Is Freelance Writing a Career?

Before you say “Yes. Of course!” (with proper righteous indignation), consider that a career seems to move a person toward increasing levels of responsibility, toward tasks that require more maturity, toward more money (one can dream). Pick any company and follow the career path of say…well…how about a communication specialist? The communication specialist will write, manage projects, take care of details. They do well, so they are promoted to communication manager. In that position, they do some of the same tasks, though in lesser quantities, plus they manage people. They do well and graduate to director. In that position they have no project work, write only memos and emails, sit in meetings discussing what they’re teams are doing, aren’t doing and should be doing. And so a career proceeds until stopped at the individual’s level of incompetence.

 

This management person who was (possibly) a writer is now not writing at all and is instead directing others who carry out communication tactics. To many that is a satisfying, perfectly reasonable trajectory. And even for those who write or love to create, they can find opportunities in those positions to use their creativity to positively influence others. I’ve known some creative folks who have risen to management positions and done very well at creating imaginative and loyal teams and organizations.

 

But for others, this career path represents gradual movement away from craft, and away from the heart of what made work fun in the first place. A career presupposes that new skills are developed even as vision widens, which lands a person in a different job. But that is not quite the case for freelance writers. They often entertain dreams of, well, writing. It’s what they want to do. And so a career path for a freelance writer is less about successive positions (especially since freelancing is by definition outside typical corporate structures with their fixed paths) and more about finding work and the work itself.

 

The work itself is the career path for a freelance writer. Where there is joy in completing the work, where there is curiosity about how communication tools can fit to new situations and how those tools can resolve substantial problems—those are the milestones on the freelance writer’s career path. And over time, the writer finds herself or himself accomplishing a set of tasks with maturity and grace (one can hope). And looking back, the craft that helped accomplish tasks and assignments will have the distinct look of a career.

 

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The End Of The Affair

Like a forlorn ex-lover, GM/Ford/Chrysler tries to catch our eye from the other side of the courtroom. Her pleading glance begs for one more chance, a bit of money to set things right and continue on. But we know all too well the whirling vortex of buying madness she stirs in us. And we’ve moved on—we’ve matured—we see things differently. Plus, we suspect bailout money will clunk through the same financial assembly line that currently rewards the top brass with excess before the workers get their pittance. That is, after all, standard operating procedure in capitalism.

 

Mind you: let’s provide for the offspring of our affair. Let’s find a way to help the workers. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking handing over $34 billion to GM/Ford/Chysler management will either change their ways or help the workers. We already know the chances are slim on both accounts.

 

As we try to avertour eyes, we remember the good times. Yukons and Suburbans barreling across the open plains at 80 mph, pulling boats and trailers. We get a bit misty, but try not to show it. But would those days return if we forked over the money she wants? And do we really want those days to return? Remember our resolve, when gas was $4.30 a gallon, to leave the 11 miles per gallon machine in the garage and bike to the grocer? Remember how we almost started to feel good about it? We started to think, yes, there must be a better way to get around the planet—there must be a way that doesn’t cost so much and deplete the place and stink it up too.

 

We love our cars. Always have. But maybe those days are over. Not just because GM/Ford/Chrylser is quickly sinking into the mire. Not just because the price of gas will certainly go back up again, but also because it is hard to love a Prius. Maybe a pragmatician or utilitarian can feel affection for a thing of theoretical beauty only. But the days of shooting from 0 to 60 faster than a freeway entrance requires—those days may be done. Plus, maybe it is time we grew up and stopped basing our identity on how many tons of steel we’re wrapped with. The economy seems to be leading us toward a bit more practical wisdom.

 

But we’re weak. We’re starting to fold—we look up hopefully and catch our breath with the locked gaze of GM/Ford/Chrysler. Be strong! Look away. Listen to your brain on this one, not your heart. And tell our elected officials the same: They desperately want the plush good times to return, with the jobs and grinning voters. Vote with your reason, sir!

 

But it is time. Not for a bail-out, but for bankruptcy. Use the bailout money to help the workers, but don’t expect a bail-out to trickle down to anything useful through this thrashing, noisy machine.

 

It may just be the end of the affair.

 

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Critique of Chapter 3-Spirit & Gender Language: How Far Do We Follow Biblical Language?

One fear I have in entertaining different perspectives (like Johnson’s in previous blogs) is that we let go of patterns God incorporated into scripture for our benefit. Patterns we may be aware of and, in particular, those patterns we cannot see but may have profound shaping effects on our lives. I think of how seminal thinkers of the past have allowed themselves to be shaped by the words—and the concomitant ideas—of the Word. That being said, I recognize that emphases in conversation among God’s people tend to place men as examples.

 

Are words inadequate in describing God? It would seem so, though the words He does provide tend to hint at much more than they say, which is one of the marks of strong writing. God’s use of analogy (or should I say the writers of God’s words?) as described elsewhere in these six blogs are generally rich with meaning.

 

And maybe words are inadequate even in describing ourselves. We know from Romans 8.26 that words have limits to what they can express. And yet God has used them—and offered them for our use—from the beginning. Are words adequate for expressing all we need to say? Certainly they are adequate for expressing what must be said in times of duress (Matthew 10.19, Mark 13.11, Luke 12.11), which is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit: God speaking through us.

Critique of Chapter 3-Spirit & Gender Language: How Far Can Analogy Go?

In my last entry, I noted how feminist theologian Elizabeth Johnson offered different and useful ways of discussing the role of the Spirit, as Cole pointed out. Cole moved forward from Johnson with a discussion about the words we use to talk about God (Cole, p.80), and how they have traditionally been inadequate in describing God. He also cited perspectives from Aquinas, Feinberg and Alston in discussing ways our words work-and don’t work-when we talk about God. If God has no body, his “actions” are unlike actions we undertake, for example). The discussion left me wondering where analogy ended and truth became compromised.

 

There are certain limits we have a humans. We can understand only so far before we stop understanding. Maybe when we talk about God we quickly find language inadequate because the topic is vast. Did the Bible writers stick to describing God as they did because that is the best any of us could do? Probably. We’re all limited to the words we use. We learn more, and our words grow to accommodate that learning. The same must be true of God, but I’m comfortable with the notion that there are large parts of God I may never understand until He opens my mind and heart beyond what I can currently apprehend.

 

 

 

 

Spirit & Gender Language (Critique of Cole Chapter 3): Is The Spirit Feminine?

In conversation with a few others reading Cole, it is clear that Cole largely shies away from looking at the Holy Spirit from a feminist perspective. He cites Elizabeth Johnson who argues that feminine imagery of the Spirit (Cole, p. 79) in the Bible should inform our discussions about the Spirit. In discussion about this part of Cole‘s book, I noticed my fellow female students nodding in agreement with the notion that our language about God seems to (generally) diminish the role of women by referring to God’s more masculine traits.

 

I’m not sure how helpful it is to think of God in feminine or masculine terms. Biblical authors lead us in those different directions to make particular points (for example, compare Isaiah 32.16 vs. 18), but God is generally outside those categories–bigger than those categories. I like Johnson‘s point as quoted by Cole: “Introducing female symbols has the effect of purifying God-talk of its direct, even if unintentional, masculine literalism.” (Cole, p. 79)

 

In this case, hearing from unfamiliar voices (feminist readings are new to me, I’ll admit) helps open my perspective. I appreciate the fresh voices, but it remains a dialogue, right? I do not want to swap out Biblical language to de-fang some offending analogy. I’d rather continue to hear the caveats that surround the analogy then dispose of the analogy. What if there is more to the analogy that I’ve not yet had the wisdom to understand? Let’s keep bringing up counterpoints in conversations, but also keep grappling with Biblical language.

Is Cole’s Theology Too Tightly Choreographed For God’s Spirit?

Cole does a good job showing where and how the Spirit of God acts and appears in the Old and New Testaments. He carefully locates these Spirit-moments each in proper context so as to piece together a conservative perspective. For instance, In teaching I’ve often gone back to the Spirit’s role in enabling workers (like Bezalel – Exodus 31.5) to devise artistic designs for the tabernacle as a general statement of the way the Spirit works in in the creative process today. Cole gets a bit more specific and shows how the Spirit’s enabling of the artists working on the tabernacle is less a paradigm of the Spirit’s work today (which is in contrast to both Calvin and Kuyper who thought the Spirit’s role there  a paradigm for working with human tatent–p.125)  and more a statement about what God was doing for Israel at that moment.

 

One question of emphasis has to do with Israel versus the Church. I cited Cole‘s reluctance to expand the Spirit’s role in creativity from Israel to the people of God in general. He was right on that point. But I wonder if his thought about the role of Israel versus the church influence his reasoning about the Spirit’s work?

 

For instance, Cole disagrees with Packer when he said the baptism of the Spirit was about power for service (p.195). In Cole‘s view, the baptism of the Spirit is evidence that “Prophetic Israel has been reborn,” so the people of God have begun a new thing. And thus the baptism of the Spirit is not for today. (196) It is purely a sign of the new thing begun among these people, which is a start of a new thing for all the people of God.

 

I wonder if there is a third way between Cole and Packer that sees prophetic Israel reborn and the Spirit providing power for service?

 

 

 

Stuff Cole Does Well

Cole does a good job in helping me see that the Spirit of God is not just some riddle to sort through and piece together on my way toward a fuller understanding of the Triune God. He is clear that there is mystery beyond what we know of God. But that mystery is a person (mind you, not a human person). And, just as any person, can be known. This notion is consonant with what I’ve always understood about knowing God—that it is less an intellectual pursuit than it is a living-in-obedience kind of thing: intellection plus daily life. So Cole‘s approach invites me to want to get to know this Spirit of God because of the implicit hope of a transformed life.

 

Cole also does a good job with showing scriptural bases for why we would even think of the Spirit as part of God: the Spirit shares the name of God, the attributes of God (Ps. 139.7), the power of God. And he does a good job showing briefly what a few of the church fathers thought of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. For instance, Basil of Caesarea thought of the Spirit as the “perfecting cause.” In other words, the Spirit enables things to become what they were created to be (Cole, p.73). This is an especially potent thought as I consider what purposes God has created me for and as I think and pray about the mission and purpose He has for the people around me. Perhaps the Holy Spirit of God can lead in this.

 

Cole does a good job inviting me into the mystery.

 

 

I Never Thought About The Holy Spirit.

I’ve not thought much about the life of God’s Holy Spirit. Most of my life of trying to understand God has been spent reading the Bible trying to learn about the Father and seeing the works of the Son. I have not thought much of the Spirit of God other than to wonder at the strange doings of my charismatic brothers and sisters.

 

Then I started reading Graham Cole‘s He Who Gives Life (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2007), a volume that develops a theology of the Holy Spirit. The work is written from a conservative theological bias and draws on many Reformed authors I read and agree with. But Cole also introduces topics and authors I am with whom I am unfamiliar. So Cole‘s volume has stretched me and caused me to think much about the work and person of the Holy Spirit. Cole‘s book has also caused me to want to understand more of the workings of this mysterious person of the Trinity. Throughout the book, at the end of every chapter, Cole includes a section called “Implications for Belief and Practice.” This section always sparks my interest because how we live in relation to God is most interesting to me-in this section Cole “shows a way forward” (a favorite phrase of his that is starting to grow on me, too) in living closely with the God of the universe and His Christ via His Spirit.

 

In the next five or six blog entries, I want to look at the book’s strengths and weaknesses and offer a critique. Tell me if you agree, disagree, think I’m nuts or naïve. Maybe the Spirit will use our conversation to help us know better the Triune God!

 

What Does Bold Look Like?

Maybe it looks like standing up to a bully. Saturday’s StarTribune told of bullying at Oak View Middle School, and how many more kids who witness bullying want to do something about it than actually do something. The article didn’t say it, but surely speaking up–come what may–is an act of boldness. Saying truth boldly empowers others to speak up as well. Bold communication often begets bold communication—but not always.

Take the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, for example. His bold speech had him yelling into the crowds about God’s anger toward people who refused to listen and follow God. After he spoke, the priest, prophets and people seized him and demanded his death (Jeremiah 26:8).

Jeremiah had spoken boldly, carefully saying all God had for him to say. His message—God’s message—was not well-received. But that didn’t bother him, or at least so the reader would notice. In boldness, Jeremiah simply said what God had sent him to say, that they should turn away from not listening. And that they should turn toward following. He also said he would accept what they did to him because of his message. But—know this—that if they killed him for his message innocent blood would be on their hands.

In the case of bullying, if someone speaks up, their words can crystallize what others are thinking and others join in—especially when many say they wish to do something about it, like at Oak View Middle School. For Jeremiah, no one stepped in until they realized there may be a consequence to killing the messenger. That’s when the officials said, “Can we re-think this?” That’s when they suddenly remembered others had delivered the same message (Jer. 26:16ff) without dying.

But speaking up remains an act of boldness. Maybe others will be empowered and come to your rescue. Maybe not. Jeremiah as willing to be bold because he trusted the God behind the message. That’s what I want bold to look like in my life.

Racial Reconciliation Lunches

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