Current and Recent Reads

Although I have been trying to be more consistent with this blog over the course of the past few months, I realize that my posts can be somewhat sporadic. Although I now have more time on my hands (view last post if you don't know what I'm talking about), I will say as an excuse that my wife and I still live in the mid-90's, in other words...we use dial-up internet. Which keeps me off the "information superhighway" most days. But I do get on and do one thing all the time: I update the Current and Recent Reads section of this blog.

The CARR is meant to show you what is influencing me currently, to alert loyal blog readers/lurkers (you know who you are!) to books that they might find interesting, and maybe even to generate some discussion. Also, being the total spaz I am, it is there to give a shout-out (told you I'm stuck in the 90's) to some great titles and authors. Lastly, you might notice that there are always at least four books on the list. That's how I read. I love overlapping books and seeing the random interconnections between them. That is also why I read a wide variety of books.

Currently I am slowly moving through Prayer by Han Urs Von Balthasar. It is a profound work of spiritual contemplation by one the biggest Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. Eugene Peterson and Scot McKnight mentioned it at different points in their works, so I figured it was worth a read.

At the same time I continue to slowly press through Gerhard Von Rad's Old Testament Theology. I became interested in this work after realizing how often Walter Brueggemann cited it. It has been intense, but worth the effort (though it will ultimately only cause me to sound even more heretical when pushed on my view of scripture).

I am also reading Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics. I found this book cheap and used, and nabbed it right away. I first read Heidegger in a class I took from Carl Raschke, and realized that I needed to know Heidegger if I was ever going to understand post-modern thinkers. I started into this book as my last Heidegger title before I get into his major work, Being and Time. Yes, I know he was a Nazi. I'm not saying I like the guy, just that I am trying to gain some understanding of what he was saying.

In my spare moments I am also working through Indian Killer, one of Sherman Alexie's least impressive books, but still a worthwhile read. As always, I would say that every PNW resident should read at least one Alexie book. He has shook my world and my understanding of the compexity of dealing with the Other.

Welcome to the Desert of the Real is the first Slavoj Zizek work I have read. I am half-way through and I am amazed by it and very interesting in Zizek's work. Great...another person to read...

Deadeye Dick...is one of two Kurt Vonnegut books I checked-out from the local library. Vonnegut is quite possibly the best author from the second half of the twentieth century. I am working on reading everything he ever wrote. I honestly suggest you being doing the same.

Peace,
Matt

Unemployment

Today is day three of being without a job. The most commonly heard phrase in my house during those past three days: "this is great...we should never work again." I have gone for a long bike ride every day, went for long walks around Bellingham, watched two movies (including Juno, finally, which lived-up to it's praise), read, spent time with my wife and daughter, spent time with friends, rode my skateboard, taken both cars in for long overdue work, and did some bicycle repair as well. I feel as if I let go of the world and regained my soul. It is marvelous. Honestly I am tempted to get a part-time job, sell my house, and choose a life of freedom over work. It is great!

Peace,
Matt

Last Day

Yes, today is officially my last day of work. It is weird. I am trying to finish cleaning out my office, write a truly inspiring final message, and somehow process the strange reality that the last decade of my life is coming to a very definite close, with no idea of what is next. Wow.

Peace,
Matt

Very Little, Very Late

The theological implications of the two cartoons above may or may not be implying something from this blogger...
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In a typically *brilliant* move, W has proposed voluntary emission cuts by big businesses within the next 20 years as the way to really put a stop to global warming. Big business volunteering to do something for the rest of the world. Hmm. I'm sure they'll be all over that, since they are our friends and protectors. Sarcasm never comes out as well on a blog... To be fair, I am tainted, as I have always been anything but a fan of this particular person. In fact, he represents some of the worst things I see in everyday life. Nevertheless, vague goals about some far-off goal are not even worth bringing up in the first place. This is the political version of cheap grace, trying to promote change without sacrifice. Why is it that nobody in our nation wants to sacrifice a darn thing? Why is it that we continue to live within this reality and pretend that it doesn't matter how horrific our decisions and lifestyles really are for future generations? Will somebody please let my daughter know that I tried really hard to fight against the ignorant stupidity of this generation for her sake?
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Peace,
Matt
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P.S. - If there are any of those Christians reading this who think global warming is an Al Gore conspiracy, could you do me a favor and please not even bother leaving a comment? Thanks.

Voltaire Quote

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire

Book Review: The Writing Life

I've been meaning to write this for over a week, but life has been extremely hectic (week long mission trip, quitting my job, and planning a massive 30th birthday extravaganza, among other things). But without further ado, I give you...another book review.

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The Writing Life is typical Dillard. How so? Every line is a gem, but not in an easily definable, cliched way. She does not reduce life's complexity into naive, simplistic answers, and the same can be said for her description of the writing life in particular. The truth is, I am writing this review not because I want to review the book, but so I can convince you to literally read every single book Annie Dillard has ever written. If I had to read only one person's writings for my entire life, it would be hers. She is that good. If you have not read her already, you need to leave your computer right now and buy or check-out one of her books right now. If you have already read her, you know what I'm talking about.

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Here's a couple of my favorite parts of this offering:

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How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing... There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading - that is a good life.

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Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects and our hearts? Can the writer renew our hope for literary forms? Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power? What do we ever know that is higher than that power which, from time to time, seizes our lives, and reveals us startlingly to ourselves as creatures set down here bewildered? Why does death catch us so by surprise, and why love? We still and always want waking. We should amass half dressed in long lines like tribesmen and shake gourds at each other, to wake up; instead we watch television and miss the show... And if we are reading for these things, why would anyone read books with advertising slogans and brand names in them? Why would anyone write such books? Commercial intrusion has overrun and crushed, like the last glaciation, a humane landscape. The new landscape and its climate put metaphysics on the run.

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Peace,

Matt

Book Review: A New Earth

Somebody I know recently loaned me this book and asked me to read it and tell them what I think. So I did. And it turned out to be a very interesting experience that told me more about myself than I expected it to. Here's my thoughts:

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A New Earth is Eckhart Tolle's follow-up to his book The Power of Now. The book has gotten a lot of press and is selling like crazy, thanks in large part to the power of the Oprah cult. But regardless of the how's, this is a book that has to be discussed and understood, because people all over our country are reading it, and I'm sure this includes a fair amount of church attenders.

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A main focus of the book is the ego, and our self-obsession. So far so good. Much of the book focuses on this and for that I am thankful. Tolle is right that we, especially Westerners, are far too self-centered, if not self-obsessed. With a consistent mixture of misinterpretations of both Buddha and Jesus, Tolle tells his reader to let go of self, selfhood, etc. But this is the limit to the letting go for Tolle.

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For Jesus, letting go of self was for the sake of grabbing hold of God and caring for our neighbor. For Tolle, letting go is for the self. In other words, it is still all about oneself and one's spiritual awakening. Tolle's premise is that if everybody does this, the world will be a better place, mankind will reach a new stage in its evolution, and we will enter into a new earth. Sounds nice.

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So the big problems are these:

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1. This is Platonic spirituality, where the forms rule and disembodied spirituality rules over here-and-now, Eugene Peterson types of spirituality. It is pie-in-the-sky, mixing religions, spirituality with no take home and no challenge for real selflessness that causes sacrifice in the here and now. In other words, it has to do with feeling good on the inside without having to neccesarily give up our possessions or our live for our God. It is gnosticism or zen, both of which Tolle even claims are the correct forms of Christianity and Buddhism, whereas the other ways are the results of people who "got it wrong."

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2. This also screams out Nietzsche and his Darwin-inspired notion of the superman. I am no Nietzsche scholar, so I always tread lightly in this area, but the correlations seemed all too obvious. The letting go or twisting of old forms of morality and religion to make way for a highly evolved sort of person who looks a lot like the author. It is self-centered to the highest degree and causes us to see our selves as the highest thing to aspire to in this world.

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3. This is a short-cut religion. That is always the most disturbing thing to me. Whereas real spirituality is slow, quiet, often taking a lifetime, this is basically your five steps to enlightenment (or 1-2-3 sanctification if you like). A person taking this book seriously could come to the end and declare themselves officially enlightened. But they are not. Not in any true sense. I'm sorry, but to be blunt, Oprah is not walking around showing-up the Buddha, Jesus and the Dalai Lama in the department of wisdom and sage-like abilities. Nor is Tolle or any of the Oprah-cult members of our sad nation. Why do we treat religion like we treat our food? Why do we want it our way, right away, without realizing the violence we do to our own faith traditions in the process?

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4. Like I said earlier, this is disembodied spirituality. This is the return of Platonism and its surreal mix with Christianity (not to mention Buddhism). Honestly, what I would love to see at this point is Eugene Peterson writing a short, concise book that brings people into a here-and-now faith that is more faithful to the teachings of Christ. I guess I will just keep my fingers crossed and continue hoping that "the universe will open that path up."

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Peace,

Matt

Matt 3.0

[Imagine The Final Countdown playing right now, with Gob Bluth moonwalking across your computer screen...]

Yes folks, this is my last week working as a youth pastor. Do I have a job lined up for after this week? No. Am I concerned about that? Only occassionally. Am I excited? Yes. Am I sad to be leaving my students? Most definitely.

My plan is this... I am taking 10 whole days off to do whatever I want. I will spend time with my wife and daughter. I will go hiking and cycling. I will read and write. I will pray. I will sleep. I will (hopefully) recover from years of being mega-churched (yes I made a noun into a verb, be impressed).

For the future, I am looking into a job running heavy machinery, which is what I used to do. Honestly, it sounds a lot more rewarding to me right now than working in a church for one more day. Also, my wife and I are looking into the possibility of me going back to school for another Master's degree, this time in English Lit. So just so you know, it is a possibility. But of course, only a fool counts on any of his own plans. I will explore options, take some leaps, and try to trust God with Matt 3.0 (as in, I'm turning 30 and leaving a career on the same day, so I am moving into a new, different life).

But for now I have to try to finish strong. I'll tell you, it is a strange feeling to be leaving. I am trying to tie up loose ends, set volunteers up for success, meet with people one last time and clean out my office. It's a lot! But it is good. Bring on that third decade, I ain't scared!

Peace,
Matt

Book Review: The Corrections

I am new to Jonathan Franzen, having unfortunately not yet read any of his other books. But I will say that The Corrections was an amazing introduction to a new-found favorite author! It is in these pages that Franzen tells the story of the Lambert family, but also the story of modern-day America in so many ways. Franzen deals both seriously and satirically with such issues as sexuality and repression, self-diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, hands-off parenting, and the continual issue of old-world ideals and modern morality. Oh, and there is also my favorite part, where American greed and pathetic understanding of third-world countries is put on display.

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I will just say up-front that I loved this book. I love the way Franzen tells a story, going back and forth through time and characters in a way that brings both to life, similar to David James Duncan's The Brothers K. Also, I love satire, though I am always reminded that most people don't understand satire when it is aimed at them, unless it is even more blatant that Franzen's. Regardless, the mirror he holds up for us to look at is stupendous and timely. At the same time, it was sometimes hard for me to look at the satire in this book, as it adversely effected characters whom I had grown to love despite their perverse and selfish lives.

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All I can say to finish this up is that this is a great book to read for understanding modern-day America, as well as for just getting into a great piece of fiction. Read it and enjoy it!

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Peace,

Matt

Gone for the Week

I am at a camp with my high schoolers this week. There is a chance that I'll get to see my site a couple of times, and a very small chance that I will update it, but most likely I will continue some form of silence for at least 5 more days. This ought to be a fun, but veryveryvery long week.

Peace,
Matt