"Thinking Eternally, Acting Locally." - Neal August
2004 Emergent Theological Conversationwith Walter Brueggemann
September 13-15, 2004
All Souls Fellowship, Decatur, GA.
1. Everybody lives by a script. The script may be implicit or explicit. It may be recognised or unrecognized, but everybody has a script.
2. We get scripted. All of us get scripted through the process of nurture and formation and socialization, and it happens to us without our knowing it.
3. The dominant scripting in our society is a script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism that socializes us all, liberal and conservative.
4. That script (technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism) enacted through advertising and propaganda and ideology, especially on the liturgies of television, promises to make us safe and to make us happy.
5. That script has failed. That script of military consumerism cannot make us safe and it cannot make us happy. We may be the unhappiest society in the world.
6. Health for our society depends upon disengagement from and relinquishment of that script of military consumerism. This is a disengagement and relinquishment that we mostly resist and about which we are profoundly ambiguous.
7. It is the task of ministry to de-script that script among us. That is, too enable persons to relinquish a world that no longer exists and indeed never did exist.
8. The task of descripting, relinquishment and disengagement is accomplished by a steady, patient, intentional articulation of an alternative script that we say can make us happy and make us safe.
9. The alternative script is rooted in the Bible and is enacted through the tradition of the Church. It is an offer of a counter-narrative, counter to the script of technological, therapeutic, consumer militarism.
10. That alternative script has as its most distinctive feature, its key character – the God of the Bible whom we name as Father, Son, and Spirit.
11. That script is not monolithic, one dimensional or seamless. It is ragged and disjunctive and incoherent. Partly it is ragged and disjunctive and incoherent because it has been crafted over time by many committees. But it is also ragged and disjunctive and incoherent because the key character is illusive and irascible in freedom and in sovereignty and in hiddenness, and, I’m embarrassed to say, in violence – [a] huge problem for us.
12. The ragged, disjunctive, and incoherent quality of the counter-script to which we testify cannot be smoothed or made seamless. [I think the writer of Psalm 119 would probably like too try, to make it seamless]. Because when we do that the script gets flattened and domesticated. [This is my polemic against systematic theology]. The script gets flattened and domesticated and it becomes a weak echo of the dominant script of technological, consumer militarism. Whereas the dominant script of technological, consumer militarism is all about certitude, privilege, and entitlement this counter-script is not about certitude, privilege, and entitlement. Thus care must betaken to let this script be what it is, which entails letting God be God’s irascible self.
13. The ragged, disjunctive character of the counter-script to which we testify invites its adherents to quarrel among themselves – liberals and conservatives – in ways that detract from the main claims of the script and so too debilitate the focus of the script.
14. The entry point into the counter-script is baptism. Whereby we say in the old liturgies, “do you renounce the dominant script?”
15. The nurture, formation, and socialization into the counter-script with this illusive, irascible character is the work of ministry. We do that work of nurture, formation, and socialization by the practices of preaching, liturgy, education, social action, spirituality, and neighboring of all kinds.
16. Most of us are ambiguous about the script; those with whom we minister and I dare say, those of us who minister. Most of us are not at the deepest places wanting to choose between the dominant script and the counter-script. Most of us in the deep places are vacillating and mumbling in ambivalence.
17. This ambivalence between scripts is precisely the primary venue for the Spirit. So that ministry is to name and enhance the ambivalence that liberals and conservatives have in common that puts people in crisis and consequently that invokes resistance and hostility.
18. Ministry is to manage that ambivalence that is crucially present among liberals and conservatives in generative faithful ways in order to permit relinquishment of [the] old script and embrace of the new script.
19. The work of ministry is crucial and pivotal and indispensable in our society precisely because there is no one [see if that’s an overstatement]; there is no one except the church and the synagogue to name and evoke the ambivalence and too manage a way through it. I think often; I see the mundane day-to-day stuff ministers have to do and I think, my God, what would happen if you talk all the ministers out. The role of ministry then is as urgent as it is wondrous and difficult.
Transcribed from the Mp3 recording of his session. All sessions are available from here http://www.emergentvillage.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=42
Brueggmann elaborates here: Counterscript: living with the elusive God
Friday, January 23, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Giving Students The Business
[Here is an oldie but "goodie"; posting it nearly got me expelled]
September 15, 2004
XX SWBTS Giving Students The Business XX
Today the offices of Southwestern seminary were buzzing over letters sent this week to students with unpaid tuition and fees that suggested that if $250,000 in funds were not received that it was probable that five seminary professors would lose their jobs.
Sources in the business offices acknowledged that the letters had created much discussion amongst the staff and that many students had expressed concerns about the safety of their professor’s employment.
This news comes less five months after the seminary trustees approved a budget of $31.5 million, a 2.58 percent increase over the previous year's budget, elected eight faculty members to the theology and educational ministries schools, and elected two new deans. Within the past 15 months, SWBTS has remodeled the presidential house, built a new presidential library estimated at $100,000, and constructed a $3,000 presidential BBQ pit.
This news also follows both a seminary housing rent and tuition increase.
Also, returning students may notice the addition of new multiple flat-screen TVs across campus for watching chapel. They may also notice the new card sliding machines that ensure that students taking Spiritual Formations attend chapel services.
Those close to the Business Administration affirmed the possibility of an era in judgment concerning the wording of the letters. They also stated that the intent of the letters was to remind students that the Seminary suffers corporately when people do not pay their fees.
[Editorial Note: The body wouldn’t suffer; just a few members.]
[PC] has obtained a photocopy of one of the letters sent to a seminary student. After being allowed to check the original letter and verifying the authenticity of the letter with the Business Administration we can now reproduce the letter in full.
SOUTHWESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Business Office
September 9, 2004
Dear XXXXX
We have 1/4 of a million dollars in unpaid student tuition and fees. If we do not receive those funds, it is highly probable that we will have to release five professors from the Seminary faculty.
This is not a threat to you, but a sincere reminder that the Seminary suffers corporately when people do not pay what they owe. Further, it is a matter of ethical and moral significance that students either pay their bills or in the inevitability that it is impossible that they come by the Business Office to explain their situation and to make proper arrangements.
If you believe an error has been made, please contact XXXXX at (555) 555-5555, ext. 5555. Thank you for helping clear up the status of your account.
Blessings,
XXXXX
September 15, 2004
XX SWBTS Giving Students The Business XX
Today the offices of Southwestern seminary were buzzing over letters sent this week to students with unpaid tuition and fees that suggested that if $250,000 in funds were not received that it was probable that five seminary professors would lose their jobs.
Sources in the business offices acknowledged that the letters had created much discussion amongst the staff and that many students had expressed concerns about the safety of their professor’s employment.
This news comes less five months after the seminary trustees approved a budget of $31.5 million, a 2.58 percent increase over the previous year's budget, elected eight faculty members to the theology and educational ministries schools, and elected two new deans. Within the past 15 months, SWBTS has remodeled the presidential house, built a new presidential library estimated at $100,000, and constructed a $3,000 presidential BBQ pit.
This news also follows both a seminary housing rent and tuition increase.
Also, returning students may notice the addition of new multiple flat-screen TVs across campus for watching chapel. They may also notice the new card sliding machines that ensure that students taking Spiritual Formations attend chapel services.
Those close to the Business Administration affirmed the possibility of an era in judgment concerning the wording of the letters. They also stated that the intent of the letters was to remind students that the Seminary suffers corporately when people do not pay their fees.
[Editorial Note: The body wouldn’t suffer; just a few members.]
[PC] has obtained a photocopy of one of the letters sent to a seminary student. After being allowed to check the original letter and verifying the authenticity of the letter with the Business Administration we can now reproduce the letter in full.
SOUTHWESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Business Office
September 9, 2004
Dear XXXXX
We have 1/4 of a million dollars in unpaid student tuition and fees. If we do not receive those funds, it is highly probable that we will have to release five professors from the Seminary faculty.
This is not a threat to you, but a sincere reminder that the Seminary suffers corporately when people do not pay what they owe. Further, it is a matter of ethical and moral significance that students either pay their bills or in the inevitability that it is impossible that they come by the Business Office to explain their situation and to make proper arrangements.
If you believe an error has been made, please contact XXXXX at (555) 555-5555, ext. 5555. Thank you for helping clear up the status of your account.
Blessings,
XXXXX
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Miracle Pastor Too
The oddest thing happened today. The family and I were watching the end of a silly movie called Miracle Dog Too.
I was reading.
In the movie, the owner of a lost dog shows up and I was taken back ... it was my pastor, Ed Young.
My wife and I turned to each other dumbfounded. We gave our heads a shake and blinked our eyes but there he was.
Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas said a line and then the movie changed scenes.
...
It’s somewhat rattling to unexpectedly see your pastor in a movie, even if only for a moment.
I was reading.
In the movie, the owner of a lost dog shows up and I was taken back ... it was my pastor, Ed Young.
My wife and I turned to each other dumbfounded. We gave our heads a shake and blinked our eyes but there he was.
Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas said a line and then the movie changed scenes.
...
It’s somewhat rattling to unexpectedly see your pastor in a movie, even if only for a moment.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
PC's Top Favorite Albums of 2008 etc.
Not to be out-commented by Matt Millsap, I have decided to post my Top Favorite music albums of 2008, including the Top 5 Favorite Albums that came out in 2008 and the Top 5 Favorite Albums I discovered in 2008 regardless of when these albums were produced.
First, in alphabetical order, my Top 5 Favorite Albums that came out in 2008:
Accelerate, R.E.M.
I actually did not possess this album until Christmas Day but I have really enjoyed it. As a moderate R.E.M. fan, I think it is their best album since Monster.
Chinese Democracy, Guns N' Roses
A pretty good album that matches much of what is on Appetite for Destruction but cannot even approach the monumental work on Use Your Illusion.
Still, I appreciate Axl Rose’s work on this folly project even if it should have been much better given the time he spent on it.
In Rainbows, Radiohead
I enjoyed this album even though it is their slightest album since Pablo Honey (ouch!). Of course, a slight Radiohead album is a sole, marble slab in an empty field in comparison with much of the corn stalks that pass themselves off as popular music.
Modern Guilt, Beck
Oh, how I love a Beck album! Beck’s Music, Tom Stoppard’s plays, and Terry Gilliam’s films are what make life in art worth living and worth pursuing. (I had the horrible thought last night about what I will do when these three people die!)
I do not believe that there is a Beck Album I do not thoroughly enjoy. The first time I listened to Mellow Gold back in 1994, I knew that this man was pure genius. It only took the arrival of Odelay to convince the rest of the world of his immense musical gift.
Modern Guilt is a great album but a little hard to get into. His last album, The Information, was the same way. However, I love both albums and simply relish the time I can spend swimming along on the melodies and in between the lyrics.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay
Yes, this was a very good album as Matt Millsap will tell you. I am somewhat behind on the whole Coldplay phenomenon, having only listened to their four albums just this year. However, they are really good and are probably destined for permanent greatness. To put them up with Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Bjork, and the REM and the Red Hot Chili Peppers is not a stretch. They are darn good song writers with a fabulous ear for melody. So much so that they make it seem easy.
Now, in alphabetical order, my the Top 5 Favorite Albums I discovered in 2008 regardless of when these albums were produced:
Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
A fabulous album which was/is a magnificent musical achievement. I quite love Bob Dylan and am only sorry that I did not appreciate him while I was in college. Nevertheless, this particular album is hauntingly surreal with extended allegories, wordplays, and several off-kilter tunes that surprisingly work in spite of themselves. Very much like Beck in that sense.
I do think that is one of the hallmarks of artistic genius – the ability to make the unusual and the relatively unused and make marvelous what no one would ever think possible.
Grace, Jeff Buckley
I had been hearing about this album for sometime now and the lauds it had been garnering from so many great musicians. I must say that I was blown away by it. This is a real gem of an album; amazingly simple but profoundly executed. Again, several off-kilter tunes that surprisingly work. What is even more amazing is that this was a first album. What is devastating is that this was a last album. Buckley died in a swimming accident after this album was released.
There is no taste more bitter than the savoring the absence of what might have been. I suppose this would put him up as the Syd Barrett of Generation X. Of course, Barrett was a musical genius and Buckley only great. Still I have put Grace on my Top 20 list.
London Calling, The Clash
Yes, this is an epic achievement of an album. Every song! When I kept seeing this album on so many Top 500, Top 100, and Top 10 lists, my curiosity was peaked. My first listen through left me generally nonplussed. The second listen led me through a battle zone of thundering rockets going off all around me. The third listen made me a convert. Yes, this album is on my Top 20 list. It really, really is fantastic and something of a miracle of the music world considering from where it sprung. I highly recommend this album to anyone interested in music.
A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay
A very good pop album that’s immediacy is such that I need not go into any further detail.
Sandinistas! The Clash
This is the follow-up album to London Calling and a massive monster of an album. Originally at three-LP, it can be purchased as a double album now.
The album is difficult to explain given its immense profusion of styles and lyrical content. Perhaps the album might have been greater if some of the fat had been originally trimmed down to a two-disc version (like a Harry Potter book) but there it is anyway: the pop music equivalent of the Battle of Algiers.
I mentioned my Top 20 List. I’m always one to publicly support that which is wonderful in art, even when it’s in pop music. Allow me to give that list in two groupings of the Top 1-10 and Top 11-20, both in alphabetical order:
Top 1-10
Abbey Road, The Beatles
Bigger, Better, Faster, More! 4 Non Blondes
Freak Out! Frank Zappa
London Town, Paul McCartney
Mellow Gold, Beck
Mutations, Beck
Odelay, Beck
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Pink Floyd
SMiLE, Brian Wilson
Tommy, The Who
Top 11-20
Grace, Jeff Buckley
Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin
London Calling, The Clash
More, Pink Floyd
MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana
OK Computer, Radiohead
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Roger Waters
Purple, Stone Temple Pilots
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie
Quadrophenia, The Who
First, in alphabetical order, my Top 5 Favorite Albums that came out in 2008:
Accelerate, R.E.M.
I actually did not possess this album until Christmas Day but I have really enjoyed it. As a moderate R.E.M. fan, I think it is their best album since Monster.
Chinese Democracy, Guns N' Roses
A pretty good album that matches much of what is on Appetite for Destruction but cannot even approach the monumental work on Use Your Illusion.
Still, I appreciate Axl Rose’s work on this folly project even if it should have been much better given the time he spent on it.
In Rainbows, Radiohead
I enjoyed this album even though it is their slightest album since Pablo Honey (ouch!). Of course, a slight Radiohead album is a sole, marble slab in an empty field in comparison with much of the corn stalks that pass themselves off as popular music.
Modern Guilt, Beck
Oh, how I love a Beck album! Beck’s Music, Tom Stoppard’s plays, and Terry Gilliam’s films are what make life in art worth living and worth pursuing. (I had the horrible thought last night about what I will do when these three people die!)
I do not believe that there is a Beck Album I do not thoroughly enjoy. The first time I listened to Mellow Gold back in 1994, I knew that this man was pure genius. It only took the arrival of Odelay to convince the rest of the world of his immense musical gift.
Modern Guilt is a great album but a little hard to get into. His last album, The Information, was the same way. However, I love both albums and simply relish the time I can spend swimming along on the melodies and in between the lyrics.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay
Yes, this was a very good album as Matt Millsap will tell you. I am somewhat behind on the whole Coldplay phenomenon, having only listened to their four albums just this year. However, they are really good and are probably destined for permanent greatness. To put them up with Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Bjork, and the REM and the Red Hot Chili Peppers is not a stretch. They are darn good song writers with a fabulous ear for melody. So much so that they make it seem easy.
Now, in alphabetical order, my the Top 5 Favorite Albums I discovered in 2008 regardless of when these albums were produced:
Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
A fabulous album which was/is a magnificent musical achievement. I quite love Bob Dylan and am only sorry that I did not appreciate him while I was in college. Nevertheless, this particular album is hauntingly surreal with extended allegories, wordplays, and several off-kilter tunes that surprisingly work in spite of themselves. Very much like Beck in that sense.
I do think that is one of the hallmarks of artistic genius – the ability to make the unusual and the relatively unused and make marvelous what no one would ever think possible.
Grace, Jeff Buckley
I had been hearing about this album for sometime now and the lauds it had been garnering from so many great musicians. I must say that I was blown away by it. This is a real gem of an album; amazingly simple but profoundly executed. Again, several off-kilter tunes that surprisingly work. What is even more amazing is that this was a first album. What is devastating is that this was a last album. Buckley died in a swimming accident after this album was released.
There is no taste more bitter than the savoring the absence of what might have been. I suppose this would put him up as the Syd Barrett of Generation X. Of course, Barrett was a musical genius and Buckley only great. Still I have put Grace on my Top 20 list.
London Calling, The Clash
Yes, this is an epic achievement of an album. Every song! When I kept seeing this album on so many Top 500, Top 100, and Top 10 lists, my curiosity was peaked. My first listen through left me generally nonplussed. The second listen led me through a battle zone of thundering rockets going off all around me. The third listen made me a convert. Yes, this album is on my Top 20 list. It really, really is fantastic and something of a miracle of the music world considering from where it sprung. I highly recommend this album to anyone interested in music.
A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay
A very good pop album that’s immediacy is such that I need not go into any further detail.
Sandinistas! The Clash
This is the follow-up album to London Calling and a massive monster of an album. Originally at three-LP, it can be purchased as a double album now.
The album is difficult to explain given its immense profusion of styles and lyrical content. Perhaps the album might have been greater if some of the fat had been originally trimmed down to a two-disc version (like a Harry Potter book) but there it is anyway: the pop music equivalent of the Battle of Algiers.
I mentioned my Top 20 List. I’m always one to publicly support that which is wonderful in art, even when it’s in pop music. Allow me to give that list in two groupings of the Top 1-10 and Top 11-20, both in alphabetical order:
Top 1-10
Abbey Road, The Beatles
Bigger, Better, Faster, More! 4 Non Blondes
Freak Out! Frank Zappa
London Town, Paul McCartney
Mellow Gold, Beck
Mutations, Beck
Odelay, Beck
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Pink Floyd
SMiLE, Brian Wilson
Tommy, The Who
Top 11-20
Grace, Jeff Buckley
Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin
London Calling, The Clash
More, Pink Floyd
MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana
OK Computer, Radiohead
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Roger Waters
Purple, Stone Temple Pilots
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie
Quadrophenia, The Who
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