Kruse Kronicle

Bridge over troubled water

Presbyterian News Service: Bridge over troubled water

Foundation, GAMC near agreement on ‘environment of cooperation’

CHICAGO — Over the years, disagreements between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation and the General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) have sometimes made the gulf between the two agencies seem far wider than the one-mile-across Ohio River that separates them.

The disputes have usually centered around the appropriate use of restricted funds — over which the foundation has fiduciary responsibility but which the GAMC is charged to spend in accordance with the mission priorities established by the General Assembly.

Now, after two years of intense work by a joint working group, the two entities are nearing agreement on a vision, strategy and plan they hope will resolve, if not eliminate, conflicts in the future. ...

It has been my privilege to serve on the Foundation/GAMC work group that developed this agreement in recent months. All of the members of the group provided great input but the leadership of the team, Karren Garrett and Reg Kuhn, did a great job.

As the article notes, the General Assembly created a new seven member Restricted Funds Resolution Committee (RFRC) that will hear appeals from the two bodies when differences can't otherwise be resolved (I'm one of the seven members). The RFRC has met once to develop a process should we ever recieve any business. More to come on that later. But the birth of RFRC and the adoption of the new agreement have a chance to address problems that have plagued the relationship of the two entities for many years. I'm by no means predicting endlesses choruses of "Kumbaya" but I really do think there is reason for optimism.

Anyway, just thought my PCUSA readers might like some good news about our tribe.

(Note to PNS: I think Karen lives on the "promised land" side of the state line, as do I, here in Kansas City, MO, not Kansas City, KS.)  :-)

Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship: The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow

Social Edge: Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship: The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow

With Matt Flannery, founder of Kiva, transitioning from blogging to twittering, we thought this would be a good time to help Matt and others joining Twitter to hit the ground running with a list of the best social entrepreneur twitter folks to follow.

These are folks we have run into in our specifically social entrepreneurship circle.  I'm sure there are many more people we have not yet met, and would like to meet, so I encourage you to comment here with your recommended additions.

That said, we have selected a few, well 100 to be exact, to get you started on "Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship".  We suggest you start with the first 20 below and see how it goes.  Then start adding in some of the other clever people listed when you are ready. (By the way, if you are considering how to start tweeting for yourself or your organization, see also Twitter and the Social Entrepreneur - a guide to mission-aligned twittering.) ...

Africa seen rising from bottom of new tech ranking

Forbes: Africa seen rising from bottom of new tech ranking

TALLINN, June 30 (Reuters) - Many African countries should focus on lowering the cost of broadband access to help boost their economies, a World Bank report said on Tuesday.

Seven sub-Saharan countries scored the lowest possible result in a new technology ranking by the World Bank due to low incomes, weak regulation, limited competition and a lack of private investment.

But development of information technology across the continent is moving in the right direction, the report said, and innovations in the fields of mobile banking and free mobile call roaming are already being copied elsewhere.

'If you look at dynamics and evolution, they are doing really well,' Mohsen Khalil, World Bank Group Director for Global ICT, told Reuters.

The countries in the region have started to invest in IT infrastructure, but the cost of fixed and mobile phone services and Internet services are still two to five times the average income, hampering the takeup.

'There's still a long way to bring down cost,' Khalil said.

He said the typical monthly mobile bill was still $10-$12 in Africa, while in Southeast Asia many operators run profitable operations with average bills of $5 or less.

The World Bank report found a strong link between GDP growth and broadband access, underlying the need for stimulus programmes in which governments have allocated billions of dollars to expand high-speed Internet access to fight recession....

New materials for renewable energy: The power of being made very small

The Economist: New materials for renewable energy: The power of being made very small

Nano-engineering can produce substances with unique properties that will give renewable energy a boost.

BIG improvements in the production of energy, especially from renewable sources, are expected over the coming years. Safer nuclear-power stations, highly efficient solar cells and the ability to extract more energy from the wind and the sea are among the things promised. But important breakthroughs will be needed for these advances to happen, mostly because they require extraordinary new materials.

The way researchers will construct these materials is now becoming clear. They will engineer them at the nanoscale, where things are measured in billionths of a metre. At such a small size materials can have unique properties. And sometimes these properties can be used to provide desirable features, especially when substances are formed into a composite structure that combines a number of abilities. A series of recent developments shows how great that potential might be. ...

Whatever happened to the food crisis?

The Economist: Whatever happened to the food crisis?

... But recession would normally dampen down price rises. So what explains the return of food-price inflation? And does it mean that the so-called world food crisis is returning?

There are two clusters of explanation: cyclical factors—features of the farm cycle and world economy that fluctuate from season to season—and secular, long-term factors. Cyclical influences include re-stocking: cereal stocks were run down as prices spiked and need to be replenished. In 2006 and 2007, stocks fell below 450m tonnes, about 20% of consumption; now they are back up over 520m, or 23%. That is one source of new demand. Another comes from ethanol. As oil prices rise, ethanol starts to be competitive again (as a rule of thumb, ethanol is profitable when petrol costs $3 a gallon in America, a level it has just reached in California). The fall in the dollar and in freight rates has also kept the local-currency costs of importing a tonne of cereals lower than dollar-denominated world prices. This has encouraged many countries to buy more.

Lastly, it is possible that the widespread hunger brought about by soaring prices—the FAO says a billion people will go hungry this year—may have reached a peak and the poor may be back in the market for grain again. This may sound unlikely, as traditionally poor consumers have had little influence over world food prices, but economic growth has continued in the largest emerging markets (notably China and India) and governments in much of the developing world have been expanding aid programmes for the poor, such as conditional cash-transfer schemes. That may be boosting demand; it would explain why prices of grain, which everyone eats, have been rising this year while prices of meat—the food of the rich and aspiring middle classes—have continued to fall.

Snakes in the grass

But the world food crisis of 2007-08 showed that food prices are not influenced solely, or even mainly, by cyclical factors. They soared in large part because of slow, irreversible trends: population growth; urbanisation; shifting appetites from grain to meat in developing countries. There is no sign that these trends are abating. ...

Declining Middle Class?

Frobes: Has Rising Inequality Destroyed The Middle Class? Thomas F. Cooley (HT: Greg Mankiw)

... Now the narrative is less about the declining middle class and more about a gilded age of the super-rich. The middle feels as if it has lost ground because of the extraordinary wealth accumulated by the very, very few. But that suggests that the pie is a fixed size, and that is clearly not the case.

What triggered the gilded age of the late 20th century? There are extensive arguments in the literature about the impact of tax cuts, about extraordinarily high executive compensation in top management, and more. But the recent research does not seem to support these two as major causes. The most compelling argument for this dramatic increase in income has been technological change. Those with the human capital to take advantage of the new technology gained, and continue to gain, at the expense of those who don't have it. This is the "winner take all" phenomenon. In the 1920s, cutting- edge technology meant electrification. Hence the spike in income at the very top level. The fact that inequality has increased in most of the richest countries is also consistent with this explanation. ...

Forbes: There's No News Like Bad News Thomas F. Cooley

A few weeks ago I wrote a column that purported to address the connection between the rise in income inequality and the threats to the middle class. ... But there were also complaints that I didn't really directly deal with the pervasive sense of declining fortune in the middle class. And for that I plead guilty. ...

... Many people who responded to my earlier article pointed to data from the U.S. Census Bureau that show median household income adjusted for inflation increasing only 18% over the last 30 years. That is stagnation!

Again, however, aggregate data tell a different story--real income per person increased nearly 80% over the 30-year period. Now this could be consistent with the finding that the very top earners garnered all the gains, but it is more complicated than that. Fitzgerald of the Minneapolis Fed points out that the price index used by the Census Bureau overstates inflation and understates income gains. There has also been a dramatic change in the mix of household types--a decline in married-couple households and an increase in no-spouse households for both genders. This causes the Census data to understate significantly the median income gains for all categories of household.

Finally, the Census Bureau approach ignores several sources of income--benefits and transfers--that have grown significantly. When all of these pieces are out together, the data suggest that median Census income per person has risen by 50% over the past 30 years--not 18%.

There are two other pieces to this puzzle that deserve more extensive discussion. One is the observation that important changes have occurred in the composition and quality of the consumption of the median American consumer. Think back 30 years to the typical consumption bundle and ask how much better off you might feel with the current bundle and whether changes in median income reflect that.

The second piece of the puzzle is why the rise in inequality has been so dramatic--and why the skill premium has increased as much as it has. These issues are all connected....

Yes, Microfinance has Positive Effects on the Poor.

Next Billion: Yes, Microfinance has Positive Effects on the Poor.

Microfinance in its simplest form involves extending loans to a group of borrowers (usually called self help groups) who agree to help each other by means of group savings and informal support. The typical self help group consists of 10 to 20 people who meet regularly to discuss social issues and activities and deposit their savings in a joint bank account. Once enough savings have been accumulated, group members can apply to internal loans within the group or apply for loans through a commercial bank.

Even though microfinance is estimated to have directly reached 100 million customers in 2008 (for more details see my previous post) there is still plenty of debate about whether it has a significant impact on the lives of the poor or not.  ...

Government Accountability

The Economist: Government Accountability

Which countries are better governed than a decade ago, and which worse.

 

Best of It: Principles of a New Realism (Part 5)

[Series Index]

Today we wrap up Chapter 8, “Principles of a New Realism,” in John Stackhouse’s Making the Best of It. The fourth and final section deals with “Liberty and Cooperation.”

Liberty and Cooperation

Individuals

… We are free, first from sin and death. No longer must we obey sin and fear death. We are free to choose the good in the hope of eternal life.

Out of his experience of wrestling with sin, fearing death, and longing for a good God, Martin Luther rejoiced to affirm that the Christian is free from worrying about his destiny, is therefore free from egocentricity, and so is free truly to love God and his neighbor. We can extend this insight to affirm that the Christian is thus free to tend the earth without selfishness. And, according to the redemption commandments, the Christian loves his fellow Christians and serves the rest of the world in genuine regard for the other, rather than out of concern for his own gain. (297)

That said, Stackhouse goes on to remind us that of the win-win-win concept. Life is not a zero-sum game between God, others, and ourselves … where the good of one in this triad comes at the expense of the others. Shalom is the optimal condition for all three. When we pursue shalom for others we also benefit God and ourselves.

We are active participants in the realization of shalom. While law gives us guidance we are not automatons executing explicit commands in every waking moment of our lives. We are volitional beings. The imagery that came to my mind was parenting, where we set boundaries and give instruction to our children, but our hope is that that they internalize values that will guide them, making boundaries second nature. Key to the New Testament is the idea that we have freedom but the primary focus of that freedom is on, as Stackhouse notes, "freedom for the other." We also have the responsibility to not only avoid the bad in favor the good, or choose the lesser of two evils, but often to discern and act on the greater of two or more goods.

Others

God has given us freedom. Stackhouse notes that God creates humanity and then commands us. This implies a freedom to obey or disobey. “One doesn’t command a fork, a flower, or a flood.” (300) Yet that freedom is not absolute. I like his ship passenger metaphor with regard to ignoring God’s law.

The passenger on a ship crossing the Pacific is free to jump overboard, free to swim in the ocean for a while, and then free only to drown. For it is not his nature to have that degree of independence. (300)

Furthermore, we are not the only ship passengers on board. Our exercise of freedom must take into account others, which certainly includes respecting their freedom.

Stackhouse observes that we all share a natural tendency to insist on the universal applicability of things that seem right to us and that often leads us to seek a hegemony that reinforces our view. Then he offer’s this:

Yet confidence in one’s on religion and hope for the future can lead in the opposite direction: toward patient, hopeful tolerance of others based on belief that God is in control and will bring his good purposes to pass. (301)

At its core, that church is about love and community. Stackhouse emphasizes that, “love and community cannot grow out of coercion.

Stackhouse goes on to note that any human project certainly requires cooperation between people and that mean curtailment of freedom. That said, we still ought to look for how we can give as much freedom as possible as people pursue their vocations. Stackhouse is also concerned that we be conscious of “… much less benign motivations of some of those who seek greater state control over individuals and intermediate institutions such as families, churches, and nongovernmental organizations." (302)

Next he makes some important remarks regarding liberal democracy.

It [liberal democracy] is not only the least bad of the available alternatives, but it manifests positive and crucial Christi values such as justice, the dignity of all people, due process, transparency, honesty, liberty, responsibility, love of one’s neighbor, and the humility to recognize the fallibility of both individuals and systems, including the state itself. Of course it is a far cry from the shalom of God’s direct rule in the New Jerusalem. … (303)

He goes on to acknowledge other weaknesses.

… Yet Christians also recognize the roots of liberal democracy in the soil of our own religion, and we properly commend and defend it as the only form of government we know of that even attempts to include all of these values. (303)

He also writes:

I agree here, again, with Yoder: Christians must do all we can to bring as much shalom as possible without trying to construct the New Jerusalem by ourselves. (304)

Later, he reflects on the tension between providing as much justice, compassion, and stability as possible with the least curtailment of freedom for individuals and groups.

Some might see such a statement as capitulating to secular modernity. I maintain, however, that the combination and the tension of each element with the others – justice, compassion, stability and liberty – is Biblical. It is the way God works, and the way God wants us to work, this side of the New Jerusalem. (304-305)

He concludes this subsection with some thoughts about international implications as well.

Unity and Diversity in the Church

In this last brief section, Stackhouse revisits his notion that diversity in the church, with our various denominations and traditions, is not a bad thing. There are is no way a single form of Christianity can reflect all the richness that is there. Yet he acknowledges, without specificity, that unity needs to be around some sense of “mere Christianity” … and even if we think our tribe has a better handle on what that is, we can still be partnership with others who share that “mere Christianity.” Stackhouse believes that we should be open in to others in three important ways:

• We need to “… be open to considering a stance different from the what [we] have maintained heretofore in the name of tradition, if the cultural situation has changed importantly.”
• We should find grounds for ecumenical cooperation among those adopting the same stance.
• “… we should be willing to at least consider affirming others in stances different from ours, even at apparent cross-purposes to ours, as we recognize that Christ may have called them to this apparently contradictory , but perhaps also complementary, stance. (308)

This completes Chapter 8, dealing with “Principles of a New Realism.” Next we will turn to the final chapter where Stackhouse offers his concluding thoughts on what all this means for the relationship between church and culture.

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Fundraising Dips In First Quarter Of 2009

FrogLoop: Fundraising Dips In First Quarter Of 2009

The struggling economy hit nonprofits hard in the first quarter of 2009. According to the latest Target Analytics Index of National Fundraising Performance, the number of new donors dropped by almost 13%, as compared to 2008. The study analyzed 79 nonprofit organizations and their fundraising campaigns via direct mail, online fundraising, telemarketing and canvassing.

The study also showed that for the first time since Target Analytics released its initial study in 2002, overall revenue per donor declined by 2.1%. Prior to this study, the Index of the National Fundraising Performance had only been showing a gradual decline in donor numbers since the U.S. Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. However, things rapidly changed from Q4 in 2008 to Q1 in 2009. The decline in donors accelerated even faster due to the recession and a 13% decrease in new donors. ...

Breaking glass ceilings at large churches

Christian Century: Breaking glass ceilings at large churches

Methodists opened the ordained ministry to women in 1956, and today female ministers account for about 20 percent of the clergy in the denomination. And 14 bishops heading the 50 U.S. regional jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church are women—28 percent of the total.

Score that a triumph for gender inclusivity in the nation's largest mainline church? Not so fast, say some UMC officials. One mark of acceptance for women pastors is lagging—only some 7 percent of Methodist congregations with more than 1,000 members are led by a female senior pastor.

Methodist statisticians, releasing this month the most recent data (from December 2007), said that 81 of the denomination's largest congregations were led by women pastors and 1,055 by male pastors. Another eight large congregations had men and women serving as copastors. ...

Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out

The Economist: Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out  (This appeared more than a week ago but I forgot to post it.)

Larry Page should have been in a good mood. It was the fall of 2007, and Google's cofounder was in the middle of a five-day tour of his company's European operations in Zurich, London, Oxford, and Dublin. The trip had been fun, a chance to get a ground-floor look at Google's ever-expanding empire. But this week had been particularly exciting, for reasons that had nothing to do with Europe; Google was planning a major investment in Facebook, the hottest new company in Silicon Valley.

Originally Google had considered acquiring Facebook—a prospect that held no interest for Facebook's executives—but an investment was another enticing option, aligning the Internet's two most important companies. Facebook was more than a fast-growing social network. It was, potentially, an enormous source of personal data. Internet users behaved differently on Facebook than anywhere else online: They used their real names, connected with their real friends, linked to their real email addresses, and shared their real thoughts, tastes, and news. Google, on the other hand, knew relatively little about most of its users other than their search histories and some browsing activity.

But now, as Page took his seat on the Google jet for the two-hour flight from Zurich to London, something appeared to be wrong. He looked annoyed, one of his fellow passengers recalls. It turned out that he had just received word that the deal was off. Microsoft, Google's sworn enemy, would be making the investment instead—$240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the company, meaning that Redmond valued Facebook at an astonishing $15 billion. ...

'Government ordered Dafur attack'

BBC: 'Government ordered Dafur attack'

Fresh claims have emerged of people being attacked in Darfur. A student at Khartoum University has told the Today programme that she and 30 other women were attacked on the university campus by men wielding metal bars. Correspondent Mike Thomson talks to one of the students, who has asked for her name not to be broadcast.

Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard

Wired: Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard

If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ve surely considered the differences between the captains in the various series, even if you don’t have a favorite. And, while Sisko, Janeway, and even Archer have their fans, the quintessential Star Trek debate has been, since TNG premiered nearly 22 years ago, who’s the better captain: Kirk or Picard? ...

... So, who’s really better? There have been countless articles and lists written on the subject, so I’m not sure how much new territory there is to cover here. What I will try to do, then, is distill the argument down to five key subject areas, then compare and contrast Kirk and Picard (I’m only considering the original, William Shatner, Kirk here, incidentally, because otherwise this gets way too complicated): ...

There is no debate. It's this guy, hands down.

CS Lewis: Outside the Pale? (RJS)

Jesus Creed: CS Lewis: Outside the Pale? (RJS)

... One of the comments on the last post noted that Augustine's view of  the doctrine of original sin, causes the most significant conflict for many of us today.  This came up again in an e-mail I received dealing with the doctrines of Adam, Eve, and Original Sin. The letter writer sent the following (and I quote excerpts with permission):

I went through considerable emotional turmoil when a Presbyterian pastor I respect responded to my statement that I am not sure that the human race descended from a single pair and that I believed descent from more than one pair is not necessarily in conflict with biblical teaching. This pastor declared that my views are "outside the pale" of Christianity, not just Reformed Christianity, but all Christianity (including Roman Catholic doctrine), and that if I were to attend his church, he would consider me like the Oneness Pentecostals who deny the Trinity. I am not a Christian, even if I am a nice guy. He qualified by saying that he cannot judge my state before God, but doctrinally I am not a Christian.

The letter writer went on to note that this "pastor is generally a model of charity and would not say what he said if he did not feel conscience-bound to do so." This letter poses the question I would like to consider today.

Is any position other than monogenesis of the human race with Adam and Eve as unique historical individuals outside the pale of orthodox Christianity?

To begin to consider this question I will lay out a few perspectives on the question of Adam and Eve within the boundaries of orthodox Christianity.   ...

Pope: scientific analysis done on St. Paul's bones

Guardian: Pope: scientific analysis done on St. Paul's bones

Associated Press Writer= ROME (AP) The first-ever scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seem to conclude" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

Archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, which for some 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.

Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

"This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," Benedict said, announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican's Paoline year, in honor of the apostle. ...

Okay. I'm not buying it until Temperance Brennan has a look.

Retirement: The burdens of old age

The Economist: Retirement: The burdens of old age

Retirement in rich countries is becoming unaffordable.

IN 1935, when America first introduced state pensions to relieve poverty in old age, the average life expectancy was 62. The official pension age was 65. That meant the cost of the pension system was very modest.

These days people live a lot longer. America’s official pension age is now 66, but people on average retire at 64 and can then expect to draw their pension for 16 years.

Over the next few decades things will get a lot worse because rich countries’ populations are ageing fast.

At present, the developed countries on average have about four people of working age for every person over 65. But by 2050 this will have come down to only two workers for every pensioner.

America will come off best, with a ratio of about two-and-a-half, because its population will remain relatively youthful. Britain will also do better than average, and France only slightly worse. But in Japan and Italy there will be only one-and-a-half workers for every pensioner. That will impose an unbearable burden. Pensions will have to become less generous, and most people will have to keep on working well beyond 65.

Best of It: Principles of a New Realism (Part 4)

[Series Index]

Today we look at “Faith and Faithfulness,” the third of four parts in John Stackhouse’s discussion of “Principles of a New Realism.” (Chapter 8 in Making the Best of It.) We’ve already looked at “A Mixed Field, Mixed Motives, and Mixed Results” and “The Normal and Beyond.” “Liberty and Cooperation" will be the topic of the next post.

Faith and Faithfulness

The Christian life is one of faith: trusting in God for salvation – of oneself, one’s neighbors, and the world. A vital aspect of that faith is trusting the work of God in oneself, in one’s neighbors, and in the world. Another is trusting the work of God through oneself, through one’s neighbors, and through the world. (288)

Stackhouse identifies two important pitfalls. First, individually or as a group, we may arrogate God’s work to ourselves. Our efforts are equated with God’s efforts. Those not with us are defying God. We are unwilling to make common cause with others, Christian and non-Christian alike, who may not match up with our vision in all the particulars. Our zeal to do “the Lord’s work” can actually interfere with God’s work. We frequently we come off as pests and bullies.   

Second, we may retreat from engagement with the world, while we seek pure hearts and clean hands, trusting that God will work everything out. As Stackhouse notes, “Political decisions, at least most of them, are made by those who show up.” (290) (By “political decisions” he means decision-making done in all spheres of societal life.) God is working in and through human institutions to bring shalom. We cannot be absent from them.

Stackhouse titles one subsection, “Irony, Paradox, Integrity, and Effectiveness.” Alluding to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life as a parable, he points out how interwoven our lives are; how hard it is to anticipate how even small actions might have a future impact. Consequences of our actions frequently don’t match our intentions. We create welfare programs that encourage sloth and workfare programs that damage the innocent. Ironies are all too frequent. Yet we are called to persevere, in spite of what seems a tangled mess of paradoxes and complexities. This perseverance is key to what faithfulness means. Stackhouse writes:

The Cross show us that we won’t always win. And it shows us that we always, finally, do win – through the Cross, and through our crosses. (291)

But mindlessly engaging in a pattern of behavior, without  regard to actual consequences, is not faithfulness. I really appreciated this passage:

Many individual Christians, however, and also churches and other groups of Christians, congratulate themselves on their faithfulness over against any consideration of effectiveness. “Our job is not to be effective – that’s God’s business – but to be faithful.” How convenient it is for such Christians to fly the flag of faithfulness as their numbers dwindle, their evangelism remains fruitless, and their social ministry stands unwelcomed by others: “We’re small, and uninfluential, and disparaged by others, but that’s just because we are so true to the gospel.” I grew up hearing this from conservative Christians, but nowadays one hears such rationalization also from those on the religious left as they reassure themselves about what they are pleased to call their prophetic fidelity. (292)

Stackhouse draws on the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The slave who hides and preserves his talent, and is therefore rebuked and condemned, “… is the very picture of integrity without effectiveness.” Faithfulness requires consideration of both integrity and effectiveness.

Prudence and shrewdness are other virtues we would do well to cultivate. Individually and as groups, we are limited beings with limited resources. We have to discern where we should focus our efforts within our given contexts. Frequently that means tolerating things we find objectionable and working with others whose views we may find objectionable in order to be effective.

Again, God tolerates a certain amount of evil and does not try to fix everything at once. We should therefore be more godly and less fastidious. And we can do so because we hope in God who one day will make all things new. (295)

Stackhouse closes this section with observations about hope. We undertake our work without despair or desperation. He challenges the widely held view of total destruction of this world and an ex nihilo creation of a new world. He comments on II Peter 3:7, 10-13, showing that it is not about annihilation, but rather the imagery is akin to Noah's flood that washed away what was evil and left what was good. In this case, the imagery is a refiner’s fire burning away the impurities, leaving that which is pure. “… there is great discontinuity with the world as it was, but also great continuity." (296)

He closes, writing:

… Precisely because we hope in God, we do not perpetually rush forward into the next thing with our ready-made programs and provisions, but rather cultivate the humility that awaits his direction and supply. (297)

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Seattle center develops tech for poor people

Computerworld: Seattle center develops tech for poor people

The first question many people asked when Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus proposed the Village Phone idea was: Who will they call?

Village Phone is the project that turns primarily poor women in developing countries into entrepreneurs by offering them micro-loans to buy a cell phone that they let other villagers use for a fee.

Now that there are more than 220,000 Village Phone operators in Bangladesh and more in Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon and Indonesia, we know the poor have people to call, said Peter Bladin, founding director of the Grameen Technology Center and executive vice president for programs and regions at the Grameen Foundation.

Bladin helped prove that the Village Phone idea would work outside of Bangladesh, where Yunus founded the bank that gave the loans and was part owner in the mobile-phone company. Bladin heads the little-known Seattle-based Grameen Technology Center, an arm of the Grameen Foundation, which is the U.S. organization that raises money to support micro-finance around the world. ...

... It turns out that some of the first calls made by customers of the original Village Phone operators were by farmers to relatives in market towns, asking them how much a product was selling for. Such farmers often lack the means to transport their crops to the market so they rely on middlemen, who buy the products from the farmers and deliver them, Bladin said. But if the farmer knows the price the product is going for at the market, he can often convince the middlemen to pay a fair price.

"When the opportunity cost is high, people are willing to use this technology," Bladin said. While the cost of that phone call might seem expensive relative to the user's income, if the call will result in more income, the user will pay for it. ...

... "The next step is, what if you use the phones that are already out there to make information searchable through text? What if you digitized information or made it available to people, how would people use that to empower themselves?" he said. ...

Discovery: Grain storage began well before farming

Kansas City Star: Discovery: Grain storage began well before farming

WASHINGTON | People were storing grain long before they learned to domesticate crops, a new study indicates.

A structure used as a food granary discovered in recent excavations in Jordan dates to about 11,300 years ago, according to a report in last week’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That’s as much as a thousand years before people in the Middle East domesticated grain, the research team led by anthropologist Ian Kuijt of the University of Notre Dame said. ...

... The ability to store food is essential for the development of farming, the researchers said.

“The granaries represent a critical evolutionary shift in the relationship between people and plant foods, which precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years,” they reported. ...

The Justification Debate: A Primer

Christianity Today: The Justification Debate: A Primer

Two of the world's most prominent pastor-theologians on justification—and what difference it makes.

Since Christianity Today's August 2007 cover story, "What Did Paul Really Mean?" Piper and Wright have taken the debate on justification from the academy to the masses. Here is where the two evangelicals differ.

Download a PDF of this article here.

John Piper: Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Author of The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright.

N.T. Wright: Bishop of Durham, Church of England. Author of Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision.

The Problem

Piper: God created a good world that was subjected to futility because of the sinful, treasonous choice of the first human beings. Because of this offense against the glory of God, humans are alienated from their Creator and deserve his just condemnation for their sins.

Wright: God created a good world, designed to be looked after and brought to its intended purpose through his image-bearing human beings. This purpose was thwarted by the sinful choice of the first human beings. Because of human sinfulness, the world needs to be put to rights again and its original purpose taken forward to completion. God's purpose in putting humans "right" is that through them, the world can be put to rights. ...

Economic Trend?

(Source: Awn)

Those who know me well know that I have frequently alluded to Wile E. Coyote as the quintessential metaphor for my existence. Life frequently feels like a game of anvil dodge ball.

I'm currently using this pic as my avatar at Twitter. I love this "chart."

The Climate Change Climate Change

Wall Street Journal: The Climate Change Climate Change

The number of skeptics is swelling everywhere.

Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.

If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to pass a climate-change bill, the Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming. ...

...In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. -- 13 times the number who authored the U.N.'s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world's first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak "frankly" of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming "the worst scientific scandal in history." Norway's Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the "new religion." A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton's Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists' open letter.) ...

I don't doubt that Strassel is carrying the water for certain political aims but I think her assessment is generally correct. It is intriguing to me how so many people of a postmodern bent are willing to deconstruct all types of authority but climate change scientists are Moses coming off the mountain. Science is a very human endeavor filled with people who have authentic desires to better the world as well as people with egos who desire to establish a legacies. Science is also heavily funded and  influenced by government and political agendas. Furthermore, there are powerful economic interests who have stakes in scientific outcomes (positive or negative) and are willing to bend science toward there economic intrests, usually aided by plitical allies. The human/political/economic contribution to the emergence of climate change science is rarely considered.

My regular readers know I have doubts about the anthropogenic CO2 driven climate change scenario and even greater doubts about the apocalyptic impact scenarios. There is a joke that says  economists have successfuly predicted nine of the last five recessions. Climate is infinitely more complex than economies. I'm much more concerned about ecological impacts that are consuming natural habitats and creating unsafe environments for humanity today. I also value the creation of renewable enegry for political and economic reasons. I hope Strassel is right ... that reevaluation is going on ... because my perception is that the climate change agenda has been driven at least as much by politics and vested interests (if not more so) as by science.

Shopaholics wanted

The Economist: Shopaholics wanted

Can Asians replace Americans as a driver of global growth?

ASIA’S emerging economies are bouncing back much more strongly than any others. While America’s industrial production continued to slide in May, output in emerging Asia has regained its pre-crisis level (see chart 1). This is largely due to China; but although production in the region’s smaller economies is still well down on a year ago, it is rebounding in those countries too. Taiwan’s industrial output rose by an annualised 80% in the three months to May compared with the previous three months. JPMorgan estimates that emerging Asia’s GDP has grown by an annualised 7% in the second quarter.

Asia’s ability to decouple from America reflects the fact that the region’s downturn was caused only partly by the slump in American activity. In most Asian economies falling domestic demand was more important than the drop in net exports in explaining the collapse in GDP growth. The surge in food and energy prices in the first half of 2008 squeezed profits and spending power. Tighter monetary policy aimed at curbing inflation then further choked domestic demand.

The recent recovery in industrial production reflects the end of destocking by manufacturers as well as the large fiscal stimulus by most governments. But the boost from both of these factors will fade. Meanwhile, export markets in developed economies are likely to remain weak. So the recovery in Asian economies will stumble unless domestic spending, notably consumption, perks up.

Consumers’ appetite to spend varies hugely across the region. In China, India and Indonesia spending has increased by annual rates of more than 5% during the global downturn. China’s retail sales have soared by 15% over the past year. This overstates the true growth rate because it includes government purchases, but official household surveys suggest that real spending is growing at a still-impressive rate of 9%. In the year to May, sales of household electronics were up by 12%, clothing by 22% and cars by a stunning 47%.

Elsewhere in the region, ...

Response to MV tourism operator on “Should starving people be tourist attractions?”

Aid Watch (William Easterly): Response to MV tourism operator on “Should starving people be tourist attractions?”

... I have considered your letter and these other responses carefully, and I am open to the possibility that I was wrong.

In the end, however, I don’t find your responses or others have really addressed my central concern from the earlier post. I agree with commentators like geckonomist: “I simply can't find in his text any other tourism attraction than : extremely poor people.” I continue to believe that the whole idea of tourists going to see poor people simply because they are poor -- or to see the interventions targeted at these poor because they are poor -- is degrading. It perpetrates the patronizing view that the poor are some faceless mass of helpless victims which the MV is rescuing, which is part of the flawed philosophy of the MV itself.

Respecting the individuality, humanity, and dignity of every person, no matter how poor, is a sacred and fundamental cause. I believe our debate has generated so much discussion because of the importance of this cause.

As another commentator suggested, let’s apply the Golden Rule: if I was poor and still in my birthplace of West Virginia, would I want tourists coming by to see how poor I was and how some project was rescuing me from my miseries? If I was sitting at the bedside of my child with a life-threatening illness, would I want a tour group coming through to see how the heroic doctors were saving my child? No thank you. ...