Instamatic Theology » web sights

apologetics and the absurd

Paul — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:25:38 +0000

The latest article on the Everything Conference website is an interesting piece on the Theatre of the Absurd, with a tenative embrace of the art-form. Definitely worth a read.

Some of the discussion reminds me of Francis Schaeffer’s approach to apologetics: to talk with people to help them see the logical conclusions of their own worldview. And the difficulty of genuinely living consistently with what they believe. Taking a similar approach via the arts is an interesting idea. Has the potential to be a truly incarnational and compassionate apologetic…

mp3s galore

Paul — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:11:38 +0000

A couple of useful mp3 finds…

I discovered over the weekend that L’Abri have now put an amazing number of their lectures on-line. Think of a topic and there is probably at least on talk that covers it. Well, maybe. The L’Abri Ideas Library is at www.labri-ideas-library.org.

Also, Redemeer in New York have put out a podcast of Tim Keller sermons. They seem to be adding files faster than anyone could possibly listen to them…

everything conference

Paul — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:36:00 +0000

I mentioned newfrontiers up-coming Everything conference a few posts ago. They’ve now added some interesting articles to the conference website. Also, some great images in the gallery. Looking forward to this…

Things I found…

Paul — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:55:00 +0000

Things I discovered just before Christmas…

I’d somehow missed the International Arts Movement’s store. There are a lot of interesting mp3s from their previous conferences, including an interesting interview between James Romaine and Betty Spackman and two great talks by Jeremy Begbie.

Begbie is such a vibrant and creative thinker — a great example of what Christian thinking should be like: fresh, robust and alive. I found his talks at IAM are exhilarating. Here a few snippets to encourage you to listen:

* Artists of the new world specialise in excess. In the resurrection God does not just restore the old order, but a new order, characterised by excess.

* Artists of the new world exhibit the justice of the new world, but this goes beyond balancing wrong with right; it transforms the oppressor with an excess of forgiveness.

* Artists of the new world delight in non-order — ‘defiant jazz’. Like the resurrection and pentecost, the new world shows order and unpredictability. This unpredictability is something different to disorder — it’s playfulness, non-order.

Things wikipedia taught me No. 3045: Francis Schaeffer wrote to encourage Steve Taylor after his first album I Want to Be a Clone. It increasing seems that 99% of the people who influenced me over the years have some connection with L’Abri…

On a different tack, I was really pleased to discover that Newfrontiers are planning a conference on culture, work, etc. next March — Everything. It’s great to see them starting a conversation in this area…

Photographing Rwanda

Paul — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:58:00 +0000

Over on look both ways, Richard Hanson has a great post on his experiences as a photographer at the time of the Rwanda genocide — DR Congo :: Kibumba revisited. I meant to point this out when he first posted it, but never got round to it. Now he has re-posted I get another chance.

What I find really interesting is the lesson he learnt from the experience. After having a hard time taking photos surrouded by this tragedy, he talked with someone who

impressed on me was the point that the only reason I was there was to get the picture back, the story told. There was no point me driving some Landrover around, or trying to help sick people – those weren’t my skills. What I could do was tell the story, and that might make a difference if it made people think and respond.

Sometimes we have to remember what our gifts are and work with those, rather than trying to cover everything, no matter how urgent it might seem.

Have a look at the other posts in his Behind the Page series. There are some great images…

Things I found this week…

Paul — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:13:00 +0000

A couple of interesting links:

I was pleased to see Marilynne Robinson win the Orange prize. The Guardian have a couple of interviews with her — one more literary and one more, well, Calvanist — and an editorial.

Also — I normally get annoyed with blogs that begin “I haven’t read this book, but I wanted to chime in nonetheless”. However, Kyle Strobel at Theology Forum brings an interesting observation to the Wright/Piper discussion of Justification. Turns out that Tom Wright has some support from Jonathan Edwards…

Last night a theologian saved my life…

Paul — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:07:00 +0000

Well, not technically last night, but then the cultural reference would be lost along with the point of this post…

Anyway, today wasn’t the greatest of days, but this mp3 by Jeremy Begbie, on musical pictures for newness, certainly improved things.

Things I found this week…

Paul — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:57:00 +0000

A collection of thought-provoking items found or re-discovered this week.

I had a great time last weekend listening to Jonathan Chaplin talking through a Christian view of politics. You can get some of his articles at the KLICE website. The article Speaking from Faith in Democracy gives a good flavour of where he is coming from.

Empire Remixed has a post by Bob Goudzwaard on the roots of the financial crisis: A Note about the Credit Crunch, Climate Change and Environmental Responsibility

The essence of idolatry is that high expectations, together with fear, combine to narrow your consciousness merely to interaction with your “god”, while at the same time you delegate power and influence to your god, so that you allow it to take the lead. It then forges or inscribes within you patterns of obedience.

Compare this with what has happened in recent years. Financial markets were given control over the real economy. At last, declared the President of the German Federal Bank, politicians have been brought under the control of the financial markets.

Finally, an interesting quote from Craig Detweiler, in an interview with John Morehead

During the Enlightenment era it was important to emphasize truth claims and to be able to argue and defend the faith in a scientific era. But we became wedded to a logical expression of the faith, almost like a “logical seminary” rather than a “theological seminary.” But now that we’re in an artistic age full of metaphors and imagination, we find ourselves behind the times and having to play catch up. So we need a more imaginative, beautiful and creative way to talk about God and interact with film, art, music, literature, etc.

Wim Wenders at Image

Paul — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:32:00 +0000

So once more, sitting in a field and letting the sun shine on me, I ask myself: “Why do I believe in God, Wim?”

“He called me by my name.”

He did. That’s all I can say in the end.

I am thankful for that every day.

Grace.

Most amazing experience of my life.
Wim Wenders

I was pleasantly surprised to see film-maker Wim Wenders as Image Journal’s artist of the month. They also have an article by Wenders entitled Interrogation.

If you are interested, there is also an interview with him at the website of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

in defence of sad songs (2 1/2)

Paul — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:18:00 +0000

OK, if you’ve been around long enough to have read the start of this series of posts, then you probably thought it had finished. But, no… In fact, over the last few days I’ve been meaning to write to get round to writing some more.

While I’m getting my thoughts together, here are two things I found recently on the subject: the first is a talk by artist Makoto Fujimura at the iTunes store; the second a post by Robin Parry on The Charismatic Curse of Happiness (please don’t be put off by the title…). Both these note our lack of resources for expressing lament. Fujimura mentions a comment from Calvin Seerveld to Michael Card after 9/11, ‘we don’t have songs to sing now, because we don’t know how to lament’.

Parry says:

We do not know how to think theologically about sorrow, we do not know how to make space for it in communal worship, we lack the doxological vocabulary to bring the whole of our human experiences before God and so instead we simply bury them.
…
Do we lack the faith and courage of Old Testament saints to lament? To refuse to keep any dimension of our human experience from God but to come before him as we are – in our joy and our pain?