books: subversive wisdom

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I was once critiqued by a professor for not thinking more practical about Stanley Hauerwas' theological work. My retort was that Stanley doesn't even know what his stuff looks like in practice–he's decidedly a thinker, not a practitioner. Don't get me wrong, I deeply appreciate the work of Stanley Hauerwas, he's had a profound impact on me. But I've always had a deep appreciation for the writings of people who live out their thoughts and convictions in real, visceral and earthy ways. These are people that don't live in the world of ideas but in the world of ideas applied. It's risky, it often requires deep sacrifice but such a pen offers a well of wisdom the theorists don't drink from.

My friend, Bert Newton of Pasadena Mennonite, is one of those. Bert lives out his convictions in real and risky ways. This Christian activist has a new book out entitled, Subversive Wisdom: Sociopolitical Dimensions of John's Gospel. Here's a description from the publisher Wipf & Stock:

Subversive Wisdom makes the case that in the Gospel of John, Jesus walks and talks like Lady Wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures. In John, Jesus is Wisdom incarnate, speaking and demonstrating the subversive wisdom of the way of the cross; he is a sort of trickster, confusing and frustrating his enemies, acting in ways counter to convention, and driving out the "ruler of this world" through the upside-down logic that comes "from above."

Pick up Bert's book. I'm looking forward to reading it, myself.

dontbesheep: For Amanda

Today, I had a conversation with a young woman that we’ll call “Amanda.” A conversation might be stretching it. Amanda made little sense in what she said and didn’t seem to hear–or at least respond–to much of what I said. She was mostly naked and stumbling down the sidewalk in downtown San Diego. She had scratches along her arms intermixed with sporadic, blurred tattoos. Her hair looked as if it had been cut with hedge trimmers. Her shirt looked as though she, or someone else, had torn it almost completely off. She wore a pair of shorts that were an inch away from being classified as underwear. She cried. She moaned. She spoke of having been killed, of being allergic to dirt and water, of Mother Mary, of being abused by horses, of being deaf and blind, of FBI conspiracies.
via dontbesheep.wordpress.com

My latest contribution over at DBS.