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The Beer Drinker's Guide to God: The Whole and Holy Truth About Lager, Loving, and Living - Softcover

Miller, William B.

 
9781476738642: The Beer Drinker's Guide to God: The Whole and Holy Truth About Lager, Loving, and Living
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1476738645 ISBN 13: 9781476738642
Verlag: Howard Books, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

It’s no accident that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine! Written by an Episcopalian priest-slash-bar owner, this thoughtful, well-written book of spiritual essays distills lessons about the character of God from stories about adult beverages.

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” —Psalm 34:8

Being upright does not mean you have to be uptight—at least according to Father Bill Miller, an Episcopal priest/bar owner. As a fan of both spirits and the Holy Spirit, he is very familiar with the intoxicating lure of some of God’s finer creations, and in The Beer Drinker’s Guide to God he brews up insightful, beautifully written reflections about the strange intersections of God, and, well…beer.

In this humorous collection of essays, he weaves together stories from his life in ministry, his travels in search of the world’s best Scotch, his conversations with Trappist monks, and colorful evenings in his bar, Padre’s. He also reflects on the lessons he’s learned from baseball, Playboy bunnies, Las Vegas, and his attempts to become chaplain to the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, all while (somehow) crafting essays about the spiritual importance of generosity, sacrifice, openness, and spiritual transformation. Really.

Essays include:

-WWJD: What Would Jesus Drink?
-Brewed Over Me and Distill Me, O Lord
-Pearls of Great Price
-Chicken Soup for the Hooters Girl’s Soul
-Miss Hawaii and Other Miss Takes
-Don’t Leave me Hanging: The Theological Significance of Athletic Supporters

From the deeply touching to the laugh-out-loud funny, these stories ultimately open our minds to the glory of God and our mouths to some of God’s more delicious creations. The Beer Drinker’s Guide to God is a smart, hilarious book for those thirsty for God’s truth.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Father William (Bill) Miller is an Episcopal priest and the rector at St. Michael and All Angel’s Episcopal Church in Kauai, Hawaii. He is also a co-owner of Padre’s Bar, a live music venue/watering hole in Marfa, Texas. God and strong drink are two of his favorite things. Father Bill currently resides in Kauai with his dog, Nawiliwili Nelson.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Beer Drinker’s Guide to God 1 BEER GOGGLES
The beauty of the virtue in doing penance for excess, Beautiful too that God shall save me.

The beauty of a companion who does not deny me his company,

Beautiful too the drinking horn’s society.

—“THE LOVES OF TALIESIN,” WELSH, THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Louis “Dynamite” Johnson is the best gay, black, liberal, conservative, antiwar, pro-life, eleventh-grade American history teacher I ever had. In fact, Louis Johnson is the best teacher I ever had.

I will never forget my first day in Johnson’s class. As a self-conscious adolescent introvert, I had not intended to draw attention to the debut of my “so geeky it’s hip” eyewear. My gigantic, tortoiseshell glasses made me look like a mutant horsefly wearing antique aviator goggles. It never occurred to me that I could be singled out as a living object lesson for the chapter on Charles Lindbergh and American aviation history.

I planned to blend in with my back-row desk, maintaining my eleven-year streak of nonparticipation in class discussion. However, Johnson ruined my plan by pausing in the midst of a series of inane student responses to a thought-provoking question. Apparently he assumed that, as high school juniors, we might be capable of a deep conviction, critical analysis, or original thought. What Kinky Friedman wrote about American historical figures was also applicable to our student body: “You can lead a politician to water, but you can’t make him think!”

Johnson’s pedagogical method caught us off guard. We were used to ingesting data and regurgitating it in the form of multiple-choice tests. Our former history teachers, football coaches whose biceps dwarfed their worldview, were uninterested in historical inquiry and their ethos was encapsulated in the adage “The best offense is a good defense.” As far as they were concerned, that pretty much summed up the past, present, and future of American influence in the world.

Dynamite took great delight in lobbing explosives into our heretofore unchallenged understanding of the world and America’s preeminent place therein. He encouraged us to do independent research so that when we came together in class, we could engage in informed discourse and even debate the merits of various ideas. Johnson wanted us to look at the deeper issues of causality, telling us that the removal of our red, white, and blue–tinted glasses might help us to become better patriots, and a stronger nation.

On that fateful first day of class, our American history teacher grew more exasperated with every inarticulate utterance my classmates made. Finally, Johnson looked right at me and my studious-looking spectacles. Hoping that I was seeing through the lens of illumination, he pointed at my most noticeable accessory. He shouted, as if I might be the great, wise hope, “You, the intelligent-looking young man in the back row, what do you think?”

I have no idea what came out of my mouth that day. It must have been in English, reasonably articulate, and somewhat morally sound, because I remember Mr. Johnson affirming my brilliant point by pounding his podium with the force of a Baptist preacher. To this day I could swear he gave me an “Amen.”

Talk about a setup. From that day forward, I made a concerted effort to live into Louis Johnson’s perception of me. Maybe he had seen something that really was there, or maybe he just needed glasses.

Because of his insight, I made some profound discoveries that semester. Prior to Dynamite’s influence, I had no idea that there was a large, quiet room on the premises of our school that was filled with books that could be “borrowed” by students. I always assumed that room was the assistant principal’s dungeon. Furthermore, there was a lady who lived in that room called Library Ann. She helped you find things that could make you smarter.

As an added bonus, I discovered that girls often hung out there, and they didn’t seem to mind guys with geeky glasses as long as there was a brain behind them. It was in that library, early one morning, as I was investigating LBJ’s Great Society, that the homecoming queen began to snoop around my table. After hearing a preliminary report on my findings, she proceeded to ask me out on a date. As there is only so much one can learn from books, I was too stupid to say “Yes!”

But something happened to me in Louis Johnson’s American history class. I got smart.

I had failed a geometry class the year before. An F brings a GPA to a point of almost no return, but I made so many A’s after the “Johnson Mandate” that I was inducted into the National Honor Society just before graduation. What’s more, Johnson challenged me to integrate my philosophical and theological convictions into my political and historical world-view. He was the teacher who convinced me that George Bernard Shaw was right: those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything. I would never look at anything un-critically again, and I would never see the world in the same way.

Just as events in American history were not always black-and-white, issues in Johnson’s class were not always clear-cut. During one discussion, no one could provide a reason why we should care about what happened to non-Americans. Johnson turned to me, pointed, and boomed, “Bill!” I boomed right back, “Because they are human beings!” “Because they are human beings” became the class mantra for the rest of the semester. During another discussion, he attempted to help us understand that other cultures, even those we have sometimes labeled “primitive,” were also innovative and intelligent. American know-how was not the only knowledge out there. While Johnson was unsuccessfully trying to coax “crossbow” out of us as the invention of Native Americans, I had a momentary relapse and got in touch with my inner idiot. “Flaming arrows,” I offered. I must not have been wearing my glasses that day. Johnson seemed to relish pointing out to me that fire had been invented several years prior. I’m sure even Einstein had an off day.

Sometimes the work of challenging accepted attitudes and ideals made us downright uncomfortable. Once, defending the Palestinian cause and criticizing America’s unwavering support for Israel, Johnson got a classmate so worked up he stormed out of class, accusing Johnson of being “anti-Semitic.” Another time, a majority of students and faculty were outraged when Johnson openly challenged a Vietnam War hero over his interpretation of the rationale and success of the war. “That’s just disrespectful,” my fellow classmate intoned. Later he would marry an army recruiter. Later still, they both became Lutheran pastors and liberal Democrats. Hey, if you can’t change your mind.

I still change my mind, and I still recall that initial explosive force that started to knock the scales from my eyes and open me up to alternative realities. Years later, I still attempt to see myself as “that intelligent-looking young man,” although these days I am forced to admit that one out of three ain’t bad.



There is an optical phenomenon, mostly among males who imbibe, that we have come to call “beer goggles.” After the consumption of an indeterminate number of beers, the brew begins to travel directly from the stomach to the brain, then through the optic nerve, filling the vitreous and aqueous humors with material that is funny only to oneself, and perhaps to the eventual focus of the goggles.

As this eye-opening...

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Verlag
Howard Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2014
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1476738645
ISBN 13 
9781476738642
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
352
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV
info@simonandschuster.nl

Herculesplein 96
Utrecht
3584 AA
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