Union quad

here's a lovely photo of the quad at my school, taken by a friend during the very latest fall of snow. beautiful!

tidbits

Well, an eventful few days. Here's some tidbits from around the place.

First, Sufjan Stevens produced an album for a group known as 'Welcome Wagon' which is a husband and wife duo. Go here and listen to one of their songs; leave it playing in the background while you read the rest of my post.

Second, some good news. I got my final piece of work back yesterday, and all my essays received distinctions. Which sounds good, but simply means I didn't stuff anything up!

Thirdly, it snowed again yesterday, but it was magical dreamy snow, the kind of giant, soft flakes that do not fall so much as meander to the earth. With each thermal gust and shift of wind the flakes would rise or fall, swirling sideways in a nonchalant eddy that was in no particular rush to hurry to the earth and its inevitable demise, melting or being trodden under foot. Preston and I took a long walk along the river in the evening, threw snowballs at unsuspecting passersby, sledded down a short hill, and got our feet wet.

Fourthly, a whole bunch of kids from school got together in one of the common rooms and we watched the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Washington had close to 2 million people crowding the mall, and it was a sight to behold. Plus his speech was amazing, and I started to think again about the power of oratory to unify, encourage, and move people. I suppose though, this is where the rubber hits the road, and the real worth of his presidency will be seen in his foreign diplomacy and domestic economic decisions.

Fifthly...I don't think there is a fifthly!

claims, pins, and lanes

Over the last two days I read 'A short introduction to the philosophy of science' which was a really good primer for the main issues - induction, deduction, falsifiability, paradigm change, theory/data relation, inference to best explanation etc. I wanted to brush up on those ideas precisely because they become germane to the construction of Christology. We look at Jesus' life as 'data' and from that construct a 'theory' of Christology. Some people get a bit allergic to the word 'theory' as if it means the same as 'hypothesis' - which it doesn't. The worry seems to be that if I say Christology is a theory, that it's "one theory among others", that I'm not sure if it's true. But that's not really the way the language of theory works. For example, we say "the theory of gravity" but it's not as if we're in doubt about the existence of gravity; jump out a window if you're not sure.

Theory is the language one uses about a description of reality that is meant to make sense of the data and phenomena that appear to us, to go behind the scenes as it were, to give an explanation of why we see what we see.

And this is the kind of thing going on in Christology. We 'see' the life of Jesus, the miracles, the teaching, the parables, the prophetic action, the resurrection, the post-ressurection appearances, the ascension. From that, the Church began to come to a realisation of the profound reality that had been responsible for those phenomenon and were led to conclude that Jesus was God. The relation between his divinity and humanity is what Christology is trying to explain. And so I'm heading out the door right now to go and read at the coffee shop for 2 hours. I may not end up agreeing with Pannenberg, but he sets out the whole argument perhaps better than anyone, and because of that I can only gain from reading him.

Pins and lanes is because I'm going bowling tonight! Didn't do anything for my birthday, and this isn't a birthday thing for me, but my friend is paying as a belated gift. It's all good. You know I'll win, or die trying.

childhood memories

This won the Topfest Australia short film award, and I reckon quite a few people had flashbacks to their own childhood while watching this film. There are so many brilliant details - the spokey-dokeys, the dunlop volleys, the canvas school bag, the jumps etc. If you grew up in Australia, you'll love this video.

ontology by advertisers

Thanks to my dad for reading my previous post and filling me in on a tidbit of missing info. AC Grayling, a British philosspher and atheist here gives the background to why the word 'probably' was inserted. Apparently media standards don't allow such things as outright denials of God to be said! Grayling tries to make the case that if we're to all play by the same rules, then religious groups should have to add the cavet 'allegedly' to their claims for the existence of divine being. But this seems a little redundant. For example, Alpha adverts don't say things like 'There is a God'. They say things like "Explore the meaning of life". Anyway. Intersting to see 453 comments regarding Grayling's article, but I suppose it is mostly just the rattling of sabres by theists and atheists alike.

only probably?

Firstly, though I seemed rather optimistic in my assumption about how much I could get done on Pannenberg, I did only say I would be regular, not frequent. Once a month is still regular :)

But seriously, I handed in my 12,000 word paper today, and I have no money for extra-curricular activity, so I will have lots of time to read and write - the first post will be up tomorrow! Having said that, I'd like to enjoy some time reading poetry, and playing music. Pannenberg will be my side interest.

Here is a link to the atheist bus campaign coming to an English town near you. What I find slightly amusing about the whole thing is that they couldn't quite find the certainty to say that 'there is no God'. Instead they wrote 'there's probably no God. now stop worrying and enjoy your life'. But if one was walking down the street and saw this, wouldn't the thought cross one's mind - "Probably? You mean you're not sure? Well, if God is possible, then maybe I should think about it." The great age of atheism has actually been dead for a while. Most people aren't atheists. They believe in 'some higher power' but they're not sure what that might be. So, lacking a convinced and confident billboard, the response the bus may generate is: "Only probably? So.....you're sayin there's a chance?" Nod to Lloyd.