Saturday, February 28, 2009

daily practice

hm... well, i did not finish my article proposal. instead my grandma and i watched several sporting events (march madness is coming!) capped off by jeopardy and wheel! of! fortune! good times. i have a tenative opening paragraph and outline, so i'll make do.

i'm not totally sure how i fell out of the writing habit. it's odd to have to be more intentional about something that used to come so naturally.

a plus side of the unemployment time has been working my way through the enormous pile of books i had accumulated since i left regent. all the books i had heard good things about but never had the chance to read while i was studying. by studying i mean, down at the pub. anyway, i just finished colossians remixed: subverting the empire and it lived up the the high praise i had heard about it. a deeply challenging book that does an intelligent and understandable job of showing how a particular letter at a particular time to a particular people has much to say to us today. i'm still mulling over it and it's been a week since i finished it. it is fascinating to see points raised in the book come up in everyday situations. i've also had the same fascination with the book Acedia & me. i confess that i find norris a bit difficult to read, she bounces around from personal narrative to history to her own musings with no discernible pattern. regardless, there is much to be learned about the condition of acedia, which is more or less apathy - she goes into more detail about what it entails. the gradual numbing/desensitization of our culture is something to be wary of. if you don't care that you are sick, what does it matter that there is a healer? a tough challenge for the church and the renewing power of the gospel.

i'm hurting for some fiction though. i burned through that stuff first and now i have several nonfiction books to get through before i allow myself to get any more books. anyone want to send me a good story?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Colossians Remixed, eh? I just lent that book to Dave Diewart. I also happen to be siting on a panel at the conference in March with Sylvia Keesmaat, as the two of us have been selected to offer a response to Hauerwas' lecture. Oh, and I'm hoping to meet with Brian Walsh afterwards.

How's that for a name-dropping comment? Booyakasha!

audrey said...

i hope they rip you a new one.

also mr. bigshot, hook me up with free admission to the conference. let's see how much of a high roller you are.