Free Coffee

So this morning Calvus and I were sitting at Bruegger's doing Hebrew (as is our wont) when a middle aged man with very distinguished looking spectacles came up and wished us good morning.

"You two gentlemen come here often, don't you?"

I looked up and said that we did.

"Well, I'm glad to see you studying Talmud. My name's Ken, and I think this is the sort of thing we want to encourage. Have some coffee on me."

We both said our thank-yous to Ken while he handed us two small pieces of plastic. I wondered whether we ought to tell him that we are both Christians, and Calvus a pastor at that, but he was out the door almost just as quickly as he'd come in.

Then we looked down at the small plastic keychains. They weren't gift cards for a free coffee. They were two memberships in an unlimited mug program. This kind Jewish stranger had just bought us unlimited free coffee for a year.

So we might visit Bruegger's more than once a week now.

In other news, here is a throwaway paragraph from Paul and the Faithfulness of God that made me stop reading just so I could think about it for the next fifteen minutes or so:
Paul's detailed understanding of what human beings actually are can again be see in continuity with his Jewish traditions, but also in implicit dialogue with the surrounding culture in which, ever since the pre-Socratics, quite sophisticated analyses of human interiority had been offered. Humans, noble in reason, infinite in faculties, can be understood from a variety of angles, or perhaps in terms of several interlocking features: 'body,' 'flesh,' 'mind,' 'heart,' 'spirit,' 'soul' and 'will.' These words sometimes appear to designate different 'parts' of a human being, but, as many have pointed out, it is better to see them as each encoding a particular way of looking at the human being as a whole but from one particular angle; as though one were to describe a piece of music in terms of its basic theme, its harmonic structure or its tempo--or indeed its orchestration, its historical period, its place within the composer's career or even its role within a wider cultural narrative. The song or symphony would be exactly the same, the rich, rounded whole. Each of the aspects means what it means because of all the others; but one would use different language to draw attention to these different facets or aspects of it, without implying that this facet or aspect could be split off from all the others.

And lastly, James is sick. But here is a video of him laughing at Curious George drinking juice.

Also, O should sit at Bruegger's with me and talk about football every Tuesday morning until a stranger gets us season tickets.