World Record Marathon

Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) broke his own world record by 27 seconds and became the first human ever to run under 2 hr 4 min for a marathon. He did it in 2.03.59. Yep, one second.

I thought this might be a good time for a lesson in the speed of world class marathoners. Geb ran 4.43 per mile pace for 26.2 miles. I don't know if you know how fast you can run ONE mile. I am pretty fast by recreational runner standards (I can probably run 5.15 for a mile), but I certainly can't run this fast for ONE mile.

This little experiment will give you some idea. Go to a local track. SPRINT for 200 meters (just half a lap on the track). If you can't do it in 35.3 seconds (and most people can't!), then you know what pace Geb ran...FOR 26.2 MILES!

Amazing.

The Next Christendom 1

I am reading Philip Jenkins' The Next Christendom, so I expect to share some of it on this blog from time to time. Jenkin's basic thesis is that "Christianity was as authentically African or Asian as European" and that "far from being an export of the capitalist West, a vestige of European-American imperialism, Christianity is now rooted in the Third World, and the religion's future lies in the global South."(1)

He offers a couple of interesting tidbits in support of his thesis early in the book.

Of the five ancient patriarchates of the chruch, only one, Rome, clearly stood in the West. The others were at Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria--three on the Asian continent, one in Africa. If we can imagine a Christian center of gravity by 500, we should stil be thinking of Syria rather than Italy...(2)

When we refer to Christianity forming a relation with the secular state, Western historians think first of Constantine, who granted toleration within the Roman Empire in 313. Far less celebrated are the other early states that established Christianity as their own official religion in the fourth century, namely Ethiopia and Armenia. Almost certainly, Armenia was the first state anywhere to establish Christianity as an official faith, which it did around the year 300. (3) [bold mine]

For good measure, Jenkins plainly states that "monasticism is an Egyptian invention." I expect to gain a more balanced view of the history and direction of Christianity through Jenkins' work and I will try to pass along any jawdroppers that I encounter. I am about 50 pages deep, and I can already highly recommend this book.


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1. Jenkins, xi.
2. Ibid, 21.
3. Ibid, 22-3.

The Prune Effect

Today, I had a piece published in Rise Over Run, WKU's student-run online magazine. It is mainly a defense of the type of course that I teach called "University Experience and the Prune Effect."

Kentucky Hated Abraham Lincoln

The Kentucky Museum on the campus of WKU is currently building a permanent Civil War exhibit called "A Star in Each Flag: Conflict in Kentucky." The exhibit opens in mid-October 2008, and it promises to be a good one. Mark your calendars. Further, the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth (in KY) is fast approaching (1809-2009) and there will undoubtedly be much programming at the KY Building celebrating this event.

That said, as I was in the KY Building with my classes this week, I picked up a copy of Lowell Harrison's The Civil War in Kentucky (Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press, 1975) to skim over between classes. In the opening pages, I learned something quite interesting about Lincoln and Kentucky: he got trounced in his bid for the presidency in his home state. You can't swing a dead cat in this state without hitting a poster for an event connecting Abe to the land and place of his birth (near Hodgenville, KY, just an hour or so up I-65 from Bowling Green). Kentuckians love to lay claim to Lincoln.

But, the 1860 election is a real thorn in the Kentucky/Lincoln love fest. Harrison notes, "when the Democratic party split along sectional lines, one of the last political bonds holding the nation together disappeared." The Southern Dem's went with John C. Breckinridge (the US Vice President under James Buchanan) as their candidate, while Northern Dem's backed Stephen A. Douglas. Harrison then lays out the good stuff:

Kentuckians found little solace in the nomination of Lincoln by the Republicans. He was a native of Kentucky, but his "house divided" speech had alarmed many slaveholders who would not accept the curtailment of slavery expansion that he and his party demanded. As the campaign progressed, many Kentuckians turned toward John Bell, the Constitutional Union candidate from neighboring Tennessee, who simple platform was the preservation of the Union.

Bell captured a majority in 35 of Kentucky's 110 counties in 1860 and won a plurality in 25 more...Breckinridge had a majority in 36 counties but pluralities in only 7...Douglas had a majority in only 7 counties, and Lincoln did not carry a single one. The popular vote was 66,501 for Bell, 53,143 for Breckinridge, 25,638 for Douglas, and 1,364 for Lincoln. Although Fayette County contained a number of Lincoln's in-laws, he received just five votes there.(1) [bold mine]

Of course, Lincoln won the election powered by his sweep of most of the northern states. But, make no mistake, the native Kentuckian was not only stomped in his state of birth, but came in a distant fourth, garnering less than 1% of the vote! Lincoln was viewed as the anti-slavery candidate and that just did not play in a state looking to preserve the Union. Keep this in mind as we celebrate Lincoln over the coming year. This is just another interesting tidbit in Kentucky's rich and bizarre history.

Read more about the 1860 Election here.

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1. Harrison, 4-5.

Pay, Mama, Dada, Pay

I hate it when people let blogs lay silent for weeks. And, I'm guilty as charged. Long vacation, attending/presenting at a conference, first weeks of school, planning an event for 2100 college freshmen, blah, blah, blah. It's been a busy month or so.

That said, I return with what I think is a cute, fun, heart-warming, and encouraging story about my son.

Simon is talking more and more these days, even stringing three or four words together at times. Lately, when we sit down to dinner, he almost always stretches out his hands and reaches for Laurie on his left and me on his right and says, "Pay, mama, dada, pay." Which, of course, means "pray." We usually have to do this 2-3 times during the course of the meal. So, we say the Lord's prayer, a prayer for friends and family, and a prayer of thankfulness. Even at such a young age, it's clear that something special, desirable, and good comes through in taking the time to "do prayer." And, it's striking that what he picks up on is the ACT of prayer: the hands, the quiet, the stillness, the "Amen" at the end (which he emphatically shouts as "ah-MEEEN!).

In many aspects of life, the process or the act of doing is often as powerful as the language.