Extra-Curricular Activities 8/20/10

Ajith Fernando tells us "To Serve is to Suffer" in a new CT article.

Two Canadian Muslims share an interesting view on the mosque at Ground Zero: “Mischief in Manhattan” Here's an excerpt:

“The fact [is] we Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith and in Islamic parlance, such an act is referred to as "Fitna," meaning "mischief-making" that is clearly forbidden in the Koran.

“The Koran commands Muslims to, ‘Be considerate when you debate with the People of the Book’ -- i.e., Jews and Christians. Building an exclusive place of worship for Muslims at the place where Muslims killed thousands of New Yorkers is not being considerate or sensitive, it is undoubtedly an act of ‘fitna.’

Publisher's Weekly reports that self-publishing is "getting respect." Do you agree? Have you ever overlooked a book because you knew it was self-published? Has your opinion changed over the last year or so?

Koinonia editor, Adam, loved Stallone’s new film The Expendables. To learn more he recommends this review from the Onion A.V. Club. For those understandably wary of rated R movies, here’s his nuts-n-bolts survey of the “adult” content:  

Nudity: nil
Adult language: very little
Violence: surpasses Braveheart in frequency, intensity, and excitement

- Andrew, for Zondervan Academic