Work has been wild recently, so I stole some time from family colleauges and friends to read Sofi Oksanen’s book, Purge. I have recently felt a prompting by God to learn more about sexual violence, sexual slavery, and sexual abuse. So, you can imagine the shock of my librarians at Enoch Pratt when I walked to…
Category: pathologies of power
In Christ, We are God’s Righteousness #NPBCSetApart
I was reviewing some memory verses and after a brief review of 2 Corinthians 5:17 in context, I came to the following passage at the end: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had…
Orwell’s view of War
War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four The…
El Enamoramientos [The Infatuations]: Javier Marías
The worst thing that can happen to anyone, worse than death itself, and the worst thing one can make others do, is to return from the place from which no one returns, to come back to life at the wrong time, when you are no longer expected, when it’s too late and inappropriate, when the…
Ma Jian–The Dark Road
While returning from a trip to the UK for research, I committed to finishing Ma Jian’s The Dark Road. Not only was this book very, very dark, but it gave voice to faceless men and women whose individual stories we can never hope to know. Let me just say that, God knows their names. He…
Join me in supporting @WorldRelief at the 2012 #BaltimoreMarathon. #standwiththevulnerable
As some of you may know, I am in training for the Baltimore Marathon this year, October 13, 2012. This has been an exciting year, and the marathon will be run one week before we celebrate my son’s first birthday. This is my first 26.2, and I’ll be wearing a WorldRelief jersey and standing with…
Are you two-faced like Hezekiah? Ask God for courage to confront your heart…
While struggling to read through Isaiah before the year ends (don’t think I’ll make it), I have come to one of its historical sections that painfully reminds me of the dissonance in my own heart and life. In Chapters 37-39, we find something in Hezekiah that we see in ourselves all too well: a prideful…
when blessing comes in like a flood
Some folks may recognize the play on Scripture I’m making, but sometimes we have to reflect on God’s love being shed abroad in our life. This morning, I was especially reflecting on the similarities between the glory of God and a waterfall. God’s glory is raw and majestic, full of power, and wonderful to behold….
A ‘Snowball’ of Disinformation [via @SSPPjournal]
Are we becoming poorer? That’s the question that comes to mind after reading an opinion published in SSPP today. This is the first set of economic crises I’m living through as an adult, so I have found these types of pieces (where the irreversible decline of America and the current generation is predicted) perplexing. I…
#53 pathologies of power… and powerlessness??
first off, i apologize in advance for this play on paul farmer’s amazing book‘s title. i just am a little curious and frustrated at the portrayal of africa, latin america, asia and generally what some scholars call “the other world” (although most of the people on the planet live there)… i am amazed at nicholas…