Encore

I did say I might add a little bit occasionally.
It's been 3 weeks now since I've been back at work.  And finally, today, I have a zero inbox. All emails dealt with in some way. This is cause for celebration!

In those few weeks I've been asked to lead a workshop on using Audio/Visual in Worship.  I've also written a magazine article on being in a shed.  So the sabbatical was quite useful.
I'm also running a confirmation course with our new curate, Alan, and have been surprised at how much audio/visual media I had used last time, and the time before. That was some time ago: there does seem to be something of an A/V plateau effect.  Once you have your projector and computer, you have to be continually creative to do anything new with them.  I still don't know what comes next!
I've been plodding along with PowerPoint sermon illustrations mostly, with videos reserved for the confirmation class.  And KFC (Kids For Christ).

The main tech news of note recently has been the very sad death of Steve Jobs from Apple.  I don't think I was too mean to him in blogs gone by, looking back.  There aren't many tech people who have such a big impact on society.  He even made the prayers in Radio 4's Daily Service.
I had planned a birthday visit to the Apple shop last Thursday, but decided against it because i wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I think it was flowers, mostly.  And post-it note tributes.

Many people, including myself, noted that they had heard the news of Steve's death on one of his own iDevices.

1 Corinthians 15:13-15 (NIV)

¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.

End

Last day of my sabbatical today. I should be enthused and re-energised and ready to get back to work. Should be.
The trouble is it took at least a month to wind down, and so I don't think I'm going to be upto speed for a while yet!

Not sure what the future of this blog will be. I will most likely update it occasionally rather than regularly. I think it will be persistent thanks to the good folks of Google.

Thank you to everyone who's followed my adventures in technology and theology, especially those who have expended more effort on comments than I have on blogging!

Having read several books, I have decided that I really don't like reading. I suppose I will do that occasionally rather than regularly too. Kindle text-to-speech may come in useful.

I'm still playing around in photoshop, imagining projection systems in places that don't have them. Here's a 'photo' from Coventry, somewhere that affected me probably more than anywhere over the last few months.

Revelation 22
20 He who gives his testimony to all this says, "Yes indeed! I am coming soon!" So be it. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone.

Location:Shed

Shed

Shed in the news yesterday.  Not mine, but one beloning to Roald Dahl - his 'personal creative space' according to the lady from the museum.  Apparently it's going to take £500 000 to fix it up and move it into the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.  They could have mine for a lot less than that.

So this blog has at least something in common with giant peaches and chocolate factories with no health & safety regulations.

Sheds are excellent 'personal creative spaces'.  Probably something to do with controlling the environment.  They let you start simple, and stay there - only putting really necessary things in there.  (Assuming you have somewhere else for the lawnmower etc.)  Mostly, you can avoid putting distractions in there.  It helps to be in the garden too, away from people trying to get you to join the RSPCA, have your loft insulated or your (perfectly functioning) computer fixed.  Though such isolationism isn't something I can sustain post-sabbatical.

In my distraction-free shed I have  a couple of garden chairs, an old cardigan and a blanket.  This would presumably meet the criteria of most monastic traditions.  The great Celtic monks loved their cells where they would eat, sleep think and pray away their days.
They sometimes had fires for warmth though.  As the weather gets colder, I may have to consider how to keep warm in a wooden shed.  I don't have electricity - so no light either.

That's not too important as I can read my iPad in the dark - and I should mention that I can get a WiFi signal too.  And a 3G phone signal.  So, apart from being able to find almost any piece of information known, and being theoretically able to contact anyone in the whole world, I'm just like one of those heroic Celtic monks of old when I'm in my shed.

Roald Dahl's shed is apparently in a poor state of repair.  Sheds are not really meant to last like houses are. They are temporary dwellings.  Nice to stay a while, but I'll get back into the house and sleep in a warm bed inside, thank-you.  The distinction between a temporary and a permanent dwelling is an important one in scripture.

Tom Wright points out in Surprised by Hope, that the start of John 14 is often misrepresented in the context of bereavement (it's the most common reading at funeral services).  The Father's house of many rooms is equated with heaven and permanently resting in peace.  Since the word translated 'rooms' is mone, meaning a temporary resting place, we should think of this as representing a step along the way to bodily resurrection. And this is what the early Christians had in mind.

John 14 GNB

“Do not be worried and upset,” Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me. ²There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. ³And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. ⁴You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.” 

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?” 

6 Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. 

Muzak Mystery

My Sabbatical comes to an end this time next week!  Not sure I like the idea of that.

But by way of compensation, I have just solved one of the greatest mysteries in the universe!

In a local garden centre recently, I was sure I heard them playing a piece of music I recognised. In fact the same music I'd also thought I'd heard in B&Q and a number of other places. Unlikely though, I always thought, due to the obscurity of the track. Listening to the album this afternoon I realised it was Matthew - The Man from The Book of Kells by the wonderful Iona. My favourite Celtic-prog-folk-jazz-rock Christian band!  Who have a new album out.  (I even have the same Fernandes Dragonfly sustainer as Dave their guitarist.)

So after a bit of googling, it turns out that Dunelm Mill, B&Q, Wilko, McDonalds, Meadowhall, Kwik Save, Food Giant, Carphone Warehouse, and many more chains often play this Christian music in their stores. Possibly more than many other tracks. As far as I can gather it's because this is a default track on the music software that they use. Possibly one that gets played when there is a system error - like another track that was selected somewhere isn't available locally. Like when the Internet connection is down. So the more copper cable that gets stolen, the more Christian music gets played throughout the land! Rejoice!

Colossians 3:16 (NLT)

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

Shallow

Breaking fast at the cathedral this morning with Canon Jules, we were referred to a book called The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. The thesis of the book (which I haven't read) is apparently that the Internet is making people stupid. I'm not convinced it's going to be convincing, but a more subtle point is more important. Which is that the Internet is changing the way we think. More specifically, the way we read.

I had started to think that I don't do much reading, because (apart from sabbaticals and reading weeks) I rarely read books. But then I realised that I probably read more words than ever, it's just that they're on a screen. And for once I'm not talking about the display format; the distinction is between one long text and many shorter texts. A book is the former, the Internet is the latter.

I probably won't get round to reading the whole book, but will read a few summaries on the Internet. Thus possibly proving the thesis of the book which I haven't read - and which jumps around a lot anyway!

The problem with avoiding whole books is that we may never read a long, deep argument through from start to finish. Apparently.
I'm not convinced. I think books are too long, for a start. Ok that's a generalisation; but there are far too many books which should be the length of a Grove Booklet, which have another 200 pages of padding to make them publishable. That's something the Internet and ebooks may improve. Also, books tend to not come with animated diagrams and active hyperlinks, which is always a disadvantage in my mind.

Back to this morning, and Canon Jules made an interesting link between the secular idea of Slow Reading and the lectio divina - a traditional way of reading scripture which allows time for contemplation, meditation and prayer.
We do need to slow down in our reading. The need to spend time with a text is vital to authentic study of the scriptures.
(I think Canon Jules was confusing this with another idea though - the length of a piece of scripture we read in lectio divina is often quite short - similar in length to an Internet news article. )
I always like a video clip to make a point, and this morning we were treated to Fiddler on the Roof. Never seen it myself - due to it being a musical - But was quite surprised at some of the lyrics. Once you get past the rather odd - if not plain lazy - bits like "If I were a biddy biddy rich, Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man", it turns out that the goal of the wannabe rich man is apparently to discuss the scriptures for 7 hours a day. That would be the sweetest thing. Most laudable. I've heard that a Jewish boy on his first day of learning about the Torah would be given a taste of honey, and told that God's word should be equally sweet.


Revelation 10:9
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."

Location:Cathedral

Help

Had a short break in Llandudno. For anyone unfamiliar, it is a postcard-picture pretty town on the North Wales coast that has somehow retained it's Victorian character. There is a long seafront, ideal for walking or jogging - both of which I've done there.

I'm not very good at running. I do of course have some helpful technology. I have a wireless transceiver in my shoe that talks to either my watch or my phone. And if I take my phone for a run, it can log exactly where I've been using GPS, and how long it took to get there. It even gives me a cheer every time I pass a 1km mark! (Or it did until I found that a bit annoying.)
This is of course mixed with my 'Running' MP3 playlist. And at the end of the run, an unknown American athlete says 'Good job!' or some other grating transatlantic colloquialism. And then all the data is logged onto a website so I can see how I'm doing relative to previous runs. All very encouraging!


But does any of that technology actually make running any easier?
Not really. It still requires the same amount of effort, the same number of steps, the same will to get up rather than stay in bed.
It does help though to have a bit of digital encouragement, to know there's (a virtual) someone alongside me, that I'm not on my own. And sometimes to look back at my data and see I've achieved a goal. There are health benefits too I presume - not being ill is something that's easily taken for granted.

Now in best vicaring tradition: .. And God is a little bit like that.
God works in our lives in a similar way to how technology helps me to run. Ŵe still have to work hard - even just to be motivated to do God's work at all. Sometimes we don't feel like we've achieved much for God until we take time out to look back. Just knowing that God is alongside us is encouragement to keep going. And sometimes we hear a whisper from someone else, or something we've seen or read, that we know is being passed on from above.

John 14:26
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

Location:Llandudno - Leeds-Liverpool canal

OHP

The Overhead Projector (OHP) has it's fans. Well usually just one actually, to keep the bulb cool. But really, readers - you know who you are!

There is a kind of technological inertia whereby people adopt a certain level of gadgetry with which they are comfortable, and which seems to do the job, and stick with it. Nothing wrong with that of course. Though tech does tend to improve all the time, and once you've seen that there is something so much better than you have now, you might have a rethink.

I've been away interloping at a conference of the Northumbria Community and the Anabaptist Network, held at the home of the Order of the Holy Paraclete. Met some great people, heard some new ideas and appreciated the theological input.
There is, however, a bit of a conflict between monasticism and technology. The 'simple' lifestyle may not have room for a computer.
The problem is, if there is a technological line to be drawn, where do you draw it?
What level of technology is permissible?

A projector and laptop were used some of the time. Other people seemed uncomfortable even with their unpowered presence.

I wonder what requires more technology - reading liturgy from a piece of paper, or from a projection on a wall?
The latter usually requires a laptop and a projector - hitech items both.
Giving everyone a bit of paper is clearly the way of simplicity.
Except that it's not. I did promise not to talk paper any more, but...

Firstly you need a couple of hundred sheets of blank paper. That has been produced from trees grown thousands of miles away - pulped, bleached, pressed, dried, cut, packaged - using vast amounts of computer controlled machinery. It has to be delivered, again using transport machines. Someone then has to use a computer to combine text and graphics, and put an image on one piece of paper using an inkjet or laser printer. This is then usually duplicated using a combined digital scanner/laser printer called a photocopier. Finally, everyone can be given a copy. Though by this time we'll have to switch our electric lights on so everyone can read it.

Somehow people see this as a simpler process than using the computer as above, and connecting it to a projector pointed at a wall.

Human self-deception knows no bounds. We aren't usually interested in where our stuff comes from. I'm sure a visit to an abattoir would turn most people vegetarian.

I should perhaps have included a third option above - the way of the OHP. Quite a simple device with a bulb, fan, and lens. You scrawl on a transparent film which the light shines through, onto a wall. That is the simplest of all 3 options, and arguably the most ecologically sound.


It was with some barely concealed amusement then that I arrived at the community of the Order of the Holy Paraclete. The Paraclete is of course the Holy Spirit, from the word used in John's gospel. John gives us a unique understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. The word means someone who stands by us, sticks up for us, defends us against accusation.

The OHP sisters were of course quite delightful ladies, very lively and full of the joy of the Holy Spirit. Not at all like the image of the Mother Superior beloved of inferior dramas. These are people who know what it's like to walk with the Paraclete.

John 14:16 New International Version (NIV)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—

Location:Whitby

Soul

When was the last time you backed up the data on your computer?
If you think the data is valuable to you, you should have a very recent backup in a very safe place. I'm not intending to induce cyberguilt today though, but something much more important.

What is the human soul? Is it an immaterial something that inhabits our bodies, floating away when we die, hopefully to be with God? That's one use of the word. Or is it used in the Bible in the 'Old King Cole' sense of a human personality?

Perhaps the soul could be described in the language of today's technology as the information that makes us us. The data that defines who we are. The software that runs on the computers we know as human brains. Technology provides us with a hitherto unavailable analogy for what the soul is.


Software, or at least data, can be transferred from one computer to another, as older ones break down and wear out. In fact I will take a very lazy option now and paste a chunk of my website that I first published in 1997 (with some updated numbers). Because the data is persistent and is still there. Good thing it was not on paper! (I promise I won't mention that again)



A person consists not in the physical structure which facilitates our thoughts, the human brain, but in the information which describes the interconnexions that are there. It's not the hardware that's important, it's the software.

I used to write games for computers with about 48 000 bytes of working memory. I can still run those games now, on my computer with 4 000 000 000 bytes - but they go a lot faster. If I'd programmed one of those "learning" algorithms, and let it use any available memory, it'd now have a stupendously greater capacity for "learning" than I imagined when I wrote it 25 years ago.

So what? Well, I believe God is at least as careful when he makes backups as I was back when I wrote programs. If he's at all bothered about us, he'll keep a copy of the software even if he allows the hardware to break. We are the software - we get to run again on the spiritual equivalent of some future supercomputer, long after our brains and this universe have gone away. This heightened state of being, together with its correspondingly magnified relationship with God, is what is commonly called "heaven".


John 11:38-44 NIV
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Location:Shed

Virtuality

According to Oxford philosopher and general clever chap Nick Bostrom, the chances are that we don't exist. At least not in the way we think. It's more likely that we live inside a computer simulation, and suffer from an illusion that we are real.
There is some substance to his argument. Even Richard Dawkins thinks it's hard to refute. Because you can't use evidence. If you were in the Matrix, or were Captain Pike in the Menagerie, or just a brain in a jar, being fed a virtual reality that someone had chosen for you, you wouldn't know.* And you would have no way of finding out. Unless there was a fault with the virtuality - like a computer glitch - the available evidence would tell you that your virtual reality was actual reality.

So is real real or not? The honest answer is that we don't know, but it's probably better to act as if it is. Which, thankfully, is the default philosophical position of everyone who's never worried about it.
That would be to my mind a Christian approach to it. There may not be objective evidence we can point to that proves there is anything beyond this life. But there is plenty of subjective evidence. People talk about having an experience of God. And we can see their lives transformed in many cases. I believe that anyone can find that opening your mind to the possibility of God being real is an important first step. An honest seeking, followed by wilfully putting ourselves into God's hands is all that God is after. Then comes a knowing - a deep sense that God is at least as real as anything else.

I can't help feeling that Bostrom's scenario is a little too tied into current ways of understanding technology. Strip that away and there is something paralleling common theistic belief about the world.
I believe that we do live in a specially created reality. That we were put into a situation where it all seems quite real, but that there is actually more to it than meets the eye. There is a programmer, whom we call God. God created everything, including our consciousness and the environment that supports it; and takes an interest in what we do: how we respond to each other and to God.
A further parallel is what we believe about the afterlife. If you enter a virtual reality, such as an immersive video game, you will probably at some point get yourself killed. Except that's not the end. You just start again. Or maybe if you're tired of that game, you find a better one. Because it's not "you" that's died, it's just a character you were controlling for a time. Game Over is not.
And so when we shuffle off this mortal coil, we discover that reality is not what we thought it was. It's absurd to think we had it all worked out. Perhaps that's why there isn't too much in the Bible about it.
Oh dear too much text here already. I'll have to finish this off tomorrow.
Meanwhile, some intensely beautiful words from C.S. Lewis and then some Bible.

“And suddenly all was changed. I saw a great assembly of gigantic forms all motionless, all in deepest silence, standing forever about a little silver table and looking upon it. And on the table there were little figures like chessmen who went to and fro doing this and that. And I knew that each chessman was the idolum or puppet representative of some one of the great presences that stood by. And the acts and motions of each chessman were a moving portrait, a mimicry or pantomine, which delineated the inmost nature of his giant master. And these chessmen are men and women as they appear to themselves and to one another in this world. And the silver table is Time. And those who stand and watch are the immortal souls of those same men and women.”
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, chapter 14

Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with mankind! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. 4 He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared." 5 Then the one who sits on the throne said, "And now I make all things new!"


* Captain Pike was in the best ever episode of Star Trek, which was cobbled together using clips from before it got dumbed down. If you knew that, you are a geek.
Brains in jars don't really work - almost the whole human body is required to provide the working environment for one.

Location:Shed

Limitless

Visited Christ Church Southport this morning. Great music group, and very friendly. They didn't seem to bother with liturgy though. Maybe that was at the earlier service. Maybe it was because they used SongPro or something instead of PowerPoint (just re-read a grove booklet - PowerPoint is intrinsically Anglican!)
Ormskirk MotorFest this afternoon.
Then home for F1, an omelette, and a film. "Limitless". Which was about taking drugs, or possibly drinking coffee. The premise is that there's a drug that enables you to use the 80% of your brain that you don't normally use, and so it makes you very smart. An interesting idea, although of course functional MRI scanning has shown that we do use pretty much all our brains anyway. The fictional drug in the film is far more powerful than any real neuroenhancer. I was hoping there would be a moral point about how the effects of drugs never lasts, but that seemed missing by the end.

There's still an embedded question of some interest though: what would it be like to be smarter? Cleverer? In a nod to Groundhog Day, the "hero" learns to play the piano, in just a few days. And is able to learn other languages, and analyse the stock Market. That kind of thing.

I always wanted to be clever. Really clever, not just quite clever or slightly above average at some things, or vaguely interested in the things that clever people are interested in. My memory has never been very good, though. I avoided memory-intensive subjects at school, like Latin. I liked chess until I found out that to be really good you had to memorise other people's games. The guy in Unlimited has perfect recall. My memory has never been very good.
Did I mention that?

We sang a nice song this morning - There Is a Day. Though I had to check for eschatological exaggeration. "We will meet Him in the Air" gets me a bit nervous It's the most obvious translation, though if the "Air" means the sky means the place of clouds means the place of God's presence then there's less levitation involved which I'd really prefer.
Once we get rid of the idea of an entirely spiritual life in heaven, and get down to the more biblical resurrection of the body (because that's what happened to Jesus) then we can start to ask, what kind of body? People in St Paul's churches had already got that far in their thinking; we are far behind them theologically in many ways.

I'd like to think the resurrection body has greater capacity in every way. I might finally be able to remember things. I wouldn't expect that we'd suddenly be able to play the piano. But the capability would be there. And with (enjoyable) study, the end result would I expect be better than anything we know in this world. Unless it's all harps, of course. Maybe we only get one string each? Then we'd only get harmony by learning to play together. The music group or orchestra models community. Or should do.

It's getting late now, so I'll get on to the technological metaphor for the resurrection tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's St Paul - possibly failing to know that seeds aren't dead, but merely dormant:

1Corinthians 15
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

Location:Shed

Paper

In my capacity as a school governor, I regularly get emails which feature this injunction:

"Please consider the environment before printing this email"

This is a continual source of amusement to me. Why would I print an email? And why would I do so after considering the environment?
Surely if I consider the environment I'd be even less likely to print an email? Even less likely than 0%. Well maybe not zero. I have very occasionally printed an email for someone that didn't have a computer. Despite the growing ranks of silver surfers, I know there are still people like that!

Another similar thing happens every day when I get an email from United Christian Broadcasters. They're obviously well up with technology - in fact I downloaded their app this morning. I do like their daily devotional email, which is usually the first thing i read in a morning, and often hits the spot. (you could subscribe to it here i think) But then further down the page it says, Can we send you a copy? Meaning they'd really like me to have the paper versions of the thing I just read for this quarter. How odd! What a waste of a tree that would be.

Somehow many people have an underlying assumption - I could even say prejudice - that a 'hardcopy' of some information is the superior format. This seems to come from years of conditioning that an electronic version is somehow temporary, insubstantial.

A dear friend bought a laptop and used it to compose his sermons. He would then print them out, and having preached he would stash the paper away in storage. Then he would delete the computer file. Exactly the opposite of what I do! If for some reason I can't use my iPad and I do have to print out a sermon, the paper version doesn't survive the day. But the digital version is there for when I search my computer the next time the same topic comes up. (Not that I believe in recycling sermons - just the paper it's written on).

Paper is very fragile stuff. Having a single paper copy of any document or book is not exactly reliable. It doesn't compare well with the book I'm currently reading, which I have downloaded on 4 separate devices, and can be recovered from Amazon's servers should I somehow lose all 4.

Paper as we know it hasn't always been around of course - it is a relatively modern technology. Before that there was clay tablets, papyrus, and parchment. All rather fragile - and so the only way an ancient document is likely to reach us is if it was copied. More copies mean more chance of a whole document surviving down the ages.

This is True for the New Testament more than any other book. There are some quite staggering statistics about this that people should know about. There is some information on this in the Alpha Course book. For instance, there are just 8 surviving copies of work by the Ancient Greek, Herodotus, from the 3rd century BC. These copies date from the 10th Century AD. Or take Livy’s Roman History, written 59 BC – 17 AD. Again we don't have the original, but we have about 20 copies dating back to 900 AD. So what are the figures for the New Testament? How many copies of the originals do we have, and how long after the events were these copies made?
Well there are incomplete copies dating back to within a few decades, not centuries of the events themselves, and the complete document from about 350 AD. But the amazing thing is the number of those copies. Not just a few - 10 or 20 which are enough for any other document to be considered perfectly legitimate. In fact there are 5000+ Greek, 10000 Latin, and 9300 other language versions in existence. The Bible really is far and away the most reliable ancient document. Nothing else is even in the same league. And yet people question it's origins and its veracity, while glibly accepting Roman histories on comparatively the flimsiest of evidence.




John 5:39-40
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Location:Shed

Apps

Having directly caused the demise of Apple with my blog this week, I thought I'd continue in a similar vein today before I get back to something more theological.

Computing is short of words. There are massive new concepts being thrown up by technological advance, and English is not keeping up well. Sometimes an analogy is made between a technological object and an "old-world" thing. Like a "notebook" for instance, which is the industry word for a laptop. Monitor, screen, keyboard; all are horribly derivative terms. Mouse is an unusually good one - though I haven't used one of those for months. And I find it annoying that there is still no agreed term for a USB memory device - drive - thumb drive, pen-drive, memory stick, whatever you call it (but I might not!). PCs sometimes include Macs, sometimes don't. Occasionally they're politically correct police constables.

I used to write computer 'programs'. So called because a programme is a list of events, and computers process things sequentially. Then someone came up with the word 'application' - i.e. Software that puts your general purpose computer to a particular task. In what seems like a recent development, that too-long word has become abbreviated to "app". Which is a good thing because it differentiates and creates. (see Genesis 1)

Apple have a slogan, "there's an app for that". In case you missed it, they're saying that if you have an iPhone or similar device, you can get it to do pretty much anything by downloading an app from their store. Apple have made this incredibly easy to do, and have of course profited from it enormously. But also they have brought down the price of software - many apps are free, and even top-notch ones are only a few pounds. And it's also opened the way for some 'minority' software to be viable, and accessible.

There are some astonishing apps out there - like the one that translates signs from Spanish to English when you look at them through your iPhone's camera. I use a guitar tuner app, and another that gives you a complete guitar effects unit, and if I take my phone for a run it can tell me exactly where and how slowly I went.
There are many Bible apps: I use one that has simultaneous commentaries and several versions of the Bible.
Another couple of apps that I use regularly are daily devotional ones.

MyCofE was produced for the church of England, and has the text of several daily services available every day, both BCP and CW.
It is technically outdone though by the Divine Office app, of a decidedly Catholic persuasion. I actually prefer this one because it has both a service text and an audio track of some people saying the service. There's even an option to show you where in the world people are currently praying! (using that particular app, anyway). It's quite amazing to think of all the people around the world in prayer at one moment. If technology can help us to visualise that, to see God's point of view, then surely it is a good thing.


Matthew 5:14
"You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

Location:Shed

Apple 2

Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer Inc.) is an American consumer electronics company that was the world's most valuable company (for a time) this month. It changed the way the way people buy music from physical formats (CDs) to digital downloads, and will probably do the same with video.
Many people simply like and buy their products; but for some, there seems to be a 'brand loyalty' that borders on the religious.

I ventured into the world of Apple because of the iPhone. That was the top of a slippery slope and I now have 4 or 5 Apple things. But I hope I keep them in perspective.
For some years though I have known people who owned Apple Macintosh computers that insisted on telling me how their Mac was better than my Windows PC. In most respects they were probably right. The interesting thing is that they really felt the need to tell me. If only everyone in church was as enthusiastic about evangelism as some of the Mac owners I've known!

Apple devotees (fanboys) sometimes even develop the idea that Apple are always right, even when they are wrong, and need to be defended against the ignorant masses of unbelievers. In reality Apple make mistakes (e.g. Newton, one-button mouse, MobileMe reliability, bits of OSX Lion) - and these should be admitted and amended rather than denied and defended. But in some people's eyes, the Apple is perfect.
There is of course a doctrine of the perfection of God; but a parallel I see in this is more to do with defence of some more literal beliefs based on one reading of scripture, in the face of anything to the contrary.

According to many fans, Apple's resurgence in the last decade has been down to their esteemed leader, Steve Jobs (who today stepped down from his position of CEO due to ill health, though he remains chairman). He made famous appearances at Apple's staged events where he told the faithful how well Apple was doing and what they'd just invented. He was greeted with cheers whenever he appeared. Not many multinational company bosses get that kind of treatment. He has special clothes that he wears (black turtleneck & jeans) for giving his sermons to the faithful Apple congregation. And recently there was a kind of resurrection appearance. Mr Job's health is not good, but he came through a liver transplant well enough to take to the stage again before his retirement today.
I think I've done quite enough Messianic allusions there.

According to Andy Crouch (in an interesting article in Christianity Today), Steve Jobs peddles a 'secular form of hope'. In the first place, this hope is exemplified by technology itself. Because technology is maybe the one thing that clearly has always been improving. (This has a parallel in postmillennialism.) Apple has a knack of coming out with the shiniest, best-looking, most advanced new technology and bringing it to a market that it helps create with clever advertising. Technology is tangible, and so takes less faith than belief in any transcendent deity. If it is sold in a way that appears to provide some of the benefits of a 'proper' religion then it will have many takers.

But technology in general, and Apple in particular, have far less to offer than true religion. Tech can improve the lives of people (who can afford it) in the here and now. But in far less radical ways than the Christian gospel. Technology can be made to serve the gospel, but must never become an end in itself.

A shiny new Apple gadget can be exciting, and even extremely useful - but ultimately it can become a distraction from the real issues.

It can help us communicate, to stay in touch. But it can't create the love that makes us want to do that in the first place.

Then there is the ultimate reality of death. Even including some pathetic attempts at cryogenics, there is no technology that can keep people alive for ever. There is no technological hope beyond the grave. And so tech-hope itself is only short term.

The Apple faithful believe that there's always going to be a new Mac or iPhone just around the corner. But real faith is to believe that there is a purpose to everything, not just a user-interface paradigm that makes things work nicely together.

Christianity cuts across everything. Not just the small area of our lives that is enabled by technology. But it gives us a real reason for being. For wanting to create, belong, imagine, love, give, help, celebrate and all the important things in life. Technology can help us do those things, but it's never the reason why.

1Corinthians 13 (NLT)
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Apple 1

The apple has become a symbol of temptation, and giving in to it.
The fruit in Genesis isn't actually named, but that's the tradition.
Apple is also the name of the world's most successful technology company. Which this year became, briefly, simply the world's most valuable company. Some readers here are very familiar with the company. If you're one then you can probably skip this post and read the next one, where I'll look at Apple Inc. from a theological point of view.

Today I'm just posting a quick summary of what the company's been up to:

For many years Apple made computers. They were often a bit quirky, but came to be beloved of the creative computer using community. There was a certain snobbishness of some Apple users who looked down on 'lesser' Personal Computers which used DOS and then Windows.

Apple made a breakthrough 10 years ago with the first iPod. This used a computer hard disk to store music, which was played back through headphones. You could now copy most if not all your music off your CDs and keep it all instantly accessible on a device that fits in your pocket. This was a resounding success.

Apple continued to develop their range of computers too, to the point where they now offer the best machine in any category, albeit at a premium price.

But the big breakthrough was the iPhone - gadget combining a phone, iPod, internet, camera, and many many other functions. This was always going to sell in volume because phones sell in volume. The iPhone redefined what a phone could do, and everyone else has had to copy it.

Last year came the iPad - which invented a new category of device between phone and laptop. Apple have been remarkably inventive, and have reaped the rewards.

Despite all this, Apple's real strength has been combing software and hardware. They created excellent, user-friendly software for all their devices, inventing new user interfaces as they went.

And Apple changed the way the music industry works. Their online iTunes store is the way people buy music nowadays, rather than going to a "record shop". The next step is to do the same with video - and they're well on the way. Apple have skipped the Blu-Ray format entirely - it's no longer necessary. .

Apple's world domination should lead us to ask questions.
Why are they so successful?
Is that a good thing or not?
Are they leading us all into temptation with their shiny technology?
Is there a hidden cost to what they produce?

And a big question, which sounds a bit odd until you go a bit deeper:
Is Apple a religion?

After this substantial preamble I will look at that question in the next post.







Genesis 3:2-3
2 "We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden," the woman answered, 3 "except the tree in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even touch it; if we do, we will die."

Location:Cupertino

Organisation

What's the most expensive piece of technology in your church building?

In modern churches it may be a sound system or a projector - but is much more likely to be a central heating system.

However, if you have a 'traditional' church building It will probably be the pipe organ. They don't come cheap, and require constant maintenance from specialists. Other than the church roof, which is generally considered important, the "organ fund" provides perhaps the most common of financial pressures.

So why have churches traditionally invested so heavily in pipe organs?

There must have been some early resistance, given that the pipes were the most pagan of instruments, as played by Pan.

There was a time when church worship was led by mediaeval music groups. But with the invention of the organ (the most complex man-made object in existence at the time), I assume there was a spate of what I've previously referred to as "cathedral theology". The idea that if the pipe organ is the best musical instrument ever, that's the one we need in churches. Especially if the church down the road had one.

Alternatively, for some clergy, the organ represents an attempt to get the least number of people possible involved in leading the worship!


I have 4 weeks of sabbatical left now. Seems like it's coming to an end. And yet 4 weeks is still twice as long as any holiday I've taken. Ever. As far as I can think.
Still very odd to wake up with absolutely no plan for the day.
Time to take stock of what I have and haven't done.
One thing I have done is to teach myself a dozen or so worship songs, on the keyboard - half an hour a day well spent. The timing may be entirely coincidental, but I do apologise to our regular organist, who broke his arm yesterday, and wish him a speedy recovery!

I have a 2nd hand keyboard that a friend bought for my birthday, many years ago. I have an old 2nd hand Mac Mini computer next to it, and I spent £35 last week on a MIDI interface to connect them. Playing it all through an old music centre, I can now fill the room with the sound of a cathedral organ, or a symphony orchestra, or any other sample I can get into GarageBand. For a couple of hundred pounds in total.
It doesn't really sound like a proper church pipe organ though. But put through a decent church sound system, it would be close. Almost anyone could tell the difference. If you told them to listen for it.
But how much difference in audio quality is there between a digital system costing hundreds and a 'proper' organ costing tens or hundreds of thousands?
Can we really justify such a huge discrepancy between quality and cost?

When technology has become traditional, it's surprising how much money people are willing to throw at it!


Exodus 15:20-21 (ESV)
The prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took her tambourine, and all the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang for them: "Sing to the LORD, because he has won a glorious victory; he has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea."

Location:Shed

Invisibility

Decided to travel across West Lancashire and up the candle this morning for a service at St Cuthbert's. Rather good actually, thanks to Fr. Paul.
I was also impressed by the sound system. Didn't have any visible signs - no huge mixing desk at the back. Just little black speakers that I had to look hard to find. But with excellent sound quality. And the radio mic. was first rate.
All in all, then, some impressive technology. Because it wasn't noticeable. In fact, the most obvious technology on display was the light bulbs.
Ideally, technology should not be there, but it's effects should.
Impossible, of course, like the smile on the Cheshire cat.
But that is I think the ideal.

If you install a big screen at the front of a church, unsurprisingly people notice it. That is a problem. It usually takes a few weeks or even months before people forget that it's there, and concentrate on what's actually on the screen. Possibly some people never get there. I'm quite a fan of projecting onto walls rather than screens - it lessens the negative impact of the technology while still reaping the benefits (assuming the projector is bright enough).

There is a risk with any technology of the means supplanting the end that it's there for. Even, for example, with the ancient technology commonly called "books". Some people are interested in the way a book is bound, how it's cover is illustrated, the gilding on the edge of the pages. For some people, especially when buying a "Christening Bible" for instance, the book's appearance can become more important than the content.

In time, technology tends to get tinier. Which is good. Because that means it's disappearing. But it's still doing the same job, or probably a better one. A computer that would once have filled a house is now inside a mobile phone. In fact most of the tasks that needed a desktop computer 15 years ago can now be done on a smartphone. There are a couple of limitations though which currently limit the size of a phone.

Part of the genius of the iPhone was to throw away the stylus, but to have an onscreen keyboard. But keyboard size is fixed because of the size of people's fingers, and so there's no point trying to make a phone smaller.

More importantly perhaps, the screen needs to be big enough to show useful amounts of information. There have been attempts to put a projector in a phone, which might work indoors but isn't practical in many places.

It's likely that both displays and so keyboards will be able to be made flexible, even fold-up or roll-up before too long.

One technology used by musicians onstage has got a lot smaller in recent years. Musicians need to hear themselves, and this was normally accomplished by having wedge-shaped monitor speakers on the floor just in front, facing back toward the band. Anyone who's anyone now has in-ear monitors - wireless earphones that allow (for instance) the singer to hear mostly themselves (something singers usually like!

The visual equivalent of this is to wear some kind of glasses which contain a display screen (or even a retinal projector) I sometimes wonder if that's why sunglasses are 'cool'. One day we'll all be augmenting our realities by looking out at the world though display shades. I hope that doesn't frighten you too much!

I don't know what happens with our future bodies. Hopefully we won't be needing technology at all, so it will have completely disappeared.


1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)

However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

Location:Halsall

Bible Tech

When I was at theological college the principal encouraged us to carry a Bible around with us - not many students had that particular habit. I was glad that I had an electronic device that I did carry around, that had the NIV on it. I don't think that's what she meant. But it did the job. I've had a Bible installed on all the mobile phones I've had over the last 10 years. Because I could! It's something I carry around anyway. And unlike a paper Bible I can search the scriptures for a particular phrase - helpful for those of us not blessed with a good memory.

Which is why I am bemused by this email (reproduced below) that has been doing the rounds for a few years now (apologies if you're one of the people that forwarded it to me!)

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purse or pocket?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go . . . Hmm, where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think, where are my priorities?

And no dropped calls!

I'm not arguing with the sentiment expressed, but the author didn't seem to understand that the Bible is a text, not a book. (Not a 160 character SMS but) a library of writings that can be compressed to about a million bytes of information. Which is actually not much by today's standards (a compressed music track takes 4 or 5 times that, and a modern phone can hold thousands of those.)

Jesus read from a scroll at the beginning of his ministry. A few hundred years later the codex, or book as we know it, replaced the scroll as the most common form of data storage. And the transition to the book was largely driven by the rise of Christianity. The need to transport the received scriptures around the rapidly expanding early church fuelled the development of the technology known as a "book".
People tell me they'd rather have "a proper book" in their hands than be looking at a screen of some kind. I'm sure "books" will be around for many years yet. Perhaps it will take hundreds of years like it did for the scroll to die out. But the codex has been superseded by better technology.

Which brings me to another email which did the rounds. I think this is a bit sad, too. However, as It seems to bring pleasure to Luddites everywhere, you can have a read of it by following this link. It's just a little bit ironic that this was circulated electronically. But I'm told some people actually print out their emails! Now that I find hard to believe!


Luke 4:16-21 (ESV)
16 Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures 17 and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed 19 and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people." 20 Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the people in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him, 21 as he said to them, "This passage of scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read."

Location:Shed

Tech2

What is technology anyway? According the the dictionary, it is a practical application of science. And so we have to ask, what is science?
Without looking it up, I'll define it as a method of discovering how nature works.
A scientist tries to examine an aspect of nature by isolating it from the totality of the universe. This allows the scientist systematically to record the outcomes of an experiment, while varying a small number of parameters over which they have control. They then may be able to produce a theory to explain their results. Which may need further experimental verification, but hopefully will be able to both describe and prescribe real events.
(A really great scientist like Newton or Einstein somehow works out that the planets obey the law of gravity, or the speed of light is constant, even though experimental verification isn't available for years.)
Science has become increasingly mathematical, which makes it pretty difficult for the layman.

Back to technology - the practical application of science.
Is the wheel a technology? By the above definition, probably not. Unless we imagine a caveman starting with a triangle and knocking corners off until it rolled.
Once past the stone age though, one can imagine a rigorous methodology applied to the production of metal implements. And bricks etc. for building.
And construction techniques too - the norman or gothic arch surely is a result of studying fallen arches!
In Salisbury cathedral is a model of the building being constructed.
There is a large windlass that was used to winch huge blocks of stone up to the top of the building.
Technology was applied to the building of the great cathedrals. And when we consider the stained glass used, they were hardly going to use an inferior, older technique. They would have used the best available for God. The Temple in Jerusalem in all it's incarnations was a very splendid thing indeed.

There is a question of whether we should have cathedrals at all. Should we give God the best that we've so far been able to produce, or something second best that's more affordable? And give the cost difference to charity?
In practice, we have a habit of keeping the best stuff for ourselves, and giving to God the 10% that's left instead of the first fruits of our labours.

If we go along with "cathedral theology" - that only the best is right for God - then that leaves us with some technological questions.
Do we have the best lighting? The best heating? The best sound system? The answers as far as I've seen are generally no, no, and no.
(I will discuss more advanced technologies in a later post.)

1Kings 8 (TEV)
17 And Solomon continued, "My father David planned to build a temple for the worship of the LORD God of Israel, 18 but the LORD said to him, 'You were right in wanting to build a temple for me, 19 but you will never build it. It is your son, your own son, who will build my temple.' 20 "And now the LORD has kept his promise. I have succeeded my father as king of Israel, and I have built the Temple for the worship of the LORD God of Israel.

Location:Shed

Riot tech

Not sure if it's possible to get arrested for using the word "riot" online. It may be one day.

Saw an interesting article on the BBC's tech show, Click, about how technology has helped with rioting. It doesn't make the difference to whether people decide to go out on a spot of looting or not. But if you want to get a lot of people to one place and time, there are now very easy ways to do it. Doesn't always work, as there have just been people in Chester prosecuted for inciting a riot that didn't happen. But since nearly everyone carries a personal communication device with them, technology certainly facilitates group mentality.

That is of course the opposite of what some critics of technology said just a decade ago- that everyone's isolated in a room on their own hunched over a computer. Now computers are in everyone's pocket. And you can take them where you like. I like to point out to Luddites that even the simplest mobile phone is a computer. It's just a computer that's been crippled so that it only does one job (telephony), so as not to frighten them.

There is a slippery slope of telephone technology that people find themselves on:

People eventually decide that it would be handy to have a mobile phone, in case x needs to get in touch urgently or in case the car breaks down or ...
Then it turns out to be easier to use than their landline.
When people have got used to the idea of a portable telephone, the next thing is using it to send text messages. Because everyone knows someone else that texts them. And eventually they have to admit that texting is useful.
(This is the stage that many people seem to have reached now, whatever their age!)
The next thing is to start using a calendar or a game on your phone
And use the camera instead of carrying a separate one.
And then maybe It will play music or Even video.
And 'go on the Internet' and email.
And then finally realise that a modern phone will enable you to watch TV, navigate round a city, tune a guitar, translate a road sign, or read the Bible.
And of course there is mobile social networking.

The "killer app" (i.e. Definitive, vital, must-have application that makes the device worth having) for some phones is instant messaging. Blackberry phones are apparently the most popular amongst teenagers, largely because you get the ability to send free messages to your friends, or groups of friends. Ideal for organising a riot.

Facebook, Twitter and other services on other phones allow pretty much the same thing. But there's one important difference with Blackberrys.
Messages are encrypted, and sent to RIM (the Blackberrys' manufacturer) in Canada, before being delivered. The messages are therefore very private. Even to the police.
A few months ago i seem to remember they were almost banned in one mid-Eastern country. Because the government was worried it wouldn't be in control. Now we see that is a problem for us here in the UK too.
It's getting far too easy to start a riot.

RIM say that they will cooperate with investigations. The trouble is, the law doesn't cover large, non-specific criminality. It's meant to allow the authorities to investigate particular crimes by particular people.
Hopefully, lessons have been learned, and somehow the police will be able to snoop on messaging traffic inciting rioting. Which means snooping on all messaging traffic. Which is worryingly Orwellian, but there doesn't seem to be an alternative. Hopefully the monitoring will be almost entirely automated.

New technology is always forcing us to think or rethink through some ethical issues. If we believe that God knows everything we do or say or text, should we be worried if other people do too? If it's "for our own good"? Does the good of society in general always trump the rights of individuals?

Matthew 10:27 (NIV)
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

Location:Shed

Tech1.0

It's finally time to get round to talking about technology & theology.  I'm in the last month of my Sabbatical now.  Almost.  Time to start putting it all together.  Or that's the plan.

Just finished reading 'Wired for Ministry: How the Internet, Visual Media, and Other New Technologies Can Serve Your Church' .  (Annoyingly unavailable on Kindle.)  Should have done a bit more research really - turns out this was written in 2004.  Which means it's out of date whenever the author (John P. Jewell) tries to go into detail.  To be fair he does write that ‘by the time you read this book, it will be possible to purchase a personal computer with a hard drive… that can hold one thousand gigabytes.’ 
Which indeed is the size of the disk in my iMac today.  He also goes on to talk about how a cell phone could be integrated with a PDA (electronic diary) and in the future we'll all be able to get one.  The device he's thinking of is now called a smartphone.  So the author, with me and indeed many geeky people at that time, were thinking about how you should be able to combine a phone, PDA, SatNav, Video & MP3 player, internet access, and camera.  Ideally on a device that just had a big touchscreen colour LCD.  

Thankfully, Apple were thinking that too, and the iPhone was released just 3 years later, in 2007.  Which really was one magical gadget to rule them all, as Gandalf might say.  Rather spoiled it for us tech-geeks because it does pretty much everything, and does away with the need for other gadgets.  

Thus began Apple's rise to the top of the tech companies pile.  Mostly due to the brilliance of the iPhone -and of course their online content stores.  But Apple didn't stop there.  


One thing that John Jewel got wrong was this.  He downplayed the financial clout of computer companies.  He says Microsoft was only 11% as big as Wal-Mart, and nothing like the size of the oil companies.  But in 2011, it is the technology companies that are starting to dominate the world.  
It's been reported this month that 'Apple Pushes Past Exxon To Become The Most Valuable Public Company In The World'.  (I will do a blog on Apple one day.  Very interesting case study.)
Theology is of course lagging behind the rise of technology, and the importance of technology to everything else.  A world revolving around information is different to one revolving around oil.  And shouldn't the world really be revolving around the Son?

Jewel says, ‘Technology provides new tools, but not new theology.’  I think he's wrong. More on that later.

I evernoted this CBS news video months ago; just got round to watching it.  Very interesting - some really good insights and points made.  (TV News coverage of religion in the UK is often appalling, but in the US it comes across as if the reporter has a clue what they're talking about.)
 
Can't think of a relevant scripture, so here's today's verse from the myCofE iPhone app.  On 2nd thoughts, maybe it does refer to anyone being tempted by an Apple.  Apple CEO Steve Jobs could be in big trouble!

Luke 17:1 NLT
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!

I'm really hoping that getting an iPhone isn't giving in to a temptation to sin.  it's only sin if you're desiring something that's bad for you, or is too costly (or it belongs to someone else).  Probably.

(Yes I know that Genesis doesn't actually say it was an apple!)




Slightly but not completely off topic, I'd really like a bit of feedback on the new church website.  What did I miss off?  I need a couple more photos on there I know.  Please have a look.   Just realized it doesn't work too well on iPhone.  I'll have to do something about that.  (Does technology generate more work than it saves?  Would that be a good thing or bad?)

Misc

Someone once said that everything can be filed under "miscellaneous".
I think they worked for Apple - who seem to be uninterested in hierarchical filing systems, much to my chagrin.

I'm working up to writing about technology next week. Meanwhile, I'm being a bit random today. Or possibly eclectic.

Finished Tom Wright's Virtue Reborn. Much as i love Tom's stuff generally, can't say I was very impressed with this one. Took me a long time to read it, which is usually not a good sign. Tom gives the example of the pilot who landed his airbus on the Hudson river as someone who reacted well, out of a kind of "second nature". This is how he thinks virtues should work for Christians. Christian virtues are similar to Aristotelean ones, with the additions of humility, charity, patience, chastity etc. Tom does have a bit of grouch about feelings getting in the way of thinking. He says we need this spiritual exercise:

‘The person has to choose, again and again, to develop the moral muscles and skills which will shape and form the fully flourishing character.’
Which engages my smug mode at being right in a post when I started the book.

Continuing smugly on, I blogged a while ago about how the human brain isn't likely to get much better, at least in this universe. Someone's just proved this:
"Cambridge University researchers, meanwhile, have recently come across proof that the human brain has now evolved to its maximum size." (link)


Missed out the New World Translation from my last Bible post. I have a copy of this somewhere - can't remember if it was me or Lynn that procured it after extensive discussions with Jehovah's Witnesses. The translation is similar to many others, except where it has to be inconsistent to affirm their doctrine of the non-deity of Christ.
Funny bit on Unbelievable? the other day- someone had signed themselves off on a religious discussion as a JW.
Turned out it was short for Jedi Warrior.

And finally, I've been working with a professional development team (my brother Tim) to update St Peter's website. Hopefully it will be live by the end of today.

Random Bible verse today: actually one I just read in Wired for Ministry

2Corinthians 9:11-12 NLT

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

Location:Shed