Bound to a Weight of Glory

"When slave owners try to Christianize their slaves, they bring Jesus in two forms — one is as a..."

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:00:57 -0800

“

When slave owners try to Christianize their slaves, they bring Jesus in two forms — one is as a servant and that’s to say, ‘Hey look, service is good, service is godly so your work service is good.’ But they also present Jesus as master … you have to follow his lead to not lie, not steal. But when slaves take this Jesus, how they reconnect the dots is to say, ‘OK, well if Jesus is master, then my earthly master isn’t my only one, he’s not my most powerful one, in fact I have a master above my master … and that master can challenge the slave owner, can teach a higher law.’ And then when we get to service, when slaves hear that Jesus was a servant, they say, ‘Hey wait a second, he also suffered, he was crucified, but that wasn’t the rest of the story. The rest of the story was he was resurrected and not only was Jesus resurrected, but he resurrected his friends in the story of Lazarus.’

So for African Americans who have death all around them — and not just literal death, but also the death of families, you know when you see your wife or child sent away … Jesus has resurrection power for him and his friends. So what slaves do is they basically take those models of master and of servant and they just connect them differently than the way the slave masters intended and they create basically a wholly new form of Protestant Christianity.

”

- Edward J. Blum on how slave owners presented the image of a white Jesus (via nprfreshair)
:)

theatlantic: The Story of the Only American Not on Earth on...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:37:59 -0700

theatlantic:

The Story of the Only American Not on Earth on September 11th

On September 11, 2001, three people were not on Earth: Russian astronauts Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov, and American Frank Culbertson, making Culbertson the only American not on Earth during the 9/11 attacks.

Over the course of that night and into the following few days, Culbertson wrote a letter to those at home, and his words echo that orbital perspective Garan describes. “It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point,” he wrote. “The dichotomy of being on a spacecraft dedicated to improving life on the earth and watching life being destroyed by such willful, terrible acts is jolting to the psyche.”

Read more. [Image: NASA]

theatlantic: A Pod of Dolphins Gets Up Close and Personal With...

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:24:58 -0700

theatlantic:

A Pod of Dolphins Gets Up Close and Personal With an Underwater Camera

This stunning video footage is so crisp and clear that skeptical commenters believe it’s computer generated. Mark Peters insists it’s real — he shot it with a cheap HD GoPro camera in a DIY plastic “torpedo” case, designed to document his tuna fishing expedition off the coast of Santa Cruz. The strange contraption attracted the attention of a pod of dolphins, who decided to tag along for a bit.

davidryanandersson: Batman Rogues Gallery

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:55:05 -0700

davidryanandersson:

Batman Rogues Gallery

"All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a..."

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:25:25 -0700

“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

- George Orwell, on writing.

theatlantic: Attack of the Killer Fans: Why Are South Koreans...

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:11:13 -0700

theatlantic:

Attack of the Killer Fans: Why Are South Koreans Are Afraid of ‘Fan Death’?

What could be more peaceful than a night of rest with a little fan gently blowing the air of your bedroom across your body? It sounds harmless — unless, perhaps, you are from South Korea, where there is a widespread belief in “fan death,” the mortal danger of sleeping in a closed room with an electric fan. Many fans in South Korea come equipped with timers so that they will not remain on throughout the night. The Korea Herald called the belief ” one of Korea’s best-known urban legends.”

No one seems to know why this belief persists, given that its position as a medical condition is dubious. There is some speculation that it has its origins in 1970s efforts by the South Korean government to curb energy use. The natural tendency is to write it off as some kind of crackpot belief.

While it seems likely that the reported cases of fan death have other causes, such as excessive drinking or undiagnosed heart conditions, the relationships between beliefs and physical health are tough to pin down.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

"Gatsby is a book that has come to mean something to peoplethat sometimes feels disconnected from the..."

Tue, 29 May 2012 11:40:03 -0700

“Gatsby is a book that has come to mean something to peoplethat sometimes feels disconnected from the book itself. Fitzgerald great trick was to write about two people who wanted each other, but not write a love story. Of course I root for Daisy to leave Tom every time. But my rooting is wrong, and by the end of the book, Fitzgerald has really shown you why. Daisy is the one that got away—except you have no idea what that means. That “one” isn’t some better future. She is a person—a indelibly flawed American. Like you.”

- Ta-Nehisi Coates, on The Great Gatsby.

Abbey at Monte Cassino, Italy.

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:03:43 -0700

Abbey at Monte Cassino, Italy.

theatlantic: If We Are What We Read, Who Are We, Exactly? We...

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:53:53 -0700

theatlantic:

If We Are What We Read, Who Are We, Exactly?

We love books for being books. But books are more than just words on pages, lovely or terrible adventures, weird imaginings, plot twists and romances and things that would never happen to us in real life and therefore we should read about. Books have the power to change us—but not just in our minds, apparently. According to research recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Geoff Kaufman of Tiltfactor Laboratories at Dartmouth College and Lisa Libby of Ohio State, the act of reading of and identifying with a fictional character means also that we tend to subconsciously adopt their behavior. In reading about our favorite characters, we may actually become more like them.

Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: Shutterstock]

Time to read less antiheroes and more biblical heroes.

theatlantic: What the U.S. Can (and Can’t) Learn From Israel’s...

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:30:13 -0700

theatlantic:

What the U.S. Can (and Can’t) Learn From Israel’s Ban on Ultra-Thin Models

On March 19, the Israeli parliament passed legislation ubiquitously known in the country as the Photoshop laws. The new regulations on the fashion and advertising industry ban underweight models as determined by Body Mass Index and regulate Photoshop usage in media and advertising. Abroad, the laws have opened new discussion on a government’s right to intervene in these two industries.

The legislation focuses on two elements of the fashion industry that have long drawn criticism for their effects on women and, especially, girls: ultra thin models and the use of Photoshop to make women appear impossibly thin in advertisements. The measure has been controversial within Israel for raising the question of where free speech bumps up against the fashion industry’s responsibility — and its possible harm — to its customers’ psychological wellbeing. It has also raised the question of whether other countries might consider similar measures to address what many activists consider a root cause of an epidemic of anorexia and other eating disorders.

Read more. [Image: AP]

iheartclassics: “Yes, I know most of you just grab the book and...

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:00:19 -0700

iheartclassics:

“Yes, I know most of you just grab the book and open the cover, but this is about respect, people! Follow protocol, and your reading experience will be technically enjoyable.”

Lol.

maloriebrooke:

I just loved this. We must care for the things we cherish. :)

"Sitting for long periods of time — when you don’t stand up, don’t move at all — tends to cause..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:59:31 -0700

““Sitting for long periods of time — when you don’t stand up, don’t move at all — tends to cause changes physiologically within your muscles. You stop breaking up fat in your blood stream, you start getting accumulations of fat … in your liver, your heart and your brain. You get sleepy. You gain weight. You basically are much less healthy than if you’re moving.””

- If you’re reading this Tumblr post while sitting down, stand up! Here’s more reasons why. (via nprfreshair)

"Death is unnatural and unpleasant. In one sense it presents us with a terrible finality. Death is..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:02:07 -0700

“Death is unnatural and unpleasant. In one sense it presents us with a terrible finality. Death is the end. Yet in every situation death is the way to life. So if we want to live we must die. And we will be willing to die only when we see the glories of the life to which death leads. This is the radical, paradoxical Christian perspective. Truly Christian people are accurately described as “those who are alive from the dead.””

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"The Bible promises life through death, and it promises life on no other terms."

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:02:09 -0700

“The Bible promises life through death, and it promises life on no other terms.”

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"A refusal to be dependent on others is not a mark of maturity but immaturity."

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:02:04 -0700

“A refusal to be dependent on others is not a mark of maturity but immaturity.”

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"We are all designed to be a burden to others. You are designed to be a burden to me and I am..."

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:01:54 -0700

“We are all designed to be a burden to others. You are designed to be a burden to me and I am designed to be a burden to you. And the life of the family, including the life of the local church family, should be one of “mutual burdensomeness.” “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).”

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"The loyalty of Christian youth must be first and foremost to Christ himself. Nothing can take the..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:54:46 -0700

“The loyalty of Christian youth must be first and foremost to Christ himself. Nothing can take the place of the daily time of intimate companionship with the Lord…make time for it somehow and secure that it is real.”

- William Temple

"The poorer our vision of Christ, the poorer our discipleship will be, whereas the richer our vision..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:01:03 -0700

“The poorer our vision of Christ, the poorer our discipleship will be, whereas the richer our vision of Christ, the richer our discipleship will be.”

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"Away then with our petty, puny, pygmy Jesuses! Away with our Jesus clowns and pop stars! Away too..."

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:01:05 -0700

“Away then with our petty, puny, pygmy Jesuses! Away with our Jesus clowns and pop stars! Away too with our political Messiahs and revolutionaries! For these are caricatures. If this is how we think of him, then no wonder our immaturities persist.”

- John Stott, The Radical Disciple

"It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that...."

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:00:52 -0700

“

It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t.

And it’s no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t.

But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his.

And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like his.

”

- William Temple