The Sun is New Each Day

Νέος ἐφ' ἡμέρῃ ἥλιος. Heraclitus

Sailing around the World

Abby Sunderland, 16, is safe and sound, after her attempt to sail solo around the world was derailed by a rough storm in the Indian Ocean.

Holy Columbus.

Chevrolet, Chevy, and Jesus

Join me at creedible.com to discuss implications of religious brands and identity: Chevrolet, Chevy, and Jesus.

Against the Death Penalty

Consider watching this Amnesty International video.

Yes-men

God doesn't want yes-men. Note that he once hired Lucifer to work overtime.

Book Review, invitation to theological thinking

Paul Bloom's New York Times book review of Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons's The Invisible Gorilla And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us calls up several themes worthy of theological reflection.

Our capacity for paying attention is finite. If we're asked to pay attention to one thing, we may very well miss or ignore something else that is quite important. Part of the strategy of prayer is to focus attention on God. Arguably that could lead us to ignore earthly things that are more urgent--and perhaps in terms of demanding our action, more important. It also could be argued that reflecting on God enhances our sensibilities when it comes to other things.

Our memories are quite plastic and prone to distortions in our favor. In the so-called Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:1f) Jesus says:

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

If we pay attention to the flaws of another, our ability to perceive our own flaws is limited. By judging another, we become blind to ourselves.

Applying this insight is controversial and Matthew's structuring of the sayings does not make it any easier. The 'judge not' saying is followed by this 'judgment requiring' bumper sticker.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

**with thanks to Justin Hume for linking to Bloom's review on Facebook.

Cats and Dogs

If dogs are Christian, cats are Hindu. Together, they rain.

See economy go

See economy stop.
See economy go.
See oil go.
See oil go faster.
Stop, oil, stop.
Go, economy, go.**

**with appreciation that See Spot Run did not feature oil and the economy.

Imperfections

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his chance to record a perfect game when MLB umpire Jim Joyce made a bad call. A perfect game for a MLB pitcher--for any pitcher in any league--is a breathtakingly rare accomplishment. We don't often think that the pitcher's perfect game requires that umpires also have perfect games, but here it is in our face.

The imperfection of the one brings imperfection on the others, and sheer individualism cannot account for it. This is as true in hamartiology as it is in baseball. The follow-on story also is quite profound. Apparently Galarraga quickly forgave Joyce, claiming that no one is perfect. Bud Selig refused to overturn the call; the imperfection of the field is part of the game. Good theology and great baseball are the work of imperfect people.

Selig did promise to consider the use of instant replay; I hope we do not go that route.

Aph. 5

New days do not arrive, they are claimed.

Aphs. 2-4

Theological Prescripts plays on (1) prescribe, (2) prescriptions, (3) 'before scripts,' that is, theological sketches and doodles that occur before major scripts are produced.

Theological Prescripts are written in the context described by Carr. They are flashes and do not require sustained attention.

Theological Prescripts cannot be abbreviated TP. Oy vey.

note: clearly my use of the term aphorism is equally vague! Take that.

Nicholas Carr's The Shallows

I'd like to my point my readers to Nicholas Carr's blog. Carr has recently published The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain. I listened to Carr's discussion of the book with NPR's Robert Siegel, host of All Things Considered. I have yet to read the book but most certainly will. His discussion was excellent and provocative.

The book seems to be an expansion of Carr's excellent piece in The Atlantic, entitled "Is Google Making us Stupid?"

Theological Prescripts opines that Carr's topic is religiously significant. If our brains are altered by Internet use, and if such use diminishes our speculative capacity, it also quite likely will diminish (or alter, and perhaps in some ways heighten) our religious capacities. This is an inquiry we should undertake.