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Dissertate

This week I heard back from some peeps at the U. of Chicago that they are going to let me use a data set that they have.  Kind of big news.  As in, I can now start working on the dissertation big news.  Only downside is they have already published a lot off of it, but I think I can make something work out of it.  

So, now I am all excited to really dive in on the reading and what not.  I was holding off a bit because it would be sad to do all the reading and never have data to run stuff with.  Thus the study couch for the night.  Sara is working, so it is just me and the beautiful coffee porter reading about physicians, beliefs, decision making and everything that will solve the world's problems.  Cheers. 

Infinite Jest and life's groove

I have started to read Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. We have had an interesting start. When I am reading or thinking about something, there can be a tendency to see it in everything else I read or think about. One part of the book did just that...

At one point, there is this terrorist figure and a secret agent type guy having a conversation. They are talking about some guy who wouldn't think twice about dying for some other person. The terrorist begins to talk about how the word fanatic comes from Latin meaning 'temple;' literally, 'to worship at the temple.' He then goes on to say that we are all fanatics about something and we must choose very wisely what we will be fanatical about, saying, "but choose with care. You are what you love... All other of our you say free choices follow from this: what is our temple." To do otherwise, he thinks, is to be the worst kind of slave: the slave who believes they are free. All follow; some are free in their following.

This is something that we also see in social science. People do follow what they revere. If that job is important, we will see the remnants of that job in non-job related aspects of their life. Money? Same. God? Same. Rarely is it clear cut, however. Usually some is money, some is family, and some is God. With limited resources to 'pay out' to these 'temples,' the visits to any given 'temple' decreases with plurality. God gets less because the job gets some, and so on. So, going back to fanaticism, from what are all other choices flowing?

We are reading The Story right now at church. It is the Bible that reads like a story or a narrative, as it is edited, chronologically, to do so. Recently we read:
"A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord.
They are unfaithful to the Lord; they give birth to illegitimate children."

Failing to choose, and stick with, a temple carefully is in a sense to prostitute out for lesser pay what should be God's. Failing to choose temples wisely and blithely play in the playground of plurality leads to something, and it is not the 'child' of faith, or belief, or living in one's groove as Bonhoeffer would put it. He is the temple to which we turn, directing our life and decisions away from the illegitimate children of brokenness and all its glory.

Study Buddy

It has been a bit since I have posted a pic for not reason. Enjoying some coffee that some friends of our roasted.

From Photostream

Sea of Blankets

Sea of Blankets, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

Weekends have almost taken on a new meaning. I get to see the wife and cram a week's worth of quality time into a day or two (or into hours, depending on her rotation). I get to sleep in my own bed. I get to choose clothes from anything in the closet. I can wear any of my shoes. I can make my own delicious coffee.

I could probably go on, but you get the idea. It is the little things in life.
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you should read Rendering Unto Caesar if you are interested in the relationship of governments and churches as interpreted through rational choice theory (dad, this could be interesting in relation to the German church in Nazi Germany in comparison with the Confessing Church. just a thought)....

Divergent Consensus

Divergent Consensus, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

We went to the fair this weekend. I have some pictures, but they are at home and not processed. It was good to hang out with Sara for a bit, AND we got to eat some Texas Deep Fried Pecan Pie. It was crazy crowded though, and seemed like the point of the fair was more about making money that it was about making community. What happened to the good old days?

Instead of fair pictures you get the classics. Some are better, some are worse. Depends on whether you prefer to hold to social theories more in a dogmatic sense, or whether you are more comfortable with flexibility. Seeing as how it is social theory, you would think that everyone would welcome flexibility, but alas, this is not always the case. I would think that people generally are pretty flexible in how they see the world, but it seems that most flexible ideas are better defined as stringent. Stringent flexibility, that is, as opposed to flexible stringency. Alright, enough for now, ha!

Reminder...

Reminder..., originally uploaded by a b franzen.

Can't wait to see you for more than a few hours this weekend. Hopefully there will be some elephant ears...

In a Tight Little World

In a Tight Little World, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

I was reading Simmel today and got to thinking... I wonder if it is necessarily the case that the more 'cultured' and educated a person is, they less they are able to be their self around other people. Experiences are so individual, and the more breadth one gains, the more distanced from others people are in a way. So, in order to continue to relate to other people, the more our interactions must be generalized. That is, all that we are cannot be brought to bear in all of our interactions with others because they have no connecting point of reference. How much of our 'self' is left behind for the sake of relationships? Who knows, but Simmel would think that there is a sort of built-in tension of individual and 'other' in every interaction that we have.

It is kind of funny, but in order to keep up with the 'book' photo project, I think I may need to start taking pictures with piles of books in them...

Read American Evangelicalism if you are into a) Evangelical movement, b) extension/fine-tuning of rational choice theory, c) subculture identity construction. Read Acts of Faith if you are into a) rational choice/economic models of religion. Am just getting into Simmel today, so not sure on that one yet....

Not Color Blind

Not Color Blind, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

"No, I'm not colorblind
I know the world is black and white"
- John Mayer

Sometimes it seems that the hardest thing is seeing how reality interacts and impacts my world. Even harder is showing shades of gray to one convinced reality is not in grayscale.

Understanding Shiner

Understanding Shiner, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

So I figured that since I am around books a lot, and books will likely be in a lot of my pictures that go out, I might as well start to get a picture of some sort of each book I have to read. Should be a good time. This is the first one of this series, Understanding Terror Networks. A riveting read if you are into a) terrorism b) terror networks c) network theory d) rational choice theory, or d) some sort of government policy in regards to terror networks.

In other news, Shiner, TX's local brewery (although I think it is owned by some bigger one), actually has some pretty good beers! They are frequently a good study companion.

Purpose is a Niche

Purpose is a Niche, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

It has been pretty much since sara left me alone for like a year that I have posed some pictures just for the sake of posting a picture. I kind of miss it, actually, so I thought I would try and post some pics up on a quasi-regular basis. We shall see how that goes - especially because I don't have the computer processing program at school.

Anyways, this weekend's reading has been consumed by Marx and stuff on religious economies. I thought about trying to work up something profound to go with this picture, but sometimes it is better to play it on the safe side and not fake profundity when it really isn't there. But, here is to a 3 day weekend (for some of us)!

Too Fast

Too Fast, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

Day 64

Weekends go way too fast.

pinch of this and all of that

I picked up a book that Sara had around the house tonight and started to read it a little bit. The author is essentially reflecting on the correlation of the 'science' and other intellectualisms, and real life. We have allowed our world (or maybe just our culture) to become a largely atomistic world. That is, we break everything down into tiny, little, understandable parts. Molecules are not molecules, they are quarks and 'atomic glue,' wait quarks are not quarks they are.... well you get the idea. We break everything out of context and try to understand it as a stand alone entity. The family is not the family, it is a loose relation of people accidentally associated to one another in a continual fashion either by choice or ignorance.

People are no longer people. They are problems to be solved, 'issues' to deal with, mechanisms and machines to be used, or 'choices.' This next quote stuck out maybe just because I am a curmudgeon in regards to my current employment (I promise not every blog will be about that), but it has implications much beyond that as well. Wendell Berry says (in Life is a Miracle),

"I have read of Werner Heisenberg's principle that "Whenever one treats living organisms as physiochemical systems they must necessarily behave as such." I am not competent to have an opinion about the truth of that. I do feel able to say that whenever one treats living organisms as machines they must necessarily be perceived to behave as such. And I can see that the proposition is reversible: Whenever one perceives living organisms as machines they must necessarily be treated as such."

I think we would all do much better if we saw the things around us not as mechanical, controllable, and predictable. A lot of the time I think that has its beginnings in our relation to God first. We often think of him as 'good,' 'great,' 'powerful,' or any other common descriptor, just to the nth degree. We should, rather, see him not in a univocal sense (great, but to a huge degree), but in an anological sense (food is healthy and a person is healthy, not the same, but we understand some correlation). We know what 'good' means, and he is that, but in a sense that the language of 'good' is not necessasrily capable of encapsulating. Once we 'understand' our relation to the God of all, it is easier to understand our relation to all that is his. Well, maybe easy isn't the word, but at least the reduction of all seems harder to succomb to at that point.

two quick thoughts

So tonight i was reading a little more from The Irresistible Revolution and I came across a great quote from and old Dutch pastor, Kaj Munk: "And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish... but never the chameleon." Far too often the church is full of people like me that accept their daily life, then go home to their own home, insulated from everything in the world. Of course there are always the problems that come up in one's life, but what are the on-going problems in my life when set next to those of one who doesn't have a dinner on a regular basis?

Shane says that he is more afraid of the suburbs than he is of living in the city because the death of the comforted soul is much more of a danger there. I hear that, but at the same time, to stay in the city is to, in a weird way, seek comfort. To avoid the painful numb of comfort by staying out of the 'burbs is almost no different. To be fair, i don't think that is really what he meant, but that is what it made me think about. It is for that reason that, to the dismay of my wife, i almost feel like we should go to a suburban, 'comfortable' church. I think someone with strong thoughts should be there to jar them back out of the chameleon's skin. Now I would just need to find someone less 'chameleoned' than myself to do it. (sara...? ;)

The other thing I was thinking about is something that i really struggle with and think a lot about. i never know whether it falls into the complaining category or not, and so i very often don't say anything about it. I have a strong dislike for my current job. yes, the one that just cut me down to 20 hours a week and expect all the same work. Anyways, this one made me think of my not-really-that-bad-even-though-work-sucks situation:
"The world of efficiency and anonymity dehumanizes us. We see people as machines, as tractors, or as issues to protest. We live in an age when machines act like people, and people act like machines. But machines cannot love."

there really isn't too much different this year as compared to other years at work. but there are dollar bills floating in the air and hours are being cut like crazy. they dont care about the people who do whatever they can in order to keep some kind of a job, taking home a never-increasing slice of the big-time increasing profits. When they cut my hours, my manager says to me, 'you were able to do your job in less hours while you were in school, you should be able to do it now as well.' that's right, why allow people to work at just a speeding pace when we can have them work at break-neck pace? why think about the health and happiness of the workforce when there are more pennies to be gained? I have seen too many people there get fired and not told about it, waiting weeks at times for another schedule that will never come. how is that responsible? how does that help the company? that person? their family? society in general? all for another penny. yes, these are the same people that i weekly have to decide who gets a shift to pay for the electric bill. they will find out soon enough on their own, won't they? the lucky ones that do get told, and are let go for a specific reason are not told why, typically. Yep, why try and fulfill our duty to help them become a better person and employee? after all, it may take 5 more minutes. 1 more penny.

if you can't tell i am deeply cynical about them right now. I just hope that there are still companies out there that actually care about the people and not just the pennies. I hope it isn't, as they say at work, 'all about the bottom line.' (sure isn't my bottom line it is all about) ok - i will stop now....

Action, not inaction

Last night I started to read one of Sara's new favorite books, The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. I wasn't even through the forward yet and something caught my eye. Earlier in the day I was reading The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis, to get the brain juices flowing before the GRE, and a line from Wallis' forward made me think of Lewis. I think they are both onto something significant.

Wallis said, "Defining faith by the things you won't do or question does not create a compelling style of life." I am not sure the having a 'compelling style of life' is necessarily the goal, but by the rest of the forward, I am guessing he was just a little loose with words there. He is right I think; faith should maybe be defined primarily in the positive, that is, by the things we DO and not by the things we shouldn't do.

Lewis said that if you were to ask 20 good men what the highest virtue was, they would say 'unselfishness.' He says that this is a very different answer than the Great Christians of old, because they would have replied 'love.' He goes on to say, "the negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point." His point is that the good is likely not found in us going without, but is likely found in us indulging in the desires and dreams that God has put into us as His creation. That is where the good is found, and that is where true love for the other is found. Indeed, I think Lewis is dead on in saying that, "it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak... We are far too easily pleased."

I hope that I live a life that reflects the fear of the Lord daily in all of my actions. I hope that I am never too easily pleased and that my faith life can be defined more by action than inaction. Seeing as I am only through the forward of this book, I am sure more thoughts are to follow.