Odds and Ends

Writer’s Log: Stardate 26-1-12

Writing has so many small pleasures and today was full of them.

My day started by returning an op-ed to David Hicks, one of my writing students at Gordon College. He wrote a thoughtful piece about leadership that he is submitting to a contest run by the Washington Post. Gordon is, I believe, the only Christian college in the country invited to participate in the contest, thanks to the connections of the new president, Michael Lindsay.  David’s piece, which I edited just a bit for him, was an interesting speculation about the power of juxtaposing the resources and know-how of his father’s generation, with the passion and idealism of his own.

Then Carolyn Meckbach, another of my students, sent me an animated email message about getting an op-ed accepted at her hometown newspaper. I had nothing to do with that but I love watching my students get excited about writing.

My day ended with an email from Dean Nelson, alerting me to some great comments that Scot McKnight made about our book Quantum Leap, on his popular blog, Jesus Creed.

Here is a snippet of his review:

"Last year when I was speaking at Point Loma in San Diego — an incredible campus — I spent a little time with Dean Nelson and he told me his book on John Polkinghorne was coming out. I had not read much Polkinghorne at the time, I had read about him, I had read snippets, and what Dean was describing was just the sort of book I was interested in reading. Dean and Karl Giberson have written just the book: Quantum Leap: How John Polkinghorne Found God in Science and Religion (Monarch, 2011). I really enjoyed this well-written, engaging book and commend it heartily to you if you care to probe science and faith through the lens of one person’s life."

My thoughts did turn to Adam and Eve briefly today, while I was watching Misrepresentation tonight at Eastern Nazarene College. The most offensive part of that disturbing documentary about female images was a anti-feminist quote from Pat Robertson. It got me thinking about the role that Christianity plays in this complex and very serious social issue. Robertson is from the lunatic fringe of Christianity, of course, so I know he does not speak for many Christians. My intuition tells me that Christianity, on balance, is probably more a force for good in addressing the exploitation of women.  The Christian West, for all its flaws, seems have done better historically than some other cultural traditions. But I am not sure, especially as we enter the third millennium.

Everyone should go see this film though.