:: cawleyblog ::

How Beneficial Was the (RED) Campaign?

For those that might remember opinions I have previously stated about Bono & the RED campaign, or additional thoughts I expressed, you might be interested in an article that a friend directed me to this afternoon:

Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18 Million

It's been a year since the first Red T-shirts hit Gap shelves in London, and a parade of celebrity-splashed events has followed: Steven Spielberg smiling down from billboards in San Francisco; Christy Turlington striking a yoga pose in a New Yorker ad; Bono cruising Chicago's Michigan Avenue with Oprah Winfrey, eagerly snapping up Red products; Chris Rock appearing in Motorola TV spots ("Use Red, nobody's dead"); and the Red room at the Grammy Awards. So you'd expect the money raised to be, well, big, right? Maybe $50 million, or even $100 million.

Try again: The tally raised worldwide is $18 million.

[...]

But is the rise of philanthropic fashionistas decked out in Red T-shirts and iPods really the best way to save a child dying of AIDS in Africa?

(read more)

The above article also links to buylesscrap.org, an organization that facilitates direct contributions to the Global Fund and other charitable organizations without the need to buy a celebrity branded product:

Join us in rejecting the ti(red) notion that shopping is a reasonable response to human suffering

Technorati Tags: Africa, Bono, consumerism, RED

Two More Things Re: Bono & The Red Campaign

For those offended by my (BONO) post, I wanted to apologize. It was probably a poor attempt at humor. I wasn't trying to be witty at someone else's expense. I wasn't trying to malign Paul Hewson (Rock Musician / Humanitarian).

I do think that consumerism-deriding-alter-ego-nicknamed-superhero-rock-stars who devise campaigns to use the consumerism they deride to support their causes invite a measure of ridicule. Again, no character judgments intended against the artist formerly known as Paul Hewson. I am listening to "Crumbs From Your Table" & "One" on repeat all day as penance.

However poorly I attempted to make it, I still think the point remains.

via the ONION

Also, those who didn't see the link to Pasha Malla's, Postcards From "THE EDGE" in the comments of the (OTHER) Bono post, I think you would do well to give it a read.

One love...

Technorati Tags: (RED), bono, nodisrespectintendedtou2fans, snugglewithbono

Still Not Convinced That Bono is A Fraud?

THEN BY ALL MEANS BUY AN IPOD TO SHOW THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT JUSTICE...

(LAME)

ALREADY OWN AN IPOD BUT STILL WANT TO BUY SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF THAT SHOWS YOU'RE CONCERNED ABOUT JUSTICE...NEVER FEAR. THERE ARE LOTS OF PRDUCTS YOU CAN PURCHASE TO BROADCAST TO THE WORLD THAT U2 RULES AND YOU CARE ABOUT AFRICA...

(you can even buy an armani watch to go on the opposite wrist from the makepovertyhistory rubber bracelet that you bought...)

The Nation of Rebels just keeps getting larger...

Technorati Tags: (BONO), (LAME), bonoisafraud, consumerism, popculture, thisisbroken, U2=washedup

Terry Tate Agape Style

"4th and 1 in eternity baby...what are you going to do?"

Remember Reebok's brilliant ad campaign featuring Terry Tate: Office Linebacker? Well, where would the Christian subculture be without their very own agape version of Terry Tate? Meet The Evangelism Linebacker. According to sermonspice.com, for a mere $18.00, you can use the clip of the evangelism linebacker to "show your group the enthusiasm necessary to witness to others." God help us all...
(HT: Tiny)

What On Earth Would Make You Cheer for the White Witch?

Last week, we heard Alan Jacobs lecture on Lewis and the world of Narnia in promotion of his new book, The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis.  My guess is that you could stream the audio from the lecture somewhere here.  Jacobs was fantastic-- presenting an endearing portrait of the man behind Narnia and suggesting his own theory for what compelled Lewis to write the Narnia books.  His lecture re-awakended the love for Lewis that was kindled in me by my college mentors Lyle Dorsett and Jerry Root, and left me feeling quite guilty about leaving my Lewis books in a box in Oklahoma.

After a phone call revealed that the theater down the street sill had loads of tickets available for the late show last night, Katie and I got the chance to see the film much sooner than we anticipated.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (save the redneck in front of us that laughed throughout the film and constantly referred to Edmund as "that bastard"). 

I won't try to divert attention from all the other interaction and analysis that people are offering of the film-- and will instead direct you to read  Steve McCoy's take on the film, which is the most enjoyable personal response I have read thus far.  He voiced several of my concerns in the context of a thorough appreciation of the film. 

What, you may ask, do the above paragraphs have to do with the title of this post?  And, what on earth would make you want to cheer for the White Witch? 

It is simple actually.  Until I got married, I slept with my windows cracked in the winter (in Chicago).  I rarely ran heat (resulting in multiple conflicts between myself and Milton).  I have never been in a building, sauna, boiler room, or kitchen that was as hot as the theater we sat in last night.  To endure the two hours for me was both tribute to the sheer quality of the film, and, to be honest, a labor of love.  I had my sleeves rolled up, my pants rolled up, and was taunted all the more by my beautiful wife who sat comfortably next to me in a down vest.  The snow driven Narnia was the only connection I had to any semblance of comfort temperature-wise.  And, as I watched the snow and ice melt away on the screen, I couldn't help but lament the loss of "thinking" about being cold; wonder how much of that was the result of the temperature in the theater; and half-lament the fact that Aslan was really on the move.

I hope all of you enjoy the film as much as we did-- and find yourself in slightly more agreeable climates as you watch.

It's A Bit Creepy Because it's a Christian site...but who cares"

I have been getting a good deal of traffic lately from folks who are looking for the Sufjan Stevens Christmas Albums.  Hope everyone is enjoying them and feeling welcome here.

It is kind of funny, that some traffic I'm getting is being sent from a message board where the following caveat is offered: "It's a bit creepy since it's a christian site, but who cares"

Funny that albums including songs like...

Silent Night
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Amazing Grace
Angels We Have Heard On High

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Once in David's Royal City

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

We Three Kings of Orient Are
O Holy Night

...are in no way creepy, but a 'Christian' site pimping them is.  Well, I'm creepy to people who don't think Christians are creepy, so I obviously have much bigger problems than being a Christian.

Go download the albums if you haven't already.  The mall here in Philly has Santa already sitting and chatting up the kids, so it must be time for Sufjan Christmas.  You should also drop over here and thank our friend for hosting the tunes.

Groothuis on Blue Like Jazz

UPDATE: GROOTHUIS HAS REMOVED HIS REVIEW

I enjoy reading Dr. Groothuis' blog. However, I'm not so sure I enjoyed the delight he took here yesterday in lambasting Donald Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz. Donald Miller didn't die for my sins, so I'm not trying to draw attention to this book review because I think Groothuis has blasphemed my Savior. I'm not even drawing attention to this review because I don't necessarily agree with Dr. Groothuis' point at the end of the day. I do however believe that this is one of most glaring examples of a complete lack of charity that I have seen in some time-- and I'm not certain Dr. Groothuis even cares.

Miller isn't as smart as Groothuis-- and now, thanks to this bitter verbiage, we can all know that. Miller isn't a lot of things. He is just a story teller. Some find him a great story teller; others find him a lousy one. Personally, I just like, as one of my friends says, how "he writes with an extremely dull pencil." I like the imagery he conjures up in my mind (especially in Through Painted Deserts when he drives through my hometown in Oklahoma), and how he voices things that many of us have thought and been ashamed to say.

But, however we find him, I'm not sure it does anyone justice to crucify him with well crafted phrases.

I will let you judge for yourselves and comment on Dr. Groothuis' blog if you have opinions.

Interesting Proposal(?)

Read this over the weekend from Odyssey:

Chris Erdman writes:  Brian McLaren, Al Roxburgh, and I led the Ministry Forum at Fresno Pacific University last week (Brian and Al on Thursday, Al and I Thursday night and Friday). Brian and Al said a number of provocative things. Most provocative for me was Alan’s call for a moratorium on talking about the church. He argued that we are talking too much about the church—and it’s a conversation not unlike that of three friends who re-united after several decades only to find that one of them finds a way to turn every conversation into a conversation about herself. So long as we keep asking church questions, Al maintains we may avoid the more challenging questions about the gospel, the Powers at work around us, real gospel involvement in the concrete realities of the immediate world around us. I heard him saying that we too often treat the gospel as a product of the church (something we control and broker) rather than the church being a product of the gospel (derived, formed, sustained, “controlled” by the gospel rather than the other way around)

Any thoughts?

Someday soon, I might like to propose my own moratorium on the adjective "local" to describe the church when "church" is also preceded by "this" or "our".  Everyone knows that all of us have some sort of gripe with the historical development of the concept of the universal church (though that needs some work too, in my opinion).  However, I don't think anyone will wonder if you are talking about the universal church when you say "this church"; therefore there is no need to say "this local church"-- but that is another rant for another time.

Alright...I'm just going to say it...and I'll take the tongue lashing from BBrown...

OK, I just read his Hotel Rwanda Review again...and I have a question.  I was going to leave it for you to read yourselves and comment on if you chose, but I can't help it...I read it again and now I have to ask:

Why can't this guy just say it was an amazing movie that moved him deeply? 

One that he hopes many evangelicals in America will see?  What is the big freaking deal?  Is he so on the cutting edge that in order for him to comment on Hotel Rwanda, he has to deconstruct the Passion?  Is it impossible to make the same exhortations to the American church without juxtaposing two excellent, and VERY different films?  Am I misreading him? 

Increasingly, this guy reminds me of the answers given in the presidential debates.  Ask him a question, and he will talk but never answer it.  Ask him about Hotel Rwanda, and you get a roll-call list of his gripes: religious right, conservative evangelicals, Mel Gibson's movie-- climaxing with the brilliant question posed:

What Movie Would Jesus Most Want Us To See?

Absolutely fantastic!  Though I was under the impression that life in the postmodern matrix didn't function well under false either/or dichotomies, here we have one cleverly slipped in by Jesus-- because, I'm sure he would want us to see one movie or the other MORE. 

Now, I leave you with the most important question of the day...under the new WWJP(refer) rating system...

Fletch (or) Napoleon Dynamite?

Random Snippets from Kevin's email...

I have been spending a ton of time lately trying to come up with a thesis topic to pursue for further graduate work.  It has been exciting at times, depressing at times, and a complete disaster at other times.  This morning, I feel like I had some breakthrough-- at least in the sense that I have a bit better idea of what direction I want to head in my research proposals.  Perhaps I will write more on that as things become clearer to me.

I just finished writing an email to my uncle, who has been extremely helpful in my journey (throughout life, but especially in this process).  After I sent it, I realized that it was pretty cathartic to write.  And so, I decided I would offer a few pieces of it up here for your enjoyment or dissection:

I would make a distinction between the writings of Darrel Guder, Craig VanGelder, et al. and the Emergent movement (which, to the best of my abilities of discernment, is comprised of a very small number of actual people-- few of whom are writing books).  That is to say, I have read all the books offered by the Gospel and Our Culture Network (www.gocn.org), and not one book by McLaren (well, I did read the church on the other side).

I'm not interested as much in issues of postmodern ___ (fill in the blank), but rather issues of how we understand the church, and how missiology has shaped this discussion for the past 10-15 years (marked, I would suggest, at least in part by Newbigin's lectures at Princeton in 1984-- published in 86 as "Foolishness to the Greeks").  Therefore, in that vein, I have no interest in anything Emergent (and I got ripped on my blog for saying that-- to me, it is classic liberalism [in the theological definition of the word] in new garments).  This could be wrong, and an overreaction, but I'm just not interested in anything that smells of Emergent.  For now at least.

However, I am profoundly interested in how missiologists like David Bosch have seemingly become the first order discourse to study as we approach the doctrine of the church.  Is that the direction we should be moving as the church?  Combining a theology of mission with a theology of the church?  Or is God calling us (me) to pursue something different entirely.

I'm extremely anxious to see where these leanings take me-- and how God has architected my journey thus far to make me especially fit to contribute to the theological community in a particular way.  I have prayed that God would protect me from anything that is faddish.  That is, I know it is extremely easy (on one level) to get a PhD.  If God does indeed intend for me to minister to the church by studying & writing and speaking to specific issues through conventional academic channels, then I want to make sure that I steward my gifts and research well so as to make the most significant contribution I can.

So many books are hot today, un-sellable on ebay tomorrow.  The same goes with theologies.  God help us from contributing to that pile!

I do realize that authors like Alan Roxburgh have participated in both milieus, The Gospel & Our Culture Network, and The Emergent Network.  And, upon this admission, I could have drawn a distinction that doesn't exist.  However, I do see a difference between studies in ecclesiology and missiology (which, some have called the blend, missional ecclesiology), and the 'conversation' that is taking place within the Emergent movement.