How often do you read on a whim?

By on May 17, 2012 in Quotes with 5 Comments

Today one can take advantage of a free download of Alan Jacobs‘ “How to Read a Book,” a chapter in Liberal Arts For the Christian Life (Edited by Jeffry C. Davis & Philip G. Ryken. Crossway. 2012). Below’s the conclusion from which I raise the question, “How often do you read on a whim?”

As I draw this essay to a close, let me turn to a matter that, in my mind, is very important indeed — but not nearly as solemn as what we’ve been talking about over the past few pages. Recalling Auden’s warning that masterpieces of literature should not be our steady diet, we should affirm the great value of reading just for the fun of it. The poet Randall Jarrell tells the story of meeting a literary critic who said that every year he reread his favorite book, Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim, just because he wanted to. Though a critic, he had never written anything about Kim, nor did he ever plan to. That one book he read, Jarrell says, “at whim,” and Jarrell ends his essay by exhorting us all to “read at whim!” 12

In my experience, Christians are strangely reluctant to take this advice. We tend to be earnest people, always striving for self-improvement, and can be suspicious of mere recreation. But God doesn’t just create, he takes delight in his creation, and expects us to delight in it too; and since he has given us the desire to make things ourselves—has allowed us to be “sub-creators,” as J. R. R. Tolkien says13 — we may rightly take delight in the things that we (and others) make.

Reading for the sheer delight of it — reading at whim — is therefore one of the most important kinds of reading there is. By all means strive to be a better reader, to grow in attentiveness, responsiveness, and charity; but whatever you do, don’t forget to allow yourself to have fun (131).

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12Randall Jarrell, “Poets, Critics, and Readers,” in No Other Book: Selected Essays, ed. Brad Leithauser (New York: Harper, 1999), 229; emphasis original.
13Tolkien develops this idea of writing as “sub-creation” chiefly in his long essay “On Fairy Stories,” first published in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, ed. C. S. Lewis (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1966), 38–89.

Continue Reading…

Summer reading: “Welcome to the [Wright] Revolution!”

By on May 14, 2012 in ESN Book Club, Public Intellectuals with 0 Comments

(N.T. Wright sings “Genesis” at Hearts and Mind, https://vimeo.com/4214987)

how god became king.jpg

"How God Became King" cover

Last week Mike asked what’s on our various summer reading lists. I’m going to be reading some works by the story-telling minstrel Rt. Rev. N.T. (Tom) Wright, Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. As some of you know Rt. Rev. N.T. (Tom) Wright has recently blessed a number of groups with singing as part of his speaking tour. On Saturday, I had the privilege of hearing him share “Genesis”* and  Bob Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In” at Hearts & Minds Books, Dallastown, PA. Thank-you to Byron for hosting the garden party and keeping me “on top of” N.T. Wright’s publications through posts such as this one! I’m starting my summer reading with Tom’s Targum and then will move to the controversy regarding How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (HarperOne, 2012).**

What do you think of the “Wright’s revolution?” Will you be reading some of his work this summer? Any interest in an on-line book discussion? Feel free to start making comments here :)

(N.T. Wright sings Bob Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In”, https://vimeo.com/42149870)
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Random Notes on Doctor Bot Ed: Part II

By on May 11, 2012 in Christian Thought and Practice, Technology in Higher Ed with 0 Comments

Back to Robots!!

Picking up from Random Notes on Doctor Bot Ed (5/10/2012) . . .

Back to Robots!! Personally, despite my earlier remonstration, I would be quite happy to learn all sorts of subjects from a robot. A robot is not going to rob us of our humanity and despoil our personhood – after all, we have less to fear from machines ‘wanting’ to behave like humans, as much as humans wanting to behave like machines (Hence, my prefatory diatribe against the social engineering of technocrats and their worrisome bedfellows in academic bureaucrats). A better version of my objections are to be found in William James’ prescient essay entitled “The Ph.D. Octopus” published in the Harvard Monthly in 1903, that anticipates much of the problems that arise when universities and colleges turn into a factory for credentialing. The bean counters have triumphed (by this I don’t mean the social sciences as a whole, but rather a narrow instrumentalist application of a particular philosophy).

Welcoming Dr. Bot Ed into Higher Ed can have all sorts of advantages in terms of research in planetary exploration beyond our solar system, learning foreign languages or even the behavioral sciences, insofar as exercises in situated cognition are concerned and not to mention, advanced mathematics. Even though the thought-­processes in a human mathematician’s mind is distinct from the processes governing automated theorem proving, at the base, mathematics is not sui generis human as much as they are patterns for discovery – imaginary numbers, complex numbers, other forms of irrational numbers even while having no correlates in nature or grounding in empirical reality are still about mind-dependent patterns that are not necessarily confined to our species. As a thought-experiment, there is nothing to suggest that a hypothetical ‘alien’ (play along folks) from an exoplanet, a super earth perhaps, could not independently stumble upon esoteric concepts in mathematics not unlike their counterparts in carbon-based clade of Eutheria upon this kindred clod of Earth. Still, the known history of mathematics despite the obstreperous intrusion of computers and other calculating gadgets is a testament to the resilience, creativity, and genius of human mathematicians. How could anyone not be moved by the apocryphal final words uttered by Archimedes “Do not disturb my circles” as a churlish Roman soldier was incensed to intemperate wrath because our beloved mathematician refused to meet conquering Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus simply because he did not want to be interrupted from his study, libations and oblations to Urania, the muse of astronomy. The young scoundrel killed the genius-savant while the stolen planisphere made its way to Rome. Every major mathematical discovery does involve an element of either the sage or the heroic making its history humane and immediate even while its concepts are too arcane for the rest of us. Continue Reading…

Random Notes on Doctor Bot Ed

By on May 10, 2012 in Christian Thought and Practice, Life in the Academy, Technology in Higher Ed with 3 Comments

This post is a patchwork of tattered reflections on a slew of topics ranging from humans behaving like robots to robots behaving like humans, mind-reading technologies, maybe cyborgs and so forth. There is no grand thesis tucked away in a prose that finds low triviality and high seriousness equally endearing. The hope here is that the reader, if any, would walk away feeling enough esprit to want to grab somebody gently and engage in debate until the Holy Spirit returns our souls to the still waters. “Be Still and know that I am God,” as the Psalmist writes, is a better consolation for our times where the relationship between work and worth is truly turbulent.

Bungy EM 2006

Bungy EM 2006. By Eron Main (Own work) (GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0), via Wikimedia Commons)

So let us fasten our reluctant bungee cords and free fall over the falls and the cascade into the hazy mist over flipped palisades and feel the frightening vista of our noses kissing the foam and still realize that there is hope beyond the dip, the cliff and nosedive, for the rebound will takes us back to higher ground.  Five, four, three, two, one . . . jump!

Once we get past the cringe factor, the queasiness and impious murmurs of the belly, the notion of a Robot as academic administrator is going to bat far fewer human eyelids than a Robot as teacher. Since statistical spreadsheets and mind-­numbing diction are the voices and oracles of our time, all the pious pabulum spewing from the literature on inspirational leadership sounds doubly hollow as technocrats enact their fantasies and nostrums on rostrums prized a mile higher than men.  Courage and spirit are vanquished with the vapor and wind. Not all men and women, to borrow a sentiment from C. S. Lewis are withered “without chests.”  Like hapless projectiles approaching the event horizon in a shimmering black hole of bureaucratic gravity and gravitas, their numbers are shrinking faster than the sheared follicles from a bald man’s lustrous pate. Once in a while, the residue from the remnant and the bumbling, maladjusted few offer principled resistance and are thus recompensed with brevity of span and reproached as irredeemable spam in the carousel and annals of institutional memory.  Recalcitrance against this sole bleeding, soul searing conditioning and contest as elite hurdlers over the blades and barricades of red tape or against comporting the extended trot like an Andalusian horse in the exact art of exquisite dressage is a fancy that the system and sprocket wheel cannot brook.

Once workers were the chamberlains of craftsmanship; now they are less than simpering solders in the circuit board of careerism. Medieval craftsmen at times deliberately infused their works with a subtle asymmetry as a way of recognizing their imperfection in the face of a perfect God.  A better version of this sentiment can be found in John Ruskin’s magisterial essay ‘The Nature of the Gothic.’  This ‘asymmetry’ allows for extraordinary variance in creative expression.  If humor can be found in homonyms, a careerist learns the rules of the guild for gild and then leaves the guild with repressed guilt once the falling foliage of time has spoken.   What the Bard writes about King John’s second coronation and the utter superfluity of it all, might equally apply to the ‘enskyed’ and ‘sainted’ gatekeepers of higher education who burden our souls with their prose and purses.

Therefore, to be possess’d with double pomp, To guard a title that was rich before,

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice, or add another hue

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess (King John) Continue Reading…

What’s on your summer reading list?

By on May 8, 2012 in Resources with 0 Comments

Just a brief post today, because Tom and I have been busy with other things. Perhaps because of my busy schedule, I’ve been thinking ahead to summer, when I will have more time for reading — or, at least, I imagine I’ll have more time. Two weeks ago, I shared my reading list focusing on how academics perceive evangelicals. My family has a vacation scheduled for June, and my hope is that I’ll make a big dent in that reading list while sitting by the beach. (Yes, that’s how much a nerd I am. No Hunger Games for me, please – I have ethnography to keep me occupied!)

What’s on your summer reading list? 

An Apologia for Charlatanism – On the art of reading much and knowing little

By on May 3, 2012 in Christ and the Academy, Christian Thought and Practice, The Purpose of Education with 1 Comment

Vineyard on Montebello Ridge. Author: Brian Sterling

After heeding the Surgeon General’s statutory warning that lives, bridges and sermons are not to demise on the reprise of this theme, shall we visit the premise of charlatanism and test its truth and troth. Charlatans are contextual chameleons who can hold a conversation about any topic without having a deeper insight into definitions or knowing whether or not their claims are based on factual grounds. I am hard pressed to meet a Christian or sober-­minded secular intellectual who will sanctify this concept. A few years ago, an eminent philosopher wrote a masterful essay On ####; an expression that has been bowdlerized into Bovine Scatology for our more august audience. Harry Frankfurt makes a careful distinction between a liar and a person who specializes in the craft of the second letter of the English Alphabet in juxtaposition with the nineteenth letter in majuscule form. A liar seeks to intentionally mislead, while the person who practices the afore-­mentioned ineffable craft of which one shall dare not speak, is informally speaking, phony. On a personal note, I have been to a few wine-­tasting events without knowing the first thing about wine. Obviously, there is an element of phoniness at play here, an appearance of connoisseurship sans savoir or connaitre. Even so, sommeliers and avocation-­seeking amateurs are not the only ones granted entrance into these nose-­rubbing spaces of snobbery and shallow conversations. Even a die-­hard puritan is more inclined to pronounce a dire indictment on the ‘diabolical’ art of pressing dead grapes and the attendant ‘evil’ enzymes involved in fermentation rather than anathematize the innocuous act of gathering for conversation. Continue Reading…

Does “real thinking” reduce religious belief? [Updated]

By on May 1, 2012 in Christian Thought and Practice with 6 Comments

Last week, one of The Atlantic‘s Study of the Day articles spurred a lively conversation on our Facebook Wall. To give you a sense of the study, see the following tweet, which I hope was the result of sloppy nonexistent copy-editing.

(Unfortunately, one can’t simply assume that poor editing can be blamed for this laughable tweet, because The Atlantic – once a reliable bastion of religion reporting in the secular media – has fallen on hard times. Witness, for example, this atrocious and error-ridden article about Invisible Children’s Kony2012 campaign, which GetReligion dissected a few weeks ago. How bad was the article? It describes Mark Driscoll as an “Emerging Liberal.”)

The study, of course, was not at all about “real thinking,” but about analytical thinking, which is one mode of thinking out of many. The study doesn’t surprise me. In Dan and Chip Heath’s book Made to Stick, they examine the impact of analytical thinking on charitable giving, and it’s not good. There’s a reason why charity campaigns use stories and not logical arguments.

While I’m not surprised at they study, I’m also not too troubled by it. The poorly written tweet – “real thinking reduces religious belief” – gets  the nature of thinking wrong, but I think the study coverage of the study gets the nature of religious belief wrong, too. Further, when considering claims of ultimate truth – whether religious or otherwise – one ought to be skeptical. Greater skepticism could have prevented many tragic decisions over the years. Skepticism, however, should not be our permanent position on every article of belief. There are things worth believing in with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Analysis is not the only way of thinking

There is a reason why we don’t plan romantic evenings around math conferences. Or try to teach a child to ride a bike with an explanation of rotational velocity. Analytical thinking is important and valuable, but it’s not the only way of thinking. Sometimes, it’s completely inappropriate to the situation and counterproductive.

For example, consider the act of writing. It’s extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to write anything of length while simultaneously editing yourself for spelling and grammar mistakes, much less fact-checking your claims as you write them. There’s a reason why they’re called “rough drafts.” If your goal is to write 500 words on your dissertation this morning, you’ll have to abandon the analytical mode of thinking for a while.

Analysis, in the wrong circumstance, can even be life-threatening. There’s a reason why trauma surgeons spend so many years increasing their knowledge and honing their skills. When the victims from a near-fatal car accident arrive in the OR, it’s time to act, not to analyze, except in the most basic where-is-this-blood-coming-from way. The rapid, intuitive response of a trained professional is not the absence of “real thinking” — it’s the pinnacle of thinking. Continue Reading…

A Tale of Two Christ(s)

By on April 26, 2012 in Academic Vocations, Christ and the Academy, Christian Thought and Practice with 1 Comment

Today, we have a guest post by Roy Joseph. Roy is an independent scholar who has taught previously at academic institutions in Pittsburgh and in the Chicago land area. Currently, he is working on a project on Creation and Cosmology and is deeply interested in issues of history and philosophy of science, theological aesthetics and creative writing as well. Please be sure to share your thoughts regarding “A Tale of Two Christ(s).  ~ Tom

"The Sacrament of the Last Supper." Artist: Salvador Dalí. 1955. Oil on canvas. Dimensions 267 cm × 166.7 cm (105 in × 65.6 in). National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

An incendiary title of this nature might lead one to presume that this is a debate about the two natures of Christ; fully human/ fully divine with a heretical temptation towards emphasis on one at the expense of the other. As the New Testament so poignantly illustrates, the two natures comprising full humanity and full divinity is fully reconciled and harmonized in the person of Jesus Christ in a fashion that is quite inscrutable to our inquiring, yet finite minds. Even analogies such as wave-particle duality of light and sundry features of quantum mechanics are bound to break down after a certain point. The ‘Two Christ(s)’ here is a figurative shorthand to highlight conflicting perspectives on the person of Christ within the ranks of those who self-identify as Biblically orthodox Christians; reformed and evangelical and the like. The popular discourse of Christ from the pulpits to pews of churches surrounds Christ as Savior and comforter. When life’s travails beset us, it is natural and even necessary for every kneeling Christian to seek refuge in the fact that our destiny is safeguarded in the everlasting arms of the Father, through the atoning work of His Son and through the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit. A reminder of our salvation and the hope of future glory is very much part and parcel of the gospel and there is no denying that. However most Christian scholars with similar creedal commitments treat with justifiable suspicion the articulation of salvation and comfort in an entirely emotivist vocabulary. After all, there is more to the faith than feeling and the reason for the hope is a reason after all, that cannot be dissociated from loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, strength and mind.

However the Christ of Christian scholars is also very much a fractured Christ. Continue Reading…

How Academics See Evangelicals: A Tentative Reading List

By on April 24, 2012 in Christ and the Academy with 5 Comments

Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, which is both a cathedral and a college chapel

Last week, I asked for recommendations for resources on how academics view evangelical Christians. Thank you for all of your great suggestions! In addition to the comments on the blog, I received several more suggestions by email, as well as a generous offer: T. M. Luhrmann, whose book When God Talks Back inspired by post and research project, contacted me and offered to send me a review copy of her copy. I’ll be writing at least one post about the book later this year, most likely in June.

Image credit: Wikipedia

So, here is the tentative reading list I’ve assembled from your recommendations, in no particular order. Do you have any comments or further suggestions? 

I also plan on looking at Paul Bramadat’s The Church on the World’s Turf : An Evangelical Christian Group at a Secular University if I can find a decent price on it, as well as the Evangelical Studies Bulletin, which came recommended by James Sire. I’m not sure if ESB fits my original request, but when Dr. Sire recommends something, I read first and ask questions later.

Any additional suggestions? In addition to Elaine Ecklund’s excellent book, does anyone know of research on the interactions between scientists and evangelicals?

Free On-line Classes: Fantasy and Science Fiction?

By on April 19, 2012 in Technology in Higher Ed with 3 Comments

Yesterday, in From Silicon Valley, A New Approach To Education, NPR highlighted the free-online class offerings of Coursera. If the purpose of Coursera was solely “to bring more classes from elite universities to students around the world for free online,” then an ESN Facebook wall recommendation to check-out Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World (and other offerings) would have been plenty. Why? In an idealistic way I agree with Daphne Koller (Stanford), “By providing what is a truly high-quality educational experience to so many students for free, I think we can really change many, many people’s lives.” . . . Question: Do you agree?

But I was taken aback by the assertion, that “online classes could bring university classes to millions of people who are now effectively cut off.” Why?

  1. On-line education demands the resources necessary to access it.
  2. The question of the “value” of free on-line classes to those “effectively cut off” when no credit is offered.

Three stories:

  • Free online classes and the questions they raise are not as new as one might think. A friend of ESN working in The UofC law library shared with me
  • “Ever since I came across Yale’s online courses about 2 years ago, I have wondered when this idea was going to catch on. Yale has quite an array of courses online, though they are not set up for human interaction or for grading. Why do this?? . . . Colleges and universities can extend their influence quickly and extensively with such courses. People from anywhere in the world would be able to take courses they would never otherwise engage. Major challenge – how many free courses? How much to pay for the rest, so that they can count for a degree (bold added by author of this post).”
  • An ESN Facebook wall response to my initial post asking “Can/will online classes ‘bring university classes to millions of people who are now effectively cut off’?”

    • Continue Reading…

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