reading week
so, reading week is a wonderful invention, although i'm a little upset i'm missing ets this year. i'm still a member, so i got the conference schedule and i've been parousing it the past few days...i don't know why i do that to myself. the theme is "christianity in the early centuries," good thing i'm not interested in that topic.
myspace
i just set up a myspace blog. it's got four of my songs on it. i'll try to rotate the songs periodically. the recordings are pretty rough, at least that's my excuse.
here's the url:
may i recommend...
i was so excited to read this book i picked it up before i was done with the one assinged before it. i wasn't disappointed. i'm only half done with it, but unless it takes a nose dive, i recommend this book to any Christian who is an artist. notice i didn't say "Christian artist." the book is expressly for those Christians who want to contribute to culture, not the Christian subculture. the guy is a journalist and a poet, but he writes music reviews and interviews musicians, so the two most prominent arts highlighted in the book are literature and music, but all the arts are in mind in the writing of the book. he's also associated with squint entertainment who gave waterdeep their first contract, so at least he hangs with people who know true art.
music
i just realized i don't have a link to havalina. this ought not be so. they are a great band. i really only have one album, and that's because it's free on their website, but i saw them at cornerstone a few years back and have been a fan ever since.
in their words: "havalina, not unlike most of our influences, is about change and various forms of wrecking pop music." gotta love that.
update on the album
today i wrote the fourth song for my class project, so all the writing's done and the album's ready to compile, i have 14 songs total already rough-recorded, and a couple more that could work on the album, but that i didn't like as much.
how to work the system
between school and youth ministry i find little time to sit down with my guitar and write these days. thus i find myself jumping at every chance to write songs for "creative projects" in classes. so far i've written three songs for credit and added two verses to existing songs for class. but this semester i've outdone myself. i'm taking a class from dr. kreider (theological studies prof.) called issues in theological method. its a class on cultural exegesis (obtaining general revelation about God through His image born in the culture--that is in those members of the culture who bear His image). one of the assignments is an album review. you listen to an album and write a paper on how it demonstrates the metanarrative--creation, fall, re-creation. well, instead of reviewing an album, i'll be writing one. i have to write at least 4 new songs for it, but i can compile from songs written in the past. the compilation must be done in community, which i'm actually looking forward to. that way all the songs i wrote with a pre-opined position on the album may perhaps be given a better--really, a more spiritual--placement.
pseudo-parenthood
as dog owners my wife and i make every effort to abstain from the cheesy language of calling our dog "our baby," referring to each other as "mommy" and "daddy," etc. so far we've been successful, but it's hard to avoid such connections when you go to puppy training class. last night my wife and i were at one such event. there we sat on the floor indian-style (is that term still pc?) with our dog running around playing with other dogs talking to the young couples who own those dogs about all the travails of raising a puppy. there was the look of disdain on the owners whose dogs were out of control, and the envy of those owners whose dogs would probably have pulled every last one of us out of the building in case of a fire...and then dressed our wounds. yeah, there's no doubt that owning a puppy is nothing like parenting, but it's hard to ignore the similarities.
genre nazi's
it seems like the younger part of my generation (gen y as the generation nazi's would call them) have a fascination with assigning musical genres. i noticed this in talking about music with some of them, but it never bothered me until i was playing my brit pop/rock playlist from my ipod and was criticized that it was really more of a stadium rock playlist. (please note that the title of my playlist does not exclude stadium rock) he then began to assign each artist in the playlist their own genre. this phenomenon is no surprise to me. despite what people say-everyone wants a label. they want to be seen as preppy or alternative or country. however, all the alternative kids don't want to be lumped together, so there's emo, screamo, hardcore, punk, alt-punk, pre-punk, post-punk, mid-punk and pre-wrath-punk. i particularly like the prefix "alt" see that way i can listen to artists like kasey chambers and buddy miller and yet avoid the whole cowboy boots/big belt buckle image, cause i'm not country--no, no--i'm "alt-country." i wondered why the visual arts have escaped this trend. why is there not alt-cubism? or post-dali-brit-surrealism?
youth ministry
this sunday i have a meeting for parents of high schoolers to explain our ministries to them. this whole thing makes me very nervous. in fact i've rarely been in the presence of youth's parents when i didn't feel like my every breath was being scrutinized. sometimes i feel like i'm going to be talking to the parents and one of them is just going to stand up and start hurling insults at me about my inability to make their kids good. there's probably some serious psychological deficiency or trauma that causes this. maybe some part of my brain's development was stunted, maybe i was weaned too early, maybe my mom should have used a different fabric softener on my blankets when i was a baby.
saturday
i love saturdays. this saturday was the first normal one my wife and i have had since we moved. we slept in until 9:30, my wife watched her gillmore girls season one dvds, i sat on our patio, played my music, and worked on sunday school (rom. 7:14-25)(and for those who care i'm taking the position that paul is speaking of his present christian experience). tonight we're going to watch a movie with some friends. i love saturdays.
tiny red death
the other day i noticed a stinging sensation on my foot. i looked down to see a fire ant digging its stinger out of my foot. i said something like "ouch, dang it!" and went on my way. later that night we were unloading some furniture and i noticed the palms of my hands itching. i also felt a tightness in my chest. my inner ear itched, but when i went to itch it the canal was all swollen. i went to the mirror to see a white face with bright red lining my eyes, nose, and mouth. we went to the er, got a benadryl iv, went home, and i slept like a baby. turns out i'm allergic to fire ants.
anniversary
the 11th was sarah and my 4th anniversary. we're going out of town labor day weekend to celebrate.
i'm a big fan of my wife. i mean, i'm not going to talk about how i stare at her when she sleeps or anything, but i don't know what i would do without her. i think the thing i love most about marriage is when you can't remember what it was like to not be married. even my memories of life before i met sarah seem to have her pasted in somehow. i love you, babe.
John
this is john. he's on staff with ywam (youth with a mission) in new orleans. he's an open theist. we had some interesting conversations. he's a typical evangelical, and a good picture of where evangelicalism is heading if it doesn't learn to respect what the church has historically believed. spurgeon once said (something like), "how can one think so highly of what the Holy Spirit teaches them, but think so little of what He has taught others before them?" he has a website: forever grasping the first picture you see is very telling. the subtitle on his writing on the trinity is indicative of his theological methodology. luckily, he just ends up sounding like gregory of nyssa, so he's in good company.
moving sucks
we're finally moved in to our new place. we took five trips with a two-door explorer pulling a little enclosed trailer--but we didn't spend any money. let me tell everyone out there, never do that. even if you're moving into the house next door rent the big uhaul, load it all at once and unload it all at once. i was so sick of moving by the end of it all i was taking family heirlooms and chucking them carelessly into the trailer.
our new puppy
this is piper. she's quite possibly the cutest thing on this earth. but then there's the incessant urination.
back in town
sheesh. i've been running like a french soldier this whole summer. i just had back to back trips to new orleans and louisville. now i'm back in town, but so is my brother with his youth group from iowa. they're staying in our youth building, so needless to say i won't get much done this week. the problem with this is we're moving this week. so you'll say something like "wow, that's a busy week." and to that i'll say something like, "oh, yeah and we just got a puppy." more to come...
mac
i'm making a slide show on imovie on the church's mac mini, and i've come to the conclusion that every youth minister must own a macintosh computer. unless of course you don't care about the salvation of teenage souls. in which case a pc will suffice.
A Picture of Ireland
This seems kind of stereotypical of Ireland with the green and the rocks and everything, but i found that all of the stereotypes of ireland are true. They really do like guiness a lot. It really is very green. The cars really are very small and very ugly. And everyone has red hair with amish-style beards and wears green suits with buckles on their shoes.
A Good Read
"The climax of God's happiness is the delight He takes in the echoes of His excellence in the praises of His people." -Piper
I'm reading Desiring God this summer with the guys on my youth group's student leadership team. It's my third time through it, and I just want to say, "You need to read this book." That's all, you just need to read it. Don't like Piper? You need to read it. Already read it? You need to read it. Just randomly happened upon this blog and know nothing about Christianity or spirituality? You need to read it. Hiking in the Himalayas with nothing but a tent, some food, and a sherpa named Fo Shu? You need to read it.
want hair grow long? no cut it!
every year or so i get the urge to grow my hair out. the problem is this ackward period where it's not short, but not long. so the other day i went to a hair cut place and showed the lady a picture of a guy with long hair. i said, "this is what i'm, going for, but i just want a trim today." she replied in broken english (she was asian) "you not need cut your hair...you want grow long you, no cut it." there i was, a college graduate, working on a masters, barely grasping the concept: if you want your hair to grow, don't cut it. i walked out slowly and quietly, my head hung in shame.
Young Life
i just returned from a young life camp, and i must say it was an amazing week. i love the way they do things, and have a great respect for the organization as a whole. one of the great things they do is have follow-up meetings for two weeks after camp for everyone who attended camp. they go through a devotional called "my first thirty quiet times." out of curiosity i searched through it to see what it would say about the trinity. after all, what kind of introduction to the Christian faith would exclude the trinity? i found the statement:
How can God be one person and be three different people--Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit? I cannot tell you how; I can only tell you that it's true. God is a unit. He is one God and only one. Yet, He is three entities within that one...There is no illustration that adequately captures the truth of who God is. Perhaps H20 comes closest. H2O is always H2O, except it can appear in three entities: water, ice, and steam. Another illustration, again inadequate, is that of a married man with children. He is a father, a husband, and a son to his father.
now, by "inadequate" i'm guessing the author means something like "misguided," "inappropriate," or "Sabellianistic."
send comments and gracious corrections to ty saltzgiver at tysaltz@aol.com.
ireland
i'm in waterford, ireland right now in an internet cafe. the country's so beautiful. it looks just like wisconsin--lush, green hills. the hills here are a lot biger, though. i swam in the atlantic ocean yesterday, by the time i got out of the water my testicles had become ovaries, but i earned major youth pastor points.
i promise i won't leave without having a guiness at a pub. so much to say...don't want to pay another 2 euros for more time...
Caught
every once in a while i like to go to the guitar room at guitar center and play the taylors and gibsons. the other day i headed straight for the guitar room, but a saleswoman followed me in, so there i was...being supervised. i couldn't pick up a guitar in front of her because she and i both knew i wasn't going to buy anything, not to mention that her hair was shorter and voice deeper than mine, so i was a little scared. so we just chatted about our guitar preferences, and i slipped out and bought the strings i'd come for. what a wasted trip.
John Piper is a Sham!
i was just observing that two ingredients of a popular blog are controversy and the defaming of prominent evangelicals. so, in an effort to perpetuate and perhaps even develop readership i will say:
john piper is a sham. christian hedonism is deeply offensive. god is not enthralled with himself, rather he is eternally concerned with me. he designs his every thought and motive around human activity. my virtue is ultimately tied to my identity, not christ's.
My Birthday
so the sudden inquiry into tastes in music wasn't without purpose. yesterday was my birthday. i turned 25 yesterday. it was sunday so i spent the morning at church teaching sunday school. i had lunch at my favorite restaurant-ojeda's. jonny helped me cap off the day with some skittles and cappucino hookah (one at a time--skittles then cappucino). my wife gave me an iowa hawkeyes blanket, a poker set (with the real chips), and a pair of chuck taylors. my in-laws gave me a $50 gift certificate to american eagle, which i spent on a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts. my abundantly generous parents got me a 150.00 gift certificate to amazon.com (thus the 10 cd's question). while i do care about your input on music i went ahead and ordered. i actually got 16 cd's and 1 movie:
cd's:
some fred hammond (speak those things)
patty griffin-1,000 kisses
nirvana-mtv unplugged in new york
buddy miller-universal united house of prayer
tom waits-closing time (per jonny's suggestion)
starflyer59-leave here a stranger
u2-the joshua tree (lost to a car robbery earlier this year)
u2-all that you can't leave behind
uncle tupelo-no depression
bill mallonee-dear life
tom petty-wildflowers
the beatles-sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band (the album francis schaeffer says marks music's movement below the "line of despair")
counting crows-films about ghosts: the best of counting crows
phish-billy breathes
son volt-trace
wilco-yankee hotel foxtrot
bob dylan-blonde on blonde (i know, i know i should have had this one long ago)
movie:
bottle rocket (the first, little known wes anderson/owen wilson collaboration, cf. rushmore, royal tennenbaums, the life aquatic)
i love birthdays!
Vote or Die
my blog is as much about the readers as it is about me. thus, in an effort to maintain an air of democracy i'm once again asking your input.
say you suddenly had no cd's at all. what 10 cd's would you go out and buy immediately?
a couple weeks ago i handed in our final assignment for the seminar on jonathan edwards class--a paper simply listing ten questions we had over each major work we had read. my hebrew final had detained me from handing it in until after hours, so all the lights were off in the TS office, but dr. hannah was in his office talking to dr. horrell, so i thought i'd just slide it under the door, hannah would pick it up on the way out, and i'd be ok. well, a couple of days later i got a call at home from dr. hannah. he hadn't received my paper. i was puzzled, but realized that while i had put my name on the other one, i had not put what class it was for, so i emailed him another one, he graded it and i got an A-. everyone was happy.
this morning i checked my mailbox and found my paper--the original one--with markings and comments on it. attached was a sheet that read:
individual project evaluation form
st102 trinitarianism
dr. scott horrell
in the comments box on the evaluation sheet were the words:
tyson, are we missing a cover page? what's going on? if you talked to me (and i think you did), you still need to tell the reader what you are doing. -jsh
dr. horrell gave me a 93 on a paper that wasn't even for his class, but apparently i had cleared it with him so it was okay.
the funniest part of the whole thing is that when i took trinitarianism from horrell i only got a 90 on my individual project.
Things I Do for My Wife
i was in super target last night doing some much-needed grocery shopping, and thought i'd get something for my wife. i saw these real casual dresses on the rack and thought one would look good on my wife. it looked like it might be a little short, but it was hard to tell since it was on a hanger and everything. now, i'm roughly the same height as my wife, so there i was in a public place and i notice my arm reaching out for this dress and i remember thinking "hey tyson, what do you think you're going to do with that dress? cause i know you're not going to hold it up to yourself to check the length." well, i didn't hold it up to myself. i took the much more intelligent route of crouching beside it until my shoulders were in line with the hanger. yes, that was the picture of masculinity.
the dress was too short.
I'm an Uncle
my sister in law robin gave birth to my first nephew yesterday. noah tristan guthrie. i--like most guys except for the father traditionally do--zoned out when they started listing his stats, so i can't tell you the weight and length.
Interior Decorating
recently our apartment managers painted their apartment. it was very trendy, too, with the dark, bold color on the walls and the white trim. the result was an immediate desire in my wife to do the same. you see, they allow tenants to paint their apartments as long as they paint it back to the original color before they leave. i'm all about change myself, and i like my wife to be happy, so our walls are now clifff rock. i kinda like it.
New Music
i just got two cd's this week. first i found the newest norah jones cd, so i got that for my wife--it's great. way better than come away with me in my opinion. then as i was browsing i found pedro the lion's album control. this may be pedro's best album. (it's hard to find a friend may be better. it's definitely a better pedro the lion primer if you're looking to get into them) control is not a collection of songs, the album itself tells the story of an over-worked, unfaithful husband who loses his job. eventually the wife kills the husband. the second to last song is about his funeral where the priest delivers a less than hopeful message. the first nine songs leave you disgusted with life in general, then comes the last song, sung unbearably slowly here are the lyrics:
Wouldn't it be so wonderful if everything were meaningless
But everything is so meaningful
And most everything turns to shit
Rejoice
i had a copy a few years ago and , in my weak conscience, i had edited three songs off of it. two that depicted sexual infidelity and this last song. having listened to the cd now unabridged all the way through, i realize that in my attempt to sanctify the album i had actually corrupted it--i had removed the gospel. granted it was never explicit, but this last song takes the vivid portrait of hopeless humanity which says "this is all there is" (actually a quote from another artist) and pans out showing that the saddest part of the story is that it is meaningful, very meaningful, but for those for whom that world has become "shit" (i think he's aluding to phil 3:8 and the third line is a double entendre transitioning from the hopeless of the story to the basis for rejoicing) there remains rejoicing. it's a beautiful story and, whether you agree with the delivery or not, a beautiful message.
The Pictures
i just added these pictures, so if anybody wanted to put a face to my name they wouldn't be able to. so here you go, general public...or matt and jon. they're really random because the only pictures i have on my work computer are from a power point i made to introduce myself to my youth group.
This is me with derek webb. i look like i'm 15, but i think i was 19 in that pic. if i look nervous its cause i was man-crushin' on derek.
The Beauty that is a Freebird Burrito
as i type i am finishing a monster burrito with a cayenne tortilla, rice, mixed cheese, refried beans, steak, extra cheese, and hot sauce.
DTS
I've said plenty on my blog about what I dislike about DTS, but there's plenty of good to be said about it, too. There are departments that I dislike, but the academic departments, I think, are heading in the right direction. By academic I mean the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Theological Studies Department. These departments are almost entirely made up of professors who take scholarship seriously. We have an Oxford and two Aberdeen grads in the New Testament dept., graduates from Cambridge and Hebrew Union in the OT dept. and a Cambridge grad in the TS dept. Further, the Historical Theology faculty (Bingham and Hannah) are committed to scholarly study in the context of true godly devotion. I have a respect for these men that borders on idolatry. In short, I believe that it is possible to recieve a solid theological education from Dallas Theological Seminary. And my hope is that as these scholarly jewels of DTS become more notable, a degree recieved under them will become better reputed as well. (Having said that, I will not be seeking a doctoral degree from DTS because this is still only a hope.)
Jon Kever
every time i see jon kever perform i become a bigger fan. the first time i saw jon kever jon kever was just the unfamiliar name below bill mallonee's at poor david's. i saw jon kever and said to jon kever "i need to catch some of jon kever's solo acts." since then i've bought jon kever's album ( www.pastemusic.com/product/790) and plan to buy the one jon kever's recording now the minute it comes off the line. you can see jon kever tomorrow night (thursday) at the highlands cafe.
Ripping the theological hair from my head
Two things frustrated me today about the professor of my Hebrews, Gen. Ep. and Revelation class.
1. The professor said at least three different times about three different views of his, "I'm alone in this." I wanted to say, "hey, maybe that's because you're wrong." Not because I suppose myself to have arrived at the correct view on the subject, but because I can't imagine that the Holy Spirit would hide a truth from the church for centuries only to reveal it to Dr. _______ of Dallas Theological Seminary.
2. I was much more disturbed over the next item. My professor actually said that he believes that "Adam did not die spiritually." Furthermore any view which supposes Adam did die is based on a faulty understanding of the Hebrew verb translated "you will die" in Gen. 2:17. Now, he does believe there was sin and a fall, but says Adam never lost faith, so he passed straight from a state of Edenic perfection to what converted saints now experience. (He will not say Adam was converted or saved because Adam was never lost.) He also believes in the innate depravity of Adam's posterity, but this creates a problem for him. How could God impute something from Adam to us which was never true of Adam? i.e. spiritual death. I posed this question to him in class, but he said "you can't work backwards like that." The question I thought of quietly to myself after this was, "if what is imputed need not be true of the representative (as this professor supposes) Christ need not be righteous." If we can inherit spiritual death from a man who did not die spiritually, then we can inherit righteousness from a sinner. Nevermind the fact that this whole view is yet another which the professor is "alone on."
Doug Burr
every time i see doug perform i become a bigger fan. the first time i saw him he was just the unfamiliar name below bill mallonee's at poor david's. i saw him and said to myself "i need to catch some of his solo acts." since then i've bought his album ( www.pastemusic.com/product/790) and plan to buy the one he's recording now the minute it comes off the line. you can see him tomorrow night (thursday) at the highlands cafe.
A Good Show
For those in the Dallas area with nothing to do on Tuesday nights, may I make a suggestion? Kristy Kruger hosts a Song-writers in the Round show at Club DaDa every Tuesday night. Three artists sit on stage and swap songs and stories all night. Kristy's got a good sound, but the company she keeps makes the show worth attending. So far I've seen her with Doug Burr, Salim Nourallah, Chris Holt, Rahim Quasi, and Trey Johnson (of Sorta). There is not one of these artists whose solo show I wouldn't pay to see, oh but that's the best part--there's no cover for the Round, just a suggested donation of $5. In April they had $2 drafts and burgers and hotdogs in the back, (I'm hoping this will carry into the summer). And if you see me there, that's just iced tea in a pint glass.
Lori vs. Don?
if you can call them a christian band, waterdeep is the best christian band ever. (unless perhaps you can call vigilantes of love a christian band, in which case there's some mild to heated competition). until recent years there has been no room for elevating one front-person above the other, but with the advent of what you don't know (don's first solo work since the conception of waterdeep, cf. you were at the time for love) came the question, "could don be better on his own than in the company of his wife?" further, lori's solo album, 1beginning, with its similarities in tone and genre to sink or swim (which is arguably the best waterdeep album, and therefore the best christian album ever made), provides a significant rebuttal to any argument for the supremacy of don. but when we ask this question are we not comparing apples to oranges? Should we not rather say they each have different styles and personalities which excel on their own but harmonize equally beautifully in the work of the band? no. don's better.
All Apologies (What else should i be?)
Being that I'm fairly new to the blogging world I am still figuring out how I want my site set up. I've switched to haloscan commenting, so i can support avatar's. As a result, I've once again lost everybody's comments.
A Littled Cold
One of the problems with following my brother through seminary is that I watched him care less and less about jumping through the seminary hoops. (By these hoops I mean BE, PM, and CE classes all of which I will from now on place under the umbrella of the "BS deptartment.") Now whereas he was wide-eyed and optimistic for at least a year and a half I entered seminary having inherited his lack of investment in some major portions of DTS' core curriculum. All of this to say I just learned yesterday that my summer class, which starts this morning, is not OT History 2, but Hebrews, Gen. Epistles and Revelation, and this change of schedule did not phase me. Further, I am writing in my blog now because I thought my class started at 8:00, but it doesn't start until 8:45. Somebody please give me a reason to want to attend this 3 hour sunday school class!
Done With Classes!
I finished all of my work yesterday at about 5:00. Now I have three good, empty days before I start my first summer class. This sounds depressing, but I find it helps when I talk to the kids in my youth group and learn they get out of school when I'm finishing my first summer class. Then I can just say it's like a normal semester with 2 bonus credits.
A Disclaimer
I don't want to be viewed as an "Edwards guy." Maybe it's just because there are a million of them at the seminary and I don't want to be just another one. (It's not popular to be popular these days.)
A Little Bit of Edwards for You
"The end for which God pours out His Spirit is to make men holy, and not to make them politicians."
I never knew Edwards could be so sassy. This quote has some bite to it, and I think that's what I like about it. I was raised to be a polititcian--to present myself as having it all together. I think this is the goal of much of popular Christian culture. We present Christianity as an alternative culture with our own family values, song lyrics, self-improvement books, and addictive, behavior-modifying beverages (coffee). Now, I'm a big fan of strong families, good lyrics, and personal change (so long as its not self-change). And believe me, few people enjoy addictive, behavior-modifying beverages more than I (on exceptional occasions to be sure). All this to say, I think the Christian community would do better to be holy in whatever culture they find themselves, than to create their own culture which they present as more holy. Having delivered my rant, I think there is a growing portion of evangelicals (most of whom wisely reject this stigma) who are saying exactly the same thing.
Almost Done with Classes
So I'm almost done with the semester. I just have to write ten questions on each of the works of Jonathan Edwards we read this semester for the seminar on Jonathan Edwards. I'm finding it difficult to ask questions simply because Edwards doesn't leave questions to be asked. Dr. Hannah has compared reading Edwards to walking out of the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing. You're disoriented and confused, but all that's left standing is Edwards position, so you accept it. So, when I finish that I'll study for Hebrew, but we're allowed to use so many helps on the exam I'm not sure what to study. Do you study vocab when you can bring a lexcion to the test? Do you study paradigms when you can use a parsing wheel? Anyway, I start summer classes on monday, so the end of the semester loses its impact, but I will have three good days of absolutely nothing hanging over my head. Those three days will be wonderful.