Of course, as anyone with any exposure to statistics knows, correlation is not causation. And individual stories don’t prove anything; when you examine data on the millions of vaccinated kids, even the correlation vanishes.
From Clive Thompson on Why We Should Learn the Language of Data via Derek Hoven.
Rene Erwich gives an overview of the theological implications of the Natural Church Development in an interesting article called Missional churches: identical global ‘plants’ or locally grown ‘flower’?
“On More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?” by Frederick Herzberg is one of the must read articles about leadership. Its main claim is that there is a difference between the things that motivate employees and the things that make them dissatisfied.
According to Herzberg environmental factors, like boss’s attitude, structure of the workplace, and salaries can surely by demotivating, but the changes in those factors to the better does not create a motivation in the employee.
According to Herzberg it is challenge, interests, and responsibility that do motivate people to do better in their workplace. He even claims that as a fact that:
Motivated people seek more hours of work, not fewer.
Herzberg’s article is valuable, not as a fact study about motivation (though it surely has some value) but to open our minds to the complex systems that are to be found in all structures.
Daniel Coleman’s article about the necessity of EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is an important read, whether we think its status as a classic is well deserved or not. In the article he lifts up the need for self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. All crucial parts of what Coleman calls EQ. In the article Coleman defines what he means by those five crucial components of EQ.
According to Coleman all those components can be learned.
Coleman’s findings are based more or less on a feeling, rather than any hard data. It is based on observation “how emotional intelligence shows itself on the job.” This is not to say that there are no questionnaires to be found, they might, but they are not quoted here or even referenced. Having said that, it is an important read, as long as we are aware of its shortcomings.
From “What Makes a Leader? (HBR Classic) – Harvard Business Review” by Daniel Coleman
Three links to information about stem cell research and controversy about them.
As an activity, the psyche or soul is the process by which the person receives influences from the multiple systems in which it participates, and by which the person offers creative influences back to those systems. (p. 42)
From the book “Care of Persons, Care of Worlds” by Larry Kent Graham (1992).
A paper called “Church Based Organizing: A Strategy for Ministry” presented be the Gamaliel Foundation, makes an interesting claim about the new focus of congregations:
Fifty years ago, the self interest of the church was to respond to the problems of poverty, poor schools, lack of health care etc. affecting its people. Today the self interest is still there; but a more powerful self interest is the very survival of the congregation.
Here is more about Gamaliel Foundation.
In an interview, she said the idea of an author whose singular effort creates an original work is rooted in Enlightenment ideas of the individual. It is buttressed by the Western concept of intellectual property rights as secured by copyright law. But both traditions are being challenged.
from Lines on Plagiarism Blur for Students in the Digital Age – NYTimes.com via Hamma Library.
“We had a pastor in our study group who hadn’t taken a vacation in 18 years,” said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, an assistant professor of health research at Duke University who directs one of the studies. “These people tend to be driven by a sense of a duty to God to answer every call for help from anybody, and they are virtually called upon all the time, 24/7.”
via Evidence Grows of Problem of Clergy Burnout – NYTimes.com.
Whatever backlash Anne Rice might eventually receive from her Christian readers, or from the Evangelical establishment itself, the undeniable fact is that the decision of this sensitive, passionate, and devout woman to leave Christianity is one that Christ himself would likely understand, even applaud, even as He would likely weep at the holocaust of hatred, bigotry, and collateral carnage that has devolved from the grimy, shopworn religion to which His glorious name has been affixed.
via Michael Rowe: Why Anne Rice Has Never Been More of a Christian.
Í ágætu trúarljóði er sagt: “Afsakanir æði margar er mér tamt að tína til, en orsökin er afarljós, sú ein að ég ei vil.” Eftir að hafa skoðað þær röksemdir sem voru bornar á borð af fulltrúum flestra ríkustu þjóða heims í tengslum við ályktun um réttindi til vatns er kýrskírt að ástæða hjásetunnar er afarljós. Þörf vestræna landa fyrir að móta ákvarðanir um þetta efni eftir sínu höfði. Continue reading “Af hverju drekka þau ekki bara kók?”
Sú ákvörðun Íslands að sitja hjá við afgreiðslu samþykktar Sameinuðu þjóðanna um rétt til aðgangs að hreinu vatni er sorgleg og þjóð minni til minnkunar. Ákvörðun nokkurra ríkustu þjóða heimsins að sitja hjá, byggir á engu öðru en græðgi og voninni um að geta grætt á neyð þeirra sem verr standa. Mikil er skömm okkar.
Óformleg samfélagshlutverk hennar eru aftur á móti mörg, þau standa öllum til boða og eru endurgjaldslaus: Þjóðkirkjan rekur öflugt barna- og unglingastarf með tvímælalaust forvarnargildi. Með sálgæslu býður hún upp á stuðningsþjónustu fyrir þau sem glíma við lífsvanda af ýmsu tagi. Með kærleiksþjónustu (díakóníu) hefur hún á síðustu áratugum veitt þeim sem standa höllum fæti aukinn félagslegan stuðning. Með innanlandsaðstoð Hjálparstarfs kirkjunnar hefur hún byggt upp vaxandi efnahagsaðstoð við þau sem búa við skort. Í helgihaldi býður hún öllum sem þiggja vilja griðarstað og griðarstund í stríðum straumi áreita og krafna daglegs lífs. Þetta eru allt gild rök fyrir þjóðkirkjuskipan. #
Í annars góðri grein Hjalta Hugasonar um Ríki, samfélag, þjóð og þjóðkirkju bendir hann á ofangreint sem helstu rökin fyrir þjóðkirkjuskipaninni. Þessi rök eru hins vegar meingölluð, því það sem hann nefnir er einfaldlega það sem trúfélög um allan heim (og ekki einvörðungu kristin) bjóða náunga sínum, og það án stjórnarskrárverndar. Reyndar er þessi þjónusta alls ekki bundin við trúfélög.
Þess utan er það fremur vondur vitnisburður um kirkjuna ef hugmyndin um þjónustu við náungann þarf að tengjast á einhvern hátt stöðu kirkjunnar gagnvart ríkinu.
(Upphaflega birt á www.ispeculate.net)
Óformleg samfélagshlutverk hennar eru aftur á móti mörg, þau standa öllum til boða og eru endurgjaldslaus: Þjóðkirkjan rekur öflugt barna- og unglingastarf með tvímælalaust forvarnargildi. Með sálgæslu býður hún upp á stuðningsþjónustu fyrir þau sem glíma við lífsvanda af ýmsu tagi. Með kærleiksþjónustu (díakóníu) hefur hún á síðustu áratugum veitt þeim sem standa höllum fæti aukinn félagslegan stuðning. Með innanlandsaðstoð Hjálparstarfs kirkjunnar hefur hún byggt upp vaxandi efnahagsaðstoð við þau sem búa við skort. Í helgihaldi býður hún öllum sem þiggja vilja griðarstað og griðarstund í stríðum straumi áreita og krafna daglegs lífs. Þetta eru allt gild rök fyrir þjóðkirkjuskipan. #
Í annars góðri grein Hjalta Hugasonar um Ríki, samfélag, þjóð og þjóðkirkju bendir hann á ofangreint sem helstu rökin fyrir þjóðkirkjuskipaninni. Þessi rök eru hins vegar meingölluð, því það sem hann nefnir er einfaldlega það sem trúfélög um allan heim (og ekki einvörðungu kristin) bjóða náunga sínum, og það án stjórnarskrárverndar. Reyndar er þessi þjónusta alls ekki bundin við trúfélög.
Þess utan er það fremur vondur vitnisburður um kirkjuna ef hugmyndin um þjónustu við náungann þarf að tengjast á einhvern hátt stöðu kirkjunnar gagnvart ríkinu.
My dissertation is now available on the Theological Research Exchange Network.
Few years ago I wrote an educational material for the church of Iceland, in collaboration with Guðrún Eggertsdóttir and Ragnheiður Sverrisdóttir, about how congregations can structure their ministry to those that are unable to leave their home.
I have always meant to look at the in context of the structure of Stephen Ministries here in the US. And maybe one day I will.
Nice is not a Christian virtue.
Brad Binau in Care of Souls class.
It is sometimes annoying being a student of theology. One of the devastating moments in my studies was addressing Psalm 121, and learning that the original meaning is NOT that God’s comes from the hill to save us. The reason we lift our eyes to the hills, is that the heathens live there, and we are afraid they are coming to get us.
This completely ruins the reading of this text in the context of Vatnaskogur Summercamp. How often have I thought about hill “Kambur” and its beauty when I have read this text.
The problem is not our inability to create a vision for the church. The problem is not seeing what is God’s vision for the church.
Note from a class discussion in the course Care of Souls@Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
As I looked through my stuff, there are lot of interesting things that might as well go here on ispeculate.net. When taking a class about Urban Ministry in Detroit, I attended few lectures by Dr. James W. (Jim) Perkinson. Dr. Perkinson was in his lectures focused on the reading of the Bible as a response to the Empire. Continue reading Gospel as a threat
