Warp and Woof

Warp and Woof (3.8.2013)

~ Chad Chambers ~ Leave a comment

Prison Reform – As a board member of a prison ministry, I have seen first hand the good, bad, and ugly of America’s prison system. Several articles worth reading – Prison and the Poverty Trap; Incarceration in Fragile Families; Collateral Costs of Incarceration; The Sentencing Project; and Incarceration and Cutting Crime.

 

Scholars and the Church – Krista Dalton writes a personal account of the tension often encountered by scholars in the church. Really enjoyed it especially since it was on my mind this week also.

 

Seminary as a Cemetery – Amanda says maybe it should be.

 

Congrats to Marc Cortez and Nijay Gupta for new jobs. I hope they both keep blogging!

 

Warp and Woof (2.15.2013)

~ Chad Chambers ~ Leave a comment

The week in review…

Open, Generous, Connected – I had not heard of Seth Godin until a few months ago, and I am still not sure exactly what he does? But much of what he writes is applicable to both the church and academia. Interesting to think about his first term in the life of the church and the last in academia.

Conference Papers – I have only given a few papers at conferences so am I no expert, but thought John Goodrich‘s post on what to do when no one asks questions was insightful and humorous. Having experienced the awkward silence at least it is good to know I am not alone.

Academic Writing – Come on let’s join together and scream at academic writing! It is too dense! It is too jargonic (made that word up)! It is too long! Well John Elbow at OUP Blog and Rachael Cayley at Explorations of Style (great blog!) discuss why sometimes there is nothing that can be done because to explain complex, detailed, and sophisticated research can require dense writing. But I think we all agree that doesn’t mean we can quit trying to be better writers!

And if this is the end of the world at least happen quickly because all these people screaming about it drive me crazy!

And to conclude Valentine’s Day is my least favorite holiday. Hopeless romantic I am not.

Warp and Woof (2.8.13)

~ Chad Chambers ~ 2 Comments

Wife is home and blog will return to regular schedule next week. For now, interesting reads from across the world wide web…

Brooks (NYT) on Data – I love to read people’s explanations for what do we know and how do we actually know it. It will be interesting to follow Brooks as he examines how we use data. On another note, just received This Explains Everything in mail this week. Hope to blog about it as I read it.

The Problem with Queer Theology – Michael Bird posted a quote from Oliver O’Donovan on his blog that I thought was brilliant. His reflection on the tension between creation and redemption could open up so many conversations.

Jackson Wu on Contextualizing and Compromising the Gospel – In a article in the latest volume of Global Missiology, Wu argues that settling for the truth compromises the gospel. I have some questions about engaging different perspectives of reading/understanding (for example, reader-response), but thought-provoking essay. He answers some questions about the article on his blog here and here.

Sinners – Tim Gombis writes on one way Paul finds unity between Jews and Gentiles in Romans. By the way, his blog is quickly becoming a favorite: regular posting, insightful posts, and engages with commenters.

Ben Blackwell and I thought I knew you.

Finally, Happy LXX Day. Great day because I don’t have to feel bad about the state of Hebrew. Free to read all I want in Greek!

Warp and Woof (2.1.2013)

~ Chad Chambers ~ Leave a comment

Can’t believe it is already February. The month seem to be a blur with some vacation early in the month and sickness taking up the last half month. Yet, through it all I give you this week’s reads:

Academics and Blogging – This has been relatively steady topic in my feed for sometime. It can be struggle, especially for those still in school or early in their career, to decide for or against blogging. Mainly Macro and Brian Leport offer advice for those struggling with “to be or not to be” a blogger.

Visualizing – This is not a post but a link to the site. It is, “A community of creative people making sense of complex issues through data and design.” Be careful, you may get sucked in and spend way to much time looking around.

Ecclesia and Ethics – An online, real-time conference. It has a great line-up of speakers, including N.T. Wright, Michael Gorman, and Stanley Hauerwas, and will be interesting to see how it works. Change is always scary!

JSPL – Nijay Gupta announces the release of 2.2 of JSPL (nicknamed Galaterfest). As a PhD student working in Galatians…I am both excited and terrified. Anyone else share the fear that your whole dissertation is going to become irrelevant before you can get it finished?

Revelation and Discipleship – Kait Dugan gives a reflection on Bonhoeffer, Ziegler, and discipleship. She writes, “The Christian life is essentially revolutionized to be about discipleship of the Crucified Lord into the depths of this world.”

Finally, Tim Gombis turns his attention to spiritual gifts. While I think Disney has become an easy target, I am constantly amazed by the thoughtfulness and frequency of his posts.

I hope to post one more by Bryan E. Lewis but I have not been able to get his site open in a few days. Will see what happens.

Warp and Woof (1.25.2013)

~ Chad Chambers ~ Leave a comment

The 25th’s version on the 26th. A day late but there was lots of good stuff out there this week.

The Insanity of God – A book of stories about living the Christian in persecution. Several times it made me cry and several times it left me speechless as I had to examine my own life. One quote for good measure,

“Persecution stops immediately where there is no faith and where there is no witness.”

 

Empowered Non-Staff Church Leadership – Ed Stetzer is working through 5 things he has learned from international church planting. The whole series has been informative, but I really appreciated this one (maybe because I am a lay person?). Can find the others by clinking the link.

 

God Without A Face – Ben Blackwell finished a four part review of  God Without a Face?: On the Personal Individuation of the Holy Spirit by Najeed Awad. Worth the read – Pt. 1, 2, 3, 4.

 

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – The Wabash Center Blog just started a series on the first year of teaching. The first one teaching in a “strange” place is good and a series worth following.

 

The Method Chapter – From Patter (hint: just about everything on this site is gold!), comes a way to think about the method chapter. This chapter has been the biggest hurdle of PhD thus far. It is just so foreign to anything else I’ve ever written, so I take all the advice I can get.

 

The Evangelical Mind – Peter Enns says the biggest scandal of the evangelical mind is that we can’t use it. I disagree with him, but a good read none the less.

 

Body Language in Romans – Tim Gombis has started a series on body in Romans. Will be following this, “Body language pops up throughout the letter, and in some very interesting places.  One could even argue that at the subtextual level, Paul narrates the journey of the human body from corruption to transformation.”