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Brando

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

Heya...my name is actually Brandon and not "Brando." "Brando" (pronounced "Brandooooo"), is the name my buddy "Paul Scibetta" (my "friend" at myspace) calls me when we visit each other. But you can call me Brando too.I have three wonderful children, Brandon (14), Brooke (13) and Brett (11) (pics soon to come).As you can see, (by my "friends") I LOVE music. I grew up singing in the church choir and doing solos and touring in a musical group or two. In January of '92 I moved to Dallas Texas and went to Christ for the Nations where I was also involved in music as well. I've taken three years of vocal lessons with two vocal coaches here in my home town of Windsor, Ontario, Canada (Carolyn Price and Lisa Stewart) and one in Dallas (Marlene Bigley who has written several worship choruses i.e. Great and Might is The Lord and Come Let Us Offer. Lisa Stewart, highly esteemed my singing that she wanted me to meet with the Toronto director of the musical, "Phantom of the Opera." What a wonderful compliment!) My style ranges from James Ingram, Jeffrey Osborne, Peabo Bryson, Lionel Richie, Chris Willis, Gino Vannelli, Michael McDonald, Michael English, Jonathan Pierce, Billy Joel, Elton John, Michael O'Brien, Russ Taff, George Michaels and Elvis--to name a few.As you can also see, I love to read (you would never know that from looking at a guy who was put behind twice in grade school and finished High School in his mid-twenties! I do have a theory about this though. It all started...). I have written to some of the authors listed here (who enjoy the feedback and have kindly responded in like manner. Wink! Wink! Write your favorite author!!!). Clark Pinnock and Greg Boyd are a couple of theologians I've had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting, with Clark becoming a personal friend. Of late, (fellow Canadian) James K.A. Smith's stuff REALLY fascinates me and is foundational for grasping some of the many currents presently taking place within modern evangelical theology. His stuff deals with phenomenology (that is, do we see the world "as is?"), interpretation and hermeneutics (do we have the "unadorned voice of God" or is it mediated through tradition and historical situatedness/locatedness and why there is such a plurality of voices [though not unlimited] in Christendom and what this mean in terms of the nature of truth). With a pinch of politics here, a smattering of theology there and a dose of philosophy within the "long Augustinian tradition of theological cultural critique..." (as he says at his website) informed from within the Reformed tradition, you'll come to understanding the paradigm shifts in Evangelicalism that some lament as a weakness. Sounds right up my alley!You can check out his website here at : James K.A. Smith MySpace Layouts @ HOT FreeLayouts.com MyHotComments
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My Interests

Reading, theology, music, singing, the internet where I participate and/or hang out at the never ending discussion of the Arts and Faith site, the theologically engaging Open Theism Discussion Board , the challenging Reclaiming The Mission site, the church and postmodern culture: conversation site, Patsy Moore's The Bohemian Aesthetic site and last but not least, MY KIDS!

I'd like to meet:

Everyone of my friends on "myspace" and those in my list of heros.

Movies:

The Ten Commandments, Silvardo, House of Sand and Fog, Open Range, Pans Labrinyth, Cars, Finding Nemo, Shrek (all), ShawShank Redemption, It's A Wonderful Life, Where the Red Fern Grows, Pirates of the Carribean, An Inconvenient Truth, Signs, World Trade Center, The Matrix, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, X Men, Spiderman, Unleashed, Lord of the Rings, A History of Violence, The Invincibles, Shane,

Television:

When I watch TV--CSI, Cops, Discovery Channel, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Bonanza.

Books:

Books you MUST read! ;-) I'm in the process of adding to the list and linking my books as time permits. Also, here is a Collection of some of my books in the mean time. Special thanks to Patsy Moore and Darryl Armstrong for technical support.Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-Secular Theology (by James K.A. Smith), Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard and Foucault to Church (by James K.A. Smith), Theology for the Community of God (by Stanley J. Grenz), A Primer On Postmodernism (by Stanley Grenz), The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei (by Stanley J. Grenz), 20th Century Theology: God and the World in a Transitional Age (by Stanley Grenz and Roger Olsen), Created for Community,: Connecting Christian Belief with Christian Living (by Stanley J. Grenz), Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (by Stanley J. Grenz and John R. Franke), Who Needs Theology?: An Invitation to the Study of God (by Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson), What Christians Really Believe & Why (by Stanley Grenz), Welcoming but Not Affirming: An Evangelical Response to Homosexuality (by Stanley Grenz), Betrayal of Trust,: Confronting and Preventing Clergy Sexual Misconduct (by Stanley J. Grenz and Roy D. Bell), Sexual ethics (by Stanley J. Grenz), Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry (by Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo), My Brother's Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do & Don't Tell Us About Masculinity (by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen), Does Christianity Teach Male Headship?: The Equal-Regard Marriage and Its Critics (by David Blankenhorn, Don S. Browning, and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen), Gender & Grace: Love Work & Parenting in a Changing World, (by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen), How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart), Listening to the Spirit in the Text (by Gordon D. Fee), The First Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) (by Gordon Fee), Paul's Letter to the Philippians (New International Commentary on the New Testament) (by Gordon D. Fee), Gospel and Spirit: Issues in New Testament Hermeneutics (by Gordon D. Fee), God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (by Gordon D. Fee), Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God (by Gordon D. Fee), Strange Virtues: Ethics in a Multicultural World (by Bernard T. Adeney), Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis (by William J. Webb), Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context (by Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee), The Problem With Paul (by Brian J. Dodd), The Fall and Sin: What We Have Become As Sinners (by Marguerite Shuster), Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy (by Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, and Gordon D. Fee), Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting (by Glenn T. Stanton and Bill, Dr. Maier), Black Man's Religion: Can Christianity Be Afrocentric? (by Glenn Usry and Craig S. Keener), No Partiality : The Idolatry of Race and the New Humanity (by Douglas R. Sharp), The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform (by Roger E. Olson), The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (by Mark A. Noll), A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Mark Noll), High-Tech Worship?: Using Presentational Technologies Wisely (by Quentin J. Schultze), The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family (by Mark I. Pinsky and Tony Campolo), Televangelism and American Culture: The Business of Popular Religion (by Quentin J.Schultze), A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN (by Brian D. McLaren), Scripture Principle, The,: Reclaiming the Full Authority of the Bible (by Clark H. Pinnock and Barry L. Callen), Wideness in God's Mercy, A (by Clark H. Pinnock), The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (by Richard Rice, John Sanders, Clark H. Pinnock, and William Hasker), The Grace of God and the Will of Man (by Clark H. Pinnock), Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (by Clark Pinnock), Clark H. Pinnock: Journey Toward Renewal: An Intellectual Biography (by Barry L. Callen), Most Moved Mover: A Theology of Gods Openness (The Didsbury Lectures) (by Clark H. Pinnock), A Case for Faith (by Clark Pinnock), Unbounded Love: A Good News Theology for the 21st Century (by Clark H. Pinnock and Robert C. Brow), Biblical Revelation (by Clark H. Pinnock), Semper Reformandum: Studies in Honor of Clark H. Pinnock (by Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross), Tracking the Maze: Finding Our Way Through Modern Theology from an Evangelical Perspective (by Clark H. Pinnock), Set forth your case;: Studies in Christian apologetics (by Clark H Pinnock), Reason Enough: A Case for the Christian Fait (by Clark H. Pinnock), Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical Liberal Dialogue (by Clark H. Pinnock and Delwin Brown), Four Views on Hell (by John F. Walvoord, Zachary J. Hayes, Clark H. Pinnock, and William Crockett), Five Views on Apologetics (by Steven B. Cowan, Stanley N. Gundry, William Lane Craig, and Paul D. Feinberg), Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World (by Clark H. Pinnock, Alister E. McGrath, R. Douglas Geivett, and W. Gary Phillips)

Heroes:

Clark Pinnock (Theologian from McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, personal friend), James K. A. Smith (philosopher from Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan), Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul MN, Dwayne Polk (assistant pastor at Woodland Hills Church), Gordon D. Fee (Professor [retired] Regent College Vancouver British Columbia), Paul Scibetta (close friend)

My Blog

Finding God in Uncanny Places

Growing up, I use to have a pastor (Jack Counsell, who has since passed on) who would to be "open" to many things. I remember him telling the congregation about a particular band in our church that w...
Posted by Brando on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:18:00 PST

Family Values

If you read this blog on a consistent basis, you'll probably read about some of my reservations about issues I find within the community that I have associated with most of my life--the Christian com...
Posted by Brando on Thu, 29 May 2008 05:35:00 PST

Inerrancy: A Moderate Approach

This may be old hat to some Christians but I think it is worthwhile to revisit this issue every so often. Over the past forty years or so there has been what is called the "inerrancy debate."  B...
Posted by Brando on Tue, 13 May 2008 12:17:00 PST

Im Certain that There Are Two Kinds of Certainty

John G. Stackhouse has an excellent blog on epistomology here.  For those who are looking for an introduction in this field, this is a really good read. ...
Posted by Brando on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:56:00 PST

Horizons

I was reading a "Foreword" by Tony Campolo from one of my books. I'd like to quote a paragraph of it here. "Fred Craddock, the famous homiletics professor, once said in a comment that was a takeoff o...
Posted by Brando on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:21:00 PST

Remembering MLK: A Short Blog On The Civil Rights Movement

It’s been said by some scholars that few movements have shaped contemporary American politics as powerfully as the Civil Rights movement has--a movement that has its roots in church, especially...
Posted by Brando on Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:42:00 PST

Doctrinal Boundaries and Rhetorical Style

Back in 2005 D.A. Carson, Ph.D., University of Cambridge and research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois wrote a book entitled, Becoming Conversa...
Posted by Brando on Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:57:00 PST

Larry Norman Dead at 60

If you have not heard, contemporary christian music pioneer Larry Norman, died on Febuary 24, 2008.  You can read about it here.  If you would like to join in on a conversation remembe...
Posted by Brando on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:49:00 PST

The Panopticon of Ecclesial White-ness: Taking Foucault to a Church Divided

Here is an excellent article from Anthony Smith's Musings of a Postmodern Negro If you find the subject too deep, let me know and we'll discuss it.  The Panopticon of Ecclesial White-...
Posted by Brando on Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:47:00 PST

Rappers, Homosexuals, Dispositions and the Church

Here is a video of Jay Smooth talking about a rapper (T.I.a.k.a. Clifford Harris) who was arrested for buying machineguns from undercover FBI agents the day he was suppose to be on the BET Awards.  I ...
Posted by Brando on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:19:00 PST