Why #Steampunk? Why Now? #analysis of #fantasy #narrative…

If you have been long time follower of my blog, you might be aware that I have a theory that with the advent of recent Speculative Fiction including (but not limited to) Harry Potter and Urban Fantasy the old idea that technology will ultimately wipe out all magic (as proposed by such classics as The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Wizard of Oz) has since been changed to the idea that magic and technology are parallel and coexisting worlds instead (something that I think THEOLOGY needs to catch up on…see full theory here )

So Steampunk, is our re-writing of the collective narrative, showing that even if technology had been bigger and more present in the Victorian Era, no way in the world would it have done away with magic…or religion for that matter…

There also tends to be good narratives inserting women heroines, non-hetereo-normative romances as well as developing ethnically empowering narratives. Writing the novels in such a way that they broaden our understanding of history

Steampunk, now, because it is fairy tales and technology…and people in history…we can see it better now….
Steampunk is the next step on Speculative Fiction’s natural development as it narrates itself through the contemporary world as it is today
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What is in a name?

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In the Bible…humans are naming creatures…..

And let’s face it…

We love to name things.

Who wouldn’t love to name a dinosaur?

How about naming children?

What about when we tell a story, analyze it and figure out what is really going on so we can “name it”. Its important, its our job….its fun 🙂

Pretty much, we are learning creatures, and we love to name things.

So why do labels matter? Why does it matter what we call God? Why do we have so many names for God anyway…Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. Light, Hope & Salt. And occasionally even refering to God as “She” you know for all the mothering, growing, birthing language

because we are naming creatures

So….when it comes to sexuality & gender which we suck at talking about in the church (to put it lightly)–this naming act is so important.

So…if you want to know why saying what your gender is, what pronoun you want to be referred to…and what kind of sexuality you express is so important…

(i.e. why this is so important)

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….its because we are naming creatures.

God made us fluid beings, full of creativity and the ability to love. The ability to find new ways of expression.

Since when is life so limited

Since when is God so limited

I bet a thousand years from now we will still be discovering new, fantastic ways of being and naming them right and left….

because we are, at heart, a people who love to name things

And when someone names themselves for us…we should listen carefully and give that name back to them–in the pastoral and psychological world we call it reflective listening…after all we have a lot of things to name ourselves

@amandapalmer #nextchurch #nonprofit #ministry…who wants to discuss #theartofasking #media

Pretty sure I’m going to devour this book in 5 secs. flat….so….

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Who in nonprofits/ministry wants to discuss Amanda Palmer’s book and what it means in terms of fundraising, media ..you know tiny issues like that which effect our daily existence? Plus this is a great window into the “sharing” culture that I so love today…

I’m planning on leading a twitter discussion on Sun Feb 8th at 7pm Eastern time. My handle is bookkats

If you need the book or want to give it to someone else check out https://massmosaic.com/groups/162/info

Let’s get the word out!

http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking?language=en