Editor's Box | Digest: Articles 31 through 40 in 2010

July 30 through October 1. Catch up on any of the articles you've missed! Along with several stand alone articles we have a series of Weird articles by Todd Beiswenger and a series of dissertation digests from Academy of the New Church Theological School students (ANCTS, www.ancts.org)

July 30, 2010
“Living on a High” by Angela Cockerell.
Angela Cockerell digests her experience of hosting the recent Soccer World Cup in South Africa. With her country in the world's spotlight, it is easy to feel strong feelings — both negative and positive — about her homeland. Angela shares her shifting attitude towards South Africa as it successfully hosted the first Soccer World Cup on African soil.

August 6, 2010
“Tearing” by Brian Smith.
Brian Smith deals with pain left by the loss of a friend. He looks at how closely the loss of a person to a community resembles wounds to the body. Brian notices how the slow signs of healing on a community level indicate that the community itself is alive and has a structural integrity.

August 13, 2010
“Creating Your Own Reality” by Todd Beiswenger.
Todd Beiswenger leads off a series of three dissertation digests. In the following short essay, Todd gives us a taste of the topic he is exploring for his capstone research and writing project in the Academy of the New Church Theological School (ANCTS, www.ancts.org). Todd's goal is to uncover what role humans have in manifesting or “creating” their own destinies. In the following two weeks we will hear from two other ANCTS students: Pearse Frazier on Celestial Bliss and Stephen Muires on The Sacred.

August 20, 2010
“A Study of the Sacred” by Stephen Muires.
For his capstone dissertation work in the Academy of the New Church Theological School (www.ancts.org), Stephen Muires is studying the nature and process of the sacred. Included here is a brief abstract in which Stephen introduces the reader to the motivation which propelled him into this study and one section from his dissertation entitled “Relation Between Holiness and Our Life.” This is the second theological school dissertation digest. Last week Todd Beiswenger shared a little of his work on Creating Your Own Reality. Next week we hear from Pearse Frazier about the nature of Celestial Bliss.

August 27, 2010
“Celestial Bliss” by Pearse Frazier and Taryn Frazier
This is our third dissertation digest. Pearse Frazier (with help from his wife Taryn) give us a little taste of his study on bliss. Pearse helps us understand in simple and real terms what constitutes pleasure or happiness at the different levels of our being. Two weeks ago we featured Todd Beiswenger's disseration digest on Creating Your Own Reality. Last week Stephen Muires shared extracts of his dissertation on The Sacred.

September 3, 2010
“Weird I: How Weird Are You?” by Todd Beiswenger.
Every other week, for the next six, we will publish an article by Todd Beiswenger. Weird I; Weird II and then Weird III. In Weird I Todd introduces the concept of this series, which is to explore the weird sounding ideas of the New Church with an effort to explain or contextualize them.

September 10, 2010
“Procrastination” by Normandy Alden.
If you tend to procrastinate, worry not about this article. Normandy Alden's piece on procrastination get's right to point and will take you as little time to read as a few Facebook status messages. Normandy offers a useful reflection on what happens in our minds as we procrastinate and she also invites further discussion and reflection from her readers. Please share your experiences in the comment lines.

September 17, 2010
“Weird II: What Kind of Weird Are You?” by Todd Beiswenger.
Todd Beiswenger hits us with a second article in his weird series. Weird II explores ideas of astral travel and beings from other planets. Todd puts Swedenborg's unusual ideas in the the context of similar ideas from the New Age movement. You can catch up on his first weird article here and the final piece in the series here.

September 24, 2010
“Swedenborgian Asterisk: A Drag-in's Tale” by Lauren Dale Anderson.
Lauren Dale Anderson uses an author's note to explain the motivation for her project. Lauren offers the reader a window into her experience of coming into contact with members of the organized New Church. With humor and insight she illustrates some of the gaps in understanding, language, and culture between New Church Christians and non-New Church Christians. Lauren warmly encourages reader feedback in her ongoing effort to gather perspectives on the New Church.

October 1, 2010
“Weird III: Not So Miraculous” by Todd Beiswenger.
How much more weird can we take? Weird III is part three of Todd Beiswenger's series attempting to put weird sounding religious ideas in context. This time he goes after miracles. Almost by definition miracles are shocking and strange, if not weird. Or are they? Beiswenger suggests that they might have more natural world explanations than we usually think. You can catch up on the rest of the weird series here: Weird I; Weird II.