Kruse Kronicle

College kids' compliments catch people off guard

Fox News: College kids' compliments catch people off guard

Fun  story. Check out the video.

A Driving Metaphor for Free-Markets

The following is from a lecture given by economic educator Paul Heyne at Montana State University in 1982. (Chapter3, “Income and Ethics in the Market System,” in “Are Economists Basically Immoral?” and Other Essays on Economics, Ethics, and Religion by Paul Heyne.) It offers a fascinating metaphor for the free-market economy.

Radical Individualism

It’s [the traffic system] a radically individualist system, to begin with. Drivers sit in their own vehicles, cut off from any communication with the other drivers who surround them, pass them, meet them, and cross their path. There are citizens-band radios, of course, but it’s my impression that drivers use them to communicate with people who aren’t close by and whom they don’t expect to encounter. I’ve seen no evidence that drivers use citizens-band radios to work out problems of potential conflict on the freeways during the rush hour, or generally while driving in urban areas.

On the contrary, drivers formulate their plans quite independently, with no knowledge of the plans that have been or will be made by others whom they’re going to encounter. Each of us decides what time to leave for work and what route to take, and we do so without even consulting anyone else. The choice of both ends and means s made by individual drivers who characteristically don’t have the slightest inkling of what others are going to do. There is currently no grand plan, no overarching design constructed by the Department of Commuting to make sure that you and I aren’t planning to occupy the identical road space at the same time. (The urban traffic system, in short, is not like the air traffic control system.)

Individualism, Selfishness and Concentration

Now one could correctly say of this system, as Adam Smith said about investors in his day: Each person intends only his own gain. But is that selfish? Is it selfish of me, while driving, to focus exclusively on getting to my chosen destination as quickly as is consistent with my person well-being? Is it selfish of me to ignore completely, not even to think about, the welfare of other drivers? If in fact I start to wonder where other drivers are going and whether their missions might be more urgent than mine, I’m beginning to daydream, and I become to that extent a greater menace not only to my own welfare but also to the welfare of other drivers in my immediate environment. An important insight emerges from this: Responsible, ethical behavior will often require an exclusive preoccupation with the technical task at hand. Driving in traffic is an example that we will all concede. So is the act of performing surgical operations; surgeons don’t operate on close friends or relatives, because the personal relationship could easily introduce considerations irrelevant to the task at hand and inimical to success.

Might this also be true of most activity in the market? We’ll return to that question.

Morality or Muddle?

Meanwhile, let’s note in the traffic situation what harm is likely to be done by people who decide to insert “morality” into their decisions. What will a driver accomplish if he refrains from advancing when the light turns green, perhaps because he's running early and suspects that some in the cross-traffic are running late ? He will almost certainly not persuade the cross-traffic to go on red; he will delay people behind him, who could well be on much more urgent missions than his own; and he will increase the likelihood of an accident by introducing substantial new uncertainties into the calculations of drivers who are observing and trying to anticipate his erratic behavior. And, of course, if everyone decided to be “unselfish” in this manner, traffic would come to a halt, as drivers regularly got out of their vehicles to discuss the relative urgency of their current goals and to insist that the welfare of others be advanced before their own.

Is this also generally true of ordinary market activity, that it would come to a halt, at enormous cost to all participants, if they were all to act consistently on the principle of advancing the welfare of the most needy or the most worthy – rather than focusing on the accomplishment of their own personal goals? To that question, too, we’ll want to return.

The Rules of the Game

I have not mentioned a very important aspect of traffic systems: They are not systems of complete anarchy. There are definite rules of the game that must be obeyed by participants if the system is to work. Drive to the right, stop for red lights, stay close to the legal speed limit, and, above all, do not touch the cars around you. We even have rules for suspending the rules. Everyone stops and yields to vehicles with sirens and flashing lights, and uniformed police officers may trump all the rules. (32-34)

Heyne goes on to point out that some rules are somewhat arbitrary (driving on the right) but necessary for clarity and stability … so people can react and cooperate with the actions of others. Then he writes:

Parallel Definitions

Let me now try to summarize in one sentence the social system for moving traffic with which we are all familiar. It is a system in which individuals pursue their own interests on the basis of the situation they perceive, obeying a few clear and stable rules of the game.

And let me follow that up with an equally brief definition of capitalism, or a free-market economy. It is also a social system in which individuals pursue their own interests on the basis of the situation they perceive, obeying a few clear and stable rules of the game.  (35)

No metaphor is perfect. Pushed too far they will fall apart. Yet one of the things I thought about when reading this is that the traffic system works great … as long as you have a car. What about those who are without cars? It is true that capitalism is a rising tide that lifts all boats … but only those who have boats get lifted. What if you don’t have the resources (human, financial, or otherwise) to participate? That doesn’t mean you fault the system because some aren’t in it, but if we are talking about justice for all, a simple expansion of capitalism and free-markets won’t help everyone.

Communists Lose in Moldova Vote

New York Times: Communists Lose in Moldova Vote

CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldova’s pro-Western opposition parties appear to have unseated Europe’s last governing Communist Party in repeat parliamentary elections that have become a test of whether this impoverished former Soviet republic will lean toward the West or Russia.

With most votes counted from Wednesday’s elections, the Communists seem to have lost the majority they held for eight years in Parliament, winning about 45 percent of the vote, the Central Elections Commission said.

A smattering of opposition parties, loosely united in their pledge to forge stronger ties with the European Union, have vowed to form a coalition, which would give them a majority of 53 seats in the 101-seat Parliament. But any coalition would be fragile, analysts said, and potentially hindered by a sizable Communist minority that is still likely to be led by Moldova’s departing president, Vladimir Voronin.

“It is difficult to predict how the future will play out,” said Oazu Nantoi, the deputy chairman of the Democratic Party. “But the first step has been taken: Voronin’s monopoly on power has been broken.” ...

...Moldova, with four million people, is Europe’s poorest country. Unemployment is high, and the country is heavily dependent on remittances from Moldovans working abroad. It lies between Ukraine and Romania, a European Union member with which it shares a common language and culture. Romania also provides a steady tug to the West, particularly for Moldova’s youth. ...

Tax Burden of Top 1% Now Exceeds That of Bottom 95%

Tax Foundation: Tax Burden of Top 1% Now Exceeds That of Bottom 95%

Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the "rich" are not paying their fair share of taxes and disproportionately benefited from the Bush tax cuts.

Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8 percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act.

Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined. In 2007, the bottom 95 percent paid 39.4 percent of the income tax burden. This is down from the 58 percent of the total income tax burden they paid twenty years ago.

To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.

Some in Washington say the tax system is still not progressive enough. However, the recent IRS data bolsters the findings of an OECD study released last year showing that the U.S.—not France or Sweden—has the most progressive income tax system among OECD nations. We rely more heavily on the top 10 percent of taxpayers than does any nation and our poor people have the lowest tax burden of those in any nation.

We are definitely overdue for some honesty in the debate over the progressivity of the nation's tax burden before lawmakers enact any new taxes to pay for expanded health care.

It is common to hear people talk about the divide between the rich and the poor. In fact the divide has been between the top 1% and everyone else. Adjusting for inflation, changes in household size, and non-cash compensation, all quintiles of the population have seen significant growth in their income over the last thirty years. But the top 1% has risen much faster. It is unclear exactly why but the most convincing argument I've seen is that technological innovation disproportionately benefits those whose wealth is invested in the markets. It is unclear to me that the income of  the top 1% rose enough to justify this graph but it has to be factored in.

This post does correctly point out that the Bush tax cuts made the system more progressive not less so. See my post from last year Taxing Questions.

Red all over: Mapping the global recession

The Economist: Red all over: Mapping the global recession

Jobless Claims (4-Wk. Avg.) Fall to 6-Month Low

Carpe Diem: Jobless Claims (4-Wk. Avg.) Fall to 6-Month Low

Grace in the streets

Presbyterian News Service: Grace in the streets

STATESVILLE, NC — Sometimes we are shocked when we get a good dose of reality, when we see what is really happening around us and realize it’s not what we thought it was at all.

This was the case for North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

In 2003, Atlanta was identified by the FBI as one of 14 U.S. cities with the highest rates of children being used for prostitutes. Mayor Shirley Franklin was surprised, and ordered a deeper investigation into the problem. The 2005 mayor’s report issued as a result identified the corner of North Avenue and Peachtree Street as one of the three in the city that was particularly problematic.

That’s the corner that had been home to North Avenue since 1898.

The Rev. Scott Weimer, the pastor of North Avenue, was also quite surprised and disturbed when he saw this news on the front page of the city paper.

“We never saw it,” Weimer said. “It was hidden in plain view. It goes on, but we didn’t look for it so we didn’t even see it.”

The designation was enough of a concern that Weimer felt compelled to talk about it with the members of his church. It was a delicate subject, but risk-taking mission and service is one of the core values of North Avenue, so he decided to bring it up in a sermon one Sunday. ...

What should have happened in Gates confrontation?

Christian Science Monitor: What should have happened in Gates confrontation?

Police experts say Gates probably overreacted. But Sergeant Crowley appeared to let the situation spiral out of control, they add.

Every day across America, police officers investigate murders, defuse domestic squabbles, and arrest dope dealers.

But training is just as important when officers come across a "real American" who is combative and refuses to defer to police authority – even if the alleged offense is relatively minor.

The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent Harvard scholar, has brought the issue of race and policing literally from the heights of academic inquiry to a dramatic faceoff between a blue-collar Boston-area cop and one of the ivory tower's most recognizable black scholars.

But perhaps one of the core underlying issues in the incident is one of policing: Officers walk a thin line between staying safe and adhering to the Constitution – and straying over that line can have consequences, especially when it involves the black community. ...

... In his view of the Gates case, which he has studied closely, Mr. Stamper suggests that Gates overreacted. But Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley also made a basic mistake: By becoming distracted by Gates's criticisms and protestations, some of which invoked race, his warnings to Gates to calm down fell short of their mark. And as other police officers arrived, Stamper reasons that it became more difficult for Crowley to back down in front of his peers.

"As soon as you give a warning twice, your authority is shot," Stamper says. "Then, you've approached this thing in precisely the opposite way of how you should have approached it."

The best practice, Stamper says, is called "verbal judo" – and it's an art of its own. ...

A few years ago my sister was doing seminars using a book called Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion. It is written by a former English professor and black belt Karate master who became a police officer. He writes how he had to learn about gaining compliance with his authority without resorting to physical force. In Karate, you meet force with force. In Judo, you use the opponents momentum to get them where you want them to go ... thus the metaphor. It isn't just about police but parenting or being in any position of authority. I've been thinking about this book every since this story broke. How interesting to see it explicitly referenced.

Obama Faces Carter Parallels

Middle East Online: Obama Faces Carter Parallels

Already, pro-Likud elements in the Israeli media have been riling up the population for a prolonged battle with Obama – and some of that anti-Obama animosity is spilling over into the American press as well, notes Robert Parry.

After six months in office, Barack Obama’s presidency reveals striking parallels not only to Bill Clinton’s troubled first term, but to Jimmy Carter’s only term. And, how those dangers are reappearing show that the Democrats and American progressives have learned little over the past 30 years.

Many analysts already have noted the eerie similarities between Obama’s troubles and Clinton’s political woes 16 years ago. In both cases, the Democratic presidents started off by rebuffing calls for serious investigations of abuses committed by their Republican predecessors.

However, instead of showing reciprocity, the Republicans went on the offensive ginning up “scandals” and challenging the legitimacy of the two Democrats, for instance, by spreading rumors linking Clinton to “mysterious deaths” and by winking at slurs about Obama not being born in the United States.

Republicans also voted solidly against major policy initiatives advanced by Clinton and Obama. Faced with that unified GOP resistance, the Democratic majorities started to splinter, especially over the key issue of health-care reform which became Clinton’s first-term “Waterloo” much as Republicans hope it will be for Obama.

Yet, arguably, the parallels to Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency may be even more on point. Unlike Clinton whose reckless sexual behavior fueled the Republican campaigns against him, Carter and Obama are viewed as men of personal discipline and morality.

Carter and Obama – unlike Clinton – also showed a readiness to pressure Israel into making important concessions for peace in the Middle East. That interest in playing the “honest broker” contributed to Carter’s undoing and now might do the same for Obama. ...

Online pastoral inspiration increasing: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's sermons?

Cleveland.com: Online pastoral inspiration increasing: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's sermons?

MINNEAPOLIS -- Ministers moving to a new church have a long tradition of dusting off some of their favorite homilies from the past. But in these electronic days, that's just where the recycling begins.

Clergy who run short of time or inspiration can turn to a plethora of Web sites offering ideas, outlines and, if necessary, entire sermons that can be downloaded in a ready-to-read-Sunday-morning format.

Users can search for sermons based on denomination (Assembly of God to Wesleyan), event (marriage or funeral), topic, Bible passage or even a particular day (from Yom Kippur to Mother's Day). SermonSearch.com has more than 100,000 subscribers paying $21.95 a month to search and download from its library of 20,000-plus sermons.

We know what you're thinking: Isn't this plagiarism?

The arrival of downloadable sermons throws religious leaders into the debate that has bedeviled college campuses since the first term paper went online. But where taking a term paper is clearly cheating, the sharing of sermons apparently isn't. Some preachers see it as a compliment. Even seminaries have a love-hate relationship with it. ...

India's new antipoverty measure: national ID card

Christian Science Monitor: India's new antipoverty measure: national ID card

The card's introduction, one of the largest IT projects in the world, will eliminate a patchwork of local IDs and is meant to improve the delivery of social services to the poor.

New Delhi - Rasmu is happy she moved to New Delhi, where she and her five small children live in a tarpaulin-and-cardboard shack. Back home in rural Madhya Pradesh, central India, she was unemployed; in the Indian capital she has become a road-builder, earning 2,500 rupees ($52) a month.

Besides her parents, there is one thing she misses, however, from home: the cut-price rice, wheat, and oil she was entitled to there. Like millions of migrants to India's cities, Rasmu has found her identification documents mean nothing outside her native state. The Below Poverty Line (BPL) card that once helped her children eat is now just a scrap of paper.

It is cases like this that have led India's government to introduce an ambitious new project: a new national identity card that will be issued to every one of the billion-plus population.

Unlike India's other innumerable forms of ID – from birth certificates to tax codes – the new card will be recognized everywhere in the country. It will feature biometric details that will quickly enable identity checks. It will link to a vast database, accessible by numerous government agencies. And its introduction will constitute one of the world's biggest IT projects.

Unlike most government initiatives designed to tackle poverty, the ID card scheme has won near universal approval.

"This is long overdue and much, much, much needed to improve the delivery of public services, something we have been particularly deficient at," says Surjit Bhalla, an economist. ...

 

Does this Qualify as a Liturgical Wedding Dance?

HT (Brad Wright)

Foursquare: Why It May Be the Next Twitter

Mashable: Foursquare: Why It May Be the Next Twitter

When we first wrote about Foursquare back in March it had just hit the web scene at SXSW and was taking the social media community by storm. We instantly saw the potential of a location-based service based on your Twitter network with an added layer of social gameplay.

Now we’re starting to see the app get adopted by more and more of our friends, finding traction in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, and several other hyperlocal metro hubs. These breeding grounds of Foursquare activity are creating quite a frenzy, and we thought it appropriate to take a step back and survey the surrounding location-based social networking space as it applies to mobile apps, look forward to the future, and break down the beauty of Foursquare.

While no service is likely to achieve the same scale as Twitter in the coming months, Foursquare has all the right ingredients to be one of this year’s big hits. ...

"The Lost World of Genesis One" - Book Review

What to make of Genesis 1? I’ve never considered the chapter to be a straightforward historical account of creation. To the degree that the passage is about historical events, it had to be an accommodation to a pre-scientific culture … as evidenced by passages like verses 6-8. But maybe the passage … taking into the cultural accommodation … still concords with what we know about the scientific record. The general sequence of events is remarkably similar to the order in which scientist understand the world to have developed. This concordist view has been persistently championed by Hugh Ross and Reasons to Believe. I’ve read several of his books and find much of his analysis intriguing, but several aspects of his theories are just too big of a stretch. Then, of course, it is entirely possible that the passage doesn’t have correspondence with historical events. It is a literary device to communicate some basic theological truths about origins but little more (i.e., Framework Hypothesis). This is probably the most commonly held view by many within my Mainline PCUSA world. This has always seemed a real possibility to me but I haven’t been able to shake the sense that there was something more going on with this passage than the crafting of great literature. In short, I’ve never been able to find a key that satisfactorily makes sense of the Genesis 1 … until now.

I’ve just finished reading John H. Walton’s The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Walton is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and an expert in ancient Near Eastern (ANE) culture (a topic I’ve been trying to better acquaint myself with in recent years.) Walton points out that there was no distinction between “natural” and “supernatural” in the ANE. The cosmos was run by the gods and not natural laws. This is significant for ontology … the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of being. Walton proposes that post-Enlightenment folks like us are heavily disposed to think in terms of “material ontology” while the ancients thought in terms of “functional ontology.”

Walton asks to consider a chair. We examine its physical properties to ascertain whether or not it is indeed a chair. This is material ontology. But what do we mean when we say a corporation exists?

Does a company exist when it has filed the appropriate papers of incorporation? Does it exist when it has a building or website? In some sense the answer to these would have to be yes. But many would prefer to speak of a company as existing when it is doing business.  (23)

The corporation is understood to “exist” only when at exhibits its function. This is functional ontology.

Walton turns to the phrase tohu wabohu in 1:2 (“fromless and empty” in NRSV). The central point here is not that the earth was barren. The issue is that it served no function. Days one through three describe the establishment of functions and days four through six describe the installment of functionaries. The functions relate to the three basic needs of humanity: Time, weather, and food.

• Day 1: Time Measurement (light and darkness)
• Day2:  Weather (expanse between waters above and below)
• Day3:  Food (formation of land with vegetation)
• Day 4: Celestial bodies function to mark off days, seasons, and years.
• Day 5: Sky and water creatures are told to be fruitful and multiple … their function is to fill the environments for which they’ve been created.
• Day 6: Various creatures are “produced by the land” that (like the plants on day 3) reproduce according their kind … new generations emerge as a function of the previous generations.

Of course the climax of day six is the creation of humanity … God’s supreme functionary with the most important function. Humanity is to exercise dominion over all that God has created. Walton challenges the notion that the repeated phrase “it was good” had to with an assessment of aesthetic beauty. Rather the text is referring the fact that these things served their function, namely to serve humanity, who in turn serves God. But there is more.

Walton notes that in the ANE creation stories the climactic end was when the gods built their temples and “rested.” Rest was not in the sense of becoming idle and taking a siesta. Rather rest meant ceasing extraordinary labor and settling into the natural peaceful ongoing rhythms of life. So here is Walton’s revelation. Creation is God’s temple:

“’Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things so they came into being?’ Declares the Lord.” (Is. 66:1-2a)

On the seventh day God “rests” from his work and resides within his temple … the earth … with his co-regent human functionaries exercising dominion over all that God has made. The Genesis 1 story is not an account of the how various material items came into existence but rather an account of the inauguration of God’s temple. Walton calls his understating the cosmic temple inauguration view.

The interpretive problem for us is that we are deeply immersed in the post-Enlightenment fixation on material origins. It is not that the ancients would be incapable of thinking about material origins but they would undoubtedly have been perplexed with the question. What useful purpose would such knowledge serve? The issue is what function things serve and who established their functions?

In light of this, both young earth creationism and concordists theories are way off the mark because both presume the text is talking about material ontology. The Framework Hypothesis may get a little closer to the mark but even here there is an assumption that the text is poetically dealing with material origins. The richness of understanding is severely restricted. 

Peter Inns sums up our problem well in a recent post at his blog:

If I may continue a rather reductionistic analysis (which is not accurate on the level of historical analysis, but is alive and well, nonetheless—indeed, perpetuated—in some popular circles): liberals looked at our developing knowledge of the ancient world of the Bible and said “A ha, I told you. The Bible is nothing special. Israelite religion is just like any other ancient faith. You conservatives need to get over yourselves.” The fundamentalist response was (fingers firmly planted in ears) “La la la la la la, I do not hear you. There may be a millimeter of insight in some of what you are saying, but if what you are saying is true, our theology—which is the sure truth of Scripture, handed down through the ages—is false, and that is unthinkable.”

Battle lines were drawn rather than theological and hermeneutical principles reassessed. ...

Walton has given us a careful reassessment looking at the text through ancient Near Eastern eyes. I’ve given you a only cursory overview. The book is laid out in a series of eighteen propositions which build his cosmic temple inauguration view.  The book is written for non-specialist and is fairly short. I read it in afternoon. It is without a doubt the most helpful book I’ve read on the topic.

Scot McKnight is starting a discussion of the book in a series of posts beginning this week (I believe) at his Jesus Creed blog. I highly recommend you get a copy and join the conversation.

Twitter During Denominational Board Meetings?

Last March we had the spring board meeting of the General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (The Kronicler is vice-chair of this body. During plenary, there are forty members, about fifteen corresponding members, and a few dozen staff, press, and other observers ... easily more than 100 people in the room.) Twitter entered the mix for the first time at this meeting.

There were at least five board members twittering during plenary including yours truly (though I mostly read tweets without sending much) and our esteemed moderator (Twitter extraordinaire) Bruce Reyes-Chow. There were a few staff people in the mix as well as others who weren't  at the meeting. Tweets appeared every few minutes ... not every few seconds.

At one point, I chaired a portion of the meeting that went into closed session. At the beginning of that time I reminded folks that what was being discussed was confidential and reminded them that they should not cellphone, text, email, tweet, or carriet pigeon the contents of this meeting to others outside the meeting. Whether everyone agreed that that they needed to cease communications or tweeting altogether, I do think most appreciated the need to be confidnetial.

I know some members of the GAMC object to the idea Twittering at all during a GAMC meeting. The feeling is that people, board members in particular, should be giving their undivided attention to the proceedings. Yet others percieve this as an opportunity for outsiders to the meeting to participate with the event ... it both informs and includes others in the work of the church. I've heard other reasons pro and con.

So here is my question to you: Should people, espeically board members, twitter during the meetnig of a deliberative body? Why or why not?

Intern program helps revive historic square

Kansas City Star: Intern program helps revive historic square

Ray James, a Graceland University student from Chicago, says some of his friends “are doing grunt work” in their summer internships.

He, on the other hand, has helped open and run a business.

“This is real hands-on, the opportunity of a lifetime,” said James, who with 11 other Graceland students is reviving several businesses in Independence.

Collin Isham, an economics major from Overland Park, said, “This program is the buzz around campus, especially among business majors.”

Credit goes to Ken McClain, who, with his wife, Cindy, has opened or reopened 12 businesses around the historic Independence Square.

McClain is an Independence lawyer who also serves as chairman of the Graceland board. Three years ago, he decided to finance summer internships for Graceland students.

It’s a competitive program. Applicants have to be recommended by their professors. Once selected, the winners receive a $5,000 stipend, room and board and an opportunity to earn more through a bonus system, all courtesy of the McClains.

“We get bright, enthusiastic people who work hard and come up with a bank of ideas and projects for our year-round employees to put in place,” said McClain, “things we might not have come up with because on our own we’re all too busy taking care of the daily business.” ...

The Evils of Twitter and Facebook

Collide: The Evils of Twitter and Facebook (HT: Sivin Kit)

Interacting online is bad, bad, bad. It is impersonal, and you only do it because you are shallow and like to avoid real life-to-life interaction.

In fact, in the past two months I’ve heard this at least a dozen times from conference speakers and pastors, or I’ve read it in books, magazines or blog posts. It seems to be a belief people are increasingly adopting.

During a conference I attended recently, we were strongly encouraged in the opening session to lay aside blogging, texting, and tweeting during the two-day experience. “Just be in the moment—don’t let yourself get distracted,” the moderator challenged. The advice was evidently ignored because when we came back that night no one was allowed in the auditorium with their electronics. Happy helpers took our phones from us at the door. ...

... Obviously, sending an email does not replace sitting with someone in a time of crisis. And being their friend on Facebook does not have the same level of intimacy as physically picking them up out of the gutter.

But these are straw man arguments made by people who are either afraid of the medium, don’t understand it, have seen people abuse it, or are just ignorant of the value. Whatever the reason, when I hear it I get a little embarrassed for the speaker or writer. It’s like watching someone early last century arguing against people who used cars to travel from place to place. “People who drive are trying to avoid the face-to-face interac¬tion you get from walking down the sidewalk and stopping to chat with the neighbors sitting on their front porch. Do you want to get places faster at the expense of spending time with people?”

If you heard that, you might pull the speaker aside and tell him, “Embrace reality. Don’t be so afraid of change.”

I’ve never heard anyone claim that social networking should replace life-on-life relationships. Quite the opposite—the time I spend in online communities enhances my real-life relationships. ...

Pastoring the Working Flock

I just finished reading Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard. The last chapter is called Pastors as Teachers to the Nations. He builds the case that the Great Commission is first to Judea and then others are sent elsewhere … but the first “mission field” is our own homes and communities. Pastors are to be the ones that help us develop of knowledge of Christ in the fullest sense of “knowledge.” In doing so, they become the teachers to the nations.

Below are some excerpts from the last four pages of the book. Regular readers of the Kruse Kroncile will quickly understand why I highlight them.

One final point about pastors as teachers of the “nations.” Pastors are sent to make disciples of Jesus, apprentices to Jesus in kingdom living. Life is primarily devoted to work. All legitimate work is devoted to work. All legitimate work is devoted to the creation of value, of what is good to a lesser or greater degree. … Discipleship to Jesus, properly guided by pastors, enables individuals to find in their work a divine calling and see the hand of God in their efforts to create what is good and to serve others in love. (208)

Therefore the focus of discipleship to Christ is not the church, but the world. If it is focused on the church, it will stagnate and leave most people at dead end, for their life is not the church. Discipleship is for the sake of the world, not for the sake of the church. It is carried out in those situations where people spend their life. Above all, the “world” is work, the realm of creativity for which human beings were created according  to Genesis 1:26. Unfortunately, “discipleship” as Christian groups now teach and practice it, where they do so at all, consists mainly of “special” activities of various kinds, religiously characterized, motivated, and organized. But we recall Peter Berger’s lifesaving words: “The revelation of God in Jesus Christ … is something very different from religion.” In concerns our work in life. It is this that God redeems, and with it our life, and with it our souls. (209)

The next to last paragraph in the book …

“Pastors,” then, are the ones who guide disciples into their place in their world and show them how to “exercise dominion in life through the one man, Christ Jesus” (Rom. 5:17). Real life, “ordinary” life, is the place of disciples and the place of discipleship. There disciples “reign” in the office, laboratory, farm, the schoolroom as well as in media, sports, the fine arts, and so forth. They reign for what is good in the home, the community, and in international organizations and relations. They effectively care for the goods of human life that come under their care and influence. “The fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Eph. 5:9). Special “church” activities involve the fellowship of disciples in worship, teaching, learning, and caring for one another. Those activities constitute a school of love. But all of that is for the creative life of individuals in their world and their work. There they will form and exercise the character that they will carry forward in eternity. “Divine service” is not a church service, though it might include that. Divine service is life. It is in the world, in daily business of whatever level and importance, that there unfolds, in Paula Houston’s wonderful phrase, “the great adventure that was once Christianity.” It can be so for everyone one of us. (211)

The sad reality is that while people in the “helping professions” (ex. nurses, teachers, social workers) are sometimes lifted up in church, the vast majority of business people (like managers, business owners, accountants, sales workers, etc.) report never having heard a sermon that speaks of the work they do as service to Christ. Those who that report that they have heard sermons affirm their work report that the affirmation is usually backhanded … as in the idea that God has placed them there so they can work against greed or exploitation of workers. Or maybe their work is useful because it provides resources to fund the church’s programming and facilities.

Most business people know that to some degree they are additives, not detractors, to societal well-being. They transform matter, energy, and data from less useful states to more useful states. They generate income for others. They organize human systems where people cooperate and compete to produce goods for endless win-win transactions in the marketplace. Many sense that their work has intrinsic value … that it is somehow deeply expressive of who they are at their core. Unfortunately, based on what they hear at church, God does not agree.

East Africa gets high-speed web

BBC: East Africa gets high-speed web

The first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa has gone live.

The fibre-optic cable, operated by African-owned firm Seacom, connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia.

The firm says the cable will help to boost the prospects of the region's industry and commerce.

The cable - which is 17,000km long - took two years to lay and cost more than $650m.

Seacom said in a statement the launch of the cable marked the "dawn of a new era for communications" between Africa and the rest of the world. ...

Didn't we try that in 1938? Why technical poverty fixes fall short

Aid Watch (William Easterly): Didn't we try that in 1938? Why technical poverty fixes fall short

... (A longer version of this table and the citations for the quotes appear in my recent article “Can the West Save Africa?” in the Journal of Economic Literature.) [See page 31 in the report.]

Enthusiasts for technology fixes for poverty concentrate almost exclusively on the science and the technical design -- this is a characteristic fault of poverty solvers from Silicon Valley, the Gates Foundation, doctors, and natural scientists.

All of the above seem to forget that technology does not implement itself. Technical knowledge needs people to implement it – people who have the right incentives to solve all of the glitches and unexpected problems that happen when you apply a new technology, people who make sure that all the right inputs get to the right places at the right time, and local people who are motivated to use the new technology. The field that addresses all these incentives is called economics.

Nightmare on Ware Street

The Reality-Based Community: Nightmare on Ware Street

A couple of years ago, my neighbor locked herself out and figured she could save the locksmith charge if she could get to an unlocked door on her second floor porch. A Cambridge police officer happened by and helped us carry an extension ladder across the street from my garage. He even held the ladder steady while my nimble neighbor ascended to the porch. The police officer never asked two laughing Caucasian women to prove we were not burglars.

We all know that race and sex explain the difference in the way Sgt. James Crowley treated Professor Gates, but I'd like to leave that to the side for now. The incendiary issue of race in policing diverts public attention from examining the foundation of Crowley's misconduct. When addressing basic errors in law and fact can solve a problem, we should start there before tackling the enormous and slippery issues of race and crime investigation. We're all talking about whether Lucia Whalen should have called the police and whether race was a factor in Sgt. Crowley's deplorable treatment of Gates, but so far, I have seen no straightforward analysis of Crowley's own account of his actions.

Sgt. Crowley's report almost certainly contains intentional falsehoods, but even accepting his account at face value, the report tells us all we need to conclude that Crowley was in the wrong here, and by a large factor.  ...

Scripture and the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy

A Time to Tear Down, A Time to Build Up (Peter Enns): Final Response to Bruce Waltke’s Critiques of I&I  (HT: David Opderbeck)

Enns' book Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament is a great read. The following quote is from his blog:

...I have said this on other occasions and it bears repeating: the tensions in conservative American Christianity that began in earnest in the 19th century were not so much “caused” by higher-critical scholarship, but by the clash of some very legitimate newer insights into the Bible (e.g., pentateuchal authorship, the ANE background to Genesis, etc., etc., etc.) with older theological paradigms that were not suited to address these newer insights. I understand that the matter is a bit more complicated than I lay out here, but the general contours are clear to me. The resulting liberal/fundamentalist divide was perhaps an inevitable perfect storm, but neither option does justice to the rich possibilities before us.

If I may continue a rather reductionistic analysis (which is not accurate on the level of historical analysis, but is alive and well, nonetheless—indeed, perpetuated—in some popular circles): liberals looked at our developing knowledge of the ancient world of the Bible and said “A ha, I told you. The Bible is nothing special. Israelite religion is just like any other ancient faith. You conservatives need to get over yourselves.” The fundamentalist response was (fingers firmly planted in ears) “La la la la la la, I do not hear you. There may be a millimeter of insight in some of what you are saying, but if what you are saying is true, our theology—which is the sure truth of Scripture, handed down through the ages—is false, and that is unthinkable.”

Battle lines were drawn rather than theological and hermeneutical principles reassessed. ...

What Story Do We Live In?

I recently went back and read N. T. Wright’s The New Testament and the People of God. Wright maintains that the Christian “story” responds to four questions.

(1) Who are we? We are humans, made in the image of the creator, we have responsibilities that come with this status. We are not fundamentally determined by race, gender, social class, geographical location; nor are we simply pawns in a determinist game.

(2) Where are we? We are in good and beautiful, though transient, world, the creation of the god in whose image we are made. We are not in an alien world, as the Gnostic imagines; nor in a cosmos to which we owe allegiance as to a god, as the pantheist would suggest.
 
(3) What is wrong? Humanity has rebelled against the creator. This rebellion reflects a cosmic dislocation between the creator and the creation, and the word is consequently out of tune with its created intention. A Christian worldview rejects dualisms which associate evil with createdness or physicality ; equally, it rejects monisms that analyse evil simply in terms of some humans not being fully in tune with their environment. Its analysis of evil is more subtle and far-reaching. It likewise rejects as the whole truth all partial analyses, such as those of Marx or Freud, which elevate half-truths to the status of the whole truth.

(4) What is the solution? The creator has acted, is acting, and will act within his creation to deal with the weight of evil set up by human rebellion, and to bring this world to the end for which it was made, namely that it should resonate fully with his own presence and glory. This action, of course, is focused upon Jesus and the spirit of the creator. We reject, that is, solutions to the human plight which only address one part of the problem. (132-133)

Later Wright shows how the answers to these questions evolved over the course of biblical history.

But here is question I have for you: What story are we living into today? Based on what you see in North American culture, what are the implicit answers we presume for these questions? (If you are from outside North America do you see another story?) You don’t need to give a full-blown answer for each question but do you have thoughts about any of them?

The End of .99 Pricing

Victor Claar's Economics Blog: The End of .99 Pricing

Economists have long been interested in the phenomenon of 99-cent pricing: prices that are given so that they end in .99, rather than at the next whole dollar amount. For example, in many contexts it is much more likely that you will see an item selling for $3.99 rather than an even $4.00.

Economists are curious about this real-world phenomenon since the idea that the psychology of a price starting with "3" instead of "4" makes a difference flies in the face of the fairly standard rationality assumptions made on the part of consumers. That is, consumers aren't stupid, so they should recognize immediately that the difference between $3.99 and $4.00 is precisely one cent--the same as the difference between $4.00 and $4.01.

There is a fairly rich, expanding literature on 99-cent pricing. ...

Once we get 99-cent pricing figured out, I'd also love to know how Amazon comes up with prices for their books. Is there any psychological angle or is it purely economic considerations?

Whatever the case, I hope round number model takes hold.

"Money, Greed, and God" - Book Review

Doesn’t my wealth make someone else poor? Aren’t we exhausting the earth’s resources? Isn’t capitalism based on greed? Hasn’t Christianity always opposed Capitalism? The answer to all of these questions is “no.”

For centuries people believed diseases were carried by odors and were certain that the earth was a flat area surrounded by water.  The surface evidence is quite compelling. While we would consider most adults who hold such beliefs today a bit daft, one can hardly blame our ancestors.

Yet when it comes to economic issues, a multitude of intellectuals and theologians embrace the equivalent of “flat earth” economics … all the while dismissing those who contradict “self-evident” realities as nefarious characters  with sinister agendas. (It doesn’t help that intellectuals like Ayn Rand and her groupies successfully sold the myth that capitalism is grounded in selfish ambition … supposedly building on Adam Smith’s legacy (a gross misreading of Smith.) ) Answering “no” to the questions above is a bit like being a modern day Copernicus or Galileo. So short of earning a degree in economics, how might we escape “flat earth” economics  and get a grip on the counter-intuitive realties that we have uncovered over the years?

Jay Richards has just published, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and Not the Problem. This book is an excellent corrective to “flat earth” economic thinking. His clear and engaging writing (and sense of humor) make his work accessible to everyone.

The book opens with Richards sharing from his life story. He tells his early embrace of leftist radical ideals in pursuit of the Kingdom of God and how he came to his present views on capitalism. (A biography with which I have some things in common.) He masterfully explains some of the issues I’ve visited here repeatedly at the Kruse Kronicle (see my Economic Fallacies Christians Believe. In fact, it was hearing him speak once that inspired me to develop my series.) His review of the church’s history regarding usury was particularly interesting to me … both in terms of economics and in biblical hermeneutics. Great quotes are highlighted throughout the book, like the one by the founder of OPEC who said, “The Stone Age came to an end not for a lack of stones, and the oil age will end, but not for a lack of oil.” (191) (He was highlighting the danger of projecting present realities into the future without regard for the impact of continuous human innovation.) Over the course of the book he identifies eight economic myths.

I’m sure some readers will immediately be put off by Richard’s blatant endorsement of capitalism. The term is frequently used as a descriptor of the entire U.S. socio-political-economic milieu. This colloquial use is not in mind here but rather its basic meaning within economics as, “… an economic system with rule of law and private property, in which people can freely exchange goods and services.” (163)

In fact, Richards takes to task the notion that consumerism is necessary for capitalism. I thought one of his more insightful observations was to see that consumerism is less connected with the biblical sin of greed and more with the sin of gluttony. This goes back to a long held conclusion of mine that we have no theology for living in affluence. Throughout biblical history and throughout much of church history our theology was done in eras of considerable scarcity among the masses. But today we have societies where the masses live in great affluence. Like people who have lived on the edge of survival for years and suddenly find themselves blessed with an endless cornucopia, we don’t have traditions and life patterns that control our appetites from unhealthy indulgence.

Friend’s occasionally ask me for recommendations of books that address economic issues from a Christian perspective. I have a handful of favorites but few so cogently address the particular question of capitalism as well as this book does. In the future, when others ask me what I think about capitalism, with few reservations I can hand them this book and say, “Here. Read this.”

N. T. Wright Project

"A Collaborative Study on the Work of Tom Wright."

Rarely in the course of our seminary study do we have the opportunity to study theologians whose work is currently transforming the life of the church. Tom Wright is one such theologian, and a small group of us at Princeton Theological Seminary, together with one of our professors, Ross Wagner, have decided to spend this semester immersed in Wright’s work. We hope to carefully read some of his most foundational writings and to engage each other through this blog on the issues and ideas which emerge from this study. From time to time we will have guest authors from a wide spectrum contribute, and we also invite those of you in church, parachurch, or seminary communities to read and respond to our blog posts as a way of keeping this project closely grounded in the church today. Welcome and enjoy!

Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says

Reuters: Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The 15th century Vinland Map, the first known map to show part of America before explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the continent, is almost certainly genuine, a Danish expert said Friday.

Controversy has swirled around the map since it came to light in the 1950s, many scholars suspecting it was a hoax meant to prove that Vikings were the first Europeans to land in North America -- a claim confirmed by a 1960 archaeological find.

Doubts about the map lingered even after the use of carbon dating as a way of establishing the age of an object.

"All the tests that we have done over the past five years -- on the materials and other aspects -- do not show any signs of forgery," Rene Larsen, rector of the School of Conservation under the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, told Reuters. ...

...American scholars have carbon dated the map to about 1440, about 50 years before Columbus "discovered" the New World in 1492. Scholars believe it was produced for a 1440 church council at Basel, Switzerland.

The Vinland Map is not a "Viking map" and does not alter the historical understanding of who first sailed to North America. But if it is genuine, it shows that the New World was known not only to Norsemen but also to other Europeans at least half a century before Columbus's voyage. ...

My Danish ancestors were clearly the first Europeans to arrive. Columbus just had a better press agent.

Relive the First Moonwalk

NASA is replaying the entire Apollo 11 mission from launch to splash down, exactly 40 years after it happened. The first step on the moon was at 10:39 pm EDT, so I suspect if you tune in at that time you can relive the event. Go to Listen to Apollo Radiocast

Your Apollo Anniversary Experience

Wired: Your Apollo Anniversary Experience

You can’t say NASA hasn’t capitalized on the Apollo 11 anniversary. The agency has pretty much gone hog wild with all the ways you can celebrate the moon landing, which happened 40 years ago on July 20. Here are some of the best multimedia experiences NASA has to offer. ....

When I was a kid, my dad worked for a corporation that did work for NASA. I ended up with 8 X 10 glossies of the original seven astronauts. One of my earliest memories of a big national or international event was when Apollo 8 circled the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. I was at my grandparents house in Bethany, OK.

I think it was about that time that I got my model Saturn rocket kit. It was four feet tall when assembled. During the Apollo 13 mishap in April, 1970, when I was in the 5th grade, I took my model to school so my class could see what the various parts looked like.

I remember watching the moon landing and the first step on the moon.  It made a big impression on me. How about you? Were you alive then? What are your memories?

Economic indicators up more than expected in June

Yahoo! News: Economic indicators up more than expected in June

NEW YORK – More plans to build homes, higher stock prices and fewer people filing first-time claims for jobless aid sent a private-sector forecast of U.S. economic activity higher than expected in June.

It was the third straight monthly increase for the New York-based Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators, and another sign pointing toward the recession ending later this year.

The index rose 0.7 percent last month. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a gain of 0.4 percent. May's reading was revised up to a gain of 1.3 percent from 1.2 percent, while April was scaled back to 1 percent growth from 1.1 percent.

The group also said activity in the six-month period through June rose 2 percent, with an annual growth rate of 4.1 percent. That's the strongest rate since the first quarter of 2006.

The index is meant to project economic activity in the next three to six months.

If these conditions continue, "expect a slow recovery this autumn," said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. ...

Wal-Mart backing of reform draws ire

Columbus Dispatch: Wal-Mart backing of reform draws ire

CHICAGO -- The nation's love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart is taking an unexpected turn now that the "Beast from Bentonville" is endorsing a plan to require employers to provide health coverage for all workers.

The National Retail Federation directly criticized Wal-Mart last week for endorsing mandated health care. Such a plan, the retailers lobby said in a letter to members, "would be catastrophic for our industry."

The debate, then, shapes up something like this: The stridently anti-union Wal-Mart, which is not a member of the federation, has teamed with the Service Employees International Union to endorse the Obama administration's plan to require some form of employer-provided insurance. The rest of the retail industry is on the other side, arguing that they have the right to not offer health coverage to millions of people in their employ.

"Mandates would drive up costs for retailers while doing nothing to address waste, inefficiencies and lack of competition" in the health-care system, wrote Tracy Mullin, president of the retail federation.

Sounds like a scary scenario. But then, Mullin is writing about Wal-Mart, a company that has defined itself like no other for its ability to squeeze out waste and inefficiency.

Once Wal-Mart decided in 2005 -- later than it should have -- to bear a fairer share of the cost of its employees' health-care expenses, the company began attacking some of the unnecessary costs and inefficiencies that are built into the system.

Today, more than 50,000 employees participate in a Wal-Mart program in which their health records are automated, searchable and even transferable should they leave their jobs. Automation of record-keeping is a centerpiece of the Obama administration's health-care plans and is expected to deliver billions of dollars in savings.

For doctors and other health-care providers, Wal-Mart through its Sam's Club stores in April began selling a hardware and software package that automates record-keeping at doctors' offices.

It is a paradox of modern times that manila folders with hand-lettered notations still are the main method of record-keeping in thousands of doctors offices nationwide. ...

Social network analysis: Cool tools from cool dudes

Wikinomics: Social network analysis: Cool tools from cool dudes

I love this stuff.

U.S. Energy Efficiency 1949-2008

Carpe Diem: The Most Energy Efficient Economy in U.S. History

What went wrong with economics

The Economist: What went wrong with economics

... In the wake of the biggest economic calamity in 80 years that reputation has taken a beating. In the public mind an arrogant profession has been humbled. Though economists are still at the centre of the policy debate—think of Ben Bernanke or Larry Summers in America or Mervyn King in Britain—their pronouncements are viewed with more scepticism than before. The profession itself is suffering from guilt and rancour. In a recent lecture, Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel prize in economics in 2008, argued that much of the past 30 years of macroeconomics was “spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst.” Barry Eichengreen, a prominent American economic historian, says the crisis has “cast into doubt much of what we thought we knew about economics.”

In its crudest form—the idea that economics as a whole is discredited—the current backlash has gone far too far. If ignorance allowed investors and politicians to exaggerate the virtues of economics, it now blinds them to its benefits. Economics is less a slavish creed than a prism through which to understand the world. It is a broad canon, stretching from theories to explain how prices are determined to how economies grow. Much of that body of knowledge has no link to the financial crisis and remains as useful as ever.

And if economics as a broad discipline deserves a robust defence, so does the free-market paradigm. Too many people, especially in Europe, equate mistakes made by economists with a failure of economic liberalism. Their logic seems to be that if economists got things wrong, then politicians will do better. That is a false—and dangerous—conclusion. ...

NASA lost moon footage, but Hollywood restores it

Yahoo! News: NASA lost moon footage, but Hollywood restores it

WASHINGTON – NASA could put a man on the moon but didn't have the sense to keep the original video of the live TV transmission.

In an embarrassing acknowledgment, the space agency said Thursday that it must have erased the Apollo 11 moon footage years ago so that it could reuse the videotape.

But now Hollywood is coming to the rescue.

The studio wizards who restored "Casablanca" are digitally sharpening and cleaning up the ghostly, grainy footage of the moon landing, making it even better than what TV viewers saw on July 20, 1969. They are doing it by working from four copies that NASA scrounged from around the world.

"There's nothing being created; there's nothing being manufactured," said NASA senior engineer Dick Nafzger, who is in charge of the project. "You can now see the detail that's coming out."

The first batch of restored footage was released just in time for the 40th anniversary of the "one giant leap for mankind," and some of the details seem new because of their sharpness. Originally, astronaut Neil Armstrong's face visor was too fuzzy to be seen clearly. The upgraded video of Earth's first moonwalker shows the visor and a reflection in it. ...

The Recession Is… Over?

Newsweek: The Recession Is… Over?

What America's best economic forecaster is saying.

Could our long national nightmare be over? The economic contraction, this Great Recession, began in December 2007, and there's no apparent end in sight. As the unemployment rate has spiked, analysts have thrown cold water on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's March sighting of "green shoots." The stock market's spring rally has fizzled.

But in this season of doubt, I'm prepared to declare that the recession is really, most probably over. Why? Well, it's not because the economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal believe it'll end in this quarter. (These guys wouldn't know an economic inflection point if it hit them upside the head. All through 2008, when the economy was contracting, they projected growth for the year.) No, two of the best and most objective forecasters, who are not connected to investment banks or to the CNBC noise machine, have recently called the upturn. Macroeconomic Advisers, the St. Louis-based consulting firm that compiles a monthly GDP index, reported to its clients Monday that while second-quarter GDP was tracking at negative 0.1 percent (recession), the third quarter was tracking at 2.4 percent growth.

The folks at the Economic Cycles Research Institute agree enthusiastically. It's not because they've detected green pea shoots in Central Park. Rather, it's because we've seen the three P's, says Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at ECRI, which has been studying business cycles for decades and was one of the few outfits to call the last two recessions with any degree of accuracy....

China Will Lead Global Economy Out of Recession

Carpe Diem: China Will Lead Global Economy Out of Recession

BEIJING (WALL STREET JOURNAL) -- China's government has turned around its economy far faster than most thought possible, as officials said Thursday that growth accelerated to 7.9% in the second quarter. Even if the surge moderates in coming quarters, many analysts say China will very nearly meet its target of an 8% expansion for all of 2009. In the first quarter, gross domestic product grew 6.1% from a year earlier.

The Shanghai stock market's benchmark index has gained 75% this year (see chart above) as the Chinese outlook has improved, with factory output, bank lending and commodity imports all continuing to accelerate in the past few months. ...

Lead Us to Tweet, and Forgive the Trespassers

New York Times: Lead Us to Tweet, and Forgive the Trespasser

(Missed this article from two weeks ago.)

Things went smoothly for the first hour of the Twitter experiment at Trinity Church in Manhattan on Good Friday in April.

While hundreds of worshipers watched the traditional dramatization of the Crucifixion from pews in the church, one of New York’s oldest, thousands more around the world followed along on smartphones and computers as a staff member tweeted short bursts of dialogue and setting (“Darkness and earthquake,” “Crucify him!”).

The trouble began in the second hour.

Twitter’s interactivity — its essence — made it easy for an anonymous text-messager to insert an unscripted character into the Passion play: a Roman guard who breezily claimed, “I’ve got dibs on his robe.” When another texter introduced a rogue Mary Magdalene, the intrusion only confirmed the obvious: Twitter’s trademark limit of 140 characters per message is no bar against crudity.

Religious groups from Episcopalians to Orthodox Jews have signed up for Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks with the same gusto that celebrities and politicians have, and for some of the same reasons — to gain a global platform and to appeal to young people.

Still, many clerics admit to an uneasiness about the merger of worship and electronic chatter.

In online debates and private discussions, leaders of all faiths have been weighing pros and cons and diagramming the boundaries of acceptable interactions: Should the congregation have a Facebook page, or should it be the imam’s or priest’s? Should there be limited access? Censoring? Is it appropriate for a clergy member to “friend” a minor?

The secret capitalist economy of North Korea

CNN: The secret capitalist economy of North Korea (HT: Victor Claar)

(CNN) -- Speculation in South Korean media that Kim Jong-Il may have cancer is the latest development in a busy month for North Korea watchers.

 The U.S. Navy tailed a North Korean ship that was believed to have been carrying weapons bound for Myanmar. Diplomats bemoaned the state's reluctance to return to the negotiating table even as the regime in Pyongyang celebrated American Independence Day by lobbing seven short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

But a worldwide network of amateur sleuths has been watching a different trend emerge in the Stalinist state: Capitalism.

This grassroots group of North Korean observers has watched the growth of village markets via satellite photos courtesy of Google Earth. They compare notes and analyze photography on the Web site "North Korean Economy Watch" (www.nkeconwatch.com).

"There's a whole bunch of small-scale private enterprises that have sprung up," said Curtis Melvin, founder of the site and an economist at George Mason University where he's working toward his doctorate degree. "With Google Earth, you can scroll back through time from the most recent satellite photographs and see how these markets are growing.

"In large towns you can see multiple markets, but you can find them in every town and every city," Melvin said.

The growth of these markets -- long on the fringe of legality in North Korea -- has caused government leaders to begin clamping down on the practice as a threat to the regime. ...

Kronicler in the Desert

The Kronicler has cleared out of Kansas City and winged his way to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. I'm here for the General Assembly Mission Council executive committee retreat. We are spending part of our time at the Santa Fe location and the other part at Abiquiu. I may have some posts later but I suspect my blog interaction will be spotty at best. So everyone just talk amonst yourselves if you don't hear from me right away.

Facebook Powers Past MySpace in June

Marketing Charts: Facebook Powers Past MySpace in June

As expected, unique visitors to social networking site Facebook have finally and decisively eclipsed those of longtime rival MySpace and continue to grow both in the US and abroad, according to figures from comScore, reports MarketingVox.

In May 2009, Facebook’s unique visitor count, as calculated by comScore, caught up to MySpace and surpassed it by a small margin. By June, Facebook hit 77 million unique visitors, representing a significant rise from May’s 70.28 million uniques - and leaving MySpace’s 68.4 visitors in the dust, TechCrunch wrote.

June data from Hitwise revealed that Facebook now holds 32% share of the US social networking market, compared with 29% for MySpace, while figures from Compete.com - which are calculated using a different methodology than comScore’s, have Facebook passing MySpace in unique visitors back in December 2008. ...

Move to Facebook “White Flight”

In more alarming news about MySpace, Danah Boyd, a social media researcher at Microsoft Research New England and a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society,  said young Americans’ migration from MySpace to Facebook is causing potential social divisions and could lead to more serious societal problems.

Boyd said  she has observed more white, upper-class and college-bound teenagers switching to Facebook, while less educated and nonwhite teenagers stay on or move to MySpace.  “What we’re seeing is a modern incarnation of white flight,” she is quoted as saying in a New York Times blog post. “It should scare the hell out of us.” ...

Social Media Strategies: Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter (Webinar)

Alban Institute: Social Media Strategies: Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter (Webinar)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 2:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -04:00, New York)

Join popular blogger, Twitterer, and author Carol Howard Merritt and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations'Technology Director Aaron Spiegel for a look at today’s most popular ways to forge online connections with people both within and beyond your congregation. Carol is the author of the Tribal Church and blogs at www.tribalchurch.org and http://godcomplexradio.com. She is the cohost of the God Complex Radio weekly Internet radio show and podcast with Bruce Reyes Chow, moderator of the PCUSA. She will discuss :

• Ways to easily set up a blog, even for a nontechy.
• Effective blog strategies.
• How to set up organizational pages on Facebook
• How Facebook can be used as a tool for building personal connection, particular with the “tribal church” generation
• Why Twitter is not a waste of time

According to a tweet I saw earlier today you can get $10 off by using the promotional code "soc409."

Battle of the bulge

The Economist: Battle of the bulge

... and no, the profile pic is not a self portrait.

If people would read blogs less and exercise more we wouldn't have this problem. ... Oh wait ... did I say that out loud?

Why Teens Aren’t Using Twitter: It Doesn’t Feel Safe

TechCrunch: Why Teens Aren’t Using Twitter: It Doesn’t Feel Safe

Twitter seems to be the hottest thing in tech recently — if you look at TechCrunch, it averages at least 3 posts a week about Twitter. But the bigger question is, who is really using Twitter? Many of you might think that, as with most of the latest gadgets and technologies, teenagers are using Twitter, but you’re wrong, and here’s why. Matthew Robson, a 15 year old intern, over at Morgan Stanley, wrote a report on how teenagers are consuming media, and why Twitter isn’t the hot topic in high school halls.

If you look at technologies trending with teens right now, it’s Apple devices (iPhone, iPod), smart phones (Blackberry, Palm), and then social networks (Facebook and MySpace). At least that’s what I see from hanging out with 1,500 other teenagers in high school every day (I am 16 years old). But why not Twitter? Well, because Twitter is a different type of social network than Facebook. Facebook is about connecting people, and sharing information with each other. The way my friends and I see it, Facebook is a closed network. It’s a network of people and friends that you trust to be connected to, and to share information like your email address, AIM screen name, and phone number. You know who’s getting your status messages, because you either approved or added each person to your network.

With Twitter, it’s the exact opposite.  ...

Half of Communicators Think Twitter is a ‘Fad’

Marketing Charts: Half of Communicators Think Twitter is a ‘Fad’

More than half (54%) of professional communicators think Twitter is a fad and believe that the burgeoning number of users and tweets will eventually reach a plateau and likely decline, according to a poll by Ragan Communications and PollStream.

This division in sentiment represents a split in the corporate communications field as to whether Twitter is a viable business and communications tool with staying power or a flash-in-the pan novelty that will eventually give way to something new.

Among respondents, 28% report that their companies currently employ microblogging as part of their communications activities. Those who do tweet credit Twitter with increasing employee engagement, improving customer service and reputation with customers, and boosting website traffic - among other benefits, Ragan said.

Another 40% of suvey respondents say that they have no microblogging plan in place - either by choice or because they don’t have the resources. Most often, they say it is because of fearful managers who are hesitant to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, lack of time and/or staff, or the belief that it won’t benefit the company, the survey found. ...

Cats 'exploit' humans by purring

BBC: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring (HT: Victor Claar)

Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's.

The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore.

Dr Karen McComb, the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology, said the research was inspired by her own cat, Pepo.

"He would wake me up in the morning with this insistent purr that was really rather annoying," Dr McComb told BBC News.

"After a little bit of investigation, I discovered that there are other cat owners who are similarly bombarded early in the morning."

While meowing might get a cat expelled from the bedroom, Dr McComb said that this pestering purr often convinced beleaguered pet lovers to get up and fill their cat's bowl.

To find out why, her team had to train cat owners to make recordings of their own cats' vocal tactics - recording both their "soliciting purrs" and regular, "non-soliciting" purrs.

"When we played the recordings to human volunteers, even those people with no experience of cats found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant," said Dr McComb. ...

Below is a picture of my purring machine (Isaac) and, yes, he has a soliciting purr he uses at 4:00 am.

For many, a simpler life is better

USA Today: For many, a simpler life is better

Shrinking paychecks and rising environmental concerns are prompting Americans to pare back their lifestyles.

"Perhaps the silver lining (of the recession) is that people are coming to realize they can live with less and their lives are richer for it," says Michael Maniates, professor of political and environmental science at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa.

A third, 32%, say they have been spending less and intend to make that their "new, normal" pattern; 27% say they are saving more and plan to continue, according to a Gallup Poll in April.

Nearly half of consumers, 47%, say they already have what they need, up from 34% in November 2006, according to the 2009 MetLife Study of the American Dream.

"People are feeling forced and inspired to get back to what is core to them," says Julie Morgenstern, author of Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life. She says they're valuing objects less and experiences and people more. ...

Board games are back

Fortune: Board games are back

Forget Guitar Hero and Rock Band - it's time for Scrabble and Monopoly.

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Mattel is betting on Blokus.

For the uninitiated, that's a quick strategy game that bears just about no resemblance to the mainstream big sellers such as Uno for which Mattel (MAT, Fortune 500) is known. But when the company acquired Blokus earlier this year, it was to capitalize on the growing cachet hobby games have with twentysomethings -- a demographic that Mattel's aggressively pursuing, says Geoff Walker, Mattel's senior vice president of Wheels, Games and Radica.

It may seem like an odd move, but not only have hobby games like Blokus taken hold with the next generation, board games on the whole have seen a bounce in the past year. In 2008, board game sales climbed 23.5% to about $808 million, and they're expected to grow more this year.

Of course, board games have lived in the shadow of video games for the past decade. ...

Best of It: Final Thoughts

[Series Index]

We have come to the end of our discussion of John Stackhouse’s Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World. I’ve read this book three times now. Here are some reasons why this book has been so important to me.

Shalom – Almost 25 years ago, while in grad school, I took a Kyregma class at my Presbyterian church on the topic of shalom. Getting a grip on the centrality of this Hebrew concept to the warp and woof of the entire Bible has been formational to my thinking ever since. Many emerging Christians today are taken with the New/Fresh Perspective on Paul … which locates Paul’s teaching firmly in the context of Second Temple Judaism, revealing that Paul was dealing with far more comprehensive views of redemption beyond the narrow issues of personal salvation, or law versus grace. This study was a similar epiphany for me. Shalom was the central theme to the lengthy series I wrote three years ago on Theology and Economics (see here). Shalom is at the heart of Stackhouse’s ethical calculus. That is one of the primary reasons I identify so strongly with this book.

Final Destiny – There is a pervasive view that humanity’s destiny is an ethereal place called heaven. As Stackhouse emphasizes, a new earth …. one that is somehow both continuous and radically discontinuous with this earth … will be our new home. Furthermore, what we do in our daily activities also somehow impacts future realities. The material world matters and will somehow be redeemed.

“Already, Not Yet” – While the biblical narrative has redemption and restoration of shalom as its theme, and teaches that the Kingdom of God which gives witness to God’s shalom was inaugurated with Jesus Christ, it is also true that the narrative makes clear that there will be some crisis moment in the future when the new creation is consummated. That creates what I believe is the central paradox of Christian mission: We are to be seeking shalom in all we do in a context where full authentic shalom is unattainable. Lean too hard toward an unqualified pursuit of shalom and you end up with destructive idealistic movements. Lean too hard toward the limitations and you end up with rationalization of the status quo and accommodation … or possibly separation from dominant culture altogether.  Accommodation is not an option yet both idealistic transformationalism and cultural separatism both strike me as attempts to escape the tension.

Four Commandments – I particularly appreciated Stackhouse’s framing of the “four commandments.” Creation Commandments: 1) cultural mandate, 2) love God and love neighbor. Redemption Commandments: 3) love one another as I have loved you, 4) the Great Commission. This framing is helpful in processing exactly how God has sent us into the world … both in an ontological sense and in the more temporary sense of the mission of redemption.

Tetralectic – If are to obey the four commandments as we pursue shalom in an “already, not yet” context, all the time avoiding diversion into either side of the paradox, how are we to find guidance in our lives? I really appreciate Stackhouse’s tetralectic of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience all interacting with the guidance of the Spirit as we share in community. There is no formula. There is risk. I suspect attempts to escape this tetralectic approach are usually attempts to find rest in a false certainty (ex. fundamentalist doctrine, pure reason, etc.,)

Realism versus Idealism –When a young man and women fall in love they enter into a type of insanity … they see only the best in each other (real or imagined) and live in a fantasy of achieving eternal bliss. Sociologists and psychologists suggest this temporary altered-state of reality may be necessary to create the initial bonding that will hold them together once “the drug” wears off. The operative word here is “temporary.” At some point, the real world returns and the couple must address these realities if they are to have sustainable relationship.

Much of what I see in the church world, whether it is Evangelical revival services for “saving souls,” Religious Right political action, Mainline Church prophetic witness, or emerging church activism, strikes me as all too similar to the state of young lovers in love. We fall in love with being in love.  We are ever looking for the next big romantic fix … the next moving worship service, the next great mission trip, the next great social justice activity. Idealistic visions and causes are endlessly lifted up but the instruction that equips us to live beyond the honeymoon stage is absent.

Stackhouse’s book is a like tall cool drink of realistic water in the middle the scorched earth of frenetic idealism. There is no doubt in my mind that some will characterize Stackhouse’s work as cultural accommodation because he does not rise to their idealistic standards. (Having views very similar to his, I get the same myself.) It is much like trying to tell a young couple in love of the challenges they face ahead only to be dismissed because you do not know the strong love the lovers have for each other. But for those like me who long ago got over the honeymoon … who weary of the endless call of others for us to recapture that bliss … and want some serious reflection on following Christ in the real world, I have rarely encountered a book that does so in such a thorough and accessible way.

Well … there you have it. It took 34 posts but the series is over. I’m certain I’ve butchered aspects of this book but I hope I’ve whetted your appetite with enough of the specifics that you will pick up a copy and tell others about it. For those from the Hauerwas/Yoder perspective, I’d particularly encourage you to read a copy as I think he respectfully offers a counterpoint. Even if you don’t agree with Stackhouse he has important insights to bring to the conversation. (It would be interesting to have a book discussion reading this book and Yoder’s “Politics of Jesus” side by side.)

Thanks to those who have followed along and thanks for the great conversation along the way.

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John Calvin: His Life and Legacy, a DVD

PCUSA: Calvin Jubilee: John Calvin: His Life and Legacy, a DVD