Home Again, Home Again

And I see we’ve brought the rain with us. Some random thoughts and observations after nearly six days in the car…. * The Ramada Limited was the best deal going as far as lodging goes. Large room, indoor pool, nice continental breakfast, and free wireless, all for under $80. * Though it seems counter-intuitive, it’s […]

More on Ellul, Neocalvinists

Macht has an informative post regarding alternative Neocalvinist views on Ellul, specifically those of Egbert Schuurman, who found Ellul’s critique of Technique rather useful. Schuurman, in fact, sounds almost Ellulian/Illichian in his perspective: It needs to be understood that contemporary technological development in alliance with economics fosters materialism, threatens Christian spirituality, and renders life, including […]

School, and Its Alternatives

I have been working my way through Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society on our trip. This is Illich’s most well known, and notorious, work where he outlines a vision for a society that does not include mandatory, publically-funded schooling. While I do not intend to review his ideas here, I will say there is a certain […]

Building Institutions, Again

Dr. Koyzis has responded to my post concering his essay on Jacques Ellul’s Technique and the Opening Chapters of Genesis. He wonders why the sort of personal action that Ellul espouses is any better than institutional action, given the pervasiveness of sin in the world. Ellul, despite his protestations to the contrary, was Calvinist in […]

On the Road

Day two of the Drive to Colorado is nearly over. We’re settling into a hotel room in York, NE as the last bits of daylight are swallowed by the night sky. We are certainly not setting any speed records–two days, roughly one thousand miles–but our pace is probably slightly better than I expected, and the […]

Night Riding

It is 12:45AM. I am leaving the office. I will spare the details of why I was there so late. I have not, in many years, worked so much in a single day (to best of my knowledge, it last came organzing competition at the climbing gym). I was tired, under-fed, and frustrated. I turned […]

A Different Path

I have, over the past two years or so (it’s amazing how time grows larger as you grow older–remember when six months was a long time?), settled into a rhythm with my daily activity. My bicycle has become my primary means of transportation whenever the family is not involved, and I cannot remember the last […]

Busy Signal

I am currently buried under a mountain of work. Such is life, I suppose. At least I can look forward to a cross country trek in ten days. There could be much bike riding in my immediate future. If all goes well, I should be at the track races on Friday night at the Oval. […]

Urban Homesteading

Whilst poking around Flickr for photos of porteurs, I found Hen Waller, a blog from a couple in Portland attempting an urban homesteading existence, complete with chickens and a Wendell Berry-esqye sense of place and respect for the home economy. Their escapades and musings are well worth a read.

On the Building of Institutions

David Koyzis has stirred the hornets’ nest that is the New Pantagruel editorial board with his his discussion of Jacques Ellul’s short essay Technique and the Opening Chapters of Genesis. Koyzis explains that Ellul, showing his Barthian side, believes that the created order of Eden did not include the development of what Ellul calls Technique–essentially […]