Episode 49 includes a discussion about the new fully digital generation, our online selves, behind-the-scenes pics of Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia in a gold bikini, the novel Warm Bodies, a new documentary about the magician Ricky Jay, and the webcast “So Totally Relidge!” A fun episode.
All the links here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
My latest pop-culture column at A Deeper Story landed yesterday, about my passion for music and how (thankfully) it’s slowly being absorbed my kids. Also some stuff about my parents’ musical tastes, the Rocky soundtrack, feeding expensive cheeses to preschoolers, and why Wil Wheaton thinks it’s awesome to be a nerd.
Excerpt:
Ours is a world that often seems cynical, detached, and passionless. Ours is a world that needs more nerds. And we need more parents to pass along their nerdery to their kids. I can think of few things more life-giving than saying, “this is something I love and I want you to love it, too.”
Back in May of 2008, a truck bearing four pallets and a couple thousand pounds of freight rolled into Amarillo. On that truck were all the not-yet-sold copies of Pocket Guide to the Bible that still existed in the world. Nine-thousand and fifty-three of them, to be exact.
I owned them all. The reason why had to do with publishing rights, my original publisher, a new publisher, and a series relaunch. In short, I had to buy a warehouse full of books in order to move Pocket Guide to the Bible from Relevant to Jossey-Bass.
As of May 2013, I’m down to my last 1,000 books. I’ve sold a lot of individual books at speaking engagements, conferences, and other events. I’ve sold boxes upon boxes to churches who use them for giveaways, as gifts for graduates, or as gifts for new members and guests. I’m currently using about 32 of them stacked up into makeshift monitor stands for my work and home computers, respectively.
Last week I lost the free storage space where I’d been keeping these remaining boxes, so a bunch of friends schemed with my wife to kick off an online garage sale yesterday to help me move these last few boxes of books.
I’d love to get this storage burden and/or fire hazard off my shoulders, so I think this is an amazing idea. (And I think my friends are awesome.)
So I’ve got an online store. Head to jasonboyett.bigcartel.com to buy an individual copy of Pocket Guide to the Bible for $4 (plus shipping) or a box of 48 copies for $48 (plus shipping)—that’s a stack of 48 books in the photo up top.
Yes, I’m selling these for $1 a book, all signed personally by me. Or you can get them at Amazon for $10.21, unsigned. Your call.
Tell your friends. We’ve sold 500 since yesterday so they’re going fast…
Big thanks to Zack, Joy, Ed, Tamara, Sharideth, Preston, Mike, and so many others who are spreading the word and making this happen. (And especially to my superhero wife, Aimee, who’s doing much of the behind-the-scenes administrative work…including hauls of 33-lb. boxes to the post office.)
I don’t appear in our latest episode, but that’s probably why it’s one of our most epic ones yet. Rob Stennett and Joy Bennett are joined by special guest Elizabeth Esther for a discussion of nine controversial topics, from Huck Finn to Rob Bell to “smokin’ hot wives.” It earned an “explicit” rating and is already a classic. Enjoy.
All the links here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
“
Doubt is a thing which many Christians see as opposing their faith. Many have fought it and its prevalence in the modern minds of man….Many people react negatively towards any feelings of doubt that they may have, fearing that this doubt means that they aren’t fully committed to God.
However, this fear of doubt is dreadfully dangerous. Not every man who doubts his faith loses it. And if they look at most human lives, they’ll find that if one doesn’t doubt, then one isn’t human. It is a necessary idea for any believer, for it acts as the catalyst and tool for a man or woman to grow.
” — (From Christopher Hutton’s excellent blog post “Skepticism for Christianity”)
Our latest episode, featuring me, Rob Stennett, and Joy Bennett. We discuss the Dove “Sketch Artist” campaign, Patton Oswalt’s epic Parks & Rec filibuster, the Man of Steel trailer, Catching Fire, the Neti Pot, and more. (That’s right: I said the Neti Pot.)
All the links here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
Our latest episode, featuring me, Rob Stennett, and Joy Bennett. We discuss the passing of Roger Ebert, The Lone Bellow, House of Cards, the art of North Korea, Jurassic Park 3D, our favorite children’s books, and more.
All the links here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
Brennan Manning died last Friday, April 12, 2013. I say this with no hyperbole at all: no person on earth impacted my faith and theology more than Brennan Francis Xavier Manning. And as curious as it may sound, his impact on my faith was both positive and negative.
Positive because his teaching about grace blew my conservative-fundamentalist mind at a time when it needed to be blown. Upon reading The Ragamuffin Gospel at the recommendation of Rich Mullins, I knew I would never be the same.
Negative because his teaching sent me on a path of discovery and reading outside my narrow Southern Baptist faith tradition. That’s always dangerous. And the questions that make my relationship to Christian faith today a very tenuous one are the direct result of the journey I began back then when I dug into Manning…and then dug into his theological influences. I read footnotes. I followed suggestions. I couldn’t stop reading.
To expand, here’s an excerpt from an essay I’ve written for inclusion in a book about fatherhood, scheduled to release in 2014:
—————
Though rich and loving, my childhood faith tradition was also narrow. In my early twenties, I set out from that base camp to explore the religious world beyond it. My interest in the musician Rich Mullins introduced me to the contemplative Catholicism of Brennan Manning. Manning’s writing on grace, so helpful to undo the restrictive legalism of my youth, brought me to writers like Henri Nouwen and Frederick Buechner. From there, I found my way to John Polkinghorne, N. T. Wright, and Robert Farrar Capon, and then Marcus Borg, Jaroslav Pelikan, Bart Ehrman. It’s a lengthy list.
The weight of this new knowledge began to press against my beliefs. Small imperfections grew into larger flaws. Cracks spread through the foundation, one after another until I looked down, years later, and saw that my faith was mostly rubble. My bedrock devotion to a literal understanding of the Bible crumbled into a more contextualized reading of Scripture. I love the Bible, but I read it as an ancient collection of documents that owe more to their human authors than the Holy Spirit’s dictation. I spent the first two decades of my life fearing hell, and have spent the last two decades wondering if I believe in it at all. I no longer doubt my salvation; today I doubt whether God exists.
—————
Brennan Manning saved my faith. Brennan Manning started me on the road to dismantling my faith. I love him for both of those things.
Our latest episode, featuring me, Joy Bennett, and special guest Sharideth Smith. We discuss The Features, First Aid Kit, Top Gear, wireless speakers, anti-social media blocking software, Afrin nasal spray, and more.
All the links here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
I’ve got a new Deeper Story column up today, about the big conniption thrown when Marcus Mumford stated in Rolling Stone that he doesn’t really want to label himself a Christian.
In the piece, I try to examine why Christians put so much stock in celebrities who share their beliefs, and what it might say about our own faith. Also I tiptoe around the Old Testament story of Naaman.
We’re so obsessed with the big thing (or person) we forget that faith is more often about the small things (or people).
Read the whole piece here, and feel free to leave a comment (there or here).