Thursday, October 22, 2015
The funniest thing I have read this year
I am currently in Bangalore and the city is well known for over-crowded roads full of potholes. I thought this article, 29,210 reasons to sympathise with the minister was very creative and humorous. It appeared in The Hindu newspaper.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Excellent lecture on the Christian origins of modern science
This lecture by my UQ colleague, historian Professor Peter Harrison, makes compelling arguments concerning how Protestant theology played a key role in the development of science in the 17th century. I have borrowed extensively from this lecture in my own lecture on the subject.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The Joy of Science
Tonight I am giving a short talk "The Joy of Science: How it leads me to worship God" at a worship service at Emmanuel College organised by Christian students from residential colleges at the University of Queensland. Here are the slides.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Empathy for the voiceless
Not being able to communicate with others can be a frustrating and humiliating experience. This is particularly so if you are a "successful" individual who is normally "in control" of your circumstances.
I recommend the movie English Vinglish. It nicely captures the practical and emotional struggle of an Indian mother and house wife from an upper middle class family who does not know English. When she travels to the USA for the wedding of her niece she has several humiliating experiences. These were so realistic and moving that I found watching that part of the movie painful. But it does create empathy.
I recommend the movie English Vinglish. It nicely captures the practical and emotional struggle of an Indian mother and house wife from an upper middle class family who does not know English. When she travels to the USA for the wedding of her niece she has several humiliating experiences. These were so realistic and moving that I found watching that part of the movie painful. But it does create empathy.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
You cannot love God and money
At the theology reading group on monday we will discuss The Economy of Desire: Christianity and Capitalism in a Postmodern World by Daniel Bell.
Paul Tyson [who is in the group] has a brief and helpful summary of the book here. Another summary is here.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. Bell begins by discussing how capitalism is not just an economic system but has come to be totalising force controlling all of life and society. Furthermore, he draws on the highly influential French postmodern [also Marxist and atheist] philosophers Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze to develop the idea that the real defining feature of capitalism is desire: creating it, developing it, marketing it, ...
Although I thought these chapters were original and stimulating I thought they were too long and drawn out and I am not convinced that one really need to go to high-profile French postmodern philosophers to get this insight.
There is a detailed critique of positive theology of capitalism promoted by Michael Novak and others: they have the strange idea that somehow the Kingdom of God is to equated with doing business and making money. The hermeneutical gymnastics and distorted theology are a bit like that associated with American exceptionalism. I felt this was a bit of a "straw man" to knock down.
Possibly the best part of the book is the exposition of Kingdom values that go against the grain of a culture saturated by capitalism: generosity, service, mercy, community over individualism, ...
The church is to be “an economy of desire—an ensemble of disciplines and practices that (re)shapes desire to flow in particular ways.” The church is to embody “the divine gift economy,” flowing from “God’s ceaseless generosity, of God’s graceful prodigality.”
The conclusion is particularly strong and challenging engaging with the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16. The punchline is "you cannot serve God and money."
Paul Tyson [who is in the group] has a brief and helpful summary of the book here. Another summary is here.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. Bell begins by discussing how capitalism is not just an economic system but has come to be totalising force controlling all of life and society. Furthermore, he draws on the highly influential French postmodern [also Marxist and atheist] philosophers Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze to develop the idea that the real defining feature of capitalism is desire: creating it, developing it, marketing it, ...
Although I thought these chapters were original and stimulating I thought they were too long and drawn out and I am not convinced that one really need to go to high-profile French postmodern philosophers to get this insight.
There is a detailed critique of positive theology of capitalism promoted by Michael Novak and others: they have the strange idea that somehow the Kingdom of God is to equated with doing business and making money. The hermeneutical gymnastics and distorted theology are a bit like that associated with American exceptionalism. I felt this was a bit of a "straw man" to knock down.
Possibly the best part of the book is the exposition of Kingdom values that go against the grain of a culture saturated by capitalism: generosity, service, mercy, community over individualism, ...
The church is to be “an economy of desire—an ensemble of disciplines and practices that (re)shapes desire to flow in particular ways.” The church is to embody “the divine gift economy,” flowing from “God’s ceaseless generosity, of God’s graceful prodigality.”
The conclusion is particularly strong and challenging engaging with the parable of the dishonest manager in Luke 16. The punchline is "you cannot serve God and money."
Thursday, August 20, 2015
What is so amazing about science? What is so amazing about Jesus?
Here are the slides for the talk I am giving tomorrow at Jesus Week, organised by a student Christian group.
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