Filed under: Christian Thought | Tags: Deconstruction, Fundamentalism, Jesus, Postmodernism, WWJD
The following is reflection based on the book, What Would Jesus Deconstruct by John D. Caputo.
It is a very difficult endeavor to truly ask the question of what would Jesus do, or deconstruct, in the world that we live in. John D. Caputo tries to make some very definitive claims as to what he supposes Jesus would say and do if he were to come back today and see what Christians are doing in His name. My initial reaction to his book What Would Jesus Deconstruct is a slight mild offensiveness (which I am sure he would hope would be the case). There are things that he brings to the argument which I do believe are of critical importance to the future of Christianity in the post-modern era, but there are also claims that seem to overshadow his own theories that I will discuss below. In the spirit of any good critique or reflection it is important to realize what you agree with to engage in a mutual dialogue and to branch out to the differences in hopes of expanding and or reaffirming personal views.
The book has a few layers that all interwoven together to build an argument that basically states that the established[1] church in the west has made claims in Jesus name that would cause Jesus himself to be disgusted. His method of reaching these conclusions is to deconstruct things in the manner of Jacques Derrida by way of Sheldon’s classic, In His Steps. Deconstruction is often a term that is shunned or looked down upon in evangelical Christianity because it is often misunderstood. The idea proposed is that there is an “event” or a thing that happens that causes everything we know to be re-evaluated in light of something that cannot be evaluated. His example of justice is a wonderful illustration. Justice is something that emits a call of sorts to live by and to seek. Justice cannot be broken down into any one thing. Rather, laws are made in a context to uphold some sort of justice, but they are only able to scratch the surface of individual events in a context of space and time. Caputo believes that laws are subjective to the individual circumstances in which they are made and followed in relation to the call of justice. This means that we can deconstruct laws but not justice itself. This also means for Caputo, that we can deconstruct the Bible and what Jesus does and says as a model for Christianity because the bible itself is not God, it just an archive and not the arche (110). This has very complex consequences depending on how much weight the Bible holds in a person’s presupposition.
While I can go as far as saying we do need to re-evaluate what we are doing as followers of Jesus in his name, I don’t think scripture can be just a mere text that becomes a scientific endeavor. I hold that biblical studies and therefore biblical praxis, requires an element of faith in revelation. This is where my differences with Caputo start to show themselves. He seems to focus so intently on Jesus without a context to the whole of scripture and the meta-narrative of the redemption story in action. There is no reference to the point of laws in the OT leading to righteousness and holiness as a city on a hill nor does he take into consideration the idea that Jesus comes to fulfill the law. On the surface it seems that in deconstructing Jesus’ words, thoughts, and desires for our future, Caputo forgets what Jesus came to deconstruct in the first place.[2] Caputo seems to be making the work and words of Jesus about public political policy, or proposing Jesus always sides with the belief that is unorthodox.[3] This shows in the untactful stabs at the “Christian Right” and the Bush administration. The context could be suggested if this book were written today rather than 2007, that the same claims could be made about the Obama administration and the Afghanistan war, the killing of Osama Bin Ladin, and the Libya conflict. My point in bringing this up is that either side of the political spectrum can and always will believe the other side is not acting in the proper footsteps of Jesus. Public policy always has to start with individual policy first. It is not for a good Christian to be governed if he is a good Christian because he would not need to be governed, rather the policy of government is for those who live in the darkness of individual greed and their need to be policed from harming humanity.
In light of really living and being deconstructed by Jesus, it is true that our policy is often not in line with what Jesus says and does and we are in need of general reform to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world in need of love and justice. But who holds the key to the question of what Jesus would do or say? If there really is nothing outside of the text and the protocol of finding the truth by breaking it down to the event of what Jesus does, what text do we choose? Did Jesus write it down for us? The gospel of John says the Word is made flesh in Jesus. Do we suppose that means all of the Word as we have it today? The cycle quickly spirals to uncontrollable and subjective interpretations.
I think (perhaps boldly) that the key to true deconstruction and the coming of the event and incalculable surprise lies in the Holy Spirit.[4] Jesus leaves the disciples and sends the Paraclete to be the helper and the one who gives authority to go and bring forth the kingdom of God. Just as Jesus sought justice and mercy for the helpless, he was redeeming the world at the same time. We are to be Jesus through the Spirit who guides and directs our paths to live in the realm of the already, not yet[5] Kingdom of God. We should seek justice, mercy and policy that is good for all of humanity, but that starts with the individual and the duty to him/herself, their family, friends, coworkers and so forth. The Holy Spirit is the guide to the how of living like Jesus. The Holy Spirit enables us to read the scriptures as current and relevant to today and tomorrow. While the Bible is not God[6], it is his continued Word to us. We do need to be like Jesus but that requires knowing what Jesus came to deconstruct on the cross. Before we can deconstruct the church and how to live like Jesus and be Jesus to the world, we must deconstruct ourselves and seek the event in Christ that addresses our sin and then allows for us to take his namesake to the injustices of the world.
[1] Established meaning American and European Protestantism and Catholicism but more specifically what Caputo calls the “fundamentalist” or “right wing conservative.”
[2] A fallen creation in need of redemption and intervention in such a way only God the creator can fix.
[3] Marginalized, liberal, oppressed, grassroots etc.
[4] Caputo does make reference to the role of the spirit, but without understanding the role of the spirit in interpretation, my claim seems bolder and less subjective to individual interpretations of the Holy Spirit.
[5] Notable in Romans and the example of Fr. McNamee in Philadelphia.
[6] This could be debated based on John 1 and our definition of Word and inspired context to Trinitarian relationship if Jesus is the Word made Flesh. I put more emphasis on the weight of scripture as an inspired revelatory and continuing word then Caputo seems to in this book.
Filed under: Christian Thought, Random Musings | Tags: Christ, cost, grace, sacrifice, transformation
Romans 6 (NIV)
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
The call of grace in our lives reveals an interesting paradox. On the one hand we believe that grace is a free gift that God has given us through Christ. On the other, it seems that there is something more to our justification than just belief in a free gift of grace. I am not talking about works, but rather, the difference between what complacency has defined as cheap grace, and what Christ calls us to as costly grace.
The difference is simple but rather robust. Cheap grace allows us to pay lip service to God and allows us to live in a make believe world of simple penance and shallow fear. We should not forget that just as God is love, He is also just, and he will judge even those who believe. Cheap grace allows for us to live our lives with no difference in the way we act, live or speak. It is inclusive and individualistic and on the verge of being a prideful catastrophe. It is the kind of grace that the enemy wants to spread because it never transforms humanity. In our post-modern world the constant focus is on our individual happiness and “come as you are,” ideals. We then make the mistake of making grace about us as our free gift without realizing the responsibility that comes with the true understanding of that free gift.
Costly grace calls us not to simply believe in who Christ is or what he has done. This is the foundation, but if this foundation never grows from your mind to your heart to your whole being, then the question must be asked if you truly believe in who Christ is and exactly the depth of consequence for humanity what He has in fact done. This grace calls us to partake in the acts of Christ himself. It is not simply enough that we just believe. If belief were enough then why would grace not cover our continual sinning so that grace could increase? It calls for transformation! If we go on living as if grace will cover us without a cost of our own we are surely mistaken. The cost without the true grace of Christ is our eternal death and separation from God. True grace calls us to be transformed into Christ. It calls us to die with him. It forces us to reject sin and be dead to it. To accept the cost of free grace means that we are willing to sacrifice our whole being to Him. Not just our minds, or our words and shallow prayers nor our works and merit. Grace calls us to come and believe, but after belief, it calls us to come and be transformed so that we may go and make disciples (Mt. 28:19).
Grace affects our hearts so that as we live our lives we are better husbands, fathers, friends, community leaders and servants because we are living through Christ alive, and no longer enslaved by sin. When we offer ourselves, we empower God to transform us, and then in return, He empowers us to go and love in His name and be extensions of free grace. By the transforming power of grace, our lives reflect the true cost of free grace. We become living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1-2) and we are salt and light by action rather than just by word. Our ethics will change. Our opinions and attitudes will reflect Christ and the sin that we once were held under will no longer be what controls us. The greatest tragedy of simple belief is the apathy of accepting grace without allowing it to transform you.
The choice is asking yourself whether or not you have allowed the transformative power of grace to really sink in enough to make the commitment to die with Christ so that you may live through Him. Have we allowed our circumstances, experiences, immunity to sin and small temptations, or even our past relationship with the church muddle our consciences? Do our jobs, studies, art, careers, friends, or romantic relationships cause us to live with a cheap outlook on grace? Have we allowed the enemy to tempt us into thinking that grace is easy to accept? The paradox of grace is not for the faint of heart and that is why Christ beckons us by His grace to have our hearts. It is more costly than anything we could ever fathom. It cost God his son, it cost Christ his life and it will cost us ours as well. The acceptance of true costly grace does indeed cost everything but it will surely transform everything in its wake as long as you make it a daily decision to choose the costly grace over the cheap grace.
Reflection and Prayer:
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
Father,
Take my heart and my all as I fully reflect on the grace you have extended and poured on me. Allow me to fully understand the depth of your grace. Allow me to be a slave to sin no longer, but rather a free being devoted to serving you by your loving grace given to me. Give me the courage to be a man of God in light of a skeptical world and that your grace would live through me as I live wholly and obediently for you.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I recently wrote this paper for my Historical Theology II course. Graduate School has really taken a lot of my time and thus I have neglected this blog. If you enjoy reading theological/philosophical papers, you might like this one (Just click the link above to download). If not, I plan on resuming some more posts as my semester is nearly over. enjoy…
I also recommend reading some Dietrich Bonhoeffer if you are not familiar with him.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I wish that I had an extra two hours everyday. That would be nice. I think of all the things I could get done with those two extra hours and then I realize how incredibly lazy I am with the 24 I already have. I always think if only I had more time. Well it’s time that I make time.
I have never been much of a resolutions kind of person. I always laugh at people who make lists and laugh harder as they fail two weeks later. I get to be laughed at this year because I want to make a few changes in my life. I have a few bags that I carry with me that need to be left alone and I have places that I need to move towards and I can’t carry the past with me in hope, but rather, in memory of how to proceed.
First. a confession.
Hello Father.
Hello my son. What would you like to confess today?
Well Father, I can’t seem to make time for anything that really matters. I make time to be lazy and watch TV shows, but I don’t spend enough quality time with my family and I don’t manage my school work as well as I should and I rely too much on head knowledge of Scriptures rather than reading them devoutly. And I am torn all of the time between my dreams and passions and my choices and realities.
Hmm. That sounds like quite a problem my son. Let’s start with the time thing. What is laziness to you?
Well Father, I feel that laziness is when you are not moving in any direction. You are taking up space and watching everything around you pass you by and simply not caring, but hoping that somehow and someway, things will fix themselves.
That sounds like you understand the core of your laziness. You realize that asking requires action? That God can’t do it for you, but gives you the ability to ask him for help with the expectation that you will come to him. If you expect God to change you but you aren’t moving to change then why would He bother?
I know, Father. I just don’t know where to start.
Yes you do my son.
I do?
Yes.
Where?
You already said it, but you rely on your own memory rather than the active Words.
ahh! The Word?
Yes, Precisely! The Word and Prayer are the communication lines to the Father himself, and based on what you have said, you think you are better on your own, or that you rely on your education to carry you through rather than going to the source of Peace himself.
So it’s simple really. I just need to read the Word and Pray more.
Well, in principle, yes, but you are of the hardest kind. You are an educated and a rational type. You rely too much on yourself and you want control. You have to give up that control and be disciplined to change. If you think that you can just change, you have another thing coming. It will take time and you have to be motivated. You have to let grace move your heart and transform you as you take in the Words of God. You already know the answers, but you don’t believe them! You don’t Live them! You are of the worst kind! You have to let go of your desire for control and then and only then, will you begin to feel change. Laziness is not an option. If you are lazy, then you will continue down a path of useless education and a life of a doubting Thomas. Your education is your greatest friend only when you are actively pursuing Him, otherwise it is a mere source of confusion and questioning for the sake of selfish desires and frivolous fallacy. You are teetering on a line of beauty and peace and academic self destruction. The truth is, you have to let go of control.
I have no words. You are right Father. I am a doubting Thomas, and I do need to give up control. The only way to change is to seek Him in his Word and to work on the discipline of Prayer. Those are the hardest things to do.
They are. Because we are cursed with pride and humanity and we believe that we can do it on our own. I promise you that if you will be disciplined and actively pursue Him in His Word and through Prayer, you will notice that laziness will evaporate, your time with your family will grow in quality and quantity and your dreams and passions will become your choices and realities because you will be living out the words and the will of God.
Thank you for your wisdom Father.
You’re welcome my son, now 20 hail Mary’s for doubting and 20 more for being lazy. Go in peace and may the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
So…..
2010
1. Read the Word with diligence.
2. Pray with a fervency for change.
3. Be a better husband
4. Release my need for control.
5. Be a better student.
6. Stay in touch with family more
7. Write, write, write and write.
8. write some more.
9. record an ep
10. laugh more and worry less.
cheers.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: car crash, dog, faith, music, philosophy, rain, rugby, seattle, stitches, umbrella
September is almost over and I could not be happier. This month has been the worst month that I can remember for some time. Lot’s of little things that add up to make life seem unbearable. It started with getting poked in the eye and losing a contact lens during a rugby practice. I continued to train and after running for 45 minutes with one eye closed, my body decided to check out. I passed out and thus begins the drama. I call Sarah and I have her come and pick me up from practice and we laugh about it. Two days later i get a phone call from Sarah and she says, “I need you to come get me, I cut my arm with a box cutter and I think I need stitches.” In the midst of all of this keep in mind that I am in Seminary taking classes and the stress of learning Greek and keeping caught up with my other classes has made me a bit more susceptible to freaking out and losing my mind over the smallest things. We also are sharing a vehicle because my beloved Trooper is sick at the moment. She is elderly and has 242,000 miles so she is a bit frail and its time to get a hip replacement.
Apparently bad things come in threes because this morning as I was taking our dog Gus to the groomer he decided to start chewing on the floor mat. He gets excited in the car and usually chills out after a few minutes. I brought some toys for him to play with like always and he decided it was best for him to go after something different. I was sitting in traffic and we were barely moving and I looked down to yell at Gus and looked up in time to see a Nissan Z in front of me NOT MOVING! My foot hit the brakes, I swerved out of the way and clipped the back end of the ladies car going about 15 to 20 mph. my airbag didn’t even deploy. It was just a little tip tap tapperoo. Nothing too bad. No damage, no crumpling, no broken headlights, nothing. I breath a sigh of relief. Gus is in trouble. I turn off the car and open the door. I hear WAILING! WAAAAAAIIIIIILLLLLING! The lady is freaking out! she proceeds to hold her neck and walks around and frantically calls her husband unable to reach him. She is loosing her mind. I am giving myself brownie points for staying as calm as I did. We wait for about 40 minutes for the cops to show up and we exchange info. I am thinking no big deal, not much damage so all is well. then she says she need to go to the hospital. The paramedics show up and strap her to a board and take her away. I am realizing that because I hit her car, my insurance just paid for her trip to the hospital in ambulance and all of the scans and tests and for her car to be towed wherever it needs to go. The paramedic says after he puts her in the ambulance, ” You need to go too? You look awful, I think she’s gonna be paralyzed,” with the most sarcastic smug smirk on his face. They all were very amused at this lady. I am screwed, and this lady is going to sue me. To make it worse, the police officer informs me that my license is suspended. Can you say misdemeanor. The paperwork from a ticket from a registration issue over a year ago got lost between county and state agencies and while I had proof and showed the officer the fines had been paid and the suspension was withdrawn the computer says I am going to jail. The cop says, unlucky, and says that it’s not a big deal and I need to go waste a whole day and sit in the state office and wait in line all day to resolve the issue, and says that by law he is supposed to take me in or tow my car to impound, but he felt bad that the lady was putting on an oscar performance and says, “I will give you a 10 minute head start, If I find you again, I will have to take you in, GO.”
I like rain. I think it is wonderful, but when it rains for 3 weeks straight, it makes a whole city go a little crazy. I see why Seattle needs coffee and music to cope with the gray and wet. The rain was not really the problem, but what it does it make you feel a little darker, and a little slower and it makes me feel like the sky is weeping over the madness of the earth trying to clean it. The economy is bad and people are trying to make a buck anyway they can.
My point is the world is messed up, people mess up, people get taken advantage of, and life happens. If I forget to bring my umbrella I will be soaked in misery. If i remember to walk with Him always and rejoice in all things good and bad, though it may pour around me and my feet are soaked, I will remain dry. I guess I forgot my umbrella this month. Hopefully October will be better. It will always rain on you, how prepared you are is up to you.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: art, C.S. Lewis, church, discipline, music, philosophy, theology, worship
I have a hard time dealing with staying motivated and staying on task when it comes to anything really. Occasionally I will come across something or someone that fires me up, makes me feel guilty and or motivates me to continue on the pursuit of discipline. It has been a really busy week since I last wrote anything. I passed out at rugby practice last week, Sarah had to go get stitches in her arm from an accident at work, I had class to study for and I lost some motivation. However, in the midst of the craziness of things, our church home-group decided to do a study of a C.S. lewis essay entitled the Weight of Glory. I love Clive. We are friends. I call him by his first name because I have read so many of his books, thoughts, essays and such that I feel like I know him, and when I read him, I feel like he is speaking to me. I attribute some of this to listening to archived lectures he gave on BBC radio back in the 40′s that later turned into the book Mere Christianity. I bring this up for 2 reasons which I will try my best to explain.
If you have never read the Weight of Glory, I would recommend it. It is short, but heavy. There is a section where he talks about a school boy learning greek and the discipline involved in learning greek so that he can enjoy the works of Homer and Plato in their original beauty. What is interesting is that somewhere along the lines the discipline of study becomes the joy of understanding. The nature of things become better as we learn them and they become better as we take joy in them. The discipline is often the hardest thing that we all struggle with. We want to get to the end without the work. We want to write the song and play it to the crowd, but we don’t want to do the work to have the crowd and we get side tracked, often with things that are good, but sometimes the good things hold us back from the better things.
The second part of this is that I stated that i feel like I know Clive. I hear him speak to me when I read. I felt extremely convicted by the fact that I can hear Clive better than I can hear God himself. Mr. Lewis is good. He is very good indeed, but does my own lack of discipline restrict me from hearing God himself? Do i give the study of God for my own formation enough effort. I must conclude for now that I do not, and that I must get better so that when that day comes from discipline to joy, i will be ready.
I will probably write more on this wonderful essay of Clive’s soon, because I have only mentioned one very small part of the true weight of glory. until then….
Cheers.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: church, music, philosophy, theology, worship
I have been asking that question for quite a few years now. Why does it matter? Why does anything matter? The subject I am asking about is the purpose of what I am trying to do. Being a Christian and a songwriter is a task that becomes very difficult. As a Christian my sole purpose must be to make God known through the words I write for his glory. As a songwriter I want to remain artistic and viable and use words that relate to those inside and outside the church using language that doesn’t water down the truth but does not over-emphasize my personal experience of the Gospel. I have to be very careful how I interpret the truth and how I say it to those around me. So lets be honest, I still want to write good songs and I’m sorry but most Christian music I have heard is far from good. so….why does it matter?
It matters because I have to give my best. I was given a gift to write and play music, but also a gift for understanding the systematic theology and history behind how that truth has been given to us. That means that I must write to maintain the truth and if i have to step on toes for the sake of sacrificing some fans or commercial success then so be it. A better question should be, Why is Christian music so bad? and then why does it matter?
I believe that Christian music is bad because churches are watering down the truth of the gospel. It’s a two fold theory. these kids grow up with a very loose foundation of theology and leadership that would rather they stay at church and have fun at camp than grow in discipleship. I feel this way because I was a child of this and also having toured across America and played hundred’s of churches and church events. I actually had a youth pastor in Wichita, Kansas say to us one time before we were to lead his group in worship and I quote. “I don’t care what you play, just make it loud and fast.” Now I must say that there are churches out there doing an amazing job with their kids and on through youth ministry to develop a young Christian who owns their faith. That’s the difference, owning a faith versus going to your parents church and just having fun at camp. The second fold of why Christian music is bad is because these kids grow up and start a band and they have been told that everything they do has to be for God’s glory, so they write songs about a God that they truly may not know. They develop a fan base among other kids who are also like them being uneducated, unchallenged by a fallen world and misled by the leadership of their churches and then they sign record deals and their publishers tell them to write songs about Jesus and heaven and grace and these kids who are now in there 20′s are still trying to figure that out. So they follow the sunday school theology of write about Jesus and add the post modern view of Me and Jesus and then their song goes to the top of a small bubble of Christian listeners on a local Christian station and the parents who drive the cars listen to the radio and hear these songs and approve the music for their kids to listen to. I once was told by a person at our record label to write songs that make soccer moms cry. If she cries, she buys and approves your music to her 14 year old daughter.
So then. Why does it matter?
It matters because as a church our goal, as told to us by Jesus, is to go and make disciples. Discipleship and evangelism can’t exist without each other. We have to teach the truth and the distinction of the personal relationship that occurs between us and God when we accept that he sent Jesus to the earth to cover the cost of our sin. It’s more than fire insurance and it is more than works. Don’t even get me started on mission trips to beaches. It is a lifestyle. It is servanthood, selflessness, truth, love, joy, discipline, works, basically an outward expression of the change that occurs inward at the moment of conversion. I know that I am using Christian language, but most that will read this are said Christians and my point is challenging you as Christians to do all that you do with the intent of discipleship and evangelism of the truth. So my job as a Christian and as a songwriter is to integrate the truth and help seeking Christians find true theologically sound songs that strengthen their faith as they own it and to change the paradigm of the church from a place of post-modern comfort to a place where truth is being shared from pulpits to youth rooms to the places where the church goers, work, learn, and live. It is not your pastor’s job to make Christians or motivate you. It is your job to listen and be disciplined to and by the words of God and go out and speak the truth. We are a lazy church and I cannot bear that shame any longer. That is why it matters.
So.
I have been using a few different places for my thoughts and hopefully my schizophrenic self will finally be content at wordpress. I will be writing here from now on so if you have links to my previous places of brain matter and spew they will no longer be updated. welcome. So now to business.
This is the third blog I have tried to start. There s something about discipline that I must mention right off of the bat. I am very undisciplined. I Have been a “writer” for quite a while now and i never write! I have been a song writer none the less, but a writer indeed. I mention this because from the moment I turned in my first essay in 3rd grade which was a short story about stealing candy, I have wanted to write. What to write about? Now that is a story of many different colors. I have been fighting with my demons for a long time and so sometimes I want to write witty stories of my childhood, and there are many. I have shared these on previous blogs, but for some reason I feel that this is only one of many areas that are comfortable for me to write about. The problem is captivating you people long enough to keep you interested in anything I have to say. So bear with my torn soul. I am an artist and an academic. and this is where we must begin our new chapter together.
History.
I have been a musician since I was 10. I started playing the saxophone and soon after moved to drums. I was in my first band at the age of 12. We were called Evar Orbis and the Galactic Ska Whalers. Don’t laugh. Ska was cool in the 90′s just trust me. I then moved on to Faster than Caffeine, then Shoe Shine Johnny. You are asking why this matters. Just stay with me. Shoe Shine was like a girlfriend. We were together for 3 glorious years as young teenagers filled with Christian angst, if there is such a thing, and then you realize you are too young to commit and you break up. We wanted to be as cool as Slick Shoes and MXPX but we were 16 and well, being as cool as Mike Herrera was an unattainable status. So as High School ended so did the band and then college happened. I continued the trend of bands through college with For the Heroes, then Last Chance Dakota, and then to THE BAND Jackson Waters. THE BAND became a career after college, but I must stop the portion here. I will use this background as the basis and starting point to our relationship as writer and reader.
Somewhere in the midst of musical madness, I became suddenly aware that I liked school, no, I loved it. I loved the history, philosophy and theology behind what I believed, or didn’t believe. I took a ride on the academic roller coaster and loved and decided I wanted to keep riding. I am now on the teeter totter of a Master’s Degree in Theology and maintaining my street cred as a viable artist. The point. I want to be both. So with your help and criticism, mostly criticism I’m sure, we can make that happen. This is the the third time. I am gonna make it charm.
