Two things led me to pick up Tim Keller’s new book on marriage, both of which were pressing. The first: I needed a “marriage book” for Pastoral Care class at seminary. The second: I had an engagement ring burning a hole in my pocket, and it was gonna be there for another week before I could “unload it.” So you might say matrimony has been on my mind, for both academic and personal reasons. Seeing as I also happen to contribute on occasion to Mockingbird, the question quickly took on a larger scope: where does a grace-dependent Gospel junkie like me…
“Weeping and Lifting Weights”: Getting Real with The Bachelor
Did you see this Monday’s Bachelor? When Casey S. got called to come outside and talk to Chris about something important, you knew, you knew it was something important. You just knew her bags were packed, she was leaving her chance at, her life with Ben. Casey S. had that look, like “I know I’m about to be found out, but I’m going to hold these cards up until the very last minute. I can’t give in. Well, I want to, but I don’t want to, you know?” You know? The scene was so perfect. Out the heavily windowed courtyard,…
Humility Is Endless: A Few Choice Cuts From The Merciful Impasse
If you’re one of the few who has been holding out on Paul Zahl’s The Merciful Impasse: The Sermon on the Mount for People Who’ve Crashed (and Burned), the audio collection that Mockingbird released this past Fall, hold out no longer! Here are a few soundbites to whet your appetite. The only aspect of the set they don’t capture is the truly laugh-out-loud humor:
What I’m really talking about is the roots of the problem of being human. Why are we the way we are? What causes us to be intractably defensive, and resistant, and feeling terribly vulnerable to people’s judgments…
A Boy and His Dog: When One-Way Love Meets Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Ready for a tearjerker? The NY Times Magazine article “Wonder Dog” could be just what the doctor ordered. The story of Iyal Winokur, a Russian boy with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome adopted by American parents (a rabbi and his wife, in fact), it’s an extremely moving example of one-way love accomplishing what restraint couldn’t, an animal reaching through emotional and physiological defenses that had frustrated all human patience and compassion. You might even say the dog in question, Chancer, is conditioned for the sort of unconditionality that you and I could never muster (I want one!), whose object has done nothing…
We (Don’t) Need To Talk About Pierre: The Benefits of French Parenting?
Judging from the amount of forwards to my inbox, Pamela Druckerman’s “Why French Parents Are Superior” has some relevant things to say. The article is another in a line of Wall Street Journal humdingers about parenting, and also the first time I’ve come across the brilliant new term, ‘kindergarchy.’ The gist of Druckerman’s argument is that French parents produce more well-behaved kids (or at least more self-controlled ones) because they are less worried about saying No to their children, that they believe that one of the parents’ primary tasks to teach the child about patience, and that temperament is not…
Bible / Celebrity / Children / Film / Forgiveness / Identity / Law / Relationships / Reviews / Social Science / Theology/Religion
From the Mockingbird Automotive Desk: Love the Beast
Being a car fanatic, I recently watched Eric Bana’s documentary “Love the Beast.” The movie chronicles Bana’s love affair with his 1974 Ford XB Falcon Hardtop (the same car Mad Max drove!), which he bought when he was 15 years old and restored with his four life-long “mates” (Bana is Australian).
While the title captures Bana’s devotion to his car, it begins to take on a whole new meaning when he wrecks it in the Targa Tasmania, an amateur rally race. After the crash, the beast that Bana struggles to love is not so much his Falcon…
It’s Gonna Last You for the Rest of Your Life: Sanctification According to Groundhog Day
That’s right, woodchuck chuckers. It’s Groundhog Day! I have a tradition of watching Groundhog Day every year around February 2. Which is convenient, since television stations tend to play the film this time of year. Repeated viewings are also a fitting homage, given the movie’s plot, which has weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) reliving Groundhog Day over and over and over again for what seems like eternity. Each time I watch Groundhog Day I discover new things, and this year, while keeping an eye on what it might say about human nature, the theme of sanctification (that is, the process of becoming…
The Myth of Brainstorming and the Fruit of Passive (Non-)Management
Why do we find it easy to be creative in some situations and not others? What sorts of atmospheres shut down our imagination? And what sorts stimulate it? A pair of fascinating articles from pop science/human limitation guru Jonah Lehrer appeared this past week seeking to answer these questions, a short one in Wired and a longer one in The New Yorker. Presumably in anticipation of his forthcoming book on how creativity works. Lehrer relays a number of important findings on the subject, not the least of which is the debunking of brainstorming as a viable method of generating good…
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Another Week Ends: Indie Law, The New Marriage Killer, Futurizing Fear, Apatheism, Damsels in Distress, George Lucas and Downton Abbey
1. In his short article “The Pitfalls of Indie Fame” on Grantland, Chuck Klosterman captures something we have been trying to say on here forever. Don’t be put off by all the music jargon; he is using the critical success of the tUnE-yArDs debut record as an opportunity to reflect on the cruelty of the Law. Which may be particularly pronounced in the indie world (or any rarified/snobby setting for that matter), but the phenomenon is universal. The human relationship to righteousness is a troubled one, love/hate at best, and it finds expression in every possible arena. And while non-religious…
This American Life: Our Motorcycles, Our Morphine, Our Lives in Death
We are currently sanding down the finishing touches of a new Mockingbird publication, due to be ready for our Spring NYC conference, called This American Gospel: A Companion to the Public Radio Series. As you might imagine, it’s based on This American Life, the radio program known for its consistently indelible human interest pieces, which span the full Mbird thematic landscape, from judgment to acceptance, from resentment to freedom, law to love. Stay tuned.
In our many conversations leading up to the project, it has become evident that this show is loved by a wide variety of Americans. The NY Times…
The Tiger Mother Strikes Again!
I’ve been trying to figure out why Amy Chua, aka The Tiger Mother, gets under my skin so much. On Christmas Eve, The Wall Street Journal published a follow-up piece of hers, which dealt with the relatively hands-off approach she and her husband adopted when their daughter (or “tiger cub”) went off to college. At first blush, it might seem like the sort of anti-helicopter statement that we tend to applaud on this site. But it turned out to be as exasperating a mixture of caricature and self-promotion as her more well known columns last year, just as mired in…
Carl Laamanen: Matt, I love your perspective on this film as much as I love the film....
MargaretE: Just what I needed to read. Thank you!...
Jeff Hual: Very well said. Thank you....
Jon W: Great sermon, Nick!...
Todd Brewer: This article is both amazing and disturbing... not that Target would p...