A minor

Lately I've become very interested in "theologies of hope" or robust eschatologies that deal very much with the here-and-now and the life of the age to come as inaugurated by Jesus. I've begun working through titles by and about Moltmann and Pannenberg [here's a good Amazon list], and I'll probably post more about the work of these theologians as I dig into them further.

For now, though, the best introduction I've found by far is NT Wright's 20-some-page "New Heavens, New Earth: The Biblical Picture of the Christian Hope," available from Grove Books for £2.95 plus shipping, or as an ebook for £2.95 (with no shipping, of course; Grove sends you a link [to a PDF] that expires after three uses).

Originally delivered as the 1993 Drew Lecture on Immortality at Spurgeon's College, London, and later slightly updated and published in Called to One Hope: Perspectives on Life to Come: Drew Lectures on Immortality Delivered at Spurgeon's College, edited by John E. Colwell (Paternoster, 2000; currently out of print), I can't recommend Wright's "New Heavens, New Earth" more highly. Get it and read it this week!

(Thanks again to Josh Anderson for referring me to this.)

Calling all Monroe-area bloggers! Go sign up to have your blog entries displayed on monroeblogs.com. A while back, someone signed up the RSS feed of the Capezzas' blog, Hollie's blogs, and my blog - and of course Christin, LesBourgeoisie, Uncle Josh and others are already indexed there since their blogs are hosted by monroeblogs - so it's now a great one-stop index page for several local (or formerly local) bloggers. You can read more technical info here and here.

Yeah, that's right, Emily, Thomas, Jennifer, Lacey, Matt, Annie (& Spa Bella), Sarah, Jarrod, Ragan, Duane and others, I'm talking about you. I doubt it will work for people who've enabled Xanga Lock (ahem), but I hope the rest of you will sign up. Don't make someone else sign you up like they did me!

Speaking of clean standup, this afternoon I caught part of Steve Harvey's Don't Trip...He Ain't Through With Me Yet! It's from Bishop T.D. Jakes' MegaFest 2005 - but I caught it on BET, not some white Christian network, of course. Harvey was hilarious, and I was amazed at his self-control to make it through an hour on stage without cussing.

Harvey's act in The Original Kings of Comedy is one of my all-time favorite moments in standup, particularly the part about going to church all the time as a kid and about slightly senile Sister Odell - who all she does is watch TV and go to church, so sometimes she stands up to "testify" and blends gospel with TV theme songs - and about finally finding a reason to love going to church when he heard Sister Odell cuss one day:

When you go to church that much when you're a kid, you don't really care for church that much. So what you got to do is find little things to like about church, that make you want to go. And the one thing I liked about my church might seem a little strange to you. But the one thing that made me want to go all the time was when I found out that there was people that cussed at the church. That might not do it for y'all, but dammit, that done it for me.

Well, it's time for church....

If you like standup and haven't seen Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale, you should check it out. One nice side feature is that, for standup, it's relatively clean. I still don't know if my mom would like it all, but your mom might. "Did he just call his mom a prude and say my mom has no standards? This guy's a jerk!"

You might've already seen or heard his Hot Pockets routine, but as one who (I confess) has eaten his fair share of Hot Pockets, that bit still gets me. I love the way he sings the Hot Pockets jingle in his distant falestto, kinda like the way does asides in the voice of an audience member all the way through, e.g. "Ridiculous," "This guy's obsessed with cake!" As this columnist wrote:

Most of the jokes end with a falsetto voice that comes from Gaffigan, vocalizing an assumed outraged audience member questioning the previous joke. These asides generally lead into the theme of the next joke.

These ingenious little transitions again run thin as the album progresses because Gaffigan begins to use these asides as punchlines. It's like he doesn't bother with a true punchline.

I, however, think these asides are part of Gaffigan's genius.

From time to time I think about trying to transfer overseas with FedEx, e.g. to the UK or Australia - and between the two, Australia seems smarter given the cost of living and current exchange rate. Today, with this in my mind, I looked up the Anglican theological colleges in Australia and ran across this:

The Melbourne College of Divinity, in a joint program of Trinity College Theological School, University of Melboune and the United Faculty of Theology, offers an online Master of Divinity degree. A total of 270 points (18 semester units) is required for the degree, and the Graduate Coursework fee for 2007 is $850 per 15-point semester units.

Double-check my math:
270 points / 15-point semester units = 18 semester units
18 semester units at $850/unit = $15,300 AUD
According to XE.com, $15,300 AUD = under $12,000 USD

This has to be the cheapest reputable MDiv program I've seen.

Updated May 31, 2008:
18 semester units at $936/unit = $16,848 AUD = $16,091 USD

Updated Sep 16, 2008:
18 semester units at $936/unit = $16,848 AUD = $13,389 USD

Updated Sep 11, 2009:
18 semester units at $936/unit = $16,848 AUD = $14,558 USD

Updated Mar 17, 2010:
18 semester units at $1,188/unit = $21,384 AUD = $19,726 USD

Updated May 4, 2015:
The Melbourne College of Divinity is now the University of Divinity. (Apologies for all of the broken links above as a result.) The University of Divinity / University of Melbourne's Trinity College still offers the MDiv online, but there are now different fees for overseas students:
Total overseas MDiv cost is currently $38,376 AUD = $30,078 USD.