The Emerging Scholars Blog

No Week-in-Review this week. May this quotation from Living the Christian Year help put your Christmas in proper perspective.

So in this season we come once more to Bethlehem in the poverty of the shepherds and humility of the Magi.  We bow before the feedbox which holds the Bread of Life, the gift by which we’re enriched.  We find our words, even our poetry, failing us, as Dietrich Bonheoffer so eloquently discerned:

“Our words rush out at the sight of the divine child; we try to put into language what is implied in the name:  Jesus.  But at the bottom these words are nothing except a worldless silence of adoration before the ineffable, before the presence of God in the shape of a human child.” — Bobby Gross, Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God, InterVarsity Press, 2009, p.74.

Amen!

A sincere and heartfelt thank-you to our sister in Christ Christine Sine for this Advent meditation. Inspired/thirsting to take more time away from the busy-ness of the holiday season and focus upon the Christ of Christmas?  I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to visit these three sites:

1. Christine Sine’s Godspace
2. Following the Star (HT Arlene).
3. Susan Boyle, Handel’s Messiah, Silent Monks & God’s Good Intentions for Our Redemption (By Lael Arrington, bible.org, December 4th, 2009)

If you have particular Advent meditations/reflections which you’d desire to bless others with (books, weblinks, one’s you’ve written), please share them with us as together we celebrate The Coming of the Lord.

Updated 12/23/2009, 6:30 am.

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? Anything special with some time off or is there too much going on with the holiday?

As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them.  In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. In Star-Studded Wise Men: Rethinking the Christmas Story (December 7, 2009), Ben Witherington delivers a strong corrective regarding some popular renderings of Christmas.  Ben has a similar post focused upon Luke 2:1-7, No Inn in the Room (December 09, 2007).  (HT:  Arlene)

2.  More stocking stuffers?  Stan Guthrie and John Wilson, Christmas Books, Part 3 (Podcast, posted 12/08/09).  Forward the link to Buster Keaton’s College (1927) and have a laugh. Any additional suggestions you have for our Christmas Wish List?

3. Even more stocking stuffers! Don’t forget about the discounts you receive with your ESN membership from IVP, Eerdmans, Zondervan, and great periodicals. Books and subscriptions make great gifts (hint, hint).

4. This is a time of year when many interviews and job searches are conducted, so take a few minutes to read this good advice from David Perlmutter about “Avoiding a ‘Nuclear Veto’ in Hiring” from the Chronicle. Perhaps it will make next Christmas a bit merrier! (HT: Kim)

Books

5. From Mike: Laura Vanderkam in the WSJ recently wrote “Seen and Not Heard in Church,” about the tension between the ideals of intergenerational worship and the messy realities of crying babies, restless toddlers, and bored children of all ages. May I recommend a couple of that my wife (who teaches music to very young children) has found helpful?

Parenting in the Pew (IVP) by long time IV staff, current John Brown U. faculty member, and Dead Theologian’s Society founder Robbie Castleman – a very practical, and compact, book on training your children to worship

Teaching Kids Authentic Worship (Baker) by Kathleen Chapman – a guide with 52 ideas for “worship moments,” in and out of church

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin) by Richard Louv – not about worship per se, but about children encounter reality around them – which, in a way, is what worship does, too

And there’s one more that I can’t find right now. You’ll just have to check back later today when I add it to the comments!

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? Anything special with some time off or is there too much going on with the holiday?

As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them.  In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. Sabbath? Who has time for a sabbath? – Regular reader Tobin sends us this from the always funny PhD (“Piled Higher and Deeper”) Comics.

2.  Are you desiring to become more familiar with the lectionary as we begin Advent?  If so, swing by Christine Sine’s post Daily Bible Readings For Advent, consider Living in the Christian Year, and/or visit the daily posts of Following the Star (HT Arlene).  Note:  If you have suggestions to throw in the mix, please comment or drop us a note for inclusion in next week’s post.

3. More on Living the Christian Year.  IVP has Lauren Winner’s foreword and the first chapter, “Discovering Sacred Time,” available for free download. Also, a Facebook group has been created for those who want to live the Christian year together.

4.  Looking for stocking stuffers? Listen to Christmas Books, Part 2 (Podcast, posted 11/30/09) in which Stan Guthrie and John Wilson discuss some good books to give and receive.  Any additional suggestions you have for our Christmas Wish List?

5. An early Christmas gift for science buffs: The Royal Society (the world’s oldest scientific society, founded 1660) has created Trailblazing, a timeline of landmark scientific papers and events, with links to the original Royal Society articles.  We’re talking important stuff here: Newton’s theory of color and light, Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of microbes, Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite experiment, an examination of an 8-year-old Mozart…you’ll waste at least an hour looking at these.

Last week, I wrote about Advent, so, in true American fashion, I’m skipping straight ahead to Christmas. :) (Don’t worry – I believe Tom is taking a more spiritual approach this week.)

Yesterday was my three four-year-old daughter’s birthday, and she has this “wish list” thing nailed down. She was very clear about what she wanted: a Frisch’s Big Boy bank, a snow globe, and a gingerbread house. (Her name is Ginger, so gingerbread is very near and dear to her heart.) I’m not nearly so good at knowing what I want or expressing it, so I get a lot of gift cards. Still, a few standard wishes include board games (Ticket to Ride has been wished for several years, and Carcassonne expansions are always welcome) and books of assorted varieties, mostly theology and references. It looks like IVP has put together a Christmas gift guide, and I couldn’t say “no” to any of those.

But enough about me. What’s on your wish list?

P.S. If you creating a wish list, check out Lifehacker’s five best wish list tools.

P.P.S. If you are going to Urbana, don’t miss out on the November discount code!