Retraction

As an avid user of Apple computers and products since 1992 (largely because they work and I can use them), I listened with interest to a January 2012 story on This American Life on working conditions in Chinese factories which produce Apple products. I was riveted, however, by this week's episode, which details the fabrications in that story. The show's host, Ira Glass, has an uncomfortably honest conversation with monologuist Mike Daisey. As far as I can tell, no pauses or hesitations were edited out; the raw emotion is pretty difficult to take.

Since its inception, This American Life has produced compelling radio. Now the production staff has taken an unmitigated disaster for its reputation and not only mitigated it: they've turned it into a triumph of the form they've done so much to pioneer.

Tempted

"Squeeze" comes after "Springsteen" and before "Sting," which gives you some idea as to where I am in my project to convert my old audiocassettes into mp3 files. Hence, Tempted, which is perhaps Squeeze's greatest greatest hit (if you follow me) has been stuck in my head for about a week now, and I still can't figure out the lyrics.

Yes. I know it's about someone being tempted. I did, in fact, go to college.

My trouble lies in the song's narrative. This isn't I Am the Walrus; clearly, there's a story here being told through all the clever wordplay. I just can't put it together.

So. Please produce a stanza-by-stanza analysis. Bonus points for witty literary references and comments on Elvis Costello's contributions as a producer and vocalist.

A happy vernal equinox to you

Because Tom Lehrer is a genius, that's why.

Modern Church Service

A member of our congregation sent me a link to this YouTube parody of the average evangelical worship service. It's funny, but also raises once again a fairly basic question: if modern evangelical worship has locked itself into extremely predictable rituals, why not return to the richer rituals developed by the Church over the last 2000 years?

Life in the Spirit

The Beeson podcast this week offered up a 1993 lecture by Gordon Fee on the role of the Holy Spirit in Paul's doctrine. Fee has some intriguing observations as to why the Spirit, so integral to everything in the New Testament, has tended to be forgotten in the doctrinal life of the Church. He argues, with some persuasiveness, that the eventual displacement of adult conversion with infant baptism as the predominant means by which members are added to the Church has the inevitable consequence of making a personal experience of a new coming of the Holy Spirit rather rare.

Thankfully, though Fee is an Assembly of God minister and does (wrongly) call for a revival of extraordinary charismata, he argues that the institutional life of the Church is itself a work of the Spirit and also calls attention to the importance of hymnody for personal experience of the Spirit's presence in the life of the Church. All in all, a very helpful contribution for someone (sadly) outside the Presbyterian world.

World's Greatest Thank-you Note. Ever.

Let's hear it for good manners!

Racer 5

I am not ashamed to admit I will try a beer for no other reason than an attractive label. When I was at Denver's Falling Rock Taphouse with Pa Curmudgeon last summer, my inner six-year-old couldn't help but notice the very Speed Racerish Racer 5 IPA taphead. I've been back several times and had Racer 5 on each occasion. It may not be the greatest IPA ever, but the logo makes it a thrill. Since it comes from a California brewery, I've only ever had it on tap. Someday, I hope to pick up a six-pack, although that would probably mean setting foot in California again.

In the meantime, Bear Republic has an online gift shop with a good assortment of Racer 5-emblazoned caps and t-shirts. Just in case you were wondering what to get me for this Lenten season.

Frankly, he was my 4th favorite Monkee

Nonetheless, it's a little sad to learn Davy Jones died today. The Monkees' ouevre is much maligned, but stands up very well as an example of well-crafted 60s-era post-British Invasion pop. I'm not only not embarassed to be a Monkees fan, but take a perverse pride in my acquaintance with cuts deep into their catalog (largely acquired during high school, of course).

Yup: I'm still a believer.

Getting some clarity on "never again"

In a story entitled "Early Decision: Will new advances in prenatal testing shrink the ranks of Jews negroes girls babies with Down syndrome?," this week's Time magazine presents a sensitive and reasonable exploration of the decisions facing parents with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. That is, if "sensitive" and "reasonable" can be sanely applied to an article which never mentions the nowhere-more applicable term "genocide."

Why would Down syndrome babies not be wanted in our society? Because they won't grow up as smart as other people, that's why. What better reason to exterminate a class of people? At any rate, they certainly won't be bright enough to make the careful distinction between bad Nazi eugenics and good college-educated 21st-century American eugenics.

Let's just admit the obvious: the next time an American politician says "Never again" on Holocaust Remembrance Day, what he or she means is "Let us never again kill six million Jews in Germany in the 1930s and 40s." I'm glad we all learned that important moral lesson.

Life experience & academic degrees

Our great state's legislature is looking at ways to encourage state universities to award college credit to students for "life experience." To the extent schools recognize expertise gained in other environments which can be tested and demonstrated, I suppose I have no objection. But in my life experience, this variety of college credit is about something else entirely.

While in seminary, I remember an older student complaining that he had to complete the same course-load as all the other M.Div. students when he believed his longer-than-average life experience would better qualify him for the pastorate than his younger classmates. To a great extent, I agreed and agree with him, which is why I always advise young men interested in the pastorate to get a real job for at least a few years before beginning formal studies for the ministry. However, I believe my classmate erred in thinking greater maturity is the same thing as academic accomplishment. Presbyterians have high academic standards for ministerial candidates because we believe an educated clergy is necessary to rightly handle and preach the Bible. All the life experience in the world won't give you expertise in Greek, Hebrew, or systematic theology.

Granting college credit for "life experience" is, ultimately, an admission that the degree awarded is not a recognition of academic accomplishment, but instead a license to apply for a job. Consider the abysmal ignorance of the clergy in liberal protestant denominations, many of whom attended seminaries which grant credit for life experience. They are confident the Bible is not the Word of God in any truthful or meaningful sense, but lack the ability to even read the Scriptures in the original languages. If the "life experience" virus infects the public universities as well, what has long been de facto will also become de jure: graduates will have pieces of paper, but precious little learning.