Author: Weaver-Swartz

Check out the latest post at The Anxious Bench by John Turner, author of a just-released biography of Brigham Young. He offers some whimsical thoughts on how much he likes to eat, recipes he cooks, healthful living, the More with Less Cookbook–and the first, sort of, review of Moral Minority. Here’s a taste:

Before childrearing reduced our adventurousness, my wife and I even enjoyed cooking. While living in Colorado for a year after graduate school and staying in a furnished rental home, we stumbled upon several years’ worth of Cooking Light magazine. . . . Those big, glossy pictures made me want to try every entrée and dessert.  We didn’t try everything, but we did our best. A few Turner family favorites:  Feta Chicken with Vegetables, Joe’s Special (swiss chard for breakfast!), Confetti Burritos (with sweet potato), and Moroccan Salmon. My mother-in-law even baked CL’s herb-crusted standing rib roast twice! The latter dish is just about the best-tasting beef I’ve ever had this side of Texas brisket barbecue. We had plenty of clunkers as well.  Gruyère-stuffed calzones – ugh. . . . Besides lapses in judgment and skill, there was a major problem with these Cooking Light recipes. They were not easy on the wallet. When you’re buying fancy cheeses, meats, and spices to make dinner, those dinners get expensive quickly. For some reason, it’s apparently necessary to own every variety of oil and vinegar known to humankind. Truffle oil? I thought truffles were fancy chocolates, not mushrooms. We couldn’t afford to really jump on the foodie bandwagon. . . . The More-with-LessCookbook is the antithesis of Cooking Light or other contemporary food magazines. . . . The cookbook’s discussion of irrational food consumption is just as appropriate – probably more – for 2012 as for 1976: too much protein, too much processed food, too many calories, too much food eaten by Americans while others go hungry. Men and women may not live on bread alone, but they certainly don’t need truffle oil. We need more of the Bread of Life, but if you’re like me, you could use a bit less of certain earthly things.

The Catholic News Agency is reporting that a Democratic committee has rejected an appeal to “acknowledge and welcome differing positions on the issue of abortion.” The group pushing the new language, Democrats for Life of America, said that nearly one-third of all Democrats self-identify as pro-life. In the 2008 election, about one-fourth of Obama’s supporters considered themselves pro-life. A representative said, “We represent a large contingent and a diverse group of pro-life democrats who want to be represented in the Democratic Party . . . As a big tent party that is open-minded and inclusive, we should be welcoming to those who are pro-life.” But the committee this month said no.

My book Moral Minority shows that this rebuffing of evangelical pro-lifers is not new. It’s rooted in the early 1970s, when a Democratic Party that was arguably more pro-life than the Republican Party began to transform toward a pro-choice orthodoxy. Here’s an excerpt from the manuscript that describes the new trajectory:

As President Carter soon discovered, insurgent resolve launched the Party on a new pro-choice trajectory. Calling abortion “wrong” and explaining that Roe v. Wade was “one instance where my own beliefs were in conflict with the laws of this country,” Carter’s equivocations on abortion offended growing numbers on the political left. Pro-choice feminists denounced the Democrats’ official 1976 platform that recognized “the legitimacy of both pro-life and pro-choice views.” They condemned Carter’s support of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited most Medicaid payments for abortion. They resented the fact that devout, pro-life Catholic Joseph A. Califano, Carter’s Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, enforced the Amendment strictly. Presidential assistant Margaret Costanza fielded an extraordinary number of phone calls from public interest groups, the public, and even other White House staff members “expressing concern and even anger” over Carter’s position. Costanza urged Carter to reconsider. The President wrote a stark “no” on her written request, adding that his public statement was “actually more liberal than I feel personally.” Costanza, in turn, called a protest meeting of nearly 40 high-level pro-choice female members of the administration in July 1977. Carter did not yield, and Costanza eventually resigned. In 1980 Democrats adopted an explicit pro-choice position and strictly enforced the new orthodoxy. Formerly pro-life, Ted Kennedy had declared to a Massachusetts constituent in 1971 that “wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized—the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.” Within a decade, Kennedy reversed course. Other pro-life politicians with evangelical or Catholic backgrounds such as John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Mario Cuomo, Bob Kerrey, Dick Durbin, and Bill Clinton, also become leading defenders of the right to choose. In fact, five of the contenders for the Democratic nomination in 1988—Jesse Jackson, Joe Biden, Paul Simon, Dick Gephardt, and Al Gore—had flipped to a pro-choice position under party pressure.

I don’t have a copy yet, but the recently released A Faith Not Worth Fighting For looks like a good one. The Englewood Review of Books concurs in a very positive review. Here’s a taste:

Gregory A. Boyd’s chapter tackles the issue of whether nonviolence is expected of nations or of only Christians, Ingrid Lilly addresses the Old Testament war narratives, and Andy Alexis-Baker takes up the question of why Jesus didn’t ask the centurion to abandon his military vocation. Alongside essays from Samuel Wells, John Dear, and J. Nelson Kraybill, the essays exploring the Biblical witness concerning nonviolence are rich and honest. As Kraybill points out, Scripture’s theology on the issue tends toward the polyphonic, creating room for nonviolence though not univocally bearing witness to nonviolence. Other issues, such as the practical questions of protecting third-parties, policing, and attacks upon loved ones, are taken up by Stephen Long, Schlabach, and Amy Laura Hall. Alongside other essays by Justin Barringer and Robert Brimlow, the more personal, existential questions of nonviolence are addressed with candor and honesty. As with any issue of discipleship, the question of nonviolence is not one which can be simply thought but not acted upon. These chapters address the pastoral issues of nonviolence with sensitivity and academic acumen, looking at nonviolence as it impinges upon our daily life.

One of the co-editors, Justin Bronson Barringer, hangs out across the street at Asbury Seminary. We haven’t met yet, but I hope to soon!

In 1942 Clarence Jordan moved to rural Georgia. He started a farm called Koinonia. He was a careful steward of the land. He and his colleagues helped launch Habitat for Humanity. Most significantly, he invited blacks to join his intentional community. This was when the South was segregated, so this was a stiff challenge to racial segregation. When people didn’t like it and began bombing the farm, he didn’t withdraw. He responded with love and prophetic engagement, creating a little glimpse of the kingdom at Koinonia.

You can imagine that progressive evangelicals have long admired Jordan. Many of them will converge on Koinonia Farm this fall to celebrate the community’s 70th anniversary.

CNN was quick to check in with progressive evangelicals on their reaction to Romney’s pick of Ryan. Here’s a taste:

The Democratic organizations, including progressive Evangelical Christian groups, have criticized Ryan’s principles and his budget proposals they say will negatively impact the poor’s safety net.

A video released by American Values Network linked Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman, to author Ayn Rand to make their point.

While Rand supported individual rights and limited government, she also largely rejected faith and religion.

The spot quotes Rand saying “I don’t approve of religion, it’s a sign of a psychological weakness.”

Ryan, a practicing Catholic, is subsequently quoted praising the writer, who passed away in 1982.

“Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality individualism and this to me is what matters most,” Ryan says in the commercial.

The narrator then asks, “What matters most to you?”

And here’s the video:

I’ll be traveling to Goshen, Indiana, tomorrow to attend a Mennonite conference where I’ll be giving a couple of talks on “People of Peace in a Violent World.” From there, my wife Lisa and I will head to Chicago for a working vacation. It’s a vacation because my parents will be watching our four young children (and four of their cousins) for the fifth annual Cousin Week. It’s a working vacation because I’ll be researching my second book project at the Wheaton archives, and Lisa will be studying hard for her comprehensive exams in sociology. Don’t worry–we’ll take the evenings off and have a good time in downtown Chicago. All that to say: posting may be a bit sporadic over the next week.

In the meantime–and in the spirit of Anabaptism–check out this recent post at “Q” by Nancy Sleeth. It’s about her recent book Almost Amish: 10 Principles for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life.

My hometown just got famous. Look for the water tower, the wrestling match, and the fire station in this Nike ad for the Olympics.

Could hummus be the recipe for peace in the Middle East? A voice in this documentary says yes: “When you eat together, you can’t betray each other.”

If you love hummus as much as I do, take a look at the trailer, look at the producer’s website, join their facebook page, and check out one of my favorite blogs The Hummus Blog: Eat Hummus, Give Chickpeas a Chance.