Are Australians greedy?

I found the above graphic striking.  It compares the average area per person occupant of new dwellings constructed in different countries. Note that Australians have more than 2.5 times the floor space of Brits and Swedes!

I saw the graphic in an article in the Weekend Property section of the Weekend Australian [it does not appear in the online version]. The graphic is from Stockland, an Australian real estate developer and contained in a recent presentation. They suggest that Australia needs to use its space more efficiently and they are leading the way in developing such houses (e.g. double story versus single story houses).

But, maybe we should ask the harder question: are we just a little bit greedy? Could we live with less?

Scientific and Biblical eschatology at AA-CC

I am looking forward to the Conference on the Church and the Academy at the end of June. There is still time to register and to submit papers. I just submitted an abstract for a talk,  A comparison of scientific and Biblical eschatology

How, when, and why will the world end? Both science and the Bible present pictures and possible scenarios for the end.Science tells us that the universe had a beginning, time has a direction (the arrow of time), and life, stars, and even the whole universe may come to an end.
I will review scientific discussions about how currently known physical laws do put constraints on the future. This has led some scientists to make statements about the future.
I will compare and contrast this scientific view of the future to Biblical eschatology which works with a different set of pre-suppositions. Furthermore, the predictions of science are of limited relevance to our personal lives, particularly because of the large timescales involved. In contrast, Biblical eschatology has significant personal implications.

I am planning this to be a development of a talk I have given previously in France, India, and Serbia.

This picture of the life cycle of stars is from nobelprize.org

Why hot desking is not so hot

Hot desking is the latest inane office management technique that economic rationalists have brought to the corporate world. It is a system where no-one in an office has their own desk; when they show up for work (if they are not travelling or tele-commuting) they are assigned a desk which they have to clear/empty at the end of the day. The touted advantage is that it saves office space and the associated costs, promotes "culture change", and leads to employees interacting with a wider pool of other employees and thus creating new synergies.
 
There is a short article Cold shoulder for hot desk layouts in the Weekend Professional section of todays Weekend Australian. [I can't find the article online]. The article points out how unpopular hot desking, making it harder for companies to hire new staff and retain current staff. Business is not just about space and infrastructure. Hot desking depersonalises the office space, makes it more stressful, and makes employees not feel being part of a team.

What is the underlying problem here? What does this have to do with theology? Well, it depends on your anthropology and your view of humanity. If you believe that at heart people are relational (as the Tri-une God is) and that is their primary need, mode of operation, and motivation, then any workplace should be structured accordingly.

Freedom to forgive

I am continuing to slowly work through Miroslav Wolf's Exclusion and Embrace: A theological exploration of identity, otherness, and reconciliation with a discussion group. This past week we discussed the first half of the chapter on Embrace. Here are a few quotes:

The central thesis of the chapter is that God’s reception of hostile humanity into divine communion is a model for how human beings should relate to the other. 

He considers this in terms of repentance, forgiveness, "making space in oneself for the other", and "healing of memory."

He critiques the modern notion that "Freedom is the most sacred good." The schema of "oppression" and "liberation", "victims" and "perpetrators" can be a problem because both often claim the higher moral ground and the relative roles are sometimes just determined by who is in fire. Furthermore, conflicts

"are very messy. It is simply not the case that one can construe narratives of the encournter between parties in conflict as stories of manifest evil on the one side and indisputable good on the other."          (p. 103)

He insists that love not freedom is ultimate.
Furthermore, there is no "final reconciliation", contrary to the offers of communism and the American constitution (my insertion).

I will advocate here the struggle for a nonfinal reconciliation based on a vision of reconciliation that cannot be undone....   reconciliation with the other will succeed only if the self, guided by the narrative of the triune God, is ready to receive the other into itself and undertake a re-adjustment of its identity in light of the other's alterity.  (p. 110) 

But who can we forgive? Under what conditions? I remembered once reading this story about Corrie Ten Boom being confronted with a Nazi prison guard asking for forgiveness.

Translating the meaning of Easter

I have been listening to my CD of the St. John Passion by J.S. Bach. I find I need to listen to it with the words. Since I could not find the notes that came with the CD I eventually looked online and found that the translation was quite different to the translations found online. Eventually, I did find the full notes from my CD, including the words of the Translation by Peter Pears and Imogen Holst].

I love the Aria [which you can listen to here].

To release me from this prison
of my transgression now my Saviour is bound.
From the scars of guilt's infection,
healing protection
we can find in his wounds.

This seems to me to be a much better translation than an earlier version:

From the bondage of my errors
Me to deliver
Is my Savior fettered.
He from all my body's torments, 
Fully to heal me, 
Lets himself be wounded. 


Soli Deo Gloria

Who will be the Judge?

How do you feel about God's judgement? Are you repulsed or comforted? How is God's judgement inextricably linked with the Resurrection of Jesus?
The sermon at church on Easter Sunday was based on Paul's speech in Athens recounted in Acts 17. Paul proclaims the identity of the "unknown God" who 

has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man [Jesus] whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

Jesus resurrection is a sign of judgement because in it he is setting things right in the world. The innocent Man no longer suffers unjustly but is vindicated. Man is freed from the sting and fear of death.

Popular post-modern culture may explicitly claim to dislike judgement. Being "judgemental" is the worst "sin" in a world that claims sin is just a social construct. But I contend that Western society today is actually schizophrenic in its attitude to judgement. Most newspapers articles and commentary implicitly cries out for "justice" and "condemns" the actions of others; whether corrupt politicians, ruthless businessmen, schoolyard bullies, vain pop stars, drunk football players, mindless bureaucrats, ....

On the other hand, our problem and dislike of judgement is that we just don't want it to apply to ourselves, those we love, or those we deem "innocent"! We want to be the judge and arbiter of who is judged and by what criteria!

Karl Barth expressed a balanced view of God's judgement [discussed in an earlier post] which critiqued our empathy with classical  "painters [who] imagined to some extent with delight how these damned folk sink in the pool of hell".

The Resurrection of Christ, Rubens (1611)

Dancing ideology

Last night I watched Mao's Last Dancer based on the autobiography of ballet dancer Li Cunxin. I highly recommend it. I appreciated the portrayal of the

• striking cultural contrasts between Communist China and Houston, Texas in the 1980's! 
• nature and totalitarian goals of Marxist-Leninist ideology
• social, artistic, and personal dimensions to the Cultural Revolution
• enduring importance of family, even to adult children

Another inspiring ballet-based movie I recommend (regardless of whether or not you like ballet) is Billy Elliot. It portrays an aspiring young male dancer in a completely different culture in the 1980's: a coal mining town in the north of England racked by strikes and the battle between miners unions and the Thatcher government!