216 1/2
:: by Paul and Sarah Steinke
Kierkegaard said, "it is not where we breathe, but where we love, that we live." 216 ½ is where we live. Literally. Upstairs, in a partially renovated house, we begin and end our days together with our two boys. What comes in between is the feast at our table, where we show up hungry. We raise our voices, sometimes in song, and when we do stay in our seats, we see the mountains from the window over the kitchen sink. We are a family here; we bring our gratitude and hold hands as we pray. We’re learning to be caught off guard.View This Blog
A Space Between
:: by Andrew Forrest
Comments on Art, Education, Politics, Spirituality and everything In BetweenView This Blog
Beyond Generic Christianity: Living Deeper into an Ancient Gospel
:: by J. Todd Billings
Theology is not restricted to ivory tower speculation, but it has everything to do with our daily lives and the cultural forces that help to shape it. Every action a person takes says something about who they think God is and what the world is like. In this blog, I’ll offer some “detox” from the cultural myth that we can be generic Christians – just “biblical” or “Christian” without inhabiting a tradition that is bigger than us. On the positive side, I will point to ways to recover the ancient logic of the gospel in our day, with its catholic (universally Christian) and Christ-centered identity. The gospel is, in many ways, a story of identity: that the baptized are united to Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit by faith, caught up in a transformative journey with implications for all parts of life. This blog explores the manifold implications of living deeper into this ancient message, which is good news – and often surprising news – for us today.View This Blog
Canary Row
:: by Luke Abernathy
Music has fascinated me ever since I emerged from my fundamentalist bubble and bought my first rock CD at age sixteen. I'm hoping to share my passion for music and it's beautiful capacity for transcendence...or at least justify the countless hours I spend avoiding homework by scouring the internet for interesting music.View This Blog
Going Awry
:: by Greta Bergquist
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day." - E.B. White. This blog's about fumbling towards following Jesus and pursuing justice in my own little corner of the world. Said world generally includes Seattle, kitchens, public education, and coffeehouses. It's also about what Becky said two weeks ago: "Reading 5 things at once enhances each work."View This Blog
OtherWords
:: by Presler, Carlson, and Small
An eclectic and intelligent assortment of minds meeting over a common love of all things brilliant. This blog will be divided into interactions and creations, entries that encounter media and entries that creatively reflect on lived experience. Moreover, this will be a blog that hosts and promotes the work of students at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, WA.View This Blog
Post-Emergent Village
:: by Chuck DeGroat
We live in a “post-everything” culture. As a professor, a former pastor, and a counselor, I’m interested in exploring what it means to educate a new generation of young people for the work of the Kingdom. This blog is devoted to exploring the journey back into the fold, especially for those who have gotten lost in the fuzzy-lovin’ postmodern world. We’ll explore the reality that we’re not merely wanderers journeying aimlessly, but pilgrims following signposts to the New Eden.View This Blog
Provincial Borderlands
:: by Artur Rosman
As Czeslaw Milosz put it, "I attend to matters I have been charged with in the provinces." I have spent my life–physically, emotionally and intellectually–somewhere in the provinces, in borderlands. I straddle intellectual (critical theory, religion, history, cinema) and cultural (Polish and American, Catholic and Protestant) divisions. Here I will attempt to navigate all of these with the hope that they will cross-fertilize each other.View This Blog
The Anxious Observer
:: by Chris Keller et al.
The Anxious Observer is a blog featuring cultural commentary and theological reflection exploring current social, political, psychological and ecclesial developments. The Anxious Observer is interested in reframing apparently anemic cultural phenomena through the lens of our rich Christian heritage. A panoply of topics will be addressed by Chris and many, many guest bloggers.View This Blog
The Festival of Faith and Writing: Reflections
:: by The Other Journal Editors
A blog by The Other Journal editors who attended The Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College to offer reflections on their experience.View This Blog
The Restoration Project
:: by Tracy Howe
This blog will come in three categories…1) stories from the road about worship 2) theologizing and reflections from Tracy about worship and restoration 3) ideas, encouragements, and tangible practices for songwriters who care about peacemaking.View This Blog
World’s One Hope
:: by Lindsey and Justin Holcomb
“The compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed is indispensable. It is the world’s one hope.” Perhaps all that God does in Christ is the compassion of the oppressed for the oppressed. This blog—inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s poem (“The World’s One Hope”)—explores issues of injustice and suffering as they intersect a theology of the cross. What if God is not first of all sovereign omnipotence but astonishing compassion? A theology of the cross gestures toward divine compassion, and that is our launching point. Etymologically, “compassion” literally means “with suffering.” God’s solidarity with suffering is surprising, unanticipated, and unpredictable; it is not what either religion or reason expects, but what revelation announces.View This Blog
Looking for a Light Switch: Scenes from an Urban Classroom
avamueller says ::
Hi Greta! Your writing brought back all sorts of memories from my 2 years of teaching in Baltimore (just North of you at Banks HS). I remember sharing stories with you in grad. school courses, weekend parties, etc. It seems like teaching and Baltimor . . .READ MORE >
A Gay Restoration
chalkballerina says ::
Amen, amen. AMEN. It never fails: something is awry, something is wrong, and rather than look at what it really is (oohh, perhaps Biblical interpretation, American culture at large...), we funnel and focus all of our angst to the wrong place. We h . . .READ MORE >
Looking for a Light Switch: Scenes from an Urban Classroom
canary says ::
My daughter teaches in Baltimore and comes home with similar stories and emotions. The article captured mood of many of teachers in urban settings. I have been teaching in a smaller urban school for over 30 years and have known the trials and tribula . . .READ MORE >
Bog Psalm
Christin says ::
Elegant! Strange that in an issue devoted to the topic of atheism, I am thinking "resurrection."READ MORE >
From Church to “Rhizone”: Reconfiguring Theological Education for the Postmodern Era
Christin says ::
I'm new to The Other Journal, very new. This is the first article I've read, and am excited with Carl Raschke's vision. I find in it echoes of books I read in my youth such as "The End of Conventional Christianity." My thinking and writing has led me . . .READ MORE >
Why Every Christian Should ‘Quite Rightly Pass for an Atheist’
jstanley says ::
Paul, Thank you very much for both your compliment on the "open-mindedness" of the article, and your "playful obstinance" (after all, it's the best kind of 'obstinance'). As I mentioned in my essay, classification can be for good or ill, better o . . .READ MORE >
Why Every Christian Should ‘Quite Rightly Pass for an Atheist’
paulx82 says ::
Thank you for a open-minded perspective on things, Jon. It is quite rare. Just to be playfully obstinate with reductionist classification... you seem to be a "Without God, we can't; without us, God won't" kind of guy with a Kingdom theology in bot . . .READ MORE >
Review of Robert W. Brimlow’s What About Hitler?: Wrestling with Jesus’s Call to Nonviolence in an Evil World
laudatus says ::
I wonder what a Jew would think of this theology? This is not rhetorical game playing, but a serious suggestion. Being a well protected citizen is the condition for the possiblity of the logic in this book. Tertullian's theology, and his claim tha . . .READ MORE >
Three Questions on Modern Atheism: An Interview with John Milbank
Andy says ::
Is the world rapidly Christianizing? I thought I'd read that, partly because of high birth rates, Islam was the fastest growing religion in the world. Is that data out of date or am I mistaken?READ MORE >
Thoughts On: The National -- A Skin A Night DVD/The Virginia EP
b2dasein says ::
I walked away from watching A Skin, A Night thinking "Vincent! A year of filming and this is all you give us? A miserly few moments of the band in process or halfway overheard conversations cut with subway scenes and cityscapes?" Yeah, I felt like . . .READ MORE >
On Grief, Faith, and Friendship
bbresson says ::
Chris, Was Shedden's review ever posted on TOJ? I've poked around and not found it. Thanks for your thoughts on living without explanation. bradREAD MORE >
The AIDS Crisis in Africa – Who Cares?
Douglas says ::
As a missionary in Mozambique, I have been spending this last year teaching at seminars to pastors all around the country on the culture of the New Morality, the trap of sexual immorality, and God's alternative plan of marriage. My agency, OC Africa . . .READ MORE >
Thomas Princen’s The Logic of Sufficiency: A Sapling in a Landfill
janarayne says ::
Thank you so much for this review, I have ordered the book. I have been searching for rationalism in our 'more is better society'.READ MORE >
Choking on Christian Authenticity: Some Theological Predicaments in Light of Pharmacology, Hollywood Film, and Post-Freudian Therapeutics
Chad says ::
Where in the article does it discuss Al Gore?READ MORE >
Choking on Christian Authenticity: Some Theological Predicaments in Light of Pharmacology, Hollywood Film, and Post-Freudian Therapeutics
Joey77 says ::
This was an interesting article. At first, however, I thought it was "just another" Christian article that seemed to be blaming the mentally ill of our society for being sick, and I wanted to retort by saying, "Would you put the blame on someone for . . .READ MORE >