If anyone reading happens to know of any faculty, current students or "recent" alumni of any of the nine schools constituting the Boston Theological Institute (BTI) - Andover Newton Theological School, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (former Weston Jesuit School of Theology), Boston College Department of Theology, Boston University School of Theology, Episcopal Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, or St. John's Seminary - who may currently blog or may at least have maintained one within the last few months, please let me know by leaving a comment or else e-mailing jsal2010-at-gmail-dot-com.
As you can see at the left sidebar, I've already started to gather a few.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Anti-Kudos of the Month: Punxsutawney Phil
For February, it goes to Punxsutawney Phil.
The little &*$#^&@$%$&^@ saw his shadow on Monday, and with a vengeance! The weather was looking better and better until then, at which point the temps plummeted. The wind chill was NEGATIVE eight degrees Farenheit when I went to class this morning!
"Coincidence"? How naive can people get??
The sad details and picture can be found here.
The little &*$#^&@$%$&^@ saw his shadow on Monday, and with a vengeance! The weather was looking better and better until then, at which point the temps plummeted. The wind chill was NEGATIVE eight degrees Farenheit when I went to class this morning!
"Coincidence"? How naive can people get??
The sad details and picture can be found here.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The TRUE Nefarious Powers Controlling Both U.S. Political Parties
For years, I've heard various people complain about how American politics is so corrupt and dismal, with both of the major political parties - despite some nuanced, window-dressing differences - being ultimately, fundamentally aligned against justice, decency, and the American people.
After all, depending on the ideological leanings of the complainer, the lament is how the top leadership of both the Democrats and the GOP show that when push comes to shove, they really operate as primarily beholden to the warmongers, socialist-big-government machine, corporate shills, elite-limousine-liberals, oligarchs, plutocrats, theocrats, abortocrats, gun-o-crats, pollutocrats, and/or Harvardcrats whose corrupt access to disproportionate power enables them to trap our entire society in inescapable subservience to the evil agendas and policies of this or that tiny cabal of puppetmasters.
However, all such complaints dramatically fail to see the bigger picture.
In a shocking new expose, the International Business Times reveals how now-President Obama, like Presidents Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, and Ford before him, is a card-carrying member of that elite 10% of Americans who are wrong-handed.
Think about it: only 10% of the population, but two-thirds of the Presidents in the last generation. What's that tell you?
The 2008 election was a sure sign that this increasingly powerful elite has grown to a scary extent in their power to impose their wrong control, policies, and hands on us good, decent, patriotic, hard-working, properly right-handed folk. Senator Obama's major opponent, Senator McCain, was also wrong-handed.
This is eerily reminiscent of that Simpsons episode when the two evil aliens take over the bodies of Clinton and Dole right before the 1996 election. Except that this is frighteningly real.
Even before that 2008 farce of an "election," it was clear that no matter who won, Obama or McCain, the Southpaw Syndicate would win.
And they won.
These may be very dark days for democracy...
After all, depending on the ideological leanings of the complainer, the lament is how the top leadership of both the Democrats and the GOP show that when push comes to shove, they really operate as primarily beholden to the warmongers, socialist-big-government machine, corporate shills, elite-limousine-liberals, oligarchs, plutocrats, theocrats, abortocrats, gun-o-crats, pollutocrats, and/or Harvardcrats whose corrupt access to disproportionate power enables them to trap our entire society in inescapable subservience to the evil agendas and policies of this or that tiny cabal of puppetmasters.
However, all such complaints dramatically fail to see the bigger picture.
In a shocking new expose, the International Business Times reveals how now-President Obama, like Presidents Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, and Ford before him, is a card-carrying member of that elite 10% of Americans who are wrong-handed.
Think about it: only 10% of the population, but two-thirds of the Presidents in the last generation. What's that tell you?
The 2008 election was a sure sign that this increasingly powerful elite has grown to a scary extent in their power to impose their wrong control, policies, and hands on us good, decent, patriotic, hard-working, properly right-handed folk. Senator Obama's major opponent, Senator McCain, was also wrong-handed.
This is eerily reminiscent of that Simpsons episode when the two evil aliens take over the bodies of Clinton and Dole right before the 1996 election. Except that this is frighteningly real.
Even before that 2008 farce of an "election," it was clear that no matter who won, Obama or McCain, the Southpaw Syndicate would win.
And they won.
These may be very dark days for democracy...
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Another Theological Profile Quiz
Well, looks like I may have been in the right church/denomination after all.
So I took this quiz - which is online, and therefore scientific and therefore infallible - and it told me:
"You Scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
Not quite sure why I scored as high as I did for "Classical Liberal" or how exactly that's defined as different from "Modern Liberal."
Some of my score is probably skewed by my really not liking the way some of the questions were worded.
All the same, such quizzes are always fun.
Which raises the $60,000 question: What's in your theological wallet??
(point of clarification: the scope of this quiz is limited to Christian traditions)
So I took this quiz - which is online, and therefore scientific and therefore infallible - and it told me:
"You Scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly [sic] by John Wesley and the Methodists.
| Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan | | 82% |
| Classical Liberal | | 61% |
| Roman Catholic | | 57% |
| Reformed Evangelical | | 57% |
| Neo orthodox | | 54% |
| Emergent/Postmodern | | 46% |
| Charismatic/Pentecostal | | 39% |
| Fundamentalist | | 36% |
| Modern Liberal | | 7% |
Not quite sure why I scored as high as I did for "Classical Liberal" or how exactly that's defined as different from "Modern Liberal."
Some of my score is probably skewed by my really not liking the way some of the questions were worded.
All the same, such quizzes are always fun.
Which raises the $60,000 question: What's in your theological wallet??
(point of clarification: the scope of this quiz is limited to Christian traditions)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Coming Soon to a Xmas Stocking Near You
This fake commercial so reminds me of some of the gifts my relatives actually give each other.
[Video Link]
Of course, what counts is the thought--and Jesus!
[Video Link]
Of course, what counts is the thought--and Jesus!
On the Bodaciousness of the Bible
From a card I just sent to my Godson:
"I've personally, ultimately found the Bible ... to be the most intriguing and engaging Story I've ever read of
"I've personally, ultimately found the Bible ... to be the most intriguing and engaging Story I've ever read of
| murder and the meaning of life, creation and crime, Truth and treason, wars and worship, honor and brutal honesty, deception and destruction, action and adultery, envy and evil, violation and vengeance, suspense and seduction, the silly and the supernatural, sin and sacrifice, romance and redemption, edification and escapes, fighting and forgiveness--and most of that's just by the time you get through Genesis!"* *a couple years ago, I recall hearing Bishop N. T. Wright say something similar, but failing to track down the exact quote from him, I had to try to come up with something else. |
Friday, December 19, 2008
Update on Life and this Whole "Blogging" Thing
Well, as I look back on what I've blogged so far, I see it's been MUCH more infrequent than I had originally envisioned.
This blog largely originated out of my having left four-and-a-half years of employment with the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) to begin a masters program at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and missing the opportunity for the outlet I had had for public writing and commentary.
However, I've found grad school to be WAY too time-consuming to allow for as much blogging as I might like. I honestly don't know how others, like Methoblogosphere titan John the (other) Methodist manage to do it. While I expect future posts to continue to not be all that frequent, I am not completely giving up on the Lomperian Review.
If you would like be notified by e-mail when new posts are added to this blog, please e-mail me with "BLOG SUBSCRIBE" in the Subject line.
I also added an RSS-feed thingy on the side, though I'm still not sure how that is supposed to work.
With all of that being said, I suppose it's time for some more substantial post content.
Life in New England's been going pretty well. But here are a few things that have surprised me.
1. A lot of local people really DO talk with the stereotypical, replace-your-Rs-with-Hs accents. At first I thought they were just joking around, when folk were in fact quite earnest about pahking theih cah in Hahvuhd Yahd.
2. A rather disproportionately high number of women up here have tattoos.
3. Apparently, people in New England (at least the Boston area) have not yet gotten the memo that cars now have this awesome new invention called "blinkers" or "turn signals." This state-of-the-art technology turns on a flashy light that lets other cars know when you're about to change lanes, so that you can give fair warning before SWERVING RIGHT THE FREAK IN FRONT OF THEM!! If any readers know anyone who is now, has ever been, or ever may be a resident of New England, please tell them about this invention to make sure no one gets left out.
4. It's freaking cold up here! As the weeks go on this Southern boy's getting increasingly annoyed at those dang pilgrims for being too lazy to have pointed their ship just a few more degrees to the South.
5. Having lived in Chicago and DC and visited New York several times, the public trains in Boston are hands-down the loudest internally.
6. According to a recent tour, the community surrounding Harvard looks down on the University as a bastion of conservatism, since "only" 70+ % of the students voted Democratic in a recent Presidential election. (the number would be nowhere near that low if you singled out the Div school)
7. It's interesting to see theological liberals as well as theological conservatives around here say that there's not great differences between the numerous Unitarian Universalist congregations around here and so many of the mainline Protestant congregations in the area.
8. Regional reputations notwithstanding, even people here can be quite friendly. Though it's still not okay to say "hi" to people on the street you don't know like it is in other parts of the country.
9. While this region served as a key incubator for such heterodox movements as Unitarianism, Universalism, and Christian science, central seeds of the Holiness movement can also be traced to here.
10. If you're blessed to live in a city with a street-grid system, don't take it for granted. Boston/Cambridge's confusingly non-straight windedness has greatly heightened my appreciation for DC's well-ordered, oh-so-logical grid layout.
As for the theological environment of HDS, before I left I assured fellow evangelicals that I doubted I would encounter anything here more radical than the various crazy things I was sent around reporting on for IRD. So far, this prediction has held true.
Also, despite having been here over a hundred days since the start of this semester, the Bible still remains my final authority on matters of doctrine and morals, and I can still recite the Nicene Creed without crossing my fingers behind my back.! :)
This blog largely originated out of my having left four-and-a-half years of employment with the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) to begin a masters program at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and missing the opportunity for the outlet I had had for public writing and commentary.
However, I've found grad school to be WAY too time-consuming to allow for as much blogging as I might like. I honestly don't know how others, like Methoblogosphere titan John the (other) Methodist manage to do it. While I expect future posts to continue to not be all that frequent, I am not completely giving up on the Lomperian Review.
If you would like be notified by e-mail when new posts are added to this blog, please e-mail me with "BLOG SUBSCRIBE" in the Subject line.
I also added an RSS-feed thingy on the side, though I'm still not sure how that is supposed to work.
With all of that being said, I suppose it's time for some more substantial post content.
Life in New England's been going pretty well. But here are a few things that have surprised me.
1. A lot of local people really DO talk with the stereotypical, replace-your-Rs-with-Hs accents. At first I thought they were just joking around, when folk were in fact quite earnest about pahking theih cah in Hahvuhd Yahd.
2. A rather disproportionately high number of women up here have tattoos.
3. Apparently, people in New England (at least the Boston area) have not yet gotten the memo that cars now have this awesome new invention called "blinkers" or "turn signals." This state-of-the-art technology turns on a flashy light that lets other cars know when you're about to change lanes, so that you can give fair warning before SWERVING RIGHT THE FREAK IN FRONT OF THEM!! If any readers know anyone who is now, has ever been, or ever may be a resident of New England, please tell them about this invention to make sure no one gets left out.
4. It's freaking cold up here! As the weeks go on this Southern boy's getting increasingly annoyed at those dang pilgrims for being too lazy to have pointed their ship just a few more degrees to the South.
5. Having lived in Chicago and DC and visited New York several times, the public trains in Boston are hands-down the loudest internally.
6. According to a recent tour, the community surrounding Harvard looks down on the University as a bastion of conservatism, since "only" 70+ % of the students voted Democratic in a recent Presidential election. (the number would be nowhere near that low if you singled out the Div school)
7. It's interesting to see theological liberals as well as theological conservatives around here say that there's not great differences between the numerous Unitarian Universalist congregations around here and so many of the mainline Protestant congregations in the area.
8. Regional reputations notwithstanding, even people here can be quite friendly. Though it's still not okay to say "hi" to people on the street you don't know like it is in other parts of the country.
9. While this region served as a key incubator for such heterodox movements as Unitarianism, Universalism, and Christian science, central seeds of the Holiness movement can also be traced to here.
10. If you're blessed to live in a city with a street-grid system, don't take it for granted. Boston/Cambridge's confusingly non-straight windedness has greatly heightened my appreciation for DC's well-ordered, oh-so-logical grid layout.
As for the theological environment of HDS, before I left I assured fellow evangelicals that I doubted I would encounter anything here more radical than the various crazy things I was sent around reporting on for IRD. So far, this prediction has held true.
Also, despite having been here over a hundred days since the start of this semester, the Bible still remains my final authority on matters of doctrine and morals, and I can still recite the Nicene Creed without crossing my fingers behind my back.! :)
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