Afternoon All!
I've decided it's time for a change and have migrated my blogging to Tumblr - not that there was anything wrong with Blogger, merely that I wished to test out some different blogging tools and hopefully get my blogging to a state of regularity.
Please change your feed to http://caffeinefusion.tumblr.com/
Yours truly,
Owen
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Confusion of Openess and Elitism
Something I've been pondering of late is the place of "open-mindedness" in conversation, and within society in general.
It has puzzled me no end how it is something that is praised within our society, and is sought after, yet I have still to find more than a handful of people who are *actually* open-minded. My thoughts were most recently sparked by a discussion I was having in a comment thread...
It started on the topic of religion and certainty, I asked a particular gentleman how he could be so sure about what his stance was - from whence came his grounding. His response started with how he was grateful to find somebody who appeared to have some level of intelligence, and was willing to actually engage in issues in an open-minded fashion.
... it had all the makings of an open discussion...
... it had all the makings of an open discussion...
Monday, September 13, 2010
Eisegesis vs. Exegesis
Something that has been bugging me for a while, and I felt might be good to blogify is the irony that sits under the use of the word Exegesis.
First of all, let me grant a definition:
Exegesis - explanation or critical interpretation of a text
Eisegesis - the interpretation of a text, using one's own ideas
These two words will be of particular familiarity if you have spent a reasonable amount of time around people actively engaging with the Bible. Why? Because the urge, especially amongst evangelical circles, is to get back to the true meaning of what the text says. The writer had an intention for the text, and so wrote it in a particular way, which builds upon itself into a logical book. The books in the Bible were not written contrary to understanding, but so that people could understand, examine, and meditate/think about them.
To this end, the encouragement is to be a good Bible reader. To be a good Bible reader is to come to it on its own terms. The easiest way to be a bad Bible reader is to listen to what people say about Christianity or its doctrine... open up the Bible... and read in everything someone else has said about the Bible into what its saying.
First of all, let me grant a definition:
Exegesis - explanation or critical interpretation of a text
Eisegesis - the interpretation of a text, using one's own ideas
These two words will be of particular familiarity if you have spent a reasonable amount of time around people actively engaging with the Bible. Why? Because the urge, especially amongst evangelical circles, is to get back to the true meaning of what the text says. The writer had an intention for the text, and so wrote it in a particular way, which builds upon itself into a logical book. The books in the Bible were not written contrary to understanding, but so that people could understand, examine, and meditate/think about them.
To this end, the encouragement is to be a good Bible reader. To be a good Bible reader is to come to it on its own terms. The easiest way to be a bad Bible reader is to listen to what people say about Christianity or its doctrine... open up the Bible... and read in everything someone else has said about the Bible into what its saying.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Google Analytics
I came across a very handy tool put out by Google, well, I think it's pretty cool!
From what I understand of it, you place a small snippet/tag in your websites code, and Google gets a snippet of information as each person/viewer comes to your page.
For the inquisitive mind, such as myself, I was intrigued to see from whence people came from to get onto my blog. Google Analytics allows you to see what continent your viewers hail from, as well as what sites people have just come from in order to reach your site.
It has helped to inform me of how much "pull" factor posting and being active elsewhere on the web has on people. Alot of the referrals to this site, for example, have been from people reading my comments on other blogs and subsequently making the jump to this one.
Not only that, it does up a nice dashboard with site statistics for you - I suggest checking it out!
https://www.google.com/analytics
From what I understand of it, you place a small snippet/tag in your websites code, and Google gets a snippet of information as each person/viewer comes to your page.
For the inquisitive mind, such as myself, I was intrigued to see from whence people came from to get onto my blog. Google Analytics allows you to see what continent your viewers hail from, as well as what sites people have just come from in order to reach your site.
It has helped to inform me of how much "pull" factor posting and being active elsewhere on the web has on people. Alot of the referrals to this site, for example, have been from people reading my comments on other blogs and subsequently making the jump to this one.
Not only that, it does up a nice dashboard with site statistics for you - I suggest checking it out!
https://www.google.com/analytics
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Terraforming
This week I've been pondering what content it would do well to blog about.
It's a very interesting question, as every day I seem to have a vast array of varied ideas which may or may not appeal to various different people - so what should I blog about?
On the one hand,
it seems appropriate that a blog would have a branding - some common thread that holds the whole site together - yet what should this be? Could the author, him/her self, be the thread that binds the concepts and draws people back. Or, should the ideas be limited to a singular stream, allowing a particular blend of readership to find food for thought in areas they are interested.
Yet, on the other hand,
what necessitates a singular thread? Is not variety the spice of life? Further, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive to the diverse range of thoughts that I, as the author, have during a week - if I was to limit myself to one topic, it is likely I would make my blog more sporadic, with vast spaces between posts at various times. One need only look at my AI blog to see this in action.
So, my question to you is,
What is the most helpful - a blog targeted at a narrow readership with limited content which explores diversely a small field. Or, a blog with a diverse range of topics which allow the readers to pick and choose that which they find interesting, and to be directed to consider topics that they may not, as yet, have considered?
Sunday, August 15, 2010
On Dawkins...
I, for many years, have followed the writings of many "atheistic" or, as Dawkins terms them, "nontheist" authors who, of particular note, were very anti-theist. This is not because I am one myself, but because, as an educated Christian, it has spurred me to understand Christianity better (ironic that!), and also, to be confident in answering the objections that a person might bring to me in regards to the authenticity of Christianity.
Curiously, I found myself today looking through some quotes from Dawkins, here is one:
"People sometimes try to score debating points by saying, "Evolution is only a theory." That is correct, but it's important to understand what that means. It is also only a theory that the world goes round the Sun -- it's just a theory for which there is an immense amount of evidence.
There are many scientific theories that are in doubt. Even within evolution, there is some room for controversy. But that we are cousins of apes and jackals and starfish, let's say, that is a fact in the ordinary sense of the word."
-- Richard Dawkins, "Nick Pollard interviews Richard Dawkins" (Damars: 1999)
Whilst eloquent, Dawkins has actually made a fundamental mistake in his logic, at the end of this blog, I hope you will understand why.
Curiously, I found myself today looking through some quotes from Dawkins, here is one:
"People sometimes try to score debating points by saying, "Evolution is only a theory." That is correct, but it's important to understand what that means. It is also only a theory that the world goes round the Sun -- it's just a theory for which there is an immense amount of evidence.
There are many scientific theories that are in doubt. Even within evolution, there is some room for controversy. But that we are cousins of apes and jackals and starfish, let's say, that is a fact in the ordinary sense of the word."
-- Richard Dawkins, "Nick Pollard interviews Richard Dawkins" (Damars: 1999)
Whilst eloquent, Dawkins has actually made a fundamental mistake in his logic, at the end of this blog, I hope you will understand why.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The consequences of too much TV...
Well, time to turn the first sod on this here virgin blog site, and what better way to do it than with a bit of humour eh?
I've spent some time today perusing the interwebs for some new blogs to follow, and so was looking through a blog on psychology/neurology, when I came across the following article:
Does TV watching really kill you?
The article talks about some of the findings of a study done by David Dunstan. The article, I felt, is well written, but the point of humour came when Dave points out some of the media reports on the study...
Take a look at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/aha-stt010710.php
Now tell me, did you read anything there that seemed a bit bizarre?
I've spent some time today perusing the interwebs for some new blogs to follow, and so was looking through a blog on psychology/neurology, when I came across the following article:
Does TV watching really kill you?
The article talks about some of the findings of a study done by David Dunstan. The article, I felt, is well written, but the point of humour came when Dave points out some of the media reports on the study...
Take a look at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/aha-stt010710.php
Now tell me, did you read anything there that seemed a bit bizarre?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)