Resources for reflecting on The Shack

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Kerry

textIn the previous post I explained that the reason to read The Shack is because it helps us to imagine how God meets us in our place of “Great Sadness,” so that we can begin to understand that He is truly good and so that we can begin to trust Him in the midst of our pain and brokenness. If you do not feel this need, there’s no need to read The Shack.

I also explained that if one does feel this need, then one should read The Shack with mythopoetic imagination just as one would read the works of George MacDonald, because the narrative events anchor the meaning of the didactic portions instead of vice-versa.

Yet even as C.S. Lewis compiled an anthology of quotations from MacDonald’s works, so in the same way, readers of The Shack will look back and ponder the didactic statements of theology that they encountered. An anthology of the highlights in my own copy of The Shack would not make a best-seller, but these underlined passages are very meaningful to me! Yet unfortunately, largely as a result of The Shack’s mythopoetic literary form, these statements are as incomplete and imprecise from the standpoint of theology as they are tantalizing, and so it’s appropriate to seek outside help to piece together a coherent understanding of Young’s theological perspective.

So if you have benefited from reading The Shack and have come to the place where you want to reflect on its theology, then in this post I’ve assembled some resources that I’ve found helpful for reflecting on the theological perspective of The Shack, to try to put together what it all means.

  1. The obvious point is to start by reading The Shack. Thankfully, it’s available in inexpensive paperback versions from WalMart and Amazon. Hard-cover, large-print, and audio versions are offered on the Windblown Media website, along with translations into Spanish and other languages. The Shack is also available for the Kindle and from the iBooks Store for your iPhone or iPad.

  2. Gary and Cathy Deddo, God, the Bible and the Shack (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010). To help you put together the main themes of The Shack, start here. The Deddos explore what The Shack has to say about how we can know if God is completely good; what it means to believe in the Trinity; and how to trust in the goodness of God amidst the evil of this broken world. This is the best introduction I have found to The Shack, and if you’re sitting on the fence about whether to read it or what to think of it, then this little booklet is for you.

  3. Gary Deddo, Questions and Answers about The Shack: A Supplement to the IVP Booklet (2010; pdf available for free download from the booklet web page). In my opinion, Deddo has provided in this succinct and readable pdf the most illuminating and helpful analysis of the theological perspective of The Shack. Read this essay if you want to better understand Paul Young’s theology or if you’re concerned about criticism The Shack has received.

  4. I highly recommend letting Paul Young speak for himself by listening to audio talks or watching video conversations where he explains how he came to write The Shack, what it is all about, and how it reflects his personal journey through a “Great Sadness”:
    • Mariner Church (choice of video or audio for six different events in July, 2008, including one highly recommended talk that is autobiographical).
    • You’re Included, a podcast of Grace Communion International (“GCI”; choice of video or audio for three sequential half-hour conversations with Paul Young; You’re Included is also available at iTunes).
    • Fuller Seminary, Heard on Campus podcast; search the iTunes Store for “William Paul Young” to find this and other talks by Young.
    • More.

  5. Tradition of Trinitarian Theology: It’s difficult to avoid critics of The Shack. Yet many of them have either not read The Shack, or have only browsed through it in a superficial manner. Some have gone so far as to accuse it of heresy. It would be better if they would just explain that their theological tradition differs from the theology of The Shack, and that they believe it is in error on a number of specific points. But The Shack does derive its theological perspective from “Trinitarian theology,” a robust tradition of Christian theology that is both Protestant and evangelical. Young did not make this stuff up all by himself! If you wish to understand with sympathetic insight the theological perspective of The Shack, before you turn to the critics, then start with the following resources that throw light on the theological background of Young’s writing:

  6. Theological studies of The Shack: Baxter Kruger’s discussions of The Shack are extremely well-informed about the tradition of Trinitarian theology underlying Young’s perspective – and Baxter’s third interview (January 9, 2010) on You’re Included indicates that we’ll soon be treated to his theological reflections on The Shack in book form. (More Kruger) UPDATE: Baxter Kruger, The Shack Revisited, is out!

I hope that these resources will help readers of The Shack to more fully reflect on the experience of sharing in Young’s spiritual journey, and to move more deeply into personal reflections on the practical meanings of Christian theology.

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Is God really good? Can I trust Him in my Shack?

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Kerry

Is God really good?

William Paul Young, The Shack (cover).This question is what The Shack is all about.

William Paul Young’s best-selling* novel, originally written as a testimony for his kids, is neither a systematic theology nor an evangelistic tract. If you are looking for a general overview of Christian doctrine or a philosophical answer to the problem of evil, The Shack is not for you. To approach it with the goal of teasing out intellectual answers to these questions is quite misguided.

Rather, The Shack is a parable, written as fiction for a reason. It is written for one who is bearing a “Great Sadness,” struggling with the existential question of how can I learn to trust God amidst the evil of my broken world? Is faith in the Triune God of Christianity psychologically sustainable for those among us who have been most damaged and wounded by pain and suffering? To this question The Shack provides a way of experiencing the reality of an affirmative response of renewed trust in God, even in the midst of suffering.

Although it draws on a profound understanding of the atonement and Trinity, The Shack should not be summarized with bullet points on a PowerPoint slide. Rather, it is a book to be experienced, a book that renews the imagination.

In Young’s metaphor, “The Shack” is the place of my greatest pain. Paradoxically, it is also the place where God meets me to show me who He is and how He accepts me with unconditional love and boundless grace. That God meets me in my Shack with unconditional love is the Christian’s astonishing inference from the Incarnation.

For this reason, reading The Shack acts as a potent antidote to all sorts of separation theologies which assume my separation from God as an existential starting point, as if I were not living in the age of Immanuel and reconciled by the Incarnation and death and resurrection of Christ. As an antidote, The Shack is particularly effective against those separation theologies of the performance variety, which view my relationship with God as a bilateral contract in which God does His part while I have to to do my part — by performing up to some standard level — rather than perceiving His relationship to me as a unilateral covenant of unconditional grace, fully accomplished in the person and work of Christ.

But what if… What if my Shack were visited by a God who is fully reconciled to me in Christ? What would my place of pain, my Shack, look like, if somehow I were to come to know it as a place where I receive unconditional grace and boundless love? What if there were such a God? What if such a God were to draw close to me?

Here is the main reason to read The Shack: to become better able to imagine my Shack as a place where God is with me, drawing close in boundless love, and where He is really good and worthy of my trust.

Why do I need to read with imagination?

Reading The Shack therefore requires imagination, understood not as an idle escape from reality, but as an essential faculty of perception of reality. The Shack baptizes my imagination with the faculty of perceiving, beside me and within me and all about me, the real presence of a God who is good and whom it is my delight to trust.

By saying that The Shack requires imagination, I do not mean that it is an allegory. Reading an allegory does not require mythopoetic imagination. The Shack is not an allegory, as if it could be mined for theological proof-texts like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

In his introduction to an anthology of George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis described MacDonald’s stories as mythopoetic because of their ability to impart wisdom, strength, and deep delight on a level more profound than words can reach. The Shack, like the writings of MacDonald, is mythopoesis, conveyed through the story much more than through its words. If you don’t like MacDonald, don’t read The Shack. On the other hand, if you like MacDonald, read The Shack in the same way you read MacDonald and you won’t be disappointed.

Part of what this means is that The Shack alternates narrative and didactic passages in a manner similar to the novels of George MacDonald, like Thomas Wingfold or Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood. I thoroughly enjoy both portions in both writers, but with The Shack as with MacDonald’s novels, the narrative has a much greater impact. The didactic portions derive their power from the story, rather than vice-versa. Copy and paste the didactic portions into a word processor, without the story, and one would have anything but a best-seller. It’s the story itself that is most compelling: how Mack discovers God dwelling in the place of his deepest sorrow; witnesses the mutual devotion of the Trinity; discovers that they are determined to include him in their communion; works through his anger at God, renouncing judgment in the cave of Sophia; discovers the Holy Spirit joyously indwelling Mack’s chaotic garden; finds reconciliation with his father; experiences a new-found trust in God which leads him to forgive Missy’s killer; and re-enters ordinary life with love and forgiveness as if everything matters. We read and interpret the didactic portions in light of these experiences, which refract them and give them meaning that they could never have if they were abstracted from their context and considered in isolation from the story itself.

Young’s writing style — including its alleged allegorical passages, the mix of didactic and narrative elements, and other literary qualities — becomes nearly irrelevant if The Shack is read as a work of mythopoetic imagination. As with MacDonald, the lasting impact of the novel derives not from its literary qualities but from the images presented to the imagination which persist and work profoundly in the depths of subconscious understanding. The narrative story offers a fresh vocabulary for translating the significance of the doctrines of the Trinity, Incarnation and atonement into memories which come to mind almost unbidden.

This is how The Shack renews one’s imagination in light of the grace of a loving God.

Note for those too burdened by sorrow to read The Shack

One final note about reading The Shack: a number of folks who would benefit from Young’s story feel themselves too broken to bear the grief Mack experiences during Missy’s abduction and the dawning realization that she has been murdered. If you wish to read The Shack but you cannot bear the intensity of reading that section, just skip chapter 4, “The Great Sadness.” If you are already bearing your own “Great Sadness,” you don’t need this chapter to be ready for what follows anyway. And although you will miss a few things, you will gain the greater benefit of reading the whole. However, be reassured that even if you read this chapter, Young nowhere indulges in sensationalized or graphic depictions. The purpose is to enable ordinary readers to enter into Mack’s grief and suffering, in order to share in his comfort later on.

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*Windblown media explains in a post dated March 8, 2010:

“With 10 million copies now in print, The Shack continues on the NY Times Best Seller List for the 114th consecutive week, including 52 weeks at #1. It has been on the USA Today Top 150 List for 136 weeks and was ranked by USA Today as the 6th Best-Selling book of 2008. The Shack was ranked by Bookscan as the 7th Best-Selling book of 2008 and the 3rd Best-Selling book of 2009. The Shack also continues to make waves in foreign markets. It has been translated into 34 languages. In Brazil, over one million copies have now been sold and in Germany, the book currently sits at #3. The Shack has also become a bestseller in Canada, the U.K., South Africa and South Korea.”

More on Paul Young.

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In a corner with a book

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Kerry

“I have sought after rest in everything; and found it nowhere except in a corner with a book.”

Thomas à Kempis

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Right: The Imitation of Christ by the late-medieval monk Thomas à Kempis remained a popular devotional work through the 20th century. This copy from the Bizzell Bible Collection is an early 20th-century edition. A Russian icon from the 17th century is laid into the beautiful Moroccan leather binding. (London: Phillip Allan and Co., 1923; bound by Zaehnsdorf in Levant Morocco.)

Access works of the Bizzell Bible Collection through the History of Science Collections.

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Accordance Conference: An excursion at the interface of scripture and technology

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Kerry

Accordance for OS X | Accordance for iOS

Accordance 10 Bible study softwareThe opportunity to meet Oak Tree staff and mingle with a combination of academic users, pastors and passionate lay users at the recent Accordance Conference put a human face on my own use of this beloved software. Accordance brings so many different kinds of people together! Insightful accounts of the conference are available from David Lang, Rick Mansfield and Mary Hinkle-Shore.

Highlights of the conference included two plenary sessions reporting on Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship and recent digitization expeditions by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. In the latter presentation, I was moved very deeply by Daniel Wallace’s accounts of the eagerness of monasteries around the world to digitally preserve their most fragile manuscripts, and by his slides showing the recovery of long-lost text through UV lamps and other measures. A technical session by Robert Holmstedt on Accordance’s new syntax modules for the Old and New Testaments effectively combined linguistic theory and practice, and like other sessions provoked tantalizing reflections on the potential of digital tools for research and Bible study. The panel discussion on the present and future of mobile software was enlightening, particularly with respect to the ways the iPad is already transforming publisher decisions and consumer behavior. Attendees were delighted and surprised by a demonstration of the forthcoming Accordance iPhone app, which seemed to make all the right design decisions to translate the soul of the Accordance user experience into the world of a touch interface and smaller screen. (For more info or to download Holmstedt’s paper see Mansfield’s report.)

The interweaving of technology and scripture has been a remarkable phenomenon throughout human history. This is one of the themes I emphasize when showing works from the Bizzell Bible Collection, such as the ones illustrated in the remainder of this post.

Examples of technological innovations stimulated by the Bible, some illustrated below, include:

  • Popularization of the codex
  • Juxtaposition of text and commentary
  • Printing of the first lay study Bible
  • Collation of polyglot editions
  • Miniaturization of the Bible by shorthand or photographic techniques
  • The modern reconstruction and analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls

So it’s not surprising to see how technology and scripture come together again in such fascinating ways with the Accordance user community. Accordance represents history-in-the-making for the 21st century. I’m looking forward to the next Accordance Conference already.

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Augustine, De civitate dei (1489). Central text with surrounding commentary:

Augustine, De civitate dei (1489). Central text with surrounding commentary.

Latin Vulgate, printed in 1479 by Anthony Koberger in Nuremberg:

Latin Vulgate, Koberger, 1479.

The Koberger Vulgate is the earliest Bible to contain a woodcut, hand-colored in the OU copy. After Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Vulgate in 1454, the printing press led to incalculable cultural changes.

The complete German Bible of Martin Luther (1483-1546) was first printed at Wittenberg in 1534 by Hans Luft. Over 100,000 copies were sold in 40 years. Luther translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek sources during his exile in the Wartburg castle, where he was protected by Frederick the Wise of Saxony after his famous confrontation with the Roman Catholic Church and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Wurms. The power of printed books to transform society is evident in that as many as one third of the books printed in Germany during the 1530’s were written by Martin Luther. Because of the dependence of the Protestant Reformation upon the printing press, many argue that printing caused greater cultural change in early modern Europe than has yet been realized by the Internet in the modern world.

German Bible, Martin Luther, 1743.

Luther’s Bible, printed by Christoph Saur, 1743 (above and below).

German Bible, printed by Christoph Saur, 1743.

The German translation of Martin Luther became the first Bible printed in America in a European language, yet the publisher nearly went bankrupt from giving away copies of his Bible to poor families. Saur later printed works for the Continental Congress.

Geneva Bible (1560), title page:

Geneva Bible (1560), title page. With verse divisions, a small and readable font, cross-references to parallel passages and extensive marginal annotations, the Geneva Bible transformed the way people experienced the Bible.

With verse divisions, a small and readable font, cross-references to parallel passages and extensive marginal annotations, the Geneva Bible transformed the way people read scripture and debated theology. With this hand-sized lay study Bible, the word of God spread like a flame to the home and tavern, outside the walls of hierarchical institutions such as the church and university.

Walton’s Polyglot, 1653:

Walton's Polyglot, 1653.
Walton's Polyglot, 1653.

The polyglot of Brian Walton was a monumental achievement of 17th century scholarship, the culmination of two centuries of humanist collation and criticism of biblical texts. Including texts in nine languages, Walton’s aim in the polyglot was “not only exhibit to the reader all the ancient and chief Translations, together with the Originals, but also the chief Copies, MSS., or others, of both, so that in this Edition the reader might have all or most other editions, and the best MSS. which he might consult at pleasure.”

Greek New Testament (1763):

Greek New Testament (1763) with fore-edge paintings.

A delightful example of the book arts is fore-edge painting, a late 18th and early 19th century practice of book ornamentation. When the Bible is closed and one observes the text block from the side, all that is seen is a gilded edge. Yet when the Bible is open and read from front to back, the pages roll from one side to the other, revealing two different fore-edge paintings. The full beauty of the Bible is hidden when it’s on the shelf or altar, and revealed only in the act of reading.

New Testament in Bengali (New Delhi, 1847):

New Testament in Bengali. New Delhi, 1847. Translated by William Carey.

This Bible was translated by William Carey of the Calcutta Inland Mission. Carey also translated the Hindu scriptures from Sanskrit into Bengali so that natives of India could read both scriptures side by side. Carey played a crucial role in launching the worldwide missionary expansion of Christianity in the 19th century. As a result of two centuries of global expansion, the majority of Christians today live outside of Europe and the United States.

New Testament, Jeremiah Rich (1659):

Jeremiah Rich (1659), the New Testament in short-hand.

In the 17th century, the inventor of shorthand created a miniature New Testament published in three tiny volumes.

Old and New Testaments, 1927:


1927 miniature Bible

Printed miniature Bibles were a triumph of early 20th-century publishing. Even with a magnifying glass included, it’s hard to read when the whole Bible is not much larger than a nickel.

**All Bible images courtesy the Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries.

The parallels are obvious between Accordance and all of the above examples of the Bible and printing history. In Accordance, commentary cannot literally surround a text as in the 1489 Augustine, but texts and commentaries scroll together in the same workspace. So the Bible remains as central as the Augustinian text in the sense that one need not leave the biblical text to consult a commentary or other resource.

Accordance brings together the entire history of the Bible, for available historic texts include ancient codices, the Vulgate, Apostolic Fathers, Luther’s Bible, the Geneva Bible and countless others.

The Communication Revolution brought about by the personal computer and Internet has not yet established a second Reformation in parallel with the Printing Revolution, yet Accordance, by its presence on the Mac for nearly 20 years and by its forthcoming iOS apps, along with web initiatives like the NET Bible, are transforming personal as well as academic study of the Bible by users from all around the globe. It is perhaps not too much to assume that a world-wide spiritual reformation may be underway in which digital tools are playing a significant role.

Just as subversively as the Geneva Bible, Accordance offers a “study Bible on steroids” on your laptop or iOS device for ready access at home or tavern, and even in the church and university.

Do you wish to follow in the footsteps of the great polyglots? Accordance allows you to set up workspaces with the complexity of Walton’s, juxtaposing Hebrew, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and even texts not available to early modern scholars such as recent eclectic editions, text critical apparatuses, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even on the largest MacBook Pro, Accordance packs more texts and more power into an integrated user interface that is so much smaller and lighter than Walton’s seven massive folio volumes!

My MacBook Pro has no fore-edge paintings, unfortunately. If I’m unwilling to paint its elegant aluminum edges, yet wish to see artwork or photographs as I read, I can set up zones to display the PhotoGuide or Bible Art modules adjacent to the biblical text.

Need a Bible in Bengali or some other language? If the language you want is not available for sale in the Accordance online store, check out the User Exchange, where translations in many languages may be downloaded free of charge.

Want the Bible in your pocket, but not so small as to require a magnifying glass? Accordance for iOS will bring your texts and modules with you as you go — we can carry the entire Yale Anchor Bible Dictionary in our pockets in less space than the original shorthand Bible!

[Note: Perhaps I’ll get a chance to add Accordance screenshots to illustrate these paragraphs sometime in the future.]

Posted in Apple, Theology | Tagged | 5 Comments

Reading Wimsey, 1987

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Kerry

Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night, a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery dramatized by the BBCWe recently watched the BBC’s production of Gaudy Night that aired in the late 1980’s on PBS. At that time we were unable to watch the series of Lord Peter television movies, but we were already avid readers of Dorothy Sayers’ works, including her mysteries. I don’t know why it took us so long to watch this movie, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

BBC, 1970’s, starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter:

  1. Clouds of Witness (1972)
  2. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1973)
  3. Murder Must Advertise (1974)
  4. Five Red Herrings (1975)
  5. The Nine Tailors (1975)

BBC, 1980’s, starring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter, and Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane:

  1. Strong Poison (1987)
  2. Have His Carcase (1987)
  3. Gaudy Night (1987)

From time to time we’re asked which Lord Peter mysteries to read first. My personal favorites are:

  1. “Talboys,” a short story in the collection entitled Lord Peter. It takes place in 1942, long after Lord Peter and Harriet were married, when they are raising three sons.
  2. The Nine Tailors. I love the interweaving in this book of unhurried depictions of rural English life and the art of church bell change ringing. Read it at Christmas-time if you can.
  3. Busman’s Honeymoon. In Gaudy Night, Harriet finally accepts Peter’s proposal. In Busman’s Honeymoon, they begin married life together by solving a murder.
  4. Documents in the Case. Lord Peter is not a figure in this mystery (though other familiar characters appear). His absence is all the more reason I marvel at Sayer’s craftsmanship with this unusual story. If this title is not a universal favorite, perhaps it’s because it’s not a page-turner. Yet it’s fascinating how she developed the various characters through nothing more than the case files on Inspector Parker’s desk. Also, it may appeal most to readers (like me) who appreciate a tantalizing glimpse of the state of forensic biochemistry around 1930.

These are my top four. No two Sayers readers would likely agree on such a list (except, I think, The Nine Tailors would appear near the top of most people’s favorites). But if the entire series is read in chronological order, one may appreciate how Sayers achieves a coherent account that is quite gratifying of Lord Peter’s character development as a whimsical and slightly detached English aristocrat during the 1930s and 1940s. Why not set out to read them all in order some year?

Tucked away inside one of our Lord Peter volumes is the following New Years letter to some friends, written in January of 1987 as we were awaiting the birth of our first child. Rachel was born in April of that year. While raising three daughters, we have never regretted championing “Talboys” as our philosophy of child-rearing. (However, having had no sons who were “‘fernal nuisances on a hot day,” it is wise to retain a wholesale skepticism about our child-rearing abilities.)

The letter lists the Lord Peter stories in chronological order, so download it as a reading guide, if you like.

Sayers began another Lord Peter novel in 1938 but never finished it. Jill Paton Walsh completed it and published it in 1998 as Thrones, Dominations. To include this in the chronological list, put it right after Busman’s Honeymoon.

Not listed is a series of letters Sayers published in the Spectator in 1939 and 1940, ostensibly between Lord Peter, Harriet and other characters from the mysteries, which described their roles in England and abroad at the start of the war. Some of these letters are incorporated in A Presumption of Death, a Lord Peter mystery written by Walsh and published in 2003. To read the Wimsey stories in chronological order, pick up this one after Thrones, Dominations, and just before “Talboys.”

Letter to friends about Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, 1987

What do you like most about reading Lord Peter mysteries? Which of Sayers’ stories are your favorites?

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Posted in Family | Tagged | 3 Comments

Buying and setting up a new Mac

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Kerry

MacBook ProFrom time to time I am asked to recommend or set up new Macs for family and friends.

If asked what Mac to buy, I recommend an iMac if it’s going to be used for video editing, as a TV, or as a shared computer, holding videos, photos, books and music for a family. An iMac plus an iPad makes a powerful combination, shifting files between them using iCloud and Dropbox. A student or true road warrior might need a MacBook Pro; or, consider a combo of an iMac with a MacBook Air. Think of a Mac Pro as a Big Mack truck, an iMac as a full-size pickup, a MacBook Pro or Air as an SUV, the iPad as a car, and the iPhone or iPod touch as a bicycle or scooter. A car does many things best – email, web browsing, photo management, note-taking, e-book and pdf reading, etc. But where I come from, many car owners also need trucks.

FWIW: I love my current setup, which includes Apple monitors on my desks at work (2×27″) and at home (1×30″), run by a Retina MacBook Pro. Before that, I enjoyed a 13-inch MacBook Pro (after using the Retina display, there’s no going back).

In addition to the companion iPad, here are the accessories I recommend for a typical Mac purchase:

  • An external hard drive. With Time Machine and drives getting cheaper all the time, external backup is a no-brainer. Get this before any other accessories; it’s as important as the computer itself. Flash drives, or smaller external hard drives, are useful for exchanging files.
  • AppleCare Protection Plan, 3 years. I recommend this as essential for laptops, and as suggested for desktops. The first year is free. If cash flow is a problem, buy the extension for another 2 years at the end of the first year.
  • MacBook: A slipcase to carry the laptop by itself or within a backpack or briefcase. Excellent slipcases are made by Incase and booq, among others. I’m personally very happy with this one from STM. Also, make sure that the owner has a sturdy backpack of non-rip fabric, and if not, I recommend a sleeve-backpack combo such as those sold by booq or STM, among others. It makes no sense to invest over a thousand dollars in a computer and economize by entrusting it to a $25 backpack from Walmart.
  • iCloud (setup instructions). iCloud seamlessly integrates documents and data between devices, whether iOS or OS X, in Apple apps such as Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Notes, Reminders, iPhoto, Mail, iCal, and Contacts. Going forward, it will be supported by additional apps, both from Apple and third parties.
  • iWork. Don’t let someone overlook iWork and buy Office instead. Let them save their money with iWork and purchase Scrivener, DevonThink, and other useful Mac apps, not to mention an iPod, iPhone or iPad (!) with the money that would have been washed down the drain with Office.
  • Dongles: Don’t wait until you need these – for a laptop in an academic setting, it’s only a matter of when, not if. The time will come during the lifetime of the laptop that someone will want to connect it to a data projector, external monitor, or other peripheral device. So consider the following dongles, depending on the computer and setup: computer to VGA, computer to DVI, mini-Display port to HDMI, thunderbolt to firewire, thunderbolt to ethernet.
  • Remote: Whether for a laptop or an iMac, I think the remote is a good thing to have. It’s great for sitting back and watching movies, for controlling iTunes from across the room, and for advancing Keynote slides. However, an iPhone can do all these things, too.
  • Apple Magic Trackpad for an iMac, and Apple Magic Mouse for a laptop. A mouse for a laptop? Yes, because it makes the transition to the trackpad easier for former Windows users not accustomed to one. Apple gestures are fantastic, and I prefer the Magic Trackpad over the Magic Mouse, but the mouse is a security blanket that facilitates the switch. A mouse is useful when one is working at a desk, and as a Keynote remote (if the owner doesn’t already have an iPhone). If the owner has an iPhone or a remote and is already accustomed to an Apple trackpad, skip the mouse. If you’re getting a desktop, don’t skip the Magic Trackpad. With Lion and Mountain Lion, gestures are so much more efficient and largely replace use of the mouse. It’s the end of an era.

Here’s a checklist of what I do when I set up a Mac. Most of the steps below are quite idiosyncratic, and reflect my personal preferences for working with a Mac. Some of these preferences will need a little explanation to the owner (such as hot corners, and the trackpad and mouse System preferences). But to me, these settings are slightly better than the defaults, and completing these steps for someone makes their discovery of how the Mac works a little more enjoyable.

  1. Print out the Mac cheat-sheet. Fill it out as you proceed, and when you are finished setting up the computer give a copy to the owner for future reference. UPDATE: I now recommend setting up 1Password for this purpose; buy it from the Mac App store. Check out 1Password’s features and screenshots at the Agilebits website, and show your friends and family how to use it. It is simply excellent, and becomes even more handy the more you use it.
  2. Unpack, plug in and start up the computer. This is the best part! It’s no favor to someone to let them miss the unpacking and first time starting up, so let them do this if you can.

    3. Classic Mac startup logo

  3. During Startup
    • If it’s a desktop with a wireless keyboard and mouse, set them up when instructed.
    • During startup, there’s an opportunity to connect a firewire, ethernet or thunderbolt cable to an older Mac and transfer files to the new computer. Do it now if you can, because it will transfer over installed third-party apps, account and printing information, and other preferences. This step can be done later, if need be, using the Migration Assistant located in the Utilities folder. Don’t try the wireless option (unless you have a couple days to kill).
    • During startup, enter the owner’s Apple ID and password. This is used at iTunes and at the online Apple store. It can be entered later in iTunes if necessary. Enter this information in 1Password or on the Mac cheat-sheet.
    • During startup, complete the registration information.
    • Enter the owner’s full name and account name, with password and a security hint. Record the account name and password in 1Password or on the Mac cheat sheet.
  4. Open iPhoto. Say “Yes” to use iPhoto when connecting a digital camera. Say “Yes” to see photos on a map. In iPhoto Preferences, under General, check “Show Item counts.” In the View menu, under “Show in Toolbar,” check Set Desktop, Print, Order Prints, Burn. Also, import some photos (of the owner?) so that they will be available for a desktop and screen saver.
  5. Open System Preferences
    • Desktop and Screen Saver: Set a desktop and screen saver that will appeal to the owner. Set the screen saver to begin at 3 or 4 minutes. Set the lower right hot corner so that it starts the screen saver, and the lower left hot corner so that it disables the screen saver.
    • Displays: Click the checkbox to “Show displays in menu bar.” This is useful for anyone who will be presenting on a data projector or connecting to an external monitor.
    • Energy Saver: Set the computer to sleep when connected to a power adapter after 1 hour, and the display to sleep after half an hour (these are longer than the defaults). Keep the defaults for battery power.
    • Keyboard: Check the checkbox to “Show Keyboard & Character Viewer in menu bar.”
    • Mouse: For a laptop, set up a bluetooth mouse, if there is one. For a Windows switcher, and for advanced users, check the “Secondary click” checkbox to turn on right clicking. For teens through middle-aged adults, set the tracking and scrolling speeds to the next-to-highest levels. Later, show the owner how to change mouse settings. Show the owner the Trackpad settings panel also; these are too personal not to customize on an individual basis.
    • iCloud: Enter account details, and make sure they are recorded in 1Password or on the Mac cheat sheet. Set the checkboxes to use iCloud for Mail & Notes, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, Photo Stream, documents and data, and Find My Mac.
    • Find My Mac – be sure to enable this in the iCloud settings.
    • Network: set up as needed, and record in 1Password or on the cheat-sheet.
  6. Software update: Update now. Then update the system software again. Do this repeatedly until there are no more updates showing.
  7. Mail: If you have set up iCloud information in the System Preferences, Mail will already be configured to work. Add additional accounts if need be. In Mail preferences, under the Accounts pane, I set junk mail to be deleted after a month. Under the Viewing pane, I set unread messages to display in bold.
  8. Finder
    1. Choose Preferences from the Finder menu. Under General, click the checkboxes to show Hard Disks and Connected Servers. Under Sidebar, click the checkbox to show the computer. Under Advanced, click the checkbox to show all filename extensions.
    2. Open a Finder Window in icon view. Choose Show View Options from the View menu. Set “Arrange by” to “Snap to Grid” and then click “Use as Defaults.”
    3. Open a Finder Window in List view. Choose Show View Options from the View menu. Click “Calculate all sizes” and then click “Use as Defaults.”
    4. Open a Finder Window in Column view. Choose Show View Options from the View menu. Click “Always open in column view.”
    5. In a Finder window, drag the following folders to appear in the Sidebar, in this order: Applications, Home, Desktop, Documents, Downloads. Move these same folders into the right side of the Dock (except for Desktop).
    6. With a Finder Window open, choose Customize Toolbar from the View menu. Click “Use small size” and show “Icon and Text.” Add the Path button to the right of the Back button. Add the Get Info button to the right of the Action button.
  9. Open the Address Book and make sure that the owner’s address and your own are present.
  10. Open iCal. Choose Show To Do List from the View menu. Then choose Preferences from the iCal menu. Under Advanced, set To Do items to be hidden one day after completion.
  11. Open iChat, enter a username and password if it’s not iCloud, and enter your name on the buddy list.
  12. Open iTunes and sign in with the owner’s account. (For couples or families, I recommend sharing one iTunes account, in order to avoid duplicate purchases and in order to take advantage of the Home Sharing features.)
    • Open iTunes Preferences. Under General, set “iTunes U” and “Books” to show. Under Playback, check Sound Check. Under Store, check to automatically show available downloads, download prepurchased content, and download missing album artwork.
    • Download a zip package of my setup files (117 MB). These include what I consider to be essential cultural history for basic Apple literacy: the 1984 commercial, the Think Different ad, and Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford. Using a Mac is not just about using a better machine – more than an upgrade in technical specs, it’s a cultural shift. No Windows-switcher should use a Mac without watching these – they’re part of an essential enculturation process! 🙂 Import the various files in this zipped package into iTunes, and add the originals to the Movies folder if you wish.
  13. Install iWork. Complete the registration window that appears when opening any of the iWorks apps. Add them to the Dock.
    • Keynote: Under preferences, in the General pane, check “Include preview by default” and “Include obsolete animations.” In the Presenter Display pane, check “Notes.”
    • Keynote, Pages and Numbers: Under preferences, in the General pane, check “Show font preview in Format Bar.” Using “Customize Toolbar” from the View menu, add buttons for Mask, Adjust Image and Instant Alpha (place them next to Media), and Copy Style and Paste Style.
    • Perform a software update to make sure that iWork apps are current.
  14. Safari
    • Add the following to the Bookmarks bar: iCloud.com; Wikipedia, and any personalized websites that the owner will appreciate.
    • Create a Bookmarks Bar folder called “Tutorials” and place within it links to the following websites: iLife tutorials, iWork tutorials, iTunes tutorials, Mac basics, Mac 101, Switch 101 and Mac apps.
    • Create an Apple folder in the Safari bookmark bar. Place within it bookmarks to the following items: The YouTube video of Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford; the text of that address, the 1984 commercial and the Think Different ad.
    • Consider adding a folder for blogs, too.
    • Add Safari extensions: Thurly; 1-click weather, Amazon, etc.
    • In Safari Preferences, under the General pane set the home page to something useful for the owner; remove download list items “upon successful download”; and uncheck “Open safe files after downloading” (for security). For easy retrieval of newly downloaded items, set the downloads folder view in the sidebar to sort by date.
    • In the Safari View menu, select Show Status Bar. Choose Customize Toolbar, and add buttons for Add Bookmark, History, and text Zoom. Move the extensions to the right side of the search field.
    • Place links to these apps in a Safari Bookmark Bar folder entitled “Recommended apps”.
  15. Dashboard. Set up various common widgets: Clock, Weather, translator, white pages, yellow pages, and flight tracker.
  16. Download, install, open and set preferences for useful free apps:
    • RSS reader: NetNewsWire, NewsRack or Pulse. If Netnewswire, choose “Widescreen” from the View menu. Open Safari, and in the RSS pane of Safari preferences set NetNewsWire as the default RSS reader.
    • Stellarium
    • Handbrake
    • CyberDuck
  17. Dock: Move the Time Machine icon to the left side, next to Dashboard. Remove the System Preferences icon. Add the following applications to the Dock: Calculator, TextEdit, Grab, Stellarium, NetNewsWire (or other RSS reader) and the three iWorks apps. Resize the Dock to make it shorter.
  18. Remove any superfluous files from the Downloads folder.
  19. Time Machine: connect the external hard drive and set Time Machine to back up. Leave the computer on long enough to complete the first backup.

Note on security: For most users, I do not recommend installing security software (but if you do, use Sophos (free) rather than Norton). However, there are two steps I do recommend:

  1. Uncheck “Open safe files after downloading” in the Safari preferences. Instruct the new Mac user to keep the downloads folder clean so that it’s easy to find whatever is downloaded intentionally and then open it in a separate step. (Also set the Downloads folder to sort by date when selected in the sidebar of a Finder window.) Do not download and authorize the installation of applications (Trojans) from untrusted sources.
  2. Set up at least two accounts on each Mac: one as an administrator for installing apps, and a different one that is not an admin account for ordinary use. Apple says: “Administrator accounts should only be used for administration. Users should use standard user accounts for day-to-day computer use.”

Accessories

For my laptop, I’ve been very pleased with JBL Creature Speakers. At work, where volume can’t be too high anyway, I’ve been delighted with the speakers included in the new Apple thunderbolt displays (these displays function as a convenient dock because they include not only good speakers but also a bevy of ports – thunderbolt, ethernet, firewire 800, and USB – all accessed simply by plugging the cable into my MBP’s thunderbolt port). For a big iMac that we use in our living room as a TV, we like the Harman Kardon Soundsticks and its subwoofer.

The Blue mic makes for a good all-purpose mic, excellent for voice recordings in iMovie, Keynote, GarageBand or iChat, and very easy to use. No audio interface is required; it plugs into USB.

We use the EyeTV Hybrid dongle, by El Gato, plugged into a USB port on our living room iMac to receive television stations over the air (in high def, for free). With it we convert old VHS tapes to digital, watch broadcast TV, and use its programmable recording features like a DVR. With EyeTV, Netflix and iTunes, we have no need for cable or a satellite dish.

We don’t have a high res TV, but if we did, we would definitely buy an Apple TV to plug into it. An Apple TV makes anything on your Mac or iPhone or iPad appear wirelessly, like magic, on your TV. It’s really cool. We now have one for work, which makes a flat panel more versatile than a smart board – with Apple TV, if it’s on an iPad or Mac, it’s on the flat panel. More on my professional blog.

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Note: What to do before selling or giving away your Mac.

Posted in Apple, Technology | 1 Comment

The Horse Sense of John Lyons

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Kerry

John Lyons, In Stride Horsemanship

I’ve just finished Moira C. Harris with Tammy Jo Lyons, Mastering the Art of Horsemanship: John Lyons’s Spiritual Journey (Irvine, California: Bowtie Press, 2003). The photographs by Charles F. Mann are alone worth the price of this biography of Lyons, a beautiful coffee-table book.

John Lyons (right) is a pioneer of gentler, caring methods of horse training who has been an inspiration to Dad and to Marvin (my brother-in-law). Marvin has never met Lyons in person, to my knowledge, but as a tribute to Lyons, I’ll intersperse photos of Marvin in what follows to represent this impact of Lyons’ ideas upon my family.

Lyons’ 1987 documentary, Round Pen Reasoning, was one of the industry’s first training videos. In countless clinics, symposiums, books, videos and even a long-running RFTD television series, Lyons has attempted to change the way people think about their relationships with their horses.

On Willis Creek Ranch, Marvin trains horses in a round pen. This has become common practice now in large part because of Lyons. Lyons explains (pp. 90-93 and following) that a round pen is safer for both the horse and the trainer. In a pen without corners, the horse is less likely to feel trapped or try to push through or go over the fence. A round pen allows a trainer and horse to interact in a non-violent manner. By keeping the horse moving, the trainer can establish a relationship with the horse before making any physical contact. Both the trainer and the horse attend to one another and learn each other’s cues. As the trainer interacts with the horse without causing pain, the horse gains trust and confidence in the trainer. Before the horse realizes it, he’s developing the habit of responding to the trainer’s wishes.

Sounds like a picture of the ways of providence with us, doesn’t it? God keeps us moving and establishes trust in countless ways we’re not even aware of. The circle of life we’re in is a round pen.

Marvin working Annie in the round pen. Willis Creek Ranch.
Marvin working Annie in the round pen, Willis Creek Ranch

So many aspects of horse training are analogous to human relationships. What parent cannot identify with the following description of how Lyons deals with specific behavioral problems?

“Even when an owner told him what the horse’s specific problem was – unwillingness to pick up feet, touchy around the ears, spooky about fly spray – John never went directly to the problem. Instead, he started somewhere else with the horse, in an area completely unrelated. By the time that he actually made a move to address the specific problem, John had already founded a relationship with the horse… and in return, the horse had given John respect and trust” (p. 146).

Again, that sounds to me like the way providence works with us.

Speaking of working with difficult horses, Lyons explains the effect his gentle treatment produces in an animal who has known only rough disciplinary measures:

“I try to use more loving techniques. Soon after, the horse discovers that it’s a pleasant experience to have a human enter his stall, and the circle of violence can be broken” ( p. 114).

Another of Lyons’ principles is “never blame the horse.” Rather, understand how humans are teaching the horse incorrectly. Lyons’ loving approach transforms the human relationship with the horse:

“The very best way to solve the biting problem is to hang all over their heads. Love on them while they’re eating, stick your hands all over their faces, play with them – it’s amazing how fast the horse comes around. This, I believe, stems from the knowledge that horses are very social creatures. They love to love and be loved. They are not cows that could care less about seeing a human.” (p. 118)

The parallels with human relationships multiply! Parenting, teaching, counseling – any human relationship stands to benefit from understanding horses.

Jackson Mann riding Shadow
Marvin’s sons: Jackson on Shadow, Jonathan on Governor

But if loving methods are more effective, why did cowboys in the past “break” horses with violent measures? Lyons explains that, actually, training success may have less to do with the methods of the human than with the horse’s own social disposition:

“Horses are so congenial. The last thing they are is stubborn or obstinate. It is a complete myth that horses would choose to have their own way all the time. If they were stubborn, they would be zebras and we wouldn’t be riding. It wouldn’t be easy for so many people who have so little knowledge about the animals to actually work with them successfully…. There have been plenty of cases where an unbroken horse has been trained – quite effectively – by a young girl…. what is true is that it doesn’t take a great deal of advanced philosophy or knowledge to train one, because they are such willing partners most of the time.” (p. 140)

Marvin with Runner
Marvin with Runner

Lyons’ favorite horse, Zip, went blind at age 19. Lyons refused to put him down so long as Zip was not suffering (p. 159): “Zip can be an ambassador in many ways. He will show people that horses are still useful, even when they may not be able to see or may have some disability.” Indeed, Zip continued to participate in Lyons’ shows and symposiums:

“I can take Zip and spin him blazingly fast like a reining horse ten times in each direction – then lope him off and do flying lead changes…. Can you imagine closing your eyes, having someone spin you around, as fast as they could, and then say ‘now run a straight line’?… Ever see a blind person run at full speed?”

Thus even in his later years, Zip was an astonishing demonstration of a horse’s courage and trust in his human partner.

No wonder that encounters with horses so deeply encourage disadvantaged and disabled humans.

Marvin with school kids, Willis Creek Ranch
Marvin and Governor with school kids, Willis Creek Ranch

Lyons’ methods have constantly evolved. He insists that he is always learning, and that each year his clinics show some different techniques based on increased experience and understanding. No one ever arrives at a complete understanding of horses, or of humans.

Given the ever-present danger of working with horses, Lyons’ former wife, Susie, joked about angels working overtime in the round pen (p. 160):

“Everyone has a guardian angel. But you must have two, and I bet they’re both standing in front of God with manure all over their wings, covered with sweat and dust, just begging for a reassignment.”

I think Marvin and Dad have their own “cowboy angels” who love horses as much as they do!

Marvin with Governor in the Horse Barn.
Marvin with Governor in the Horse Barn

Lyons has always seen a connection between his horse training methods and Christian faith. For example, he emphasizes that horses are forgiving, an essential characteristic for any relationship. And he insists that human dominion over horses means not that we dominate them, but that we are baby-sitters. They belong to God, not to us. We are to watch over them and care for them. We have responsibility to keep them safe, “just as we would a little child” (p. 159).

Lyons goes further:

“They are, in my opinion, God’s favorite animals because he mentions them more than any other animal in the Bible, except for sheep. God also talks about how He will be riding a white horse when He returns. Horses are meant to be loved by us.” (p. 118)

He later reflects on three appearances of horses in the Bible (p. 152):

  • In Matthew 21:8-9, when Jesus rode a foal that had never been ridden, he “was the only real horse whisperer who ever came down the pike.”
  • In Numbers 22:20-33, Balaam’s donkey was trying to help him, but only being flogged in return.
  • In Revelation 19, Christ not only returns on a white horse, but is accompanied by multitudes of horses carrying his army (confirmation, he believes, that horses will be with us in heaven).

By creating horses and causing humans to care for them, God shows us something of how he cares for us. Similarly, all that we learn from horses applies to our relationships with other humans as well. So a world where humans show more love to horses would be a world with more love to go around for humans, too, as well as a world that knows more of the love of God.

Marvin with school kids, Willis Creek Ranch
Marvin and Frosty with school kids, Willis Creek Ranch

Numerous missteps and great hardships are honestly recounted along the way, and Lyons’ plain, down-to-earth life story is far from simple or ideal. Yet this journey toward love is the main point of Mastering the Art of Horsemanship: John Lyons’s Spiritual Journey. John Lyons is an inspiration. I highly recommend this book; it’s not just for ranchers.

Marvin with school kids, Willis Creek Ranch
Marvin and Governor with a happy guest, Willis Creek Ranch

Lyons concludes a web page with an invitation: our “door is always open to everyone and you are invited to stop by anytime.” We can affirm the truth of this western hospitality. Dad and Mother were driving through that part of Colorado a few years ago, and just happened to pull into the drive to the Lyons’ ranch, unannounced. John came out and chatted a while with them as if they were long-time friends.

Then Dad told Lyons about Marvin – that he was injured in Vietnam and now, legally blind, works with horses using Lyons’ methods. Lyons replied, “he is my hero (m4v).”

This is the legacy of horses.

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Marvin Mann, Heartland Hero (KTVO local broadcast)

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Note: Horse-riding is reportedly excellent therapy for those with Asperger’s.

Posted in Nature | Tagged | 8 Comments

Reading George MacDonald: Introductions

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Kerry

George MacDonaldWhen I embarked on a five-year program of reading George MacDonald, the short introductions listed below greatly benefited me. If you’re anything like me, and also starting out on the road to understanding MacDonald, then I commend them to you as well.

1. MacDonald, “The Golden Key”
Read MacDonald himself first! This short tale is MacDonald in a nutshell. Re-read it several times; let it sink in. Savor it. Read it out loud. Let it bathe your imagination. “The Golden Key” illustrates particularly well how MacDonald’s mythic vision offers a powerful imaginative vocabulary for articulating Christian hope (much like Paul Young’s The Shack). For example, C.S. Lewis drew from this story his metaphor of life in the “shadow-lands.”

“The Golden Key” is one chapter in a collection of stories entitled The Light Princess and Other Fairy Tales, available from Johannesen Press or free from Project Gutenberg. The latter version is also available as a free download from the iBooks store on your iPad or iPhone. “The Golden Key” is also frequently reprinted, as in this Eerdmans edition or Kreeft’s anthology, The Shadow-lands of C.S. Lewis.

2. “Part I: An Introduction” to Gary W. Deddo and Catherine A. Deddo, George MacDonald: A Devotional Guide to His Writings (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1996), pp. 1-35.
This superb essay illuminates MacDonald’s writings in light of his contemporary theological and social context. It is accessible to beginners yet has much to offer experienced MacDonald afficionados. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

3. “Preface” to C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald: An Anthology, 365 Readings (New York: HarperOne, 2001), xxiii-xxxix.
This classic essay by Lewis rekindled late-20th-century interest in MacDonald. Essential reading for MacDonald lovers. Insightful and memorable, as only Lewis can be.

4. George MacDonald Conference, audio lectures by Kerry Dearborn and Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, Regent University
These two lectures offer a superb introduction to MacDonald and his imaginative, theological vision. Don’t miss them! They are an ideal prelude to Dearborn’s in-depth study of MacDonald’s theology, The Baptized Imagination: The Theology of George MacDonald (Ashgate, 2006), and Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson’s dissertation (2011) from St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews University, Aberdeen.

5. George MacDonald, Christian History magazine (Issue 86, Spring 2005).
Contains succinct essays by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, Rolland Hein, Stephen Prickett, Kerry Dearborn, Trevor Hart and others.

6. Rolland Hein, The Harmony Within: The Spiritual Vision of George MacDonald (Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 1999).
Although longer than the above sources, this work deserves mention here. If you were to ask me to recommend just one book-length introduction to MacDonald, this would be it. The Harmony Within also makes a great prequel to Hein’s full length biography, George MacDonald: Victorian Mythmaker (Star Song, 1993). A short essay that covers some of the same ground is the chapter on MacDonald in Rolland Hein, Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George MacDonald & others (Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 1998), pp. 51-92.

I hope these introductions will whet your appetite and encourage you to make a long-term commitment to read MacDonald. In future posts on Reading George MacDonald, I’ll offer some tips and suggestions for approaching his huge and diverse corpus, and note some longer works on MacDonald that I’ve found helpful so far (like those by Dearborn and Hein already mentioned above).

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Update:

Posted in Art-Music-Lit, Theology | Tagged | 12 Comments

The Horse and Her Gal

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Kerry

Uncle Mitch, who frequently gets together to ride with Dad and Uncle Charles and Marvin (my brother-in-law), sent this video around recently by email. You’ve seen it before, but it’s good enough to watch again.

Stacy Westfall, Championship ride, 2006

It shows Stacy Westfall’s championship Freestyle Reining ride in 2006 on Whizards Baby Doll. Her father died 24 days before, and she dedicated the ride to him. The entire occasion is very moving; listen closely for the dedication at the beginning. Most appropriately, the soundtrack is Tim McGraw singing “Live like you were dying.” Live

What do we learn from one another in the brief span of our lives? If we’re to live as if we’re dying, then we’ll live as if all that matters is our relationships.

And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denyin’
And he said some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin’

(Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying” lyrics)

So watch for the relationship between Stacy and the horse. After training together for only four years, they ride like life is a dance.

Notice that there is no bit, and no saddle. She uses body language, hand signals and verbal cues. This is a horse and rider who understand one another, and who delight in what they do together.

This is what horses teach us, if we learn to understand them.

Dad riding Governor; photo by Jackson Mann
Above: Dad riding Governor at Willis Creek Ranch (photo by Jackson Mann).
“Thanks for teaching me to keep trying new things.”

Posted in Nature | Tagged | 4 Comments

Reading Karl Barth: Bookmarks

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Kerry

Here’s a set of Barth bookmarks (pdf) that display a quotation which captures the joy and the humility with which Barth approached his theological vocation:

The angels laugh at old Karl. They laugh at him because he tries to grasp the truth about God in a book of Dogmatics. They laugh at the fact that volume follows volume and each is thicker than the previous one. As they laugh, they say to one another, “Look! Here he comes now with his little pushcart full of volumes of the Dogmatics! —and they laugh about the men who write so much about Karl Barth instead of writing about the things he is trying to write about. Truly, the angels laugh.

Barth, quoted in George Casalis, Portrait of Karl Barth (New York, 1963), 3.

Karl Barth bookmark

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benjamin myers, salvation in my pocket: fragments of faith and theologyFor a brief yet sparkling gloss on this quotation in story form, see Benjamin Myers, “Feast,” in Salvation in My Pocket (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2013), pp. 48-50 (Amazon).

Posted in Theology | Tagged | 6 Comments

Accordance Users Conference, Dallas

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Kerry

Accordance Bible softwareI’ve previously commented on this blog about my love of Accordance Bible software. The Accordance Users Conference in Dallas this September 24-25 is drawing near, and I can’t wait!

The Accordance blog is rife with tantalizing details, currently counting down the “Top Ten” reasons to attend.

A Fort Worth newspaper recently covered the event by publishing an interview with Accordance developer David Lang. Lang’s interview suggests something of the excitement that I’m sure many other Accordance users are feeling as we anticipate this time together.

The conference schedule (pdf) includes two days of sessions held in two parallel tracks. For most of these sessions, I’m finding it hard to choose which sessions to attend. The sessions are led by people whose names are familiar to me because of the manifold ways their work has often been a great help to me. Some of them are:

  • Roy Brown, Accordance developer and trainer at previous one-day training seminars that I’ve attended.
  • Helen Brown, whose prompt and indefatiguable aid on the Accordance User Forums is legendary.
  • Timothy Jenney (“Dr. J.”), whose infectious enthusiasm for Accordance makes the Accordance video podcast, Lighting the Lamp, such a joy to watch.
  • David Lang, Accordance developer and blogger, whose calm and patient instruction in both the blog and the online video tutorials have taught many of us over the years how to use Accordance’s more advanced features.
  • Rick Mansfield, blogger of This Lamp (and Classic This Lamp), which offer insightful reviews of Bible translations and related topics.
  • Joe Weaks, author of the Mac Biblioblog, and creator of Accordance automation aids such as Accordance services and the Flashcord file converter.

I can’t wait for demo’s of Accordance 9 and to hear more news about the soon-to-be-released Accordance apps for the iPhone and iPad!

And I am particularly excited about the two keynote speakers. As described by the Fort Worth Examiner, the conference will provide opportunities to hear Martin Abegg and Daniel Wallace:

Dr. Abegg is the Ben Zion Wacholder Professor of Dead Sea Scroll Studies at Trinity Western University. Although discovered in the 1940s, the Dead Sea Scrolls remained largely unpublished as late as the 1980s. A doctoral student at the time, Dr. Abegg was able to reconstruct the text of these unpublished scrolls from a concordance of words in the scrolls. The publication of his reconstructed texts helped open up scrolls research to a much wider body of scholars. In the 1990s, Dr. Abegg saw the potential for computerized study of the scrolls and partnered with Accordance to develop electronic texts of the various Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts. He will give a presentation on the relationship of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible, and will be present during the entire conference for anyone who would like to meet with him.

Dr. Wallace (cf. Wikipedia) is Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and has written one of the standard textbooks on New Testament Greek: Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. As the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (cf. Wikipedia), Dr. Wallace has led expeditions throughout Europe and the Middle East in search of New Testament manuscripts. He will give a presentation describing the Center’s work of discovering and photographing New Testament manuscripts in order to further New Testament textual criticism.

This will be the first time I have heard either of these scholars in person. I still remember the excitement caused by Abegg’s use of HyperCard on a Macintosh Quadra computer to liberate the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1991 (here’s one contemporary newspaper report). What an interesting story Abegg can tell of technology and the Scrolls, from HyperCard to Accordance! Abegg and two colleagues, Peter Flint and Eugene Ulrich, published The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English (HarperOne, 2002). In addition to his many scholarly endeavors, Daniel Wallace, along with his colleagues, has produced a couple of accessible popular books: Ed Komoszewski, James Sawyer and Daniel Wallace, Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture (Kregel Publications, 2006), and Darrell Bock and Daniel Wallace, Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture’s Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ (Thomas Nelson, 2007). In addition, excellent talks by both Abegg and Wallace are available for download on the web (Abegg) and at iTunes (search for Daniel Wallace).

Last but not least, I am looking forward to spending some time with friends – Shawn and Jason, are you ready to while away the hours talking about Barth and Torrance?

Posted in Apple, Theology | Tagged | 5 Comments

Reading Karl Barth: Short Introductions

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Kerry

Karl Barth is an elephant

To begin reading Barth, short introductions are particularly helpful because of three ways Barth is an elephant:

1. First, Barth is the elephant in the room of modern theology. Many evangelicals and Reformed distrust him, while mainstream Protestants and Enlightenment progressives often dismiss him. Surprisingly, Roman Catholics often seem to take him most seriously as a conversation partner. Perhaps we all need a little help to learn how to talk about him.

2. Second, despite point #1, Barth’s presence on the theological scene of the last century is mammoth in both scope and size, and he simply cannot be ignored. It is impossible to be minimally conversant with Christian theology unless one has at least such an understanding of Barth as might be gained by reading a competent short introduction.

3. Third, in addition to point #2, Barth’s theological oeuvre is disparate in nature. Not surprisingly, then, accounts of Barth’s theology often seem as starkly incompatible as the blind men’s reports of the elephant. Some accounts focus upon the trunk, others study the ears or teeth, many marvel at the huge body, a few fasten onto the tail or remark on the four pillars of legs and feet. Few convey an accurate overall picture of Barth’s theological vision. Whether considered chronologically, from his first Commentary on Romans to the last volumes of Church Dogmatics, or whether considered by subject matter, it is impossible to gain a representative sampling of Barth by simply “dipping into” a few chapters here or there. Again, a competent introduction comes to the beginner’s aid.

As I have embarked on a five-year program of reading Karl Barth, the short introductions listed below have benefited me, and I commend any combination of them to you if you are starting out on the road to understanding Barth. I’m sure there are other works that would serve the same purpose, and in a future post I’ll list some of the longer works that serve as excellent companions to reading Barth in depth, but any one of these brief introductions can orient a beginner to Barth’s theology. They will enable you to decide just what and how much more of Barth you want to read. While there is substantial overlap in the content of these little books, and while any one of them alone would stand as a sufficient introduction for many purposes, they are complementary in that each adds a distinctive dimension to understanding Barth that in combination is quite helpful for the beginner. None of these are a substitute for reading Barth himself, of course. Rather, I believe each will entice you to read Barth with more delight and anticipation; at least, they have had this effect on me.

  • You’re Included videos, from Grace Communion International, provide conversational yet insightful perspectives on the theology of Karl Barth from a variety of theologians. I recommend the following ones by Gary Deddo, George Hunsinger and Jeff McSwain as particularly helpful introductions:

  • Thomas F. Torrance, Karl Barth: Biblical and Evangelical Theologian (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1990). Chapters consist of revised versions of some of Torrance’s most interesting articles on Barth. For the beginning reader of Barth, it would be hard to think of a better start than to read the Foreward and first chapter, pp. ix – 26.

  • Jeff McSwain, Movements of Grace: The Dynamic Christo-realism of Barth, Bonhoeffer, and the Torrances (Wipf and Stock, 2010). I’ve described this work in another post.

  • Karl Barth’s Table Talk. Edited by John D Godsey. Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1963.
    • Godsey begins this little book with a concise but insightful essay on the shape of Barth’s theology, worth its weight in gold. The majority of the text then consists of Godsey’s transcriptions of lively discussions Barth held with students between 1953 and 1956 as they were reading through the first volumes of the Church Dogmatics and several other of Barth’s occasional essays. These notes, reproduced in dialogue format, provide an unusually fresh sense of Barth’s personality in the midst of his fabled seminars.

  • Casalis, Georges. Portrait of Karl Barth. Translated by Robert McAfee Brown. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1963.
    • As with Godsey’s book, this little study written by a Protestant French theologian conveys something of the excitement with which the theological world greeted Barth’s emerging Church Dogmatics in the post-war years. Yet Casalis surveys Barth’s oeuvre, not just the Church Dogmatics, with unusual breadth and clarity for such a brief span of pages.

  • Mangina, Joseph L. Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.
    • After a concise biographical chapter, Mangina expertly guides the beginner through the major sections of Barth’s Church Dogmatics. This book is an ideal first guide to the Church Dogmatics’ overall structure and key themes. The beginner wanting to delve immediately into Barth’s magnum opus should start here.

  • Morgan, D. Densil. The SPCK Introduction to Karl Barth. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2010.
    • Morgan’s little book combines theological insight with historical context. This introduction is ideal for the beginner wanting a broader sense of Barth’s place in the history of 20th-century theology, his relationships with other theologians and theological movements, and the relations between Barth’s theology and contemporary political events and social contexts.

  • Two longer works are worth mentioning here because they also provide broad, synthetic orientations to Barth’s theology in the Church Dogmatics:

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Update: See also Tom Greggs’ introduction to Barth and his influence in the Faith and Modernity video timeline of St. John’s College, Nottingham:

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