U2’s 2004 album “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb” ends with “Yahweh,” which contains several Advent themes.  It’s a prayer of self-dedication that names the world’s broken condition and looks forward to God’s coming redemption. The album has a Scriptural shape, as does its predecessor, released in 2001, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.”  Both […]

A familiar cultural script has been followed over the last week. Interrupting the program with “breaking news,” networks competing for the first images, interviews with eyewitnesses, outraged demands for change, speculations about mental health, interviews with policy experts, outpourings of sentimentality, ill-considered attempts to explain, special interest-funded officials making statements, conservatives blaming liberals, liberals blaming […]

Throughout the weekend, my thoughts kept returning to something Stanley Hauerwas wrote after September 11, 2001.  He said that the horror of that day “requires a kind of silence.” We desperately want to “explain” what happened. Explanation domesticates terror, making it part of “our” world. I believe attempts to explain must be resisted. Rather, we […]

*Originally given at Midtown Christian Community, Dec. 18, 2010 Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. […]

God our Father, you loved the world so much you gave your only Son to free us from the hated power of Sin and Death.  Help us, Father, as we wait for his return, and lead us to true freedom and life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and […]

Daniel Bell, in The Economy of Desire, is concerned with capitalism’s destructive effects, including its marketization and commodification of all of life.  That is, capitalism fosters in us habits of mind, shaping our imaginations so that we envision all aspects of our lives as consumers. This includes how we participate in Christian communities:  [T]he habits […]

In assessing capitalism from a Christian theological perspective, Daniel Bell isn’t claiming that capitalism doesn’t work.  He admits that it does and that it often improves the condition of the poor. For Bell, however, the question isn’t whether or not capitalism “works.”  The question is, What work does it do (p. 88)? He begins with […]

I’m buried under stacks of grading this week, so take missing persons reports with a grain of salt. Reading through narrative analyses of John 9, I came across this gem from the conclusion to one paper: In the field of organizational psychology, the term “organizational myopia” is used to describe what happens when people work […]

In his book, The Economy of Desire, Daniel Bell claims that “capitalism is an economy of desire that works against the created end of humanity, which is to share in the communion of the divine life of the blessed Trinity” (p. 93). He fleshes this out by analyzing capitalism’s implicit theology, especially its anthropology. One […]

Advent is a time of waiting with eager expectation for the arrival of the Son of God.  He has promised that he will return and bring in his kingdom, which will be a reign of justice, goodness, and peace.  There will be plenty for everyone and we will all be satisfied.  Our hearts will no longer ache […]