Good on you Preston!

John Morehead left a comment, and sent me an e-mail linking to his two blogs (here and here) – and I think there is much for us to discuss. Have a read of his Burning Man essay (linked on the first blog sidebar), which pursues many themes close to my heart. I particularly love these two quotations that he uses at the end (and those who were at my Learning Church rant on Saturday morning – to be posted very soon, I promise – will recognise why I appreciate them so much):

“Apologetics is not at present a core requirement in theological education, so that it is perfectly possible to move into a position of church leadership without any knowledge of the theory or practice of apologetics, or awareness of its strategic importance…I want to make it clear that this is unacceptable. It is utterly irresponsible for a church which faces hard questions about its beliefs, values, aspirations and traditions to fail to equip its public representatives to deal with these questions, in terms that our culture can understand”

and

“The sad truth is that the church cannot be the metainstitution our world needs to instruct us in festivity, to open us to fantasy, to call us to tomorrow, or to enlarge our petty definitions of reality. It cannot for only one reason: the church is not the church. That is, what we now call ‘churches’ have departed so markedly from their vocations as agents and advocates of Christian faith that only a residue of that historic calling remains. Dim echoes of it are still heard in its preaching and pale shadows of it appear in its liturgy but the substance has been thinned and the spirit diluted.”

And now for something from Fergus Kerr:

“That considering the execution of an innocent man is a more promising starting point for sustaining Christian theology than proving that God exists might be one unsurprising conclusion.”

Sat on a park bench like bookends.
Can you imagine us years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be seventy…

First, watch this:

So this is Simmons calling Peak Oil as hitting now, and this is a first (for him – people like Deffeyes have already done so).

I think I’m persuaded. Most of the voices in the PO aware community are still talking about it being a few years off (2010/2012), and whilst it is certainly true that there is more coming on-stream, the rate of decline is surprising people. The wild card remains Saudi Arabia, and how far their production decline is involuntary – and how much might be, for example, tied up with preparing for the US attack on Iran, coming along shortly.

However, the li’l thought running around my brain at the moment is that there is a lot of resilience built in to western economies which will slow the impact, and provide time for adjustments. The focus will be on transport, primarily personal and commuter; I don’t see any western government allowing farming, for example, to be hit any time soon. So first the optional travelling will be curtailed; then there will be sharing of commuting; then there will be a progressive shift away from cars themselves and towards the healthier options, eg bicycling. The latter might seem unreal, but after a few years of the earlier progressions it will just seem thoroughly normal. The trains will still be running, and for several years – maybe even a decade? – life will seem workable and doable on the old model, we’ll ‘just’ be experiencing a long recession. The West has time, but it means that the ‘hit’ of direct shortages will be that much more severe when it comes, if we haven’t prepared for it.

What will happen, though, is that the people in the middle will get thoroughly squeezed. The 2bn or so of the world’s population that are not presently directly dependent on oil will remain largely untouched; the rich 1bn or so will have time to adapt, more or less. What’s going to happen to that middle 3.5bn though, and what are they going to do about it? Those who have climbed on to the capitalist bandwagon, but will be priced out of the energy market, and priced out rather abruptly?

This is why Mexico is the country to watch. It’s own oil production is crashing, and there are all sorts of related effects working their way through the system.

“Mexico is in the grip of the worst tortilla crisis in its modern history. Dramatically rising international corn prices, spurred by demand for the grain-based fuel ethanol, have led to expensive tortillas…Tortilla prices have tripled or quadrupled in some parts of Mexico since last summer. On Jan. 18, Calderón announced an agreement with business leaders capping tortilla prices at 78 cents per kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, less than half the highest reported prices. The president’s move was a throwback to a previous era when Mexico controlled prices — the government subsidized tortillas until 1999, at which point cheap corn imports were rising under the NAFTA trade agreement. It was also a surprise given his carefully crafted image as an avowed supporter of free trade.”

Very intriguing interview with Scott Derrickson, director of ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’, here (courtesy of Peter Chattaway, one of my very regular blog-reads). Articulates much of what I think about horror:

In my opinion, the horror genre is a perfect genre for Christians to be involved with. I think the more compelling question is, Why do so many Christians find it odd that a Christian would be working in this genre? To me, this genre deals more overtly with the supernatural than any other genre, it tackles issues of good and evil more than any other genre, it distinguishes and articulates the essence of good and evil better than any other genre, and my feeling is that a lot of Christians are wary of this genre simply because it’s unpleasant. The genre is not about making you feel good, it is about making you face your fears. And in my experience, that’s something that a lot of Christians don’t want to do, unfortunately.

And that has been my experience as a Christian through much of my life. To me, the horror genre is the genre of non-denial. It’s about admitting that there is evil in the world, and recognizing that there is evil within us, and that we’re not in control, and that the things that we are afraid of must be confronted in order for us to relinquish that fear. And I think that the horror genre serves a great purpose in bolstering our understanding of what is evil and therefore better defining what is good. And of course I’m talking about, really, the potential of the horror genre, because there are a lot of horror films that don’t do these things. It is a genre that’s full of exploitation, but the better films in the genre certainly accomplish, I think, very noble things.

Much more of interest in the interview itself.

“If God gives you a word for God’s people, for God’s sake, say it!”
(William Willimon here.)

Also, at the minister’s group discussing Hauerwas and Willimon’s ‘Resident Aliens’ the expression ‘have a burning heart for…’ was used. That resonated.

As did this from the text itself:
“Our claim is not that this tradition will make sense to anyone or will enable the world to run more smoothly. Our claim is that it just happens to be true. This really is the way God is. This really is the way God’s world is.”

I just wanted to say, in case I’ve given a different impression recently(!) – and for the record – that I really love my work, and am very happy to be doing what I’m doing. I’ve just got a few issues that I need to work through…

I would like my daughter to pursue her education as far as she is able.

To love God with all her mind.

There are those in this world who seek to prevent such things from happening.

Cromwell said: trust in God, and keep your gunpowder dry.

Christianity is quite simple in the end. I think it has two stages:
1. You are convicted of your sin;
2. You accept the grace of God.
The consequence of these two things is ‘love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control…’ etc etc. In particular, judgement of one another is abandoned – it is left up to God.

And obviously these things are more or less embedded in us, and we make mistakes etc etc. But this is the ‘road map for holiness’.

Fundamentalism is formed when either of these two stages are ignored or belittled.

When 1. is put aside, then the self-righteous Pharisee is formed, and there are judgements left, right and centre.
When 2. is ignored, you get the fear-driven apocalypticism, like Left Behind, and you get the semi-fascist imposition of order, to prevent sin from happening.

For the last six weeks or so, one of my favourite blogs has seemed to be down (this one) – I just assumed the author was off doing some particularly intense research. Turns out it was just a computer bug of some sort, so I’ve just spent a little while catching up, and laughing out loud in long overdue fashion. I want to be Spider Jerusalem, but I think this man succeeds. See this one in particular…