Forging a future out of a pandemic of tragedy: Rhidian Brook’s The Aftermath

The months immediately after the close of the Second World War were confusing. One minute the Allies had been dropping bombs on Germany (as Col Lewis Morgan, the protagonist in Rhidian Brook‘s The Aftermath, points out, more bombs fell on Hamburg in one weekend than fell on the London in the entire war), the next they were dropping lifeline supplies in the Berlin Airlift of ’48-’49. The disorientation this must have brought for ordinary Germans is articulated by some so-called ferals (kids living in the ruins of the city):

The Gulag Shawshank: Lev & Sveta Mishchenko in ‘Just Send Me Word’

The proverbial ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ could have been minted especially for Lev Mishchenko, one half of the extraordinary couple at the heart of Orlando Figes’ Just Send Me Word. Before completing his science studies in Moscow, he was whisked away to the Nazi front. Soon after, he was captured and spent considerable time as a German POW. As a German-speaker, he was able to make himself useful – though he resolutely refused to become a German spy. That wasn’t enough to prevent him from being convicted as one on his release – for which his sentence was death, commuted to 10 years hard labour in Siberia.

Testifying to the Prince of Peace in today’s Bethlehem

Many people wanted to know more about the short clip I played during my sermon this morning. So i’m posting it here. I only came across it this week, through twitter (needless to say), but it fitted perfectly with the passage I was speaking on: Luke 2:67-80 and Zechariah’s song.

The five minute film was made by a bunch of New Zealanders, called St Paul’s Arts & Media and is beautifully and powerfully made. Definitely worth making it go viral

Friday Fun 31: The Traveller’s Life lost in translation

Never one to lose the momentum of a bandwagon, here are some more great moments from Charlie Croker’s Lost in Translation. All very silly and as I said last week, very unfair.

But quite fun nonetheless.

Orwell on The Unspeakable Wrongness of Taking a Life.

I get restless if I don’t have something to read on the bus. So I grabbed the closest thing on my desk as I ran out yesterday – which had been a recently thumbed anthology of George Orwell’s Essays. (I’d been looking at it because of the seminal piece Why I Write, recently recommended to me by the Real Grasshopper). I found myself, somewhat incongruously, sitting upstairs in the front row motoring down Park Lane, and reading a short account of an experience Orwell had in the British Imperial Police in Burma – starkly entitled ‘A Hanging‘.

The Saigon School of Missiology and Graham Greene’s QUIET AMERICAN

It is not just the victims of imperialism who easily identify its sins and blindspots. Those who have wielded and then lost empires are quick to spot the parallels in others’. Perhaps that was partly why Graham Greene was such a caustic critic of what he perceived as the twentieth century’s new imperialist incarnation: the United States. Of course Greene had strong left-wing sympathies and was openly anti-American, which provided  convenient filters by which the right could ignore his perspectives. It’s no surprise that he was under FBI surveillance from the 1955 publishing of The Quiet American until his death in 1991.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 38 (November 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Every human being is part of the global community; every Christian is part of the global church; and yet is amazing how little we know of life in other parts of the world. This website will help a little – compare life in different countries and follow up with suggested reading.
• Did you go to a Christian University/College in the USA or were you home-schooled? If so, this research makes for interesting reading.
• I love good infographics. So when used with the Bible, it’s a win-win.

Jerusalem – the city with its very own book.

I really don’t think this book lives up to its hype, but I did work my way through roughly 3/4 of Simon Sebag-Montefiore’s epic Jerusalem, The Biography. It is a very uneven and, at times, curiously flat read. It is also (perhaps inevitably)  littered with sweeping statements and an over-reliance on just a few partisan scholarly perspectives. This was especially frustrating when it came to plumbing the huge depths and breadths of biblical and archaeological scholarship. But there were clearly some gems and insights. And so thought I’d share just one or two.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 37 (October 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Sinclair Ferguson has some great preaching tips in his Preacher’s Decalogue
• A friend of mine who works in Sarajevo, Bosnia has researched a distant English relative of his who had a profound impact on the city. He’s written a book, and now has an accompanying website, MissIrby.com – really interesting stuff.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 36 (September 2011)

Sorry for the delay and somewhat truncated list this time – just back from holiday. But Q is due back on track v soon!

Sacred Treasure

• “Greed given a spiritual name”: a great, if brief, PBS interview with Eugene Peterson on many things (incl prosperity gospel).
• It is now only a matter of time before another of the 20th Century Church’s greats follows his friend John Stott to glory – here is Billy Graham on facing the end of life.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 35 (August 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Carl Trueman is his trenchant, swashbuckling self in his corrective about current obsessions with all things urban
• Jason Ramsami has remarkable graphic gifts. He’s now made his Jesus Comic (which is available as an iPhone app) freely available on his website in its entirety.
• Been doing the rounds, but Taylor Mali does a brilliant job of cultural deconstruction with his earnest appeal to speak with conviction. Check it out if you’ve not done so yet.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 34 (July 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Pete Saunders very helpfully lists 20 things that the Pratchett BBC2 doc on assisted suicide doesn’t tell you
• Krish Kandiah does a great service by his thoughtful comments on Grudem’s recent Politics book.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 33 (June 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• This is a truly remarkable testimony of forgiveness from the wife of one of the hijacked co-pilots on 9/11 (HT Nancy)
• Very interesting comment on Religion and the Royal Wedding after Bashir & Wark talked on Newsnight

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 32 (May 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Tyndale House has come up trumps with these really helpful little Easter videos
• ASBO Jesus has a nice Prodigal Son overview:

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 31 (April 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Martin Bashir is interviewed about his interview of Rob Bell. I was particularly struck by his perception of what C S Lewis called chronological snobbery in contemporary theological debates – whereby those over a certain age (ie 30!) are dismissed out of hand.
• Ian Paul has offered a really helpful response to the BBC1 series Bible’s Buried Secrets
• A wonderful example of doing good to all – let’s hope it works in all senses… Christopher Hitchens and Francis Collins.
• And while we’re thinking about him, here’s a nice if brief interview with Francis Collins – quite old now (originally from 2007), but I’ve only just seen it.
• At the other end of of the spectrum, here is a list of the 25 most influential atheists (though quite how you measure influence is anyone’s guess)
• In case you missed it, here is the extraordinary testimony of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s assassinated government minister:

Harnessing Nature’s Power – James Watt & The Steam Age

It was slightly surreal – an invitation to a mere blogger, who occasionally and with the reckless confidence that comes only from profound ignorance, dabbles in the realm of science. I guess it was because of past raves about books like The Age of Wonder and God’s Philosophers that someone somewhere had the random idea of inviting me to the press opening of the Science Museum’s new James Watt Exhibition this morning. So I duly pitched up, enjoyed my complimentary coffee and croissant and circulated with the best of them. I listened with interest as the museum boss and then celeb-historian Adam Hart-Davis gave us their three-penny’orth. And then wandered around the new displays – just off to the left of the main Energy Hall on the ground floor – a full 24 hours before it opens to the public tomorrow.

And in the brief time that I could be there, it was great. So I guess if someone goes as the result of this little post, their punt was worth it. The centrepiece is the installation of Watt’s home workshop exactly as he left it when he died in 1819. The Science Museum had gained it, lock stock and barrel, in 1924 – and now it is cleverly set up so that one can walk into it and glimpse the place where this great engineering mind spent his days in retirement. It’s full of bric-a-brac gathered from a life of relentless enquiry and experiment – what Hart-Davis amusingly described as junk – and what fascinating junk it is (it includes the first ever circular saw apparently). The advantage of being a press opening is that we could go behind the glass and look around the exhibit (under watchful eyes of course). Check out one or two snaps I took.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 30 (March 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• A great deal has happened since – but it is definitely worth reading this remarkable letter from Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis, Bishop of Egypt, about the situation there (written on 2nd Feb).
• Tim Challies has a nice potted bio of Olympic runner Eric Liddell.
• A really helpful insight into Tim Keller’s prayer life and how he preaches to himself.
• Stanton Jones has some interesting challenges in how to teach about sex.
• 7 things that make a sermon rubbish from Urban Pastor. Been there, done that!
• In case you missed it (it’s done the rounds on the web, so hard to see how you could have), here is the remarkable photo of Egyptian Christians protecting Muslims at prayer. But check out the remarkable account by Nevine Zaki, the person who took it.

• And while we’re on the subject of unjust leaders, Peanuts nails it as ever! (HT Nancy H)

Topical Treasure

• A Really Bad Week: very interesting list from Foreign Policy of world leaders looking very nervously at the recent events in Egypt.
• How the UK’s growing obesity problem is having an impact in all kinds of unexpected places.
• These are truly beautiful – thread sculptures by Mexican artist Gabriel Dawe (HT ColourLovers)

• The flight of a lifetime: catch this unique view of the last ever Space Shuttle launch (HT kouya):

Quirky Treasure

• Ingenious: The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator
• Some helpful tips to avoid classic typographical errors (click the image right – HT 22 Words)
• Check out where Wilberforce lived in Clapham this rather fun 1800 celebrity spotters map!
• This picture of a firm of Solicitors was taken by my parents while staying in Coventry. Too good to be true…

• And finally, this is brilliant – clears up all possible confusions

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 29 (February 2011)

Sacred Treasure

• Interesting article by Mark Dever on staying in pastoral ministry for the long haul – citing the example of the 3 bachelor Cambridge men, Sibbes, Simeon and Stott.
• Neil Powell has some useful tips on having a digital detox. His is a great blog BTW and definitely worth following…
• Brian Godawa has written my favourite book on movies, Hollywood Worldviews – he’s just produced his interesting paper on a History of the Dramatic Arts.
• In case you missed it, EA has produced a Survey of UK Evangelicalism. Kouya has some questions about its usefulness…
• Q regulars will know that we have an occasional series at ASLP on Christians Facing Issues – a few months back we had one on Euthanasia, at which a powerful testimony on video from Sarah Meagher. Well she has now courageously spoken on Channel 4′s recent 4Thought.tv.

Topical Treasure

• If each US state was a country – the equivalent GDPs of different states (from the Economist).
• Wonderful new monthly photo-essay magazine online – and it’s free! LifeForce magazine
• While we’re on photography, check out JR’s building size portraits in Wrinkles of the City in Shanghai – I especially love the way the honour the special place and memories of the old
• Boris is right on the money about the changed nature of journalism because of online interaction.
• What an extraordinary legacy that Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre has…

Quirky Treasure

• Want to know how to design a cool Olympic logo? Don’t look to London 2012. Check out Rio 2016 – now THAT is an Olympic logo.
• Beautiful modern stained glass structure in Copenhagen (HT the guys from KoreUK)
• Wow. Weird. Gosh. An Italian man sneezes out the bullet that shot him.
• This is fantastic – at a US convention for seniors’ carers, Mary Maxwell shows she has the timing of a professional comic, with some wonderfully wry observations about old age (HT Nancy H)
• What if the Axis powers had invaded the US in the 2WW – another cracker from Strange Maps
• How do colours affect our purchases?
• What Colonel Gadaffi thinks about the Internet!
• Check out some amazing pencil sculptures, the like of which you’ve never seen. Here are a couple of examples:

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 27 (December 2010)

Sacred Treasure

• The dilemma for Iraqi Christians
• Charts showing the difference between NIV2011 and previous versions, and here. (HT Antony Billington)
• Full schedule of Lausanne III at Cape Town to see videos of main talks etc
• Bring Advent to life by following Natwivity on Twitter
• David Instone-Brewer at Tyndale House has very helpfully reviewed a variety of computer resources for the bible scholar – check them out at Tyndale Tech
  • 1. Writing a book/thesis
  • 2. Research that can be re-searched
  • 3. Surviving the death of your Hard Drive
  • 4. Writing Greek & Hebrew with ease
  • 5. Translating ancient & modern languages
  • 6. Finding and reading online books & periodicals

Topical Treasure

• If you know anything about recent Balkan history, this news is an encouraging sign.
• Books vs eBooks – an interesting Newsweek chart
• Very interesting article about what Americans feel about their ex-Presidents.
• Scary infographic about internet porn. (HT Simple Pastor)
• The problem of contemporary parental discipline:

Quirky Treasure

• Ever been on an overnight flight? Well this sums up the experience perfectly.
• I love tilt-shift photos – clever focus manipulation that makes real life scenes look like models. Check these out.
• Some rather fun and quirky photographs from everyday London.
• I rather like these Ukrainian designs for playing cards
• 50 office jargon phrases we just totally hate
• Some fascinating cartographic futurology from the ever reliable Strange Maps
• People are awesome (not dumb… mostly) …!
• Rather fun reflection by Kevin Connolly on James Bond, America and post-war austerity

Beauty in the Business world: Andreas Gursky shows East meets West, Ancient meets (post)Modern

Was leafing through the Royal Academy of Art magazine this week – and encountered this photograph filling a whole page. Was blown away.

It’s utterly mesmerising and bewildering all at the same time. Where are we? An airport? A fancy dress party? A film set? Who are all these people anyway? And what are they up to?

Without wanting to be patronising at all, it almost seems like a set up for a live-action Where’s Wally competition…

It is in fact a photograph taken in 2007 by Andreas Gursky called Kuwait Stock Exchange I. And it manages to convey the incongruities of the modern world, with a forum equipped with the latest communications technology populated by hundreds of men (not a woman in sight), dressed in the formality and uniformity of classic Arab desert dress. It is a picture of anonymity – even those who knew them wouldn’t really be able to tell them apart from this angle – it all looks beautifully stage-managed and set up. But i suspect it isn’t.

There are all kinds of interesting contrasts with another of his images, this time from the Chicago Board of Trade:

This is equally mesmerising – but this time is a living fireworks display of colour. Half close your eyes, and it could almost be a Jackson Pollock. Wonderful.

Photography at its best should do this – show us the world in a new way. Here is beauty in the rawest of capitalist temples… Surprising really.