Really neat Automaton Monk

Radiolab had a wonderful podcast on this 16th c. engineering miracle created on account of a dieing prince's dream. Go here for more of the story. Go here for a video of the monkbot on youtube. Here again, evidence that the 16th c. was an amazing century.

The Highlight of the Royal Wedding

Today's festivities were a delight to watch at 5am in the morning. The highlight was John Rutter's specially commissioned Anthem. It was angelic; I hope it will be recorded and available on iTunes.

 Below are the words:

This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.
O praise the Lord of heav'n: praise him in the height
Praise him, all ye angels of his: praise him, all his host.
Praise him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and light.
Let them praise the Name of the Lord.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee: to keep thee in thy ways.
The Lord himself is they keeper: the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;
so that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore.
He shall defend thee under his wings.
Be strong, and he shall comfort thine heart, and put thou thy trust in the Lord.

(Psalms 118:24; 148:1-3, 5a; 91:4a,11; 121:5-8; 27:16b)

Rowan Williams on the Royal Wedding

In a few days we will be witnesses to a royal wedding. Rowan Williams will be marrying the royal couple and in this video he has a few things to say about them but also about marriage.

Wheaton Conference on Global Theology

I had the benefit of attending the Wheaton Theology Conference this year on Global Theology. THe lectures by Andrew Walls and Lamin Sanneh stood out as exceptional, but there were many other very interesting lectures there including one on Chinese theology by K.K. Yeo. To listen to the lectures or view them you can go here: http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/lectures-theology11.htm

Global Perspectives on Christian Faith with Prof. Andrew Walls

I was able to host my friend and esteemed church historian Andrew F. Walls this week at Spring Arbor University. Below are the two lectures that he gave and the chapel message he delivered on Monday morning. Enjoy!

Water Warriors - Me in my glory years

Please excuse the narcissism - This was a skit some good friends and I put together when we were juniors at Westmont College. We were avid synchronize swimming fans.


1998 Side Act: Water Warriors! from Westmont Impact on Vimeo.

Church on the Street

One of my good friends from the University of Aberdeen is leading an incredible ministry to the 'least of these'. We MUST learn from him. If we, academics and students, continue to fear or disregard the homeless we will never see God. Lord give us eyes to see.



Great work, Andy!

David & Jonathan

Re-reading the story of David and Jonathan reminded me that their affection for each other is not something foreign to Eastern cultures (and reminds me how the West has highly sexualized every relationship). This video helped me get this idea across in class.

I Gotta Have More Cowbell

A colleague of mine today stated that adding more Scripture classes to our curriculum is like needing more cowbells. I agree, I gotta have more cowbell. (Great reference Tom)

More Cowbell! - watch more funny videos

Israel/Palestine Geography from the Air

Below are four videos that give you a feel for the topography of Israel/Palestine.

Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman

Today the Pope beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman while in Birmingham, UK. The cardinal once stated: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often"; may we continue to change with him. Congratulations Blessed John! You can watch  excerpts of the mass below. To read the complete homily go here.

Part 1:

Part 2:

And it continues with part of the pope's homily here in part 3:

A Soul & Neuroscience Event (Watch it Online)

During Sept. 23-24, 2010, I hosted Joel Green from Fuller Theological Seminary for a two part lecture series exploring the concept of the Soul and neuroscience. It well attended and created many wonderful conversations on our campus. If you would like to benefit from the lectures you can see them on youtube: Lecture 1: "What Are They Saying About the Soul?: The Bible, Science and the Soul" and Lecture 2: "Neural or Sacred?: Minds, Souls and Humans". Happy viewing!

Tony Campolo and Mary Darling - Connecting Like Jesus

Tony Campolo and Mary Darling (a professor in Spring Arbor University's MSFL program) will be having an event at the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church tonight. If you cannot make it, we are filming it and I'll post the video link here once it becomes live.

Modern Book Making

The Making of Papyrus

Mother Teresa on Seeing Jesus

Linked here is a short video of Mother Teresa talking about seeing Jesus in the poor.

Through the Wormhole - Science Documentary

While on vacation I passed some time watching what must be the best science documentary series produced in recent history. The episodes were on the Discovery Channel.  There are 8 episodes in total covering questions of a Creator, black holes, time travel, what happened before the beginning, alien life, what we are made of, how did we get here, and dark matter. Most all of these videos can be watched on youtube. Morgan Freeman's narration alone is worth watching the series.

See episode 4 "What Happened Before the Beginning?" below:

The Holy Spirit in the World Today Conference

Last week Archbishop Rowan Williams, Miroslav Volf, Jürgen Moltmann, David Ford, Thomas Smail and other notables came together at Holy Trinity Brompton Church to discuss the role of the Holy Spirit. The audio files for the lectures including the discussions can be downloaded from the St Mellitus College website. More info on the conference can be found on Holy Trinity Brompton's website.

What Sunday Morning Church is Becoming

Coming to a neighborhood nearby - the Church of Cool


"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Prof. Jeremy Begbie at UC Berkley, 2001

This is an hour presentation Jeremy Begbie gave on Theology and Music at UC Berkley in October 2001. Prof. Begbie is a systematic theologian who focuses on music and theology. He is the most brilliant and engaging presenter. Enjoy this lecture.