by Ben Howard and Sebastian Faust Reads of the Week 1) Guilt is Good by Christena Cleveland "Despite their discomfort, I challenged my study-abroad students to talk about inequality every single day that we were in Brazil. I brought it up all the time. I pointed out racial and economic disparities on the bus, at the museums, at the Monsanto plant, at the beaches, at the pousadas. I asked our guest lecturers to focus on inequality. I asked the students to journal about it. It was inequality all day, all night, all the time. As a result, the students felt guilty…a lot. And that’s okay because guilt is good and necessary." 2) My "Enlightened" Christian "Friends" by Doug Bursch "But you are so certain of the absence of certainty, so the moment will come when you cut into me. I know you say it in general, but the sword you wield cuts indiscriminately. It cuts indiscriminately and I bleed. I bleed quietly, unable to defend. You say feel free to defend yourself, feel free to share your perspective. But I know the consequences. My attempt to defend my contrasting truth will simply codify your conviction of my immaturity and closed-mindedness." 3) Some Ambivalent Thoughts on Sovereign Grace, The Gospel Coalition, and Twitter by Morgan Guyton "Those of us who have a more progressive understanding of Christianity tend to push back against a strictly retributive understanding of justice and call for a more restorative form of justice. But when it comes to our ideological enemies, we get sucked into the scorched earth buzzfeed retributive approach to justice where nothing less than total political annihilation and absolute discredit will suffice." 4) Abducted & Robbed In The Congo (How Jesus, Bear Grylls & CBS Saved My Life) by Benjamin Corey "With every mile that went by, my sense of panic only increased. It was so dark that I couldn’t see anything around us, and we didn’t seem to be driving in any direction that I’d want to be going. With robbery and murder being so common (while I was there they killed 20 people after losing a soccer match, which locals shrugged off as typical), I began to accept that I was being robbed (something I can deal with) and that there was a good chance I was also about to be killed (not how I preferred to start my trip)." 5) When Christians Fall by Jennifer Luitwieler "I see it all the time. Social media makes it pretty easy to witness lives spiraling out of control. A man I know has devolved into a mewling mess after being caught in a years’ long affair. A dear woman has become a virtual, polarizing Hester Prynne after she left her husband for another man. The details don’t matter, because the story is so old, so common, you see it in your own social media streams. All day long." Honorable Mention Can You Have A Church Without A Prison Ministry? by Zack Hunt Chicken and Fries by Jen Hatmaker A Love Letter from Bethany Suckrow by Bethany Suckrow When You're Thirsty, Keep On Walking by Rachel Haltiwanger In Praise of Heretics by Kelly Pigott Tweets of the Week "The fact that the new 9/11 Museum sells tacky merchandise is triumphant proof that the terrorists failed to change the American way of life." - @TheTweetOfGod
"On the first day of prison go up to the most ironic guy you see and tell him prison is actually good." - @lukeoneil47
"a line of Catholic crafts stores called Build-a-Bear-Your-Own-Cross" - @ashfein On Pop Theology Week in Review In Celebration of a Milestone by Ben Howard "The first post I wrote for this website is a mess. The writing is stilted and repetitive. The thesis is obvious and uninteresting, and even if it wasn’t, I don’t explain the premise enough for anyone who isn’t reading my mind to understand what’s going on." In Defense of Gluttony by Charity Erickson "For anyone who follows along with my regular tweeting about cheese, this shouldn’t come as a shock, but for those who are unfamiliar I will begin with this proclamation: I love food." Pint-Sized Picassos and Human Identity by Justin McRoberts "A pair of brilliant young girls in my neighborhood (ages 6 and 8) set up an art gallery in their garage. Hung on packing twine with clothespins and paper clips, most of the art is their own, though they also featured a few contributions from siblings labeled 'guest pieces.' Song of the Week "One Night Town" by Ingrid Michaelson (feat. Mat Kearney)
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by Ben Howard Reads of the Week 1)Theology (and the Theological Academy) & Rape (and Rape Culture): A Miniature Memoir of Sorts by Brandy Daniels "I’m not sure if this truth will be healing, for me or for anyone else… I hope that it will. Regardless, I’m speaking about my experiences as a survivor because, for me, this is a way that I feel like I can continually bear witness to the truth even when it might threaten a few things that this world holds most dear: my reputation, potential academic possibilities, etc." 2)Life in the After by Becca Rose "There’s not a pretty or easy way to talk about my life before now, so I usually don’t. After all I have fought for and been through, I’m finally living in the life After, the hope that I had for years of a life free of abuse come to fruition. Some people would say it’s better for me to just put the past behind me, lock it all in a box and never look at it again. But that would be denying those years of abuse and the struggle I had to leave that situation." 3) I'm Terrified of Death by Zack Hunt "It’s a lot easier to look past death when it’s nice and neat and lying all dressed up in a casket, but when a body is lying on a cold metal table in a morgue with nothing but a thin sheet to cover it you’re forced to literally come face to face with the stark reality of death. You’re forced to accept the finality of death and the fragility of life." 4) The Theology of Government Shutdown: Christian Dominionism by Morgan Guyton "I couldn’t find any substantive theological statements from Ted, but his father Pastor Rafael Cruz has been a keynote speaker and ideological catalyst whom Heritage Action has been flying around the country in its campaign to defund Obamacare over the last several months. The elder Cruz has a distinct theological vision for what America is supposed to look like: Christian dominionism." 5)I'm Christian and I Swear...Occasionally by Grace Biskie "Maybe I’m not going to be a very good christian girl in your opinion. Maybe I’m okay with that. Maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s you. Maybe you never seen a different version of what A Good Christian Girl is. Maybe you’ve never seen ‘A Good Christian Girl’ face the worst version of herself and win. Maybe you don’t know what it’s like to go into a war and make it out alive. What war does to people is violent, is angry. My childhood was war. You don’t get to tell me how to manage my PTSD. I’m sorry, y’all but you don’t. My trusted, invited inner circle does. No one else." 6) Thomas, a Modern Day Desert Father by Micha Boyett "And I look at him and think of the Desert Fathers. Maybe Thomas is a modern day Desert Father, waiting for miraculous bread, living by prayer alone. Instead of a cave, he dwells with his shopping cart along this road packed with people. Of course, the Desert Fathers chose their lives. I don’t know Thomas’ story, but I imagine he didn’t want this." 7) Heaven and Matchbox Cars by Leanne Penny "On my darker days? I feel jilted and harbor jealous resentment toward my friends for simply having parents. For posting grandpa pictures on Facebook and sending their kids to 'grandma camp.' This sucks twice because it leaves me feeling like an orphan AND a bad friend." 8) Satan Is Real, Just Ask Jesse Pinkman by Tony Jones "Walt has indeed abandoned all inherent and socialized standards of morality. By the end, it’s clear that he is not troubled by anything he’s done. The only thing that troubles him is that others, like his wife and his brother-in-law, don’t love him for it. He is, in my opinion, the logical outcome of Nietzsche’s Übermensch — he’s abandoned all metaphysics, he is completely this-worldly, he has no moral compass, no fear of God, no worry about any eschatological comeuppance." 9) Would Jesus Be Cool With Keeping Poor Kids In Orphanages? by Kelsey Nielsen "With limited resources and the hospital an hour away, the family did not know what to do. They loved their granddaughter and wanted to find her help so they approached the leaders in their community about the situation. The leaders contacted some missionaries in town and told them about this family. And just like that, this little girl was brought to an orphanage, where she would be separated from her family for the next 3 years." 10)Doctor Who's Doctrine, Part 3: Exterminating Evil by Jason Morehead "But what has been part of the revival’s brilliance is its revelations that the Doctor, for all his brilliance and derring-do, is a shell of an alien. All his eccentricities actually conceal a demi-god who verges on breakdown, and he’s certainly more than the benevolent-yet-eccentric savior we may think. He’s a 'mad man with a box' — and the emphasis is on mad." Honorable Mention Charity's Dirty Little Secret by Joy Bennett What I Blogged, What I Preached, and Why They Differ by David Henson I Am Your Enemy (A Poem) by Morgan Guyton Tweets of the Week "Maybe kids aren't even small and they're all just really far away." - Ashley Feinberg (@ashfein) "We're not ganging up on you, America, I just see a bunch of people in this room who love you and want you to get better." - Chris Jones (@MySecondEmpire)
"I can sympathize with House Republicans because once my mom wouldn’t let
me get candy at the store, and then I burned down the whole city." - Zomb BrainTaker (@RobDenBlyker) On Pop Theology Week in Review On Pop Theology Podcast: Episode 42 - Stuffed Animals, Grace, and Being a Pastor in the City w/ Jes Kast-Keat by Ben Howard "This week on the show Ben spends some time with Jes Kast-Keat, the associate minister of West End Collegiate Church in New York City." The Deluge and the Disillusion by Amanda Taylor "It’s official; I’m quitting the interwebs." We Have Been To Gray Places: A Review of Addie Zierman's When We Were On Fire by Charity Erickson "I cannot tell a lie. Because, as we all know, liars go to hell (Revelation 21:8)." Chicago Area Man Watches Breaking Bad Finale To See What All The Fuss Is About by Lane Severson "Last Sunday night, a Chicago area man chose to watch the series finale of the critically acclaimed AMC show Breaking Bad." Song of the Week "Headphones" by Jars of Clay
