My New Blog at Wordpress

My blog has moved. I am leaving blogger behind and moving on to greener pastures at Wordpress. Please visit my new blog at rtjones.wordpress.com.

Bloggers Unite: Add a Jim West Warning Label

Jim West is shocked that anyone would find his blog a little too edgy. (It's not as if he has any strong opinions that someone might disagree with.) In particular, Michael Jackson added a warning label on his blogroll link to Jim's site. Personally I think this is quite a good idea and would encourage everyone to follow suit. This is a way that the blogging community can genuinely make the world a better and safer place for everyone.

-- Please note that it is very important that the warning be in ALL CAPS!--

Christian Music Superbowl I

Okay. No one I know that reads my blog has voted on the first round of Jake's Christian Music Superbowl I yet. Tonight is your last night. After that it will be too late. Perhaps you think Christian music sucks and have just blown it off. Well most Christian music does suck, but not the artists that have made it into the FIRST EVER Christian Superbowl. Oh no. These guys are good. And if all you know of Christian music is what you hear on your local Christian radio, then you probably know four of the sixty-four artists that have made the first cut.

Jake says, "[Y]ou’ll see bands like Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, and Third Day in the lineup. Few of my readers consider themselves fans of the more “normal” CCM bands, but since I felt they’ve made a significant mark in the world of Christian Music, I included them. Besides, as much as I respect the major label bands, I thought it’d be fun to see Third Day get crushed by Agents of Future or Newsboys get stomped by Menomena. Sort of a Revenge of the Nerds moment in the making. All in good fun, though."

Maybe you've thought to yourself, "but I don't know the bands." Well, you have a music link right there that is good for seven days. What better way to get acquainted with Christian music that doesn't suck.

Maybe you think to yourself, "I hate the term Christian music." Well so do a lot of people. Jake isn't that fond of it himself either. He has a great series going about whether Christian music best describes this music. Anyway, it's all kinds of fun.

Plus, did I mention that I thought up the idea? Jake's visitor traffic is two or three orders of magnitude bigger than mine. So he can pull something like this off. But he's giving away away mp3s. I could give away mp3s, but it would be me singing into my mp3 recorder, and I'm sure you would all love that.

Please do check out Jake's blog. Round 2 starts up on Friday.

More Potential Blog Names - Free Book Still Available

I promised to send some crappy book from my personal library to the person that comes up with the best blog name for me when I switch to Wordpress on January 1. Nick Norelli has been trying really hard. (It seems so out of character for Nick to try to score free books, doesn't it?) Nick suggested that I go with a biblically inspired title, like his fundamentalist-sounding blog title, "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth." So in an effort to be more like Nick, I found a few biblically-inspired names that might fit my blog.

These are probably not appropriate for children, since I have taken them pretty much straight from the Bible. Be warned.


Wine, strong drink, or Whatever Your Heart Desires (Deut 13.1)

Able to Enter
Tagline: No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. (Deut 23.1)

His Eye was Not Dim nor His Vigor Abated (Deut 34.7)
Tagline: And I have five children to prove it.

And the Crap Came Out (Judges 3.22)

My Little Finger is...
Thicker Than My Father's Loins (1 Kings 12.10)

No Limit to Windy Words (Job 16.3)

Hatred for Vain Idolaters (Psalm 31.6)

Complaining and Murmuring (Ps 55.17)
Tagline: Evening, morning, and noon

Make Their Loins Shake Continually (Ps 69.23)

Hating Them With the Utmost Hatred (Ps 139.22)

There is Nothing Better Than to Eat and Drink (Ecc 2.24)

Money is the Answer to Everything (Ecc 9.19)

Don't Spread Your Legs to Every Passerby (Ezekiel 16.25)


Keep those ideas coming. You still have a few more weeks to get yourself that book.

Get a Free Book!

It seems like all the cool people are moving to Wordpress. I have decided that I can't be cool unless I switch too. So I am planning to make the move at the beginning of January. But I need your help. "Sandwiches There" is frankly a stupid blog name. Before that, I was "The Hungry Scholar," but that made sense when I was only interacting with non-scholars. So what should my blog be named once I move? If you suggest the winning name, I will send you a FREE BOOK! Yes, you read correctly. I will send you a book from my very own book collection. And if it's a really really great name, maybe it will be a useful book too! Wow, the excitement is making me all giddy. If you offer me a blow-it-out-of-the-water name, I will even consider buying you something from your Amazon wish list.

(It will really have to be just amazing since I'm pretty much broke and need to feed my five small children. But we can sacrifice food for a few days. It's really no big deal.)

But in addition to the prize, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you helped make a real difference in the world. Good luck!

The Challenge of Chrisendom

I've been thinking about this interview with Chris Tilling over at Pisteuomen for a few days now. I read Chris's blog more than about anybody else's blog because, well, it's just dang funny. He's got a Charismatic background but he gets frustrated because, contrary to the tendencies of the bulk of common Charismaniacs, he actually likes to think. He's a Ph.D. student, so he's smarter than me. But what is most fun is that he is absolutely irreverent towards people's sacred cows, so you're almost certain to get offended at least once. (Which I have. But what fun would it be otherwise?)

Here is a brief response to four points Chris made:

1. "I think the pastor has the greatest responsibility to preach honest sermons, not to gloss over difficulties, gray areas and real differences of opinion."
Amen. The gray areas are one of the the primary reasons I left the pastorate to go back to school for my M.Div. I think we have an obligation to sort the stuff out fairly without just parroting the received traditions.

2. "Scholars would do a major service for the church if they enabled people to get beyond disorientation. I suspect that explains a great part of Bishop Wright's popularity."
Tom Wright, more than anyone else, was responsible for my plunge into the disorientation of scholarship. So even though I think he is pretty much the coolest scholar ever, part of me thinks he sucks.

3. "I am a theology/NT-o-phile, if you understand me. I salivate over books, read them almost non-stop, and am all-in-all a bit obsessive compulsive about turning the next page."
I admit that I am challenged by this statement. See, I love books. I love to look at books. I love to handle them and hold them. I love to read the dust jackets and flip through them and make piles of them. But I have to admit that I can tend to lose interest about half way through reading them. Sometimes it's from information overload and I need time to process, sometimes it's because I just get bored. This has really inspired me to press through and to want to become obsessive compulsive about turning the next page.

4. "By the way, I’m just joking about the Fundie shooting, of course. I know lots of lovely Fundie Christians–far better people than me. And bullets cost too much. Give me fifteen minutes with a golf club–that would be cheaper!"
Though most of what Chris writes is awfully funny, there comes a point where his pseudo-scholarship and lame-blog humor just makes me feel, well, crappy and defiled. Is this supposed to be funny? Sorry, but taking offense at gratuitous violence is not a sacred cow. Chris Tilling, you should be ashamed of yourself.

So today I (1) openly disagreed with a comment he made; (2) dissed Tom Wright; and (3) called his blogging humor pseudo-scholarship and lame; so I get three (or depending on when he reads this, four) fingers up from Mr. Tilling. I feel honored.

Thanks for the blog, Chris, and thanks for the interview, Michael.