…and apparently I don’t have anything to do at work today.

Unfortunately, I’m leaving town Friday for holiday family visits, but I’d love to get coffee or something next time you’re in town – cause obviously you have good taste.

Well, I don’t really know what’s going on in general, but if you’re interested in contemporary art, I can possibly help.

Time Out New York, the Village Voice and the New Yorker are good resources for what’s going on. I’m actually clueless, but am interested in seeing the Screwtape Letters, which is getting rave reviews and was extended through Jan6.

I’ve already written about the Richard Prince show at the Guggenheim Museum – I liked it.

There are some good art shows up in Chelsea right now. Everyone seems to be raving about the “Masks” show at James Cohan Gallery. Here’s a link:

http://www.artcal.net/event/view/1/6055

If you just click on the Chelsea link in the neighborhoods section, you’ll get their picks for what is really interesting out there – it’s fairly reliable. Generally, 24th st is always worth checking out, as it’s the uber-blue chip galleries and always has something interesting.

Here are the galleries I’d check out this weekend if I were in town…going from James Cohan and walking downtown. I cram it into about 2 hours and a good walking workout.

25th st -James Cohan – skim picks there, briefly
24th – skim through everything but mike weiss
23rd – Leo Konig and Goff+Rosenthal
22nd – Protech, Marks, 303 should all be good shows
19th – Zwirner is always note worthy
10th ave – Bellwether

not that you have to do any of that – I needed to see what was showing anyway.

Taking the L train to Williamsburg (bedford stop) is always a good alternative to Manhattan in New York. Food (Dumont, Sweetwater, Bonita) there is great and Spuyten Duyvil is my favorite bar hands down.

-W

I get the impression from surfing your blog that you live in or near NY city and are familiar with the art scene. I will be in New York next weekend. What three art/philosophy/political experiences would you recommend I visit while I’m there? This will be my eleventh visit to New York so all the usual tourist stuff has been done already. I do enjoy going by the TKTS booth and picking up tickets to several of the broadway shows whenever I’m in town. If you know of any really cool plays that are far off broadway then also please let me know.

Thanks!!

I remember listening to that sermon. Yoga instructors, huh. Darn their astute observations and pleasant demeanors! It actually helped me improve my running technique (awareness of breathing, that is).

Thanks also for the encouragement. I’m not sure I’d use any of those descriptions, but I appreciate it.

Last night our pastor reminded us of a great G.K. Chesterton quote. When asked by The Times of London what is wrong with the world…

Dear Sirs,

I am.

Sincerely yours,
G. K. Chesterton

I’d be an ass if I didn’t admit to being just as bad as the Christian Yoga critics (I totally grew up that way). I think most Christians could use a few months of Yoga sessions (maybe we’d calm down a little). It’s pretty funny, though.

I noticed on another conservative Christian blog that they found one of Rob Bell’s sermons from May ‘95 where he was talking about how breath and spirit are the same word in Greek and Hebrew and Rob was explaining that he believes that the simple act of breathing affirms the existence of God but then he casually mentioned how Yoga instructors emphasize breathing and the conservative Christians just went nuts over that. They freaked out. I just have to laugh at that up tight silliness. Why can’t some Christians just “take a breath” and relax? LOL!

Thanks, Wayne, for providing mature, educated and rational comments to the public discourse.

It’s me your “blog-promoting friend”. Sorry, I just revisited your blog yesterday and saw your reply.

I’ve got you in Bloglines now so I won’t miss any posts.

…to be continued…

I’ve tagged you for a meme because I’m silly that way. Read about it here:

http://superfastreader.com/8-things-you-now-know-about-me.htm

Welcome to the wayne-o-sphere (not to be confused with terror or thunder domes).

I will take you up on your offer. Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for challenge and growth for everyone. With respect to a previous discussion, I will note that sometimes responses may take a while, please be patient, as I try to be as thorough as possible while maintaining my pension for stupid humor.

My point 1) had several parts, but I will assume that you are referring to the “does his homework” part. The Jesus following part is openly stated and fairly easily documented, but the theological accuracy and thoroughness part is readily debatable and one I would enjoy reviewing.

I gave your series a quick once-over yesterday and will begin with a point about the term “rabbi” and the rabbinical tradition. I seem to remember, and I will re-read and quote for accuracy, a point that you dismiss some of Bell’s credibility because he uses the term rabbi in discussing Jesus – citing that rabbinical tradition hadn’t yet existed.

This is a fun one for me, as it involves delving into Jewish history and our traditional conceptions of Jesus. So here we go…I disagree.

I will start with a note from my good friend Wikipedia:
“The title “Ribbi” was borne by the sages of ancient Israel, who were ordained by the Sanhedrin in accordance with the custom handed down by the elders. They were titled Ribbi and received authority to judge penal cases. Rab was the title of the Babylonian sages who taught in the Babylonian academies.”

This is part of the “Historical Overview” section on the term Rabbi. It appears to point to the tradition that preceded the formal rabbinical tradition.

I would argue that Bell’s use of the term is legitimate in that there was an established oral tradition of teachers and disciples referred to with terms which a modern reader could easily substitute the word “rabbi.”

I hope this discussion doesn’t slog down a boring trail of semantics, but I suppose you have to start somewhere.

I will depart in search of specifics.

-W

Nicely written. I listen to the podcast every week too.

I’ll take you up on point 1) – I just finished writing a series on Rob’s book “Velvet Elvis” that I think you’d be interested in.

Read and join in on the discussion at:

http://ascenttotruth.blogspot.com/

My overall opinion of Rob and Mars Hill is still forming so feel free to challenge me.

Michael Krahn