AKMA’s Random Thoughts

More questions from Theological Outlines blog. More cards. More to come. (Yes, more Lego Church History too, but not this instant.)

15 Constantine, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

17 Augustine, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

19 Ambrose, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

24 Hippolytus, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

The work on teaching resources continues behind the scenes at the Disseminary. We’ve uploaded several more questionae to the Theological Outlines blog, and we’ve uploaded three more Theology Cards, available from here:

9 Macrina, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

12 Origen, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

13 Justin Martyr, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

The St. Luke’s volunteers came by today to pick up a bed for the Yancuba family, and as I was cleaning out the space where the bed used to be, I found a parish bulletin (location and date withheld) where I had noted that the preacher started by observing, “Today is Father’s Day. Many Christians will celebrate today as the Feast of Corpus Christi. . . .”

That’s the kind of thing that makes me feel feisty and un-American, when a preacher announces that it is Father’s Day but observing Corpus Christi is an optional, “Christian” thing to do.

In one of the Ekklesia Project conversations, and again this afternoon, I alluded to the Theologian Cards for my Early Church History class. I checked, and only Anthony, Perpetua, Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Tertullian were available online. So I just uploaded another batch, and will work through the rest of them in my copious free time. And yes, I’ll get back to work on the Lego Church History series.

6 Basil the Great of Caesarea, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

7 Arius, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

8 Clement of Alexandria, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

10 Gregory of Nyssa, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

11 Gregory of Nazianzus, Single PDF — Six-Up PDF — JPEG

It’s not too hard to format and upload these, mostly just a matter of making the PDFs and JPEG from the main InDesign file, so I should be able to get a few more up here soon. (Though I put “My Cards” in the title bar, anyone interested should know that the drawings were executed by extremely gifted artist-philosopher Steve Lahey.)

It was a treat to visit the garden home of Scandal of Particularity (after having met her at the Ekklesia Project on Monday), where with her husband she generously hosted Camassia, the AngloBaptist, Liz (who — so far as I know — doesn’t have a website, the horror!), and me for a civilized afternoon conversation about liturgy, theology, sexuality, blogging software, other Blogarians, and the Tour de France — among many other things.

The next time someone tells you that online activity cuts into physical-world interaction, sock ’em in the nose you may correct them based on the empirical data of my experience.

I have a hard time even believing that is a dog. Ugly, undoubtedly — but to count as “the ugliest dog,” shouldn’t the connection to dog-dom be a little more obvious?

Either way, Sam will probably be the ugliest dog on Google and Technorati soon — dog tag or no tag.

To relieve the theological humdrum, I’ll call attention to another couple of paintings from Pippa that I uploaded to Flickr.

We made a trip to the art supplies store yesterday, and she’s begun work on the huge canvas — a seaside landscape based on a photo she herself took.

David Weinberger is too classy to pout online — or maybe he hasn’t noticed yet — but it must be annoying when The Paper Of Record ascribes a diluted version of his witticism about the Web to one “Scott Williams” (link via Dave Winer).

I’ve only just recently found out that anybody cares what I think about the recent sad news from Connecticut. If you don’t care to register with the New York Times, the short answer is that the diocesan bishop inhibited a priest (“suspended” him), took possession of the parish’s buildings and records, changed the locks, and installed an interim rector. It is hard to think that it’s coincidental that the priest in question was one of six clergy who actively resist the consecration of Gene Robinson to the episcopacy (among other vexatious actions taken by the Episcopal Church over the past few years).

Since it’s a matter whose resolution depends greatly on details of the transactions between bishop and priest, I have kept my own counsel — I reasoned that it could hardly help clarify a complicated situation if large numbers of people who don’t know the details take uninformed positions. I’ve been in situations where the presenting issue could not be discussed publicly, which circumstance contributed to an appearance of extreme unfairness on the part of the authority involved; since then, I’ve tried to be especially cautious regarding such situations.

Because this has become a touchstone for determining even-handedness in ecclesiastical commentary, however, and because there’s been plenty of time to make as clear as possible a case for what looks on the face of things like a clumsy power grab, I can without hesitation say that if Bishop Smith has a good reason for the way he handled this situation, he has so far withheld it. The highly-charged atmosphere ought to incline someone who holds power to exercise that power as little and as gently and unexceptionably as possible, with as much explanation as possible. Unless Bishop Smith is in the agonizing position of knowing something very terrible and confidential about the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Hansen’s ministry — something of which no hint of a clue has even been rumored, so one has to consider that option off-the-table — Bishop Smith must be deemed to have mishandled a delicate situation.

In a couple of conversations at the Ekklesia Project, I observed that I increasingly find the pivotal text in Pauline ethics to be 1 Cor 6:7: “In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ” We demonstrate sinfully constricted imaginations when we concentrate our efforts on prevailing over our sisters and brothers, arm-twisting or out-maneuvering in order to win, to justify oneself.

I can imagine some circumstances that might motivate Bishop Smith to take the actions he did, and I can imagine some circumstances that might motivate Fr. Hansen to have taken the actions that seem to have precipitated the diocese’s foreclosure — but the information circulating in public so far casts the diocese’s side in a pretty grim light. When I wrote “if our charity were not already exhausted,” this dysangelical mess was the sort of sorry outcome I feared.

The Ekklesia Project always excites and refreshes me, so it’s not just because I gave a presentation there this year that I have to say what a wonderful gathering they put together for us.

That being said, I was delighted that so many people gave very kind positive feedback on my talk, and that so many people seemed to get the idea of the Disseminary (which Phil mentioned when he introduced me). It’s gratifying, but frustrating, that their feedback suggests that Trevor and I have the right idea — while we’re still having trouble harvesting enough useful material to make the site go.

Thanks, though, to readers from EP who meander over here; it was great to hear from you in person, and I hope you feel welcome to come back electronically fromm time to time.

This morning we all woke up way too early, and Margaret and Pip and I trundled down to DePaul so that we’d be sure to arrive in time for me to give my plenary at the Ekklesia Project Gathering. We were pretty sleepy till partway through breakfast, but by my third cup of coffee I figured I’d be able to keep my eyes open through the whole presentation.

I’ll add the transcript of the whole presentation in the (More) area; PDF available here, and an mp3 from ChuckP3 here. For casual readers and RSS, though, the short answer is that it seems to have gone well. We had some active conversation afterward, and I could spend the rest of the day relaxing and jawing with friends rather than kicking myself.

“Relaxing,” that is, until 7:15, when the presenters and I were called to the front for a panel discussion of our papers, led by Barry Harvey. Barry asked us hard questions, which struck me as decidedly unfair, given how little sleep I’d had. When the EP crowd got tired of hearing us panelists talk, Margaret and Pippa and I hastened back north to Evanston.

Within an hour, I’ll be fast asleep.
Continue reading “The Strong Right Arm”

I’m mostly set to go for this morning’s talk, although I’m not quite sure I’m awake yet (if I fall asleep in another session, please excuse me). I will post a full version (with notes!) as soon after the presentation as I can get back online.