We'll Get Together Then Son, You Know We'll Have a Good Time Then

My poor, poor neglected series-of-tubeslog. Faithfully waiting as I attend to other things. Well I'm back. To a degree. So first things first.

Last you heard a baby came along and a winner of the Name My Baby Contest was to be announced.

Well here's what you've been waiting for...

Commenter Jeremy has won with the recommendation "Irena". Not only does he win the "Name I Like" portion of the contest, but he wins the "Name We Choose" portion (at least a variation of it). Who would've guessed The Qweenbean and I were pathetic enough to name our baby with an internets contest? At least Jeremy.

In any case, as winner of the big prize he will receive the book More Handles of Power by Lewis Dunnington. It's a Mid-Century Methodist devotional text along the lines of our present day Chicken Soup for the Souls or the various Prayer of Jabezes floating around. I don't mean it is or was that crappy, I mean it is along those lines in its purpose and popularity.

It's fascinating.

It's of a different evangelical stream than that which fed the creation of radio Bible hours, kooky millennialism, or white supremacy associations but of a similar source, so because of that, to me, an interesting artifact. I think the stream/running-water metaphor is apt because as thought and practices flowed to the South and Mid-West, as examples, they took on unique characteristics and fed different types of fruit. For example, it's not something we care to admit, but the Strange Fruit that hung from Indiana trees was borne by Evangelical Holiness. This book is of a stream that eventually flowed North and East, though pooling in other places as well, and as such is of the traditional forebears of evangelical thought and practices expressed in the likes of Sojourners and The Progressive Christian.

It's also fascinating to me because it is full of the kinds of things that actual Christians used as guidance for their day to day lives- just like Chicken Soup for The Soul and the Prayer of Jabez. This book is the kind of thing that fed the devotional lives of people who generally could not care less about theology and biblical studies- or more appropriately for whom this passes as theology and biblical study. Though preachers and teachers may consult scholarly sources and critically examine our assumptions about the nature of truth and work to apply that to our lives as people of faith, a mnemonic like "Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve" or all manner of widely circulated pablum hold more sway over our lives than even the collected works of... I dunno, which pop-theologian is hot among evangelicals these days? They hold more sway than that guy. Of course I may be assuming too much if I imagine the average preacher engages in a level of critical thought and investigation more astute than the average congregant. In any case, my point is these kinds of texts are fascinating to me because they are a phenomenon that, in the good and bad, represent how people think, what is important to them, and what passes as a life of faith. (I mean that in a good way... mostly.)

It's on its way to you, Winner Jeremy. I hope you think it is as great as I do.

To the rest of you, I hope the taste of defeat burns in your mouth like ashes and vinegar so that only future victory can cleanse your palate.