I'm thinking of the big beautiful world of blogs I didn't know existed... the first time I heard the expression was when some guys were busted in Singapore for blogging and stirring up racial disharmony. Anyway, I read about it in the newspaper, and thought it was a funny word and guessed it might just be something for computer geeks. Bloging it looks like it might be the wave of the future- because I know from being a teacher, that if you want a child to get excited about written work, there needs to be an audience of some sort. I used to give my students the chance to read their work to either a buddy or the whole class everyday. And for a real treat they could go to the office and read to the principal. They put so much more of themselves into assignments because what they did was no longer done in isolation. We really are social creatures that need to be connected.

Random things that stood out in the lecture:

It always seemed like a misnomer to call Jesus the "Son of Man" when he was the Son of God! So it clarifies things a bit to think of "Son of Man" as a type of prophetic address/contrasting our human nature with God/an escatological term, associated with suffering, judgment and vindication.
And I found it interesting to that the Jews had such a hard time calling Caesar "Lord". The poor Jews, what a bind to be in- prisoners of conscious when everyone else could just say to themselves, "hey, I'll call Caesar whatever he wants as long as he leaves me alone." I'm curious about what Jesus would say about that, where he would stand on the issue. On one hand, He didn't even want anyone calling Him 'Good" because that was reserved for the Father in Heaven... but on the other hand, would he want His people persecuted for not giving in on this issue? I really don't think I would advise anyone I love to say or not say something to someone if it meant they could get killed. I'm sure Jesus would forgive anyone that crumbled under that kind of pressure, but I doubt that crumbling would make Him proud.

About glimpses of Truth in other cultures/religions, it makes sense to me. Isn't God at work contextually all over creation so that no one is left out? He has to talk to us in ways we understand, or what good will it do? However, if He's using baby-talk with us when we are infants (metaphorically), that doesn't mean he won't quote Shakesphere to us one day when we are ready for it. I guess I think he takes us where we currently are and helps turn us to the direction we need to go. For myself, as a lifelong Christian, the more education I am exposed to, the more I know I don't know. Maybe as individuals and entire cultures, we are only responsible for what we know, but God is in charge of our learning process and the judge of how we are progressing. Finally, Jesus said whoever did the will of His Father were his brothers. Surely people like Gandhi are kin to Jesus no matter what their official religion is.