How God is Like a Duped Teacher by Nadia Bolz-Weber

On a Bus Ride of Redemption by Tamara Lunardo

Tweets of the Week

"Man I hate it when Buddhists get all emptier-than-thou." - @JohnFugelsang

"coming up on the 20 yr reunion of my 10 bday and I'm going to spend it the same way: begging my dad to rent me a video game at blockbuster." - @_lxnx

"Nothing has ever tried to eat me. I am a bear." - @a_single_bear 

On Pop Theology Week in Review

On Staying Home by Lyndsey Graves

"I am back from Georgia, stone-ground grits in tow, looking out my Boston window across the Charles River at Cambridge lights. I wonder how anyone could be lucky enough to live in two such beautiful places."

On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 46 - Vulnerability and Race w/ Grace Biskie by Ben Howard

"The podcast is back! For our return episode, Ben sits down with author and blogger Grace Biskie. Their conversation focuses especially on the deep vulnerability of Grace's writing and her thoughts on racial issues stemming both from her childhood in Detroit and her bi-racial identity."

The Christmas Story is Sexist and Faith Isn't Nice by Rebekah Mays

"The Sunday before Christmas, I attended a church service with my family. The pastor was discussing a familiar passage from Luke 1, commonly known as 'The Annunciation,' where the angel Gabriel came down to Nazareth and informed Mary that she was going to 'conceive and give birth to a son.'"

On Breathing by Lane Severson

"When I was a child I would sometimes think intently about the process of breathing. When I would do this, it would seem to remove the breathing auto-pilot, so that I had to consciously decide to inhale and to exhale and to inhale again."

Bad Music Theology: "Timber" by Pitbull (feat. Ke$ha) by Ben Howard

"Every so often I come across a pop song so catchy that I can't stop listening to it, but with lyrics so terrible that I hate myself every time I press play. Such is the case with 'Timber' by Pitbull and Ke$ha."

Song of the Week

"One Great City" by The Weakerthans

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. If you'd like to help us pay the bills, you can donate via the button on the right of the screen.

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.  

 You might also like:  

• Drunk Babies Are Adorable and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• The Importance of Reading the Fine Print and Best Things You'll Read All Week
• A Bird Wearing a Hoodie and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

An Otter in a Hat and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

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

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. 

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com. 

You might also like:  

• A Curious Owl and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• A Giant Floating Duck and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• A Baby in Disguise and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

Aspirational Lemons and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

"Perfect for orange juice"

by Ben Howard

Reads of the Week

1) The Patron Saint of Poop: How My Kids Fell in Love with the Saints by David R. Henson
"We talked about poets, and teachers, and priests, and prophets modern and ancient. We talked about the women and men who lived holy lives. We learned about Christianity together, not through repetition of doctrine or theology or Christology but through seeing it in practice by people like us, our brothers and sisters in faith from all over the world."

2) Where's the Sanctuary? by Jamie Wright
"Because, in that moment, I remembered so vividly being the girl with her face pressed against the glass, broken and hurting, crushed by the weight of a world I couldn't seem to navigate. It was desperation that sent me out in search of a place of Rest and Peace and Nourishment. I was hopeless and shameful. I was starving for Love. I was lost and wandering."

3) When Too Many Things are Happening by Jason Boyett
"There have been times when I relished this back-and-forth exchange of ideas. I got involved. I spouted my opinion. I took sides and linked up and stepped into the sound and fury. But more than ever, when it feels like too many things are happening, I find myself just wanting to step away, to do myself a favor."


4) Christian Memory or Why I Don't Want to be Like the Early Church by Krista Dalton
"The problem is that this portrayal is an idealized constructed memory, neglecting the every day experiences of the community, fraught with issues and complications just like any other social group. Veiled in the text are those needy persons who aren’t cared for,  internal group dynamics of division and disagreement, and those who identify as Christians not included in the master narrative. Thus, to say we want to return to 'the ways of the Early Church' is not return to a tangible community but to an idyllic memory."

5) Stop Telling Me What is Anti-Christian by Christian Piatt
"While I affirm the right of any Christian to boycott a product, show or the like, and even to explain why in the public square, I’m weary of the heavy-handed tendency of Christians to slap the “anti-Christian” label on anything they find objectionable."

Honorable Mention

Remembering Will Campbell by Andrew Cohen

The Authority of Apology by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Immodesty All Over the Map by Rachel Marie Stone

Line of the Week

"Hey, look, it's hard growing up in a statistically stable house with opportunity and economic security." - Sean Randall (@RandallSD)


On Pop Theology Week in Review

Confessions of a Hopeless Romantic: The Bachelorette and Online Dating by Ben Howard
"I don't just want love and a wife, I want a story, and a good one at that. I want one of those stories that you tell your kids for like eight years and becomes the basis for a hit sitcom on CBS."

Batman Should Have Died by Ben Howard
"It's not that I don't believe in happy endings, it's that I don't believe in endings at all. Real life does not fade to black after the ending, it does not have a lovely epilogue where Harry Potter takes his kids to school, nor does it pan back from a funeral to find the supposedly deceased watching from off in the distance. It just keeps going."

When Winter Comes by Jacob Campbell
"I don’t mean to claim I have the hedge on suffering, but I can truly say I have experienced my fair share. And what I have discovered is that chasing the “If God is good...” rabbit into a bottomless hole accomplishes nothing."


Song of the Week

"Not Ready To Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks

Peace,
Ben 

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. 

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com. 

You might also like:  

• Sheriff Mini Horse and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• The King of Southwest Ohio and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• A Refrigerator's Existential Crisis and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

Matt Damon in a Santa Vest and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

by Ben Howard

Reads of the Week

1) Keeping Silence in Tragedy: In the Aftermath of Explosions by David Henson
"Our tendency when tragedy strikes is to hover over it, to watch and re-watch it, to relive it as if we could undo it or begin to understand it. It is almost as if we believe that if we know the details of what happened, and we know it first, as soon as we can possibly know it, the tragedy will somehow be blunted. That the meaninglessness of the cycle of violence will somehow be broken, will be understood."

2) Is Hebrew Magical? Evangelicals and the Fascination with Judaism by Krista Dalton
"There isn’t anything inherently wrong about wanting to understand the biblical text better in its original language; understanding the ancient use of hesed really does illuminate a text. However,  I can’t help but cringe when I see two related phenomena: a Christian misusing/misunderstanding the Hebrew language or a Christian mysticizing the Hebrew language."

3) A Ring by Spring or Else You #FAIL Godly Womanhood by Melanie Springer Mock
"In the years since my lunch meeting with Kara, I’ve counseled many other college women who leave school after four years feeling like they’ve failed, or that they’re damaged, or that God doesn’t love them as much as God loves their soon-to-be-married friends."

4) It Can Happen Anywhere by LZ Granderson
"But like love and good, evil is an omnipresent force imposing itself on the rest of society like an untreatable cancer. So while Obama telling the American people those responsible will "feel the full weight of justice," we are haunted by the fact that "justice" won't bring the victims back."

5) When Home Looks Like Refuge by Megan Boudreaux
"As Francois’ head hit his pillow that night, I walked by his exhausted body and prayed over him. The miles his feet had walked; the things his eyes had seen; the hunger, fatigue and fear he must have felt."

Honorable Mention

In Praise of Shift by Focus on the Family by Tom Krattenmaker

Pretty Fly for A White Guy: Why I Married a White Dude by Grace Biskie

I Beg To Differ by Erika Morrison

Line of the Week

“We see a dog, it is barking. It could be a canine. We don't know. It is a dog.” - CNN Reporter Deborah Feyerick valiantly trying to fill the dead air between actual news

On Pop Theology Week in Review

Remembering a Ragamuffin
Rebekah Mays remembers Brennan Manning

When It Is Still Not Yet
On pain, suffering, and being numb to it all.

The Theology of Bacon
The key to theology is bacon.

Because It's Not My Tragedy
Lyndsey Graves reflects on tragedy, death, and how to live well.

Song of the Week

Kyrie by Bifrost Arts (feat. Shara Worden)

Peace,
Ben 

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. 

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com. 

You might also like: 

• Kristen Bell Kissing a Wookie and the Best Things You'll Read All Week  
• Snoop Dogg in a Fish Hat and the Best Things You'll Read All Week 
• Justin Bieber in a Gas Mask and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 18 - On Understanding Judaism w/ Krista Dalton

by Ben Howard

Ben and co-host John Carter sit down with Krista Dalton, a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, to talk about how to understand and interact with Judaism. Krista shares her experiences studying about the Jewish faith, uncovers the misunderstandings prevalent in Christian understandings of Judaism and points out why your Hebrew tattoo might have been an odd choice.

Be sure to check out Krista's blog at KristaDalton.com and follow her on Twitter @KristaNDalton.

You can download the podcast by clicking here. Or you can subscribe to the podcast by searching "On Pop Theology" in the iTunes music store. If you download the show through iTunes, please be so kind as to rate and review us. We want your feedback and it helps the show to grow. 
Also, remember to "Like" On Pop Theology on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OnPopTheology for all the updates, posts, and links throughout the week.

Finally, if you'd like to stream the podcast, you can do that here:

Peace,
Ben

If you have any questions, comments, or if you just want to say hi, you can contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.

You might also like: 

• On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 17 - The Theology of Louis C.K.
• On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 16 - Stuff Christian Culture Likes w/ Stephanie Drury
• On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 15 - Drawn In: A Creative Process for Artists, Activists and Jesus Followers

Justin Bieber in a Gas Mask and the Best Things You'll Read All Week

by Ben Howard

Reads of the Week

1) Jesus Started With the "Outliers" by Rachel Held Evans
"If the gospel isn’t good news to the so-called ‘outliers,’ then it’s not good news at all. And, in fact,  if our theology doesn’t start with the ‘outliers,’ then maybe we’re doing it wrong."

2) The Bible Needs to Die, and We Need to Let It by Krista Dalton
"Thus, I say it is time for the Bible to die. The Bible, perhaps the biggest superstition of them all in that the book’s authority and gravitas, encoded in the words “but the Bible says,” dictates the course of many, often in destructive ways. Now I’m all about studying the Bible and its authors’ original context, but what is our answer when the original context is wrong for our modern society? What if the Bible “really says” slavery is okay; what if the Bible “really says” witches, homosexuals, sexually promiscuous women deserve to die? What is our answer then?"

3) God Washed My Feet, And It Was Warm by Grace Biskie
"Well, why did the disciples need their feet washed?  Because they lived and walked in a desert in flimsy sandals and they got dirty.  Through no fault of their own, the journey their life took them on required cleaning by a servant who loved them."

4) Liturgical Texting by Zack Hunt
"We practiced liturgical texting at church last Sunday and it was one of the most incredible moments of worship I’ve experienced in a long time and I am incredibly proud of and grateful to my pastor for creating that moment for us."

5) Even the Rocks by D.L. Mayfield
"Sitting in that pew so straight, my heart at full attention. I had to know: did Jesus have the words of the prophet in his mind as he looked out over Jerusalem, knowing what the next week would bring? Did he know how many more empires, nations, and people would found their entire lives on injustice, everyone content to pursue wickedness to the point that the very city itself would cry out in anguish?"

Honorable Mention

We Had Hoped by Micah Murray

An Open Letter to Myself About Being a Man by Bruce Reyes-Chow

Ignoring the Man With No Teeth by Shawn Smucker

Line of the Week

"In any case, I give this book two thumbs way, way up! If you've spent your entire life wondering if there is a God that you can put in a box, consume in small, easy-to-chew quantities and exploit in order to feel some arbitrary (albeit fleeting) sense of meaning and happiness, this is the book for you." - Anonymous Amazon Review for "A Story of God and All of Us: A Novel Based on the Epic TV Miniseries 'The Bible'"

On Pop Theology Week in Review

The Allure of a Handsome, White Jesus by John Thornton Jr.
John Thornton explores the problems of depicting Jesus as a handsome, white man when the truth is so much deeper.

Bad Music Video Theology: "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons by Sebastian Faust
Because sometimes Jesus is a Care Bear with laser eyes and sometimes Lou Diamond Phillips is the Devil.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Rob Bell by Ben Howard
What are we talking about when we talk about Rob Bell? We're talking about us.

Etsy, Betsy, Regretsy by Leigh Bonner
On Etsy, bad earrings, and bullying.

A Prayer for Good Friday
On this holy day I pray you peace, love, and the beauty that only comes when darkness becomes dawn.

Song of the Week

"Handlebars" by Flobots

Peace,
Ben

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology.

Contact us at onpoptheology [at] gmail.com.


You might also like:

• Anderson Cooper Awkwardly Holding a Fat Cat and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• Grocery Shopping Ninjas and the Best Things You'll Read All Week
• Stephen Colbert Seductively Eats a Sucker and the Best Things You'll Read All Week