Saturday, July 09, 2005 AD
Blogging questionnaire
I swore never to take part in another tagging meme, but this appears to be a "snatching" meme instead (i.e. the form appears to be to say where you stole it from, rather than tagging someone else to do it). So that's different.
I stole this from Josh, btw, aided and abetted by Jason.
Why do you blog?
For the same reason people smoke: because I could stop any time I like, but I just don't feel like it yet.
What has been your best blogging experience?
Well, blogging played a huge role in bringing me into Lutheranism. Quite hard to top that. But also the experience of finding that I'm not the only "theology geek" out there.
What would be your main advice to a novice blogger?
First, don't bother starting blogging if you just think there are things you'd like to say. You'll only keep going if the reason you blog is because you have things you can't not say.
Second, find a "blogging community" to be a part of. Solo blogging must be very lonely. What makes blogging enjoyable, rather than merely a form of trepanning for getting all the thoughts out of your head before it explodes, is the mutual discourse and friendship with other bloggers who, if not 100% "like-minded" (how boring would that be?), are at least on the same wavelength as you.
If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?
Midwest Conservative Journal, Bunnie Diehl and Here We Stand, except on a day when Pr Joel Humann was posting.
Who are your spiritual heroes?
CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, Martin Luther, Dick Lucas and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
What are you reading at the moment?
In the Beginning by Henri Blocher.
What is your favorite hymn and why?
"And Can It Be?" by Charles Wesley, because:
(My choice of this hymn also shows that you can take the man out of non-Augsburg evangelicalism, but you can't take the non-Augsburg evangelicalism out of the man...)
Can you name a major moral, political, or intellectual issue on which you’ve changed your mind?
It would be quicker to name one on which I haven't. Anglo-Catholic to atheist to conservative evangelical to (verging on) liberal catholic to charismatic to Reformed and back to conservative evangelical and all stations to Lutheranism. Conservative to Marxist to "Left of Blair" Labour to Christian Socialist to whatever I am now (uninspired lump of sod, mainly). With a track record like that, quite why anybody should listen to my opinions on anything is a mystery to me.
What philosophical thesis do you think that it is most important to combat?
Either the "there is no such thing as objective truth/meaning" one or the "science by definition excludes the possibility of any supernatural agency" one. But really the job of the church is not so much to combat or promote "philosophical theses", but to understand how best to proclaim the Gospel to those who have a particular philosophical outlook or worldview.
If you could affect one major change in the governing of your country, what would it be?
Compulsory voting, identity cards and further restrictions on jury trials, of course.
Erm, sorry, don't know what came over me there. Really I think the healthiest thing for democracy in the UK would be the restoration of a robust party politics, in which Labour and the Conservatives are each characterised by clear principles, honesty and generosity of spirit (rather than the current situation in which Labour lacks the second quality, the Conservatives lack the third, and neither of them really has the first).
There is an argument for saying that British (and especially English) history has been defined by the dialectic between upstart, "levelling" and occasionally even violent radicalism on the one hand and the "Toryism of the shires" on the other, and that to be at our healthiest as a nation we need both: Paine and Burke, Fox and Pitt, Bevan and Churchill, Billy Bragg and Des O'Connor. Er...
And we need to find a way of organising things so that neither side of the equation is capable of eliminating the other (as the current government has quite explicitly sought to do, with its war on the "forces of conservatism", and as Margaret Thatcher's government sought to do in the opposite direction).
None of this is very well thought-through on my part. But you did ask.
If you could effect one major policy change in the LCMS, what would it be?
That's none of my business. And as for the ELCE: it's not the policies of the ELCE that keep me awake, it's our long-term viability.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Don't take what you know and understand as the measure of the Christian faith; but don't switch your brain off either.
What, if anything, do you worry about?
One of our boys getting badly injured or killed in an accident.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything that you’d do differently?
I would have studied harder on my mathematics degree, rather than spending three years getting drunk and missing most of my lectures. And now I would be a single, childless, atheist chartered accountant. Guess it's just as well I'm not ultimately in charge of of my life, eh?
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do now)?
In descending order of preference: York, Durham or Oxford. Except none of those have Lutheran churches (yet), so I guess Cambridge then. See if you can spot a pattern there.
What do you like doing in your spare time?
I have two children under five. What's spare time? But that's enough from my wife: I like to read, blog, listen to music, spend more time than I ought fiddling on the computer ("I just need to do one more thing"), and when I fancy doing something healthy and active, go out on my bike (but not as often as I ought).
What is your most treasured possession?
Jason said: "My mind". I say: "My iPod". Gosh, I'm shallow. Though I think actually my Bible and my office book are pretty cherished possessions too. And this, but I've already got that loaded onto the first item I mentioned.
What talent would you most like to have?
Drawing, particularly the ability to draw cartoons.
If you could have any three guests, past or present to dinner, who would they be?
Oh, I dunno, I'm getting bored with this now. Let's say CS Lewis, GK Chesterton and Martin Luther, because the conversation would be lively and the beer would flow freely.
I stole this from Josh, btw, aided and abetted by Jason.
Why do you blog?
For the same reason people smoke: because I could stop any time I like, but I just don't feel like it yet.
What has been your best blogging experience?
Well, blogging played a huge role in bringing me into Lutheranism. Quite hard to top that. But also the experience of finding that I'm not the only "theology geek" out there.
What would be your main advice to a novice blogger?
First, don't bother starting blogging if you just think there are things you'd like to say. You'll only keep going if the reason you blog is because you have things you can't not say.
Second, find a "blogging community" to be a part of. Solo blogging must be very lonely. What makes blogging enjoyable, rather than merely a form of trepanning for getting all the thoughts out of your head before it explodes, is the mutual discourse and friendship with other bloggers who, if not 100% "like-minded" (how boring would that be?), are at least on the same wavelength as you.
If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?
Midwest Conservative Journal, Bunnie Diehl and Here We Stand, except on a day when Pr Joel Humann was posting.
Who are your spiritual heroes?
CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, Martin Luther, Dick Lucas and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
What are you reading at the moment?
In the Beginning by Henri Blocher.
What is your favorite hymn and why?
"And Can It Be?" by Charles Wesley, because:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,As Dr John "Rabbi" Duncan put it, "Where's your Arminianism now, friend?"
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
(My choice of this hymn also shows that you can take the man out of non-Augsburg evangelicalism, but you can't take the non-Augsburg evangelicalism out of the man...)
Can you name a major moral, political, or intellectual issue on which you’ve changed your mind?
It would be quicker to name one on which I haven't. Anglo-Catholic to atheist to conservative evangelical to (verging on) liberal catholic to charismatic to Reformed and back to conservative evangelical and all stations to Lutheranism. Conservative to Marxist to "Left of Blair" Labour to Christian Socialist to whatever I am now (uninspired lump of sod, mainly). With a track record like that, quite why anybody should listen to my opinions on anything is a mystery to me.
What philosophical thesis do you think that it is most important to combat?
Either the "there is no such thing as objective truth/meaning" one or the "science by definition excludes the possibility of any supernatural agency" one. But really the job of the church is not so much to combat or promote "philosophical theses", but to understand how best to proclaim the Gospel to those who have a particular philosophical outlook or worldview.
If you could affect one major change in the governing of your country, what would it be?
Compulsory voting, identity cards and further restrictions on jury trials, of course.
Erm, sorry, don't know what came over me there. Really I think the healthiest thing for democracy in the UK would be the restoration of a robust party politics, in which Labour and the Conservatives are each characterised by clear principles, honesty and generosity of spirit (rather than the current situation in which Labour lacks the second quality, the Conservatives lack the third, and neither of them really has the first).
There is an argument for saying that British (and especially English) history has been defined by the dialectic between upstart, "levelling" and occasionally even violent radicalism on the one hand and the "Toryism of the shires" on the other, and that to be at our healthiest as a nation we need both: Paine and Burke, Fox and Pitt, Bevan and Churchill, Billy Bragg and Des O'Connor. Er...
And we need to find a way of organising things so that neither side of the equation is capable of eliminating the other (as the current government has quite explicitly sought to do, with its war on the "forces of conservatism", and as Margaret Thatcher's government sought to do in the opposite direction).
None of this is very well thought-through on my part. But you did ask.
If you could effect one major policy change in the LCMS, what would it be?
That's none of my business. And as for the ELCE: it's not the policies of the ELCE that keep me awake, it's our long-term viability.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Don't take what you know and understand as the measure of the Christian faith; but don't switch your brain off either.
What, if anything, do you worry about?
One of our boys getting badly injured or killed in an accident.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything that you’d do differently?
I would have studied harder on my mathematics degree, rather than spending three years getting drunk and missing most of my lectures. And now I would be a single, childless, atheist chartered accountant. Guess it's just as well I'm not ultimately in charge of of my life, eh?
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do now)?
In descending order of preference: York, Durham or Oxford. Except none of those have Lutheran churches (yet), so I guess Cambridge then. See if you can spot a pattern there.
What do you like doing in your spare time?
I have two children under five. What's spare time? But that's enough from my wife: I like to read, blog, listen to music, spend more time than I ought fiddling on the computer ("I just need to do one more thing"), and when I fancy doing something healthy and active, go out on my bike (but not as often as I ought).
What is your most treasured possession?
Jason said: "My mind". I say: "My iPod". Gosh, I'm shallow. Though I think actually my Bible and my office book are pretty cherished possessions too. And this, but I've already got that loaded onto the first item I mentioned.
What talent would you most like to have?
Drawing, particularly the ability to draw cartoons.
If you could have any three guests, past or present to dinner, who would they be?
Oh, I dunno, I'm getting bored with this now. Let's say CS Lewis, GK Chesterton and Martin Luther, because the conversation would be lively and the beer would flow freely.
