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Gordon Ramsay Isn’t Jesus, Or, Criticism Is Not on the Menu at Amy’s Baking Company

by Michael Sansbury on May 16, 2013 • 5 Comments

Until yesterday, I had never watched an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, but, according to its website, here’s how it works: Ramsay, a notoriously mean chef, visits struggling restaurants, observes them, and then tells the owners how to fix their restaurants. Knowing how I usually respond to criticism, I cannot see how this premise ever works. Instead, I would imagine every episode ending in denial, retreat, and, ultimately, violence.

In other words, I would imagine that every episode proceeds along the same lines as this episode, which features Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona:

If you don’t have time to watch…

America / Identity / Social Science / Technology / Theology

From Stickers to Likes: Validation, Authenticity, and Social Media for the Children of the 90s

by Ethan Richardson on May 9, 2013 • No Comments

Modern Reformation’s May-June issue is out! If you haven’t already picked up a copy, this issue, entitled “Wired and Tired,” deals mostly with this our age of technology, and the unexpected weight it has brought to its users. Coming from the angle of identity and authenticity, one of the featured articles comes from yours truly. In it I’m discussing the era of social media, and its connection to the era (my era) of the validated child. For children raised in the 80s and 90s, with destiny- and distinction-talk portioned at the dinner table and decorating public school banners, these same…

Children / Forgiveness / Grace in Practice / Radio / Relationships / Technology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Forgiveness, Giving Trees, Therapists, and Aging with Grace

by Bryan J. on Apr 19, 2013 • No Comments

1. Forgiveness and apology seems to be a theme in the news as of late, or at least it was prior to Monday’s heartbreaking news from Boston. CNN’s belief blog highlighted the story of one man’s quest to forgive and restore the man who killed his brother when they were teens. I found the story enlightening as it ping-ponged between the two poles of forgiveness by grace (the victim’s brother) and forgiveness by works righteousness (the recently released killer). Quote: “I think for me, forgiveness will come in doing good works, trying to help others. But as far as forgiving…

Grace in Practice / Identity / Social Science / Technology / TV

Killing Independent George: Some Thoughts on Grace and (Social) Media

by David Zahl on Mar 12, 2013 • 2 Comments

The good folks at Liberate were kind enough to post my talk from last month’s conference this morning and what better way to illustrate the point(s) about compulsive self-presentation than to re-post it here:

Film / Identity / Literature / Philosophy / Reformation / Religion / Sermons / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Assurance Anxiety, Genesis Lessons, Tumblr Love, Lost in the Cosmos, Iron Man Prep, and Hatsune Miku’s Pizza Stage

by David Zahl on Mar 8, 2013 • 3 Comments

1. First off, a little pop theology. Phillip Cary contributed an encouraging review of J.D. Greear’s sensationally titled Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart to the recent issue of Christianity Today, under the header “Anxious About Assurance”. As he does in his book Good News for Anxious Christians, Cary gets straight to the heart of the matter:

Greear is not saying it’s wrong to ask Jesus into your heart. He’s saying it’s not the same thing as believing the gospel. And if we want to be assured of salvation, it’s believing the gospel that actually counts. We are saved by faith…

Identity / Technology

Browser Histories and Manic Mental Ticker Tape

by David Zahl on Jan 30, 2013 • 2 Comments

An amazing little post appeared on The New Yorker culture pages a couple of days ago, Andrea Denhoed’s “A Fake Facebook Wedding.” She kicks off with a description of an ingenious if enraging prank before going on to ponder what our browser histories have to say about us–not always the most comfortable of subjects. Browser histories, after all, may be the most potent gateway to the human need for substitution/slate-cleaning/absolution that modern life offers, ht KW:

When we talk about the “dark side” of the Internet, we’re usually talking about criminal deception, or sometimes about porn, but what about the…

Addiction / Books / Children / Grace in Practice / Humor / Identity / Law / Literature / Music / Psychology / Reformation / Religion / Technology / Theology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Exceptional Children, Holiness Holes, AA Slogans, Reformation Sincerity, Online Niceness, Grateful Dead, Aimee Mann and Seinfeld-ized Game of Thrones

by David Zahl on Nov 30, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. An encouraging number of signs of life in the bibliosphere this week. First, over at The New Statesman, much to my surprise (and much to his credit), renowned atheist Alain de Botton selected Francis Spufford’s Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense as his favorite book of the year. For a profound little excerpt from the book, go here. Can’t wait for it to come out in the States. Second, there’s the arresting depth of understanding and engagement in From Exile, Grow Man’s review of PZ’s Grace in Practice. Probably the most honest review I’ve…

Identity / Psychology / Relationships / Social Science / Technology

The Wounded Soul of Social Media = Connected but Alone

by Bryan J. on Sep 4, 2012 • 1 Comment

This post may not break any new ground, but it does summarize about two years worth of Mockingbird analysis on the psychology and law of social networking. We’ve profiled Sherry Turkle’s work before, noting her front-line work on the psychological impact of social networking. We’ve profiled the internet-ubiquitous TED talks, and their exquisite use of social media to, among other things, tell us how bad social media can be for us. And yes, we’ve written extensively on the dynamics of Law and loneliness across just about every social network, from pixel-perfect profile pictures to the exchange of difficult relationships for avatar based…

Addiction / Business / Law / Psychology / Technology

The Crazy-Making IPO: Facebook Madness and the Compulsive iDisorder

by Ethan Richardson on May 23, 2012 • No Comments

Add one more to the tally, after Franzen, after Marche, after Turkle. The Wall Street Journal‘s “Smart Money” blog, Pay Dirt, which does a lot of interesting behavioral economics writing, performed a quick psychoanalytic survey of the madness of Facebook “liking,” in wake of the IPO attention the company is getting. Its findings were telling if not all that remarkably surprising: we compulsively compare, and the comparison to such inaccurate standards leads to compulsive modes of depression. When we see standards with whom we are well- (or at least perceivedly well-) acquainted, the Law of Liking meets us where we…

Celebrity / Film / Humor / Music / Psychology / Science / Suffering / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized

by David Zahl on Apr 27, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. On Slate, Emily Shire asks, “Should Celebrity Body ‘Struggles’ Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves?” and her insightful little response doubles as quite the treatise on the function of Standards (of beauty etc) and how attempts to allay judgment often backfire, i.e. that the notch on the scale isn’t the issue so much as the scale itself:

Allure’s feature is only one of the latest in a long line of magazine stories about female celebrities “bravely” grappling with their “physical imperfections.” A growing number of publications are trying to pass off barely-clad celebrities strutting their stuff as an inspiring act…

America / Identity / Relationships

Instagram Knowing: Why Little Sips Don’t Equal A Big Gulp

by Ethan Richardson on Apr 25, 2012 • 3 Comments

As if there weren’t enough people writing about it already, I suppose for posterity’s sake we’ll continue unfurling the scrolls. Apparently there’s an opinion out there that says that if we’re everywhere at once, we’re nowhere at all. That technology–most significantly the ever-presence of the smartphone, the synced life, the facebooked life–has kept anyone from knowing anybody. Why, though? Having a sister who lives 2,000 miles away, I’m glad I have a chance to watch my nieces and nephew grow up by way of her Instagram updates. Is there anything wrong with that? It’s a great way for me see…

Bible / Children / Film / Identity / News / Religion / Theology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Blue Like Jazz, Youth Ministry, Franzen, Facebook, and Harvard Grads

by Todd Brewer on Apr 20, 2012 • 5 Comments

Filling in for DZ this week as the Mockingbird Conference is now in full swing!

1. Our very own Cameron Cole wrote a wonderful piece on youth ministry over at The Gospel Coalition, highlighting its strong tendency toward legalism and making a plea for a gospel-centered youth ministry.

Wanting validation for their tireless labor, youth ministers occasionally focus on behavior modification as a means of providing tangible proof of the efficacy of their ministry. A kid carrying his or her Bible to school, signing a chastity pledge, or sporting a WWJD bracelet may appear like signs of spiritual progress—the fruit of…

America / Identity / Religion / Social Science / Technology / Theology

If Only You Were Lonely: Social Media, Self-Forgetfulness and Yvette Vickers’ Computer

by David Zahl on Apr 13, 2012 • 8 Comments

Lord have mercy! The Atlantic just dropped the article of the year, at least as far as this website is concerned. Underneath the slightly been-there-done-that title of “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” lies an exploration of identity creation and loneliness and self-immolation that may even jerk a few tears of grief. Stephen Marche has crafted a tour-de-force, combing the research, polling the experts and injecting a fair amount of his own considerable insight to form a fairly significant statement about modern life (not to mention a timely endorsement of online communities needing flesh-and-blood get-togethers every once and a while…).

The basic…

Identity / Law / Social Science / Technology

Why Am I So Obsessed With That Person From Sixth Grade? Cyberstalking and the Permanent Reunion

by David Zahl on Feb 15, 2012 • 4 Comments

The rejection we feel when we find out that someone has de-friended us on Facebook or stopped following us on Twitter must be the definition of a ‘modern problem.’ We usually discover these things by accident, which probably accounts for why they sneak through our defenses so easily. Just the other day, for example, I noticed that someone had un-followed me on Twitter, and almost immediately, I found myself drawn into a web of self-recrimination. It was particularly silly since I was about to stop following them. And I knew my reasons had very little to do with my esteem…