@Josh – thanks for dropping by man! I like that you bring in a number of other areas and tie it into creation, I completely agree that this is the mode and task of the church today — to create a forum and median for participation [in the Kingdom of God].

Nice thoughts. I have been thinking a great deal lately on what it means to participate in the Kingdom of God via creation, and for that matter, how the Church could advocate it a bit more. It would seem as if God is a God of creation and has been from the beginning, and in our likeness to the image of God, there is something that resonates with us when confronted with the option or opportunity to create. This may be music, food, a table, an organization, etc., we seem to have something that gets excited within us with creating. I think a big place that we grow in this is exactly what you are speaking of in that we look at broader models and new ideas that take us away from consumerism and materialism and moves us towards participation. The object is not to create a great product for consumption, but to create a forum and median for participation.

What I think I learned from my 70’s/80’s schooling is that it’s still good to have a pedagogy that is inclusive, but also to retain a core set of goals (both shared and imposed) which need measurement and a shared criteria for what good process looks like, otherwise it can become too chaotic.

I think Radiohead is definitely headed in the capitalist direction, steering folks to their work via their site and their governance of their product (sorry for the hollow-analysis of such an emotive genre). People can and have done remixing underground, but their “legitimizing” it by giving it a sanctioned forum (see Apple’s iPhone Web Apps, as a model)–the delivery and purchase point is still owned and controlled by them, so it’s not truly free, though it is participatory (criteria for buy-in is relatively low). Maybe it’s kind of like blogging!

This is why I like this connection you make–the Quaker faith asks us to play by certain rules that just aren’t negotiable: a faith rooted in Christ, based on a European founder, and centered on that of God in everyone. These are the imposed criteria, but let’s remix it, find ways the tracks we’re given (the Testimonies?) can be reinterpreted in our own vision and submit them back to our Meetings.

I think this last stage of decision is the most challenging–which ones get posted? What if there is offensive language that isn’t “sanctioned” by Radiohead? What if they got the Negativland treatment that U2 got? We’ll probably never know, as they’ve got the mic on this. Maybe it’s actually like Obama’s speech, a symbol of strength of message rather than being coopted into the whirlpool of public perception.

I wonder how Jesus got control over his message. Talk about being remixed .