A few weeks ago, just before the Fall TV season started, several news outlets published articles decrying the number of new shows that were showcasing the same thing: male doofusry. Emasculated, unemployed, clueless and/or sequestered behind walls of Draper-inspired misogyny or nostalgia, the American male did not appear to be doing so well, at least not according to the networks. The Mancession had made it to the small screen. Now that a couple of the shows in question have fallen on their faces, as the cancellation of How to be a Gentleman and The Playboy Club would attest, one has…
Dorothy Martyn Explains What She Means By “Beyond Deserving“
Taken from the introduction to Dr. Martyn’s now classic child psychology text–a must-read for Mockingbirds everywhere (especially those with children)–Beyond Deserving: Children, Parents, and Responsibility Revisited, here’s a quick word from one of our esteemed 2009 Conference speakers, emphasis hers:
This phrase, “beyond deserving,” may be a bit puzzling at first glance. After all, the idea of “deserving” permeates our language and is taken for granted in much of our daily life, from grades at school to rewards for exceptional performance – such as whether one “deserved” a gold medal or the Nobel Prize – to our ideas of criminal justice.…
Dorothy Martyn on Responsible Irresponsibility
From Dorothy Martyn’s masterful treatise on child psychology Beyond Deserving. A few of these lines have appeared on here before, but the longer quote is terrific, especially in conjunction with the Milosz poem below. From pages 155-156:
’I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul’ has remained for some who learned the lines in high school a stirring and inspirational thought. It was quoted by Timothy McVeigh, the condemned Oklahoma terrorist, just before his execution. What utter illusion in this person clearly enslaved to the invisible forces working within him! His belief that he had been in…
Another Week Ends: Prayer, Internal Cohabitation, Dan Brown, Dorothy Martyn, TV Premieres and the Rod-father
1. A lengthy piece on prayer in this past Sunday’s NY Times Magazine entitled “The Right Way To Pray?”, in which the author surveys a number of different prayer traditions (Pentecostal, Jewish, Presbyterian, Catholic, and yes, liberal Episcopal). I found his conclusion to be surprisingly sympathetic (ht R-J Heijmen):
“There are some 300,000 churches in America, and I could have picked any one to attend on Easter morning, but I liked being in this one [a Presbyterian church in West Virginia]. Especially the kids. They didn’t need Reverend Henderson’s prayer techniques, or the high-tech mantras of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Their prayers…
2009 Mockingbird Conference: “Grace in Personal Relationships”
Handouts and book table list now included! You can download everything individually or as a whole. Hopefully the file sizes are somewhat manageable. Again, while we are making everything available for free, if you were not able to attend and would like to contribute to the cost of putting the event on, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again to everyone who took part!
1. Opening Sermon and Address – Justin Holcomb
2. Relationships in the Bible, Part 1 and Q&A – Steven Paulson
3a. Grace In Addiction – Kate Norris and John Zahl
3b. Grace In Romantic…
The Man In The Yellow Hat, or Grace With Difficult Children
A few particularly brilliant passages from the final chapter of Dr. Dorothy Martyn’s expert work on child psychology, “The Man in the Yellow Hat: Theology and Psychoanalysis in Child Therapy”. As always, to fully grasp what she’s getting at we must put ourselves in the position of child, lest we turn what is a descriptive project into a prescriptive one:
“Human growth is generally understood to proceed in a line of movement originating in the human subject. In looking back to the children’s journeys [described earlier in the book], I would certainly affirm that forces of growth and maturation are very…
The Etiquette of the Admonition is Questionable: Falling in Love with Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is a tough sell for high school kids. I remember, junior year, counting the days until the “poetry section” of American Lit was over. Red wheelbarrows and blades of grass were all well and good, but I craved something linear, something I could wrap my adolescent mind around a bit more easily, maybe a witch trial or a steamboat or a red badge of courage. And if I had to write a paper about a poem, certainly the shorter the better, and no one wrote shorter poems than Emily Dickinson. But then I started reading and it was…
David Tyree
Did anyone catch(!) the recent NY Times article about Superbowl hero David Tyree?! I know I missed it when it was published a few days ago. But it’s an unbelievable piece – a straight-up conversion testimony! Two things come through loud and clear:
1. Adversity was the catalyst/means of his conversion. Speaking of his 2004 imprisonment for drug possession, Tyree says, “What looked to be the lowest point in my life ended up being the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
2. His newfound faith has produced a tremendous outpouring of love. Shortly after it happened, Tyree and his wife…
Good News for Misbehaving Children (and Their Parents, Too): Dorothy Martyn’s Beyond Deserving
A fixture on the Mockingbird Reading List is Beyond Deserving: Children, Parents, and Responsibility Revisited by Dorothy Martyn. Dr. Martyn is a child psychologist, a committed Freudian, and yes, a Christian of the most grace-centered kind. Don’t be put off by the slightly academic cover and title–the real thrust of the book is theological and literary. She uses fascinating case studies (and a whole lot of Emily Dickinson) to illustrate how unconditional love and grace play out in the lives of difficult children.
As is always the case when we touch on the intersection of grace and parenting, the temptation will…
Rebecca Todd: Well, I am sure both of you would win a debate so I'm not going there....
Jim McNeely: Rebecca, I agree, great comment! Yummy. Here are my thoughts.I thi...
Sam: Isn't the empty tomb proof? I remember a debate that involved Christo...
Zach: Wonderful jewel of honesty amidst the dregs of mealy pap spewed from l...
Rutger-Jan Heijmen: *Conan's...