jerrysummers.com

On a previous post from December 3 I mentioned the conception of “god” or “God” in the Chinese tradition. The emperor could be seen as a god of sorts. I have visited all too briefly with my Chinese academic friends about this, but one comment resonates with my growing understanding of the ages-old “secularity” of Chinese society and belief: even without the modern, naturalistic, atheistic world view of most educated Chinese today, to have “God” is something very difficult. In traditional China, the emperor–Son of Heaven or tianzi–dominated over the people, and together they constituted the main reality of the world. There has been no “emperor” since at least 1912, but there has been no lack of authoritarian government. Beyond mundane boundaries, though, and subordinate to the world itself, is the traditional Chinese conception of a god or God, and it is well-nigh inconsequential: “It’s hard to be a god in China,” said one friend. And I must say it can be hard to accept the idea of a loving, redeeming God and along with that idea, the concept that a Chinese person would need such a god. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret to my extended clan that BuzzFever is alive and growing. I want to congratulate son Curtis and supportive, collaborative daughter-in-law Crystal for a truly interesting business site with The Lord-Only-Knows potential. It’s just one idea, but it is REAL.

This is my first entry for 2007; I hope to have more to say about BuzzFever, among other things more typical of my own and some other common interests. Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas according to my lectionary . . . Read the rest of this entry »

On the one hand, it is getting easier now to sway some people toward the view that before the Iraq War no degree of diplomacy could be too much. We are into it far enough to have many people shift their views, thinking, saying, in effect: were there no other ways to deal with what our leaders considered a crisis, requiring imminent intervention? We will never know. Historical reflection suggests it has always been so. Read the rest of this entry »

Filling in for Alex in the Faith Bible class this morning, I read from C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves on the way to thinking through the Incarnation with the class members. I love doing this stuff! Lewis wrote a beautiful treatment about the distinctions between Need-love and Gift-love, among other things, and in his discussion of Charity asserted that God is love, insisting that we can understand any of this at all only by starting with God: Read the rest of this entry »

~ I will never forget Oscar Thompson’s key theme of his book Concentric Circles of Concern: the most important word in the English language is relationships. Not love. Relationships. No relationships, no love. I watch Jesus gathering disciples (John 1 is a good place to start watching with me). It is not a program; he is just focusing on Relationship Number One. Read the rest of this entry »

In one of my blogweb associations I found the link to the National Priorities Project. At the least NPP is informative, proving interesting, even provocative reports. Yes, even information can be quite provocative. Their “cost of the Iraq war” ticker alone prompts questions, but that’s good. An informed, curious citizenry is a national asset. I’ll be watching for other such web presences and making comparisons.

The biggest story of the early “holi-day” season? No, not at all. chicagotribune.com — nativity story It is a story relating to an increasingly familiar theme, actually: No, says the Chicago mayor’s special events office, New Line Media cannot advertise their film Nativity Story at the Christkindlmarket in Chicago. Risks being preferential to one “faith,” offensive to non-Christians. Hmmm. Could be! Read the rest of this entry »

Others have had more definitive things to say about the blogosphere, the bloglic (blogging public, as in, “One must choose one’s words carefully when writing in bloglic.”), and the democratizing influences of the World Wide Web. Yes, the weblogging phenomenon is huge — and voices proliferate! Oh, that all whose voices should be heard had equal access to post their blogs! . . . WHOOPS! Read the rest of this entry »

I am told that this year American Muslims are ordering more halal (properly slaughtered) turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner–it’s another way of taking part in the life here. I teach Chinese history and keep an eye on China. Thanksgiving in China isn’t necessarily a visiting American’s holiday; Chinese friends say they celebrate, too. Read the rest of this entry »

Refers generically to the sporting public attired in purple; otherwise, specifically, to gameday wear for fans of the TCU Horned Frogs, the Wildcats of Wiley College and of Northwestern University, and the Washington Huskies, among others.