A Public Plea to Mothers Regarding Domestic Abuse (Culture)

McDonalds is a good place to sit and people watch if you want to understand a culture. It's also a good place to break apart stereotypes and preconceived notions of how a society works. We often claim that the cycle of domestic violence is passed on as sons see their fathers hit their mothers - and this is undoubtedly true. But it's not the ONLY case of generational violence. In fact, some sons who see their mothers abused will grow to be defenders and protectors of women - even against their own fathers at a very young age. But shockingly, and contrary to our deeply ingrained (good) training to never blame a victim, it's not hard to see how women themselves influence their sons to perpetuate violence against their future families. Watch the mother who pulls back her arm and in an outburst of rage, slaps her pre-pubescent son as hard as she can before banishing him to the corner of the restaurant where he sits glaring and tries not to give her the satisfaction of his tears. Well and truly old enough to understand public humiliation and the behavior being modeled for him - hitting is an appropriate way to punish someone and if they're big enough to take it, you can hit as hard as you want/can - how, exactly, do you think he's going to treat you (or your surrogate) when he gets old enough to call the shots? I know one thing for certain: I hope my daughter never dates the man whose mother hit him like that.

 Domestic violence is never okay - not against women, not against children, not against men. Women are more regularly viewed as victims, but how often do we fail to recognize ourselves - not our male counterparts - as the ones who set the stage for how the next generation thinks about women? This is not about spanking and when/how/in what context that may or may not be okay. This is about when your reaction to feeling anger is to strike the subject or object of your anger (or the closest representative thing you can find). This is also about how we treat shame as a tool of control and at what age we have to stop publicly humiliating our kids. We might not see that kid as a grown up yet (and rightly so). But if he's "all grown up" in his own mind, then the way you treat him in public is the acceptable way grown-ups treat each other - experienced firsthand and much more powerfully than any example he (or she) sees from the outside looking in. And if it's okay for grown-ups to hit, humiliate, and disrespect each other (with name-calling or other behaviors too often seen in parenting), then it's going to be okay in the context of the next relationship our kids have - with a life partner.

Women, please please PLEASE stop abusing your boys. They're not the enemy simply because they have a penis (even if other men in your life have sucked), they can't "take it" from you any better than your daughter can, and they shouldn't have to. You're the model of how to view ALL females: what to look for in a wife, how to treat their daughters, how to interact with women in the workplace. If they can't respect you and your ability to keep your emotions (including anger) in check, how are they supposed to respect any woman ever?

A Big "Thank you!" to Larry Hurtado (1943-2019)

I just found out about the passing of Larry Hurtado last year. I had the opportunity to meet him only briefly during SBL meetings in 2010 and 2011, before I moved to Australia, but I am greatly indebted to his extensive contributions to Christian scholarship.  His work speaks for itself - a pioneer of modern High Christology who was well respected by scholars on either side of the spectrum.


Early High Christology and the Legacy of Larry Hurtado (1943–2019)

I feel it appropriate to mention that not only will he never be forgotten, but those of us who have benefited so much from his life's work say a big THANK YOU! We will endeavor to continue, develop, and evaluate the legacy of High Christology you set in place, and I look forward to deep and meaningful discussions over coffee on the other side of the time barrier.

An Australian-American's Official Comment on the Wildfires (Culture)

I have been in Australia since 2011. In that time, I have seen many things about this country that I love and also things I don't like at all. One of the things I notice is that as I see America spiraling into an increasingly "New Age" culture, where legalized marijuana is the major headline and the young millennial "snowflakes" are now greatly influencing policy making, Australia wanders down that road like a little sister following the older, trying to keep up but having no idea where she's going. America sets the pop culture trends of the world - like it or not. So when pop culture says "Transsexual is cool!" Australia follows without too much consideration for the ramifications on its own culture and population (VASTLY different from the US's!). The major populations (in the cities) pass policies which not only allow for us to be like America, but FORCE FEED it into our children at the school age, hoping to make a new generation more like our new ideal. This would be unacceptable in America, but not here in Australia because our culture and ideas of community, unity, and government are vastly different. We're just not historically or culturally set up to give people "options" the way America is, so what Americans see as an option, Australia can only institute as the new norm.

Now Australia is on fire. America's opinionated pop culturists (and in this, I include the media) have opinions. They voice their opinions loudly without any regard for their little sister's naive "nod and follow" approach. "Climate change!" America cries. "Oust the stupid prime minister who took a vacation! Fix the air pollution and while you're at it, save the Great Barrier Reef!" What Americans on this bandwagon may not realize is that we have a political party called the "Greens" who make it appear that they run on a platform of "Climate fixing". And they do care about climate change, don't get me wrong. But along with "climate fixing" (in ways Americans would balk at, by the way, like "It's now illegal to give you free bags when you go shopping!" - a law here in Queensland) they are also largely supportive of the social changes in America and mimicking them here in Australia. And of course, by mimicking, I mean force feeding. The bigger problem is not whether we would legalize marijuana or not (as an example), it's the fact that even AMERICA is struggling to handle the influx of new problems from that policy change and there are a hell of a lot more resources there than we could ever hope to have here. Adopting American cultural elements - good or bad - without an American culture as a foundation is DANGEROUS.

My point is this: When Americans join the cry of "This is your own fault, Australia. You need to fix the environment!" then realize what you're saying. You're making a political statement: "Support the Greens." You're making a social statement: "You people don't care enough about the environment." You're making an economic statement: "Your country that runs on coal NEEDS a recession! How dare you continue to thrive at the expense of the environment!" You're making an international statement: "Your big sister America is ashamed of your failure to prevent this." And you're making all of these statements about a culture you have NO BASIS for understanding. Australia is NOT like America. Our problems, culture, challenges, and values are different here. This culture, here in rural Australia (most of the country) says, "Yeah, it's happening. But it's happened before and it'll happen again. We're Aussies; we'll survive. Why is America sticking its nose in?" Right or wrong, that's what my Australian husband thinks, and he is not a stupid, ignorant man. He's just Australian. You're not going to change that mentality by making asinine statements from the other side of the world.

So please, send your prayers to heaven. Send your words of encouragement to those of us faced with the flames themselves, the economic ramifications afterward (as they will be massive), and the political crisis that may be coming as a result. But keep your opinions about climate, coal, and Australia's care for the coral reef to yourself. You're embarrassing me.