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“Tell me what thou eatest, and I will tell thee what thou art.” Let’s hope Jean Authelme Brillatt-Savarin wasn’t right. In the 1980s, Americans collectively gained more than a billion pounds. In the 1990s, that figure doubled. It’s still rising. Obesity is a contributing factor to our health care crisis. To conquer it will “require…
Peter Drucker says the two diagnostic questions every organization must answer are “What business are we in?” and “How’s business?” What business are you in? What is your organization’s ultimate purpose? Your answer will suggest whether your company takes its “moral DNA” seriously or treats it as absurd—as a wink and a nod.
Most Americans are enjoying Labor Day because they don’t have to go to work. This is not the vision of shalom. Work was not supposed to be toil. Loving our neighbors means making a better world where they flourish as human beings. It means making culture. Culture is shaped by institutions large and small, center…
Believers are called to love their neighbors. Shalom is how faith communities love their neighbors. Shalom is the result of culture-shaping institutions taking the Bible’s definition of reality seriously and acting on it. Shalom says our faith flourishes to the degree that the institutions in the wider world flourish. This is radical, which means “from…
Believers are called to love their neighbors. Shalom is how faith communities love their neighbors. Shalom is the result of culture-shaping institutions taking the Bible’s definition of reality seriously and acting on it. Shalom says our faith flourishes to the degree that the institutions in the wider world flourish. This is radical, which means “from…
Believers are called to love their neighbors. Loving others means willing their wellbeing. Willing the wellbeing of others is shalom. Shalom is at the root of our faith. Yet many modern faith communities don’t see the Cultural Mandate, shalom, and central institutions as being at the root of their mission. That’s an incorrect understanding of…
Believers are called to love their neighbors. Loving others means willing their wellbeing. Willing the wellbeing of others is shalom. Shalom is helping others flourish. To a large degree, people flourish inside institutions. Institutions shape culture, and culture shapes habits. Here’s Part Three of The Clapham Institute Manifesto: “Why Institutions Matter.”
Faith communities and believers are called to love their neighbors. Shalom is how they love their neighbors. Shalom means our faith flourishes to the degree that culture-shaping institutions in the wider world flourish. All institutions flourish to the degree that they are informed and formed by a biblical definition of reality. But why would a…
Did you enjoy your morning shower? Down a hot cup of coffee? If you didn’t think twice about your routine, you owe it to institutions. They make rituals routine. Now, if you think every person in the world ought to be able to enjoy a warm shower, you know why institutions matter. They matter so…
Twiddle-Dee, Twiddle-Dum
Michael Metzger
September 28, 2009
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was showing his age recently when—referring to Twitter—he described it as “twiddle-dee, twiddle-dum.” He might not have been that far off. All communication is by its very nature an interruption of attention. Paying attention is critical to perceiving reality. Have we entered an age of too many interruptions, making…