faithasawayoflife

on DISMANTLING an atomic bomb

the follow rant offered free and unsolicited:

why is it that in our sound-bite, sex and violence loving, context and content hating nation, we . . .

well, i've just answered my own question. because we are who we are (weeping, gnashing of teeth) a good many reviews of U2's new album titled how to dismantle an atomic bomb are titled in such a way as to use the bomb image, and not the dismantle image.

a couple examples among VERY many:

U2's 'Bomb' Explodes at No. 1 on US Charts
Reuters - NY,USA

'Bomb' flattens doubts about U2
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

CD Review: U2's Latest Is More Dud Than 'Bomb'
Channel Oklahoma.com - Oklahoma City,OK,USA

U2's 'Bomb' lacks firepower
By DARRYL STERDAN
Winnipeg Sun

what is the issue with this? at the risk of sounding like a grouch, this band has been raising peace issues since day one given the context of ireland's conflicts and particular biographical things such as their school that brought together both Protestants and Catholics. and the album is about dismantling an explosive father - son relationship and as well the whole violent cold war ethos of that generation. and some of the songs 'peace and love or else' are strongly anti-war.

go figure.

anon, and +peace

hauerwas and theology live

tuesday night this week stanley hauerwas was here to help us kick off a process of thinking through our mission at the center for faith & culture.

(stanley, talking with wes avram, professor of communications at yale divinity)

the object of his visit was to kick off our project we've titled 'theology live' in order to capture our intention to learn about how one makes faith matter in all of life and not simply in the divinity school or the congregation. we're not only having theologians--actually specifically not--because we understand that in an important sense all christians are theologians. but among theologians there are few who have engaged broader issues that matter to us all, and from a distinctly christian voice, than stanley hauerwas. my first blush reaction was that i heard (of course) things he'd said before, either in writing or in other lectures. when one has had as long a public career as stanley that should be no surprise. but one thing struck me. he didn't like what we were doing when he came and when he left, he left enthusiastic.

he didn't like what we were doing because he thought it was 'public theology' or some such thing, which he considers a sort of tired grab for power on the part of the church. as if we ought to be trying to say better things on economics than economists or on medicine than doctors, etc. he said he had no idea how to do that well, and didn't want to anyway. but when he found out that our aim is to help christians to be stronger, deeper, more thoughtful christians not only at church, but more importantly (because of its neglect) in the rest of life, he got excited. that's all i've been trying to do, he said. quoting loosely, he said "people accuse me of trying to withdraw. hell, I want people to engage, but i just want them to engage as christians! if that's what you want to do, great. we need more of that."

for posterity, for those of you who know the history, here are a couple of nice pics of stanley talking to george lindbeck after the lecture.

preaching wolves and lambs

i'm thinking of doing a blog on preaching faith as a way of life. i have in mind to just post things from one or another spheres of life (family, work, citizenship, arts/culture are the four umbrella categories we're working with now) that connect with the coming week's lessons. for now, i'll just make some comments here from time to time and i'll try to categorize them. this one is citizenship.

this week the old testament passage is isaiah 11: 1-10, including this famous image: "the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them."

at the moment, i am also reading jean bethke elshtain's book just war on terror where she attributes a quote to martin luther that in this life, anyway, "if the lion lies down with the lamb, the lamb needs to be replaced frequently." she actually can't find the exact reference, but it fits with luther's sense that war is justified exactly because we need to assure the protection of our vulnerable neighbor. see his on whether a soldier, too, can be saved or on temporal authority. here are elshtain's reflections in a pew forum on the issue of just war, including comments by stanley hauerwas. more on him in my next post, since we hosted him here at the center tuesday night this week.

so between these two, we've got some tension going for reflections during advent--it makes me think of bono's words in 'peace on earth' from the album 'all you can't leave behind': 'peace on earth. hear it every christmas time, but hope and history won't rhyme, so what's it worth, this peace on earth.'

well, preachers, that's pretty much the gauntlet we're facing. go to it, and i'll report on what i come up with. i'm preaching at st. pauls, old saybrook, ct.

anon, and +peace