Perceptions from a Pewboy

This story inspired a strange chuckle:

Japanese Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he wanted to consider more ‘tranquil’ methods of execution.

Japan generally executes several convicts a year, always by hanging.

‘I am fully aware that death by hanging is written in the criminal code,’ Hatoyama said after a parliamentary committee meeting, Kyodo news agency said.

‘A square part of the floor opens up and they fall with a thud,’ he said. ‘I honestly wonder if there isn’t a more tranquil way of doing this,’ Kyodo quoted him as adding.

In a related story, American grenades will now be surrounded with foam padding, so that they won’t be as likely to cause any nasty bruises should they accidentally land on a person’s head!

It never ceases to amaze me how far we will go to sanitize or expurgate the processes by which we bring about death. I suppose that such a proclivity bears witness to our desperate need for liberation from what theologian Douglas John Hall describes as “the kingdom of death.”

Thanks be to God for the Lord of Life!

Hello all!

Tara and I are sitting in the beautiful lobby of the Gran Hotel La Florida (in the hills overlooking Barcelona), making use of one of the hotel´s computers.  We simply wanted to send a brief word of greeting to our brothers and sisters in blogland.

It has been an incredible journey for us—one that has brought us into a condition of rest and rejuvenation that was desperately needed.  We have seen so many beautiful places.  And—I kid you not—not a single drop of rain!  Nothing but sunshine and blue skies wherever we have been.

We will be flying back to the United States early tomorrow morning (Saturday).  Please pray for us as we travel.  We miss yinz!

With love and gratitude,

Eric (and Tara)

The following description of an upcoming conference caught my eye. The conference will focus on “The Primacy of the Biblical Narrative” and is sponsored by the Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future. Notice that the description of the conference is, in and of itself, a call.

We call for a return to the priority of the divinely authorized canonical story of the Triune God. This story-Creation, Incarnation, and Re-creation-was effected by Christ’s recapitulation of human history and summarized by the early Church in its Rules of Faith. The gospel-formed content of these Rules served as the key to the interpretation of Scripture and its critique of contemporary culture, and thus shaped the church’s pastoral ministry. Today, we call Evangelicals to turn away from modern theological methods that reduce the gospel to mere propositions, and from contemporary pastoral ministries so compatible with culture that they camouflage God’s story or empty it of its cosmic and redemptive meaning. In a world of competing stories, we call Evangelicals to recover the truth of God’s word as the story of the world, and to make it the centerpiece of Evangelical life.

This is interesting and compelling stuff, I think. The language of this paragraph is rich with both a tone of narrative theology (which is dear to my heart) and a sense of urgency concerning the task of preserving the church’s devotion to the story of Scripture (amidst all of the “competing stories”). I found it refreshing.

Tara Park’s Website

The Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank

The Superman Homepage

The Internet Movie Database

Bishop William Willimon’s blog

The Next Reformation

A Way-Cool Seinfeld Blog

Jim Wallis and Friends Blog

A “Low Fidelity” Blog

The Elegant Variation: A Literary Weblog

Theology and Ethics from Liquidoxology

Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog—for comic book fans

The Central Highlands Church website and forum

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

“Every lived moment can be lived in the inconceivable closeness of God in the Spirit.” Jürgen Moltmann (from THE SPIRIT OF LIFE)

“It’s a complicated case, Maude. Lotta ins. Lotta outs. And a lotta strands to keep in my head, man.” Jeff Lebowski (in THE BIG LEBOWSKI)

The pewboy is none other than Eric Park. Eric is the husband of an amazing woman. He is the son of a mother and father who are still the people he wants to be when he grows up. He is a passionate reader, movie-goer, songwriter, comic book collector, and surveyor of both popular and unpopular culture. He also happens to be a Christian pastor.