Owner: America's Young Theologian - The Life and Theology of Dan Morehead URL:http://americasyoungtheologian.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:59:05 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: America's Young Theologian seeks to bring you, not simply music, poetry and mirth, but theological biography and biographical theology. Site statistics:Click here
film | Pirates of the Caribbean - At Worlds End 2007-05-26 05:56:00 Against better judgment, or perhaps just tired of fighting the onslaught of third installments of summer blockbusters, I saw Pirates
of the Caribbean
- At Worlds
End. After the movie I wanted the world to end, felt profoundly less intelligent, and wished for a class-action suit against Jerry Bruckheimer. Positively, it's the only time I can remember a movie audience laughing at a film, by which I mean an eye-rolling laugh at how overblown and absurd it was. It's too long, too big, too ridiculous (despite my agreement to check reality at the door with the pirate-dressed ticket collector), and simply sad, sad because a simpler version could have worked. There is anti-capitalist blow struck at the end of the film as the East India Trading Company takes it on the chin, but this, of course, occurs once you've already bought the product (your movie ticket); Disney markets itself as imaginative but it is always commodified imagination, imagination already imprisoned and impoverished by its Read more:Worlds End
blogging | A New Blog Is Born 2007-05-29 18:14:00 My Duke and Aberdeen colleague and close friend, Scott Prather, has entered the blogosphere ... again. It promises to be good, so check it out.[America's Young Theologian][Blogging]
quote | On History and Time 2007-06-09 10:31:00 "Every conception of history is invariably accompanied by a certain experience of time which is implicit in it, conditions it, and thereby has to be elucidated. Similarly, every culture is first and foremost a particular experience of time, and no new culture is possible without an alteration in this experience."--Giorgio Agamben, Infancy and History
[America's Young Theologian][Politics][Agamben]
humor | Life Explained 2007-06-12 14:39:00 Found this photo here, using my Stumble Upon toolbar. I'm not sure what I think of Stumble Upon yet, but I'm using it for now. You can send links to particular friends and find random sites based upon the recommendations of friends or categories you select (e.g. last week it gave me a site where you had to guess whether a photograph was either a computer programmer or a serial killer. I did quite well distinguishing the two, but have ever since worried about the logic of it takes one to know one.)[America's Young Theologian][Humor]
news | Dick Rorty Dead at 75 2007-06-11 06:23:00 Richard Rorty, whose inventive work on philosophy, politics, literary theory and more made him one of the world’s most influential contemporary thinkers, died Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 75. NYTimes.com obituary.Not to be quickly dismissed or forgotten.[America's Young Theologian][Rorty]
music | The AYT Jukebox: 2007 2007-06-16 08:30:00 I've not posted about the new music in the ole jukebox since August, when I was living in Washington, D.C. and getting ready to move to Scotland. I get most of my music via various online music services. I like eMusic a lot as a low-cost DRM-free solution. However, not having an internet connection in my flat while not having permission to install programs on my office computer has slowed down my churning through new music. It has also made it difficult to catalogue tracks via last.fm. Further complications came when I closed my iPod in a car door on a crisp November day in Chicago. Two months later, I had my replacement iPod and Shure was nice enough to replace my E2c sound-isolating earphones (which had started to produce static in the left ear) and as most of my music was backed up (though I did manage to loose all my Regina Spektor tracks), I was back in business. Since I put all my music back on my iPod in January, sorting my music by add date only tells me what I've gotte Read more:Jukebox
news | Back To Duke University 2007-06-19 16:52:00 Returning to the Gothic wonderland for the school year 2007-2008, I'll be a special student at Duke University
while researching my Ph.D. dissertation. It also has the benefit of closing the distance on my long-distance relationship. So look to find me in Durham, NC come August.[America's Young Theologian][Theology][News]
poem | On Returning To The United States 2007-06-18 05:32:00 In a month and a half, I should be back in the UnitedStates
. I have a lot of mixed feelings when I think about the United States. Chuck Klosterman wrote that he once sent out a mass email asking about patriotism:I gave everyone two potential options for a hypothetical blind date and asked them to pick who they'd prefer. The only things they knew about the first candidate was that he or she was attractive and successful. The only things they knew about the second candidate was that he or she was attractive, successful, and 'extremely patriotic.' No other details were provided or could be ascertained.He continues writing, "Just about everyone immediately responded by selecting the first individual. They viewed patriotism as a downside. I wasn't too surprised; in fact, I was mostly just amused by how everyone seemed to think extremely patriotic people weren't just undateable, but totally fucking insane. One of them wrote that the quality of 'patriotism' was on par with 're
misc | Grammar Is Badass 2007-06-17 10:00:00 I love grammar. When I speak, I often construct elaborate sentences with far too many dependent clauses. I like words. Sometimes when I drink this turns into strange juxtapositions, e.g. last night I said, "That's morose shit." Sometimes my thoughts are quicker than my speech which leads to odd pauses as I try to figure out how to express properly what I've just thought. I misspell words frequently, but that in neither here nor there. All of this is to say that I just spent ten minutes trying to figure out the grammatically correct sentence:"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" [more info][America's Young Theologian][Grammar
]
life | Aberdeen - Paris - Durham 2007-06-25 20:40:00 A month ago I was planning to go to Paris
for the the month of July. I say planning instead of going because there were several things that needed to transpire before that could actually happen. I needed a new passport. My old passport that I obtained in 1997, which included a picture that made me look like Vanilla Ice if he had taken up an academic career, expired in May. I needed a flat in Paris. I simply didn't have it in me to stay in a dorm or some such accommodation. Last time I did that in Freiburg, Germany, I shared a room with a much younger American who soaked his foot in an upside-down frisbee and would note his daily recovery in his journal. [Oddities aside, he was a good guy.]I also would need a flight to Paris. Normally this would not be a problem, but my gargantuan cell phone bill, which ended up being almost as much as my rent for the month, was making things a bit tight.Now I'm going; all hurdles have been cleared. I bought my plane ticket. The U.S. Embassy Read more:Aberdeen
, Durham
music | Discuss A Song: The National's "Start A War" 2007-06-30 12:37:00 You know the rules: AYT selects a song he loves, you listen, you comment on the song. Simple enough. Let me know what you think.For those who aren't on my email list, you can find this track online at eMusic or iTunes. You can here more of their work on their MySpace site. If you like what hear, find a local music store and buy an album.AYT Notes: The National
gives us yet another reason to love Brooklyn. I like this track for the delicate guitar which contrasts nicely with Matt Berninger's baritone. "Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting lock it up and leave?" A worthwhile question.Song to Discuss:"Start
a War"by The National[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Music][Mp3][The National]
podcast | Human Rights and Writing 2007-07-03 16:42:00 You can tell I'm a bit behind in listening to my favorite podcasts insofar as I'm just getting to posting about a podcast from April. Sara Paretsky, author of the bestselling V. I. Warshawski novels, including, most recently, Fire Sale and Blacklist, gave an interesting lecture at the University of Chicago in April. She is the winner of many awards, including the Cartier Diamond Dagger award for lifetime achievement from the British Crime Writers’ Association.Her lecture was in honor of the life and work of Dr. Robert Kirschner, noted forensic pathologist and international human rights activist, who was a founder of the University of Chicago Human Rights
Program. It was interesting to hear a novelist talk about human rights. I highly recommend listening to her lecture entitled, "Truth, Lies, and Duct Tape," but I'll share one quote:When the government tells me there's a code orange alert, to wrap myself in duct tape and plastic, but to go shopping as long as I don't buy anyth Read more:Human Rights
life | Friends In Paris 2007-07-16 08:58:00 Times flies as the saying goes. This last week in Paris
, I was happy to host my good friend Dave (seen above), who has showed up time and again on this blog. It was his first time in Paris and so we did a lot of the usual tourist activities (Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, sitting by the Seine, etc.), but also got in a few festivities given that last weekend was the 14th of July, Bastille Day. Friday we met another friend at a bar and struggled through conversation with other Parisians. Then it was off to a late dinner, followed by the Bal des Pompiers in the 6th. The firemen open their stations for these charity balls and luckily my friend dated one of the firemen so we got to skip the two hour queue. There was plenty of drinking, dancing, and frivolity, included everything from extremely buff firemen dancing on the roof in...how shall we say?...less than full gear to fireworks and squirt guns.Saturday was another 4am night, but more low-key involving a picnic on the Champ d Read more:Friends
politics | Who I Support In 2008 2007-07-18 17:29:00 When I was young I was a Republican, largely because I grew up in a Republican county and was born to conservative parents. My first degree was in economics. I was a free-market capitalist (not unlike Milton Friedman's laissez-faire capitalism). This somehow strengthened my Republican stances as the Republicans turned every issue into an economic issue over the last 20 years. Times change and I now view resisting the corrosive effects of late capitalism as one of the major tasks of the church and now would tend to vote left. I was on TV not too long ago saying that I would support Hillary Clinton and would hope for Obama as a running mate. Clinton still holds a significant lead over Obama when it comes to those most likely to vote in the Democratic primary. I do find Obama charismatic, but think Hillary is more qualified.If I were a Republican, I'd vote for Ron Paul. He's simply the most interesting candidate in the GOP field and the only one who doesn't make me feel like m Read more:politics
, Support
poem | "Nerves" by Charles Bukowski 2007-07-24 08:11:00 Sometimes a rant can lead from a quote to a poem. I don't like it when people have a line attached to their name and then it's quoted and quoted and quoted. I wonder how Gandhi would feel about "being the change..." or MLK, Jr. about having "a dream." Perhaps thankful for being remembered or glad that important ideas have lived on, but I think I'd simply be annoyed, or at least annoyed if people didn't take the time to read or listen to the "I have a dream" speech, annoyed if a line was used to tie me up in a box too small. CharlesBukowski
's poem "Nerves" sometimes gets quoted because it has the lines: the most memorable concern of mankind / is the guts it takes to / face the sunlight again. A nice sentiment, but not really Bukowski without: I turn my ass to the wall. / I hate the mornings more than / any man. Anyway, somehow I got frustrated enough by this quoting of Bukowski, that I thought I'd track down the poem. I couldn't find it online but knew it came from his bo
travel | The Long Journey "Home" 2007-07-30 03:32:00 Wednesday I'll be living in N.C. Tomorrow I'll be visiting friends in Washington, D.C.; today I'm in Paris. While I travel a fair amount, it does always seem a bit jarring, too much change in a short amount of time. It doesn't make it any less exhausting that I generally don't consider the physical ramifications when purchasing the cheapest ticket to my destination. Today I have a 9:30pm flight from Paris to Dublin. Then after a long night in Dublin's airport, I'm off to New York in the morning, followed by a short hop to Baltimore. In my book, I can think of only one travel day that would rival it, but then I've never traveled to Asia. A little more packing, a coffee or two, and a fresh pack of smokes and I'm out the door. Thanks to dribbleglass.com for the Monopoly cards they'd like to see. Goodbye, Paris...I'm headed west.More soon...[America's Young Theologian][Travel][Humor] Read more:Journey
misc | Information And Beating A Dead Horse 2007-08-09 13:36:00 Sometimes I wish for less information or a mythical service to block the bulk of the ads and seemingly pointless (yes, I realize that this is a personal judgment) information on the internet. When I see a news story on Yahoo!'s homepage telling me that "Gato Del Sol, the winner of the 1982 Kentucky Derby and the second-oldest living Derby winner, died at 28," I have to wonder why they couldn't have found seven more important news stories to include. I don't even think my sister, who grew up riding horses, would care about this one. I think one of the important tasks facing the church is to resist our culture of excess which seemingly makes it difficult to care and to celebrate. If celebration already involves by its nature a notion of excess, how does one celebrate - whether birthdays, weddings, or the eucharist - if one is already saturated with excess? Does constantly being dialed into the system (you know: the iPod playing, DVR, internet surfing, Netflix waiting in the mailb Read more:Horse
, Dead Horse
quote | Adorno On Ideas 2007-08-07 16:49:00 "The essence of a mental product is that in it the will of the individual thinker is submerged in the subject-matter, in the coercion exerted by the subject-matter, to the point where that will disappears entirely. Intellectual products are not the expression of intention and of the person who creates them, but represent the extinction of that intention in the truth of the objective matter in hand."--Theodor W. Adorno27 June 1963[America's Young Theologian][Adorno]
life | More Thoughts On Blogging 2007-08-18 15:01:00 When I first started this blog, I wrote anonymously so the moniker AYT, a nickname and running joke with a good friend, came in handy. I guess my thoughts about blogging have become less negative than they were when I first started telling stories as a way to keep in touch with friends and family during my international wanderings. However, I think the quality of writing on blogs tends toward being poor, for example, rarely do my more carefully worked out theological positions end up here (also I don't put my writing through the same editorial process I would for other avenues of publication). Some like to talk about the personal connections they've made though blogging. I'll grant that I've made some connections that I would not have otherwise. I've been welcomed into homes, assisted in celebration, have corresponded with, been reconnected with old friends and most recently spent a day in Paris with delightful people I met through blogging. A recent conversation made me thi Read more:Blogging
politics | The Need For Sustained Pressure On Darfur [read: Khartoum] 2007-08-17 16:39:00 As I wrote in relation to a post by my friend Reno:It is not simply that the US has spent her moral capital (this is true, of course, and the pictures of our torturing of prisoners have come to symbolize that), but she has also spent her military and political capital on the war in Iraq, which basically ties our hands as there is no way that we're going to use military force against another country that is consider by many a Muslim country. Therefore, our threats are impotent.Any political fervor that is mustered against the atrocities in Darfur
is simply placated by promises from Khartoum. Once the pressure subsides or is ameliorated by their promised actions, there is no way of keeping Khartoum accountable. And, yes, they know this. Part of the problem is there has not been a movement to say that not following the CPA = policies as usual = genocide.I really don't think the CPA will be implemented by a government who came to power through a coup to prevent a peace process between Read more:politics
, Pressure
music | Catching Up 2007-08-16 15:57:00 I currently have a backlog of albums that I've not purchased or to which I've not had a chance to listen. Today I got to give a first listen to two albums on my list. I enjoyed The White Stripe's Icky Thump. I'd put the first track on an indie workout playlist (if I had use for such a thing). It also includes the delightful lyrics:well, americans:what, nothin' better to do?why don't you kick yourself out?you're an immigrant too.I also enjoyed listening to Modest Mouse's latest album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.So, both get a thumbs up after listening to them once. I'm a little behind my normal pace, but I'm catching up.[AYT][Music][The White Stripes]
politics | On Humility 2007-08-20 13:02:00 Part of the problem with many conservatives is that they know they are right and they'll tell you so. Part of the problem with many liberals is that they find it difficult to take a substantive stand. I just finished reading Adorno's 1963 lectures on moral philosophy yesterday. He said, "We need to hold fast to moral norms, to self-criticism, to the question of right and wrong, and at the same time to a sense of the fallibility of the authority that has the confidence to undertake such self-criticism." Emphasizing only one side of the dialectic, our national politics
are awash in either pride and false-humility....what is needed above all is that consciousness of our own fallibility, and in that respect I would say that the element of self-reflection has today become the true heir to what used to be called moral categories. This means that if today we can at all say that subjectively there is something like a threshold, a distinction between a right life and a wrong one, we are Read more:Humility
music | Stars 2007-09-27 07:11:00 Stars, the Canadian indie pop band, just released a new album. At first listen, I'd say it's good not great, but give it a listen (download the free single above).Also, if you enjoy this blog, please think about linking to it from your website.[America's Young Theologian][Music][Stars]
internet | Soapbox 2007-09-25 10:37:00 Thanks to Luke for pointing me to http://marriedtothesea.com for this comic.This captures well my thoughts on fwd's, spam, etc. There is, of course, a serious side to this. For years, the large number of Nigerian spammers/scammers have had a negative impact on legitimate aid to their country.[America's Young Theologian][Internet][Spam] Read more:Soapbox
music | My Top 10 2007-09-12 12:24:00 Since the summer of 2005, these are my most listened to artists:Of course, this chart has a tendency to preference bands that I continually return to rather than what I'm listening to most at a particular time -- bands like The National and The Hold Steady. I've enjoyed The New Pornographer's newest album Challengers, in particular the tracks "Mutiny, I Promise You" and "Adventures In Solitude." That said, I've not listened to Interpol or Spoon's latest. Does anyone have any favorites off either of these?[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Music][Spoon]
misc | . . . 2007-09-05 20:36:00 While not posting, I've been doing other things. I could tell stories that involve eight Durham police cars, or the tale of a vanishing automobile, or how a pub quiz made me realize I knew all the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song. I could. I won't. I've been reading Kant's first Critique with Duke University political theorist Romand Coles, getting back into the groove of school, and tomorrow get a chance to see The Mountain Goats [my number eight most listened to band since the summer of 1995]. Life is good, albeit busy."there's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closetno matter where you live.there'll always be a few things, maybe several thingsthat you're going to find really difficult to forgive."-- The Mountain Goats, "Up The Wolves"[America's Young Theologian][Music][Political Theory]
books | Three Reviews 2007-10-08 17:30:00 I like fiction, but I don't read a lot of fiction. I don't think this means that I simply like the idea of fiction, the idea of storytelling, etc. Certainly, narrative, storytelling, story, have all had an impact on the theological and philosophical ecosystems in which I swim, but I don't think that's it either. I love a good story. Now I suppose the reason that I don't read a lot of fiction is because I read slowly and feel cramped by the academic work I do. Maybe that's why I like film more than fiction. Still, I thought I'd take a moment to write about three works I've enjoyed this year, each of which succeed in providing characters that are neither overwrought nor unbelievable, neither glossing over complexity nor getting lost in it.First is Blankets by Craig Thompson. Blankets is a graphic novel which captures well the quandaries of a high school student: quandaries of family, faith and love. It has an acute appreciation for the relationship between brothers, the ex Read more:Three
life | Three Sleepless Weekends In September 2007-10-06 23:54:00 Weekends are for relaxing, right? A chance to sleep in, catch up, etc.? Perhaps. However, September
found me "sleeping" in airports, cars, and parking lots for three weekends in a row.Weekend #1: Saturday it is up at 6am, airport by a little after 7am, headed to Dallas by 8am. Land in Dallas, walk out to the car that is picking me up. Late morning beer, wings and football with a dear friend. Then it is back to the airport to be in Houston by 3pm. Plane lands, I throw on a tie, and take a cab to Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. One may recall the last time I was in Houston, but this time we're celebrating a wedding. The reception follows the wedding: a lot of beer, conversations ranging from philosophy to music, and a little dancing. After the reception, we all go to La Carafe overlooking old Market Square. The dark wine bar is said to be the oldest bar in Houston and is a great place to sit on the balcony at the end the evening and polish off a couple bottles of wine.Aroun Read more:Three
politics | What Makes You Feel Safe? 2007-10-04 22:33:00 MLK, Jr. saw our war in Vietnam as a war on our country's poor.Is Iraq any different?For more, see: American Friends Service Committee[America's Young Theologian][Theology][Politics][Iraq] Read more:politics
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