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In recent years, I’ve become increasingly interested in the way certain therapists make use of narratives, or stories, in order to move forward individuals and communities whose own story has stagnated, causing various deficiencies in their ability to live meaningful and sufficient lives. What is of particular interest to me is the idea of ‘thickening’ or enriching a person’s story in order to counter what has become a way of narrating life in a ‘thin’ and insufficient way.Though there are various elements needed to enrich a narrative, what is often vital is the notion that one is rooted in a past. Yes, we are storied beings, but our story is not just something that is present, happening now – the product of any given moment. Rather, we are historical beings – we are shaped by history and tradition. Continue reading »
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Dr Luke Bretheron, one of the editors and contributors towards ‘Remembering our Future’ prepared 3 mediations on the Presence and Absence of God, using words and art.Luke introduces the mediations by saying… Continue reading »
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The Pope recently reconfirmed the Roman Catholic’s church position that only churches with apostolic succession are true churches, for those of us in the protestant tradition we are ‘ecclesiological communities.’ This may lead some to wonder whether we as protestants/evangelicals can have any truck with our Catholic brothers and sisters and perhaps deep church is at best a sticking plaster for ecumenicalism or at worst some sort of consipiracy/cover up/hush up/suck up?In these revolutionary post-church/pathological-church times I wonder if we need to move beyond arguements of legitimising our existence as gathering of Christians and instead address the question facing us in the west of why we should bother gathering at all?
Do we still resonate with the thoughts of Ignatius, from the 2nd century, that ‘where Jesus Christ is, there is the universal church’ or Irenaeus, ”where the Spirit of God is, there is the church and all grace’ or does that church now only consist of an audience of one - namely me (as pope, priest and parishioner).
Is chosing to be an independent/individual Christian a contradiction in terms? What can the deep church/deep ecclesiology response be to the question of not just defining “church” but addressing the questions of church: “so what?” and “then what?”
Whilst acknowleding the dangers of blueprint church and the romantic quest in vain for the perfect church - I think we also need to critique our own western ecclesiological lens and inparticular the underlying theme of individualisation/self-determination. My own suggested sketch for this critique for me would be for a Trinitarian lens - one informed by a 2/3 world view [where they have the opposite dilema an emphasis on the many but not so much on the individual].
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Why is the Emerging Church drawn to de-constructive theology?
I am at the early stages of my Ph.D research and my thoughts are those of the theological/philosophical neophyte, trying to see the ‘wood for the trees’, so please excuse my crude conclusion and suggestions. I’ll approach this topic from two perspectives, in terms of ‘best’ and ‘worst’.
If deconstructive theology teaches us anything it’s that our new theologies, and concomitant ecclesiologies will embody some wonderful new things, as well as drifting into some dire productions (which in any event locates the emerging church in the continuing nature of the historical church).
‘At it’s Best’
De-constructive theology enables us to be open to the ‘other’, and to take a position of epistemic humility. Whilst deconstructive philosophy has enabled us to unmask the a priori commitments of the church to modernity, theologians like John Milbank (in a non nihilistic and non Heideggerian/Nietzschean way) have so ably shown and unmasked the a priori commitments of secularism to liberal protestant ideals.
Christians are called to search for others not like us, not in aggression (as that destroys our openness and theirs to us) but so that we might hear and assess ourselves in light of others and they may in turn learn from us. This is so unlike pluralism, where consensus is the goal, or as in exclusivism with the crushing of the other into submission.
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Just a reminder that the deep church conversation series continues on tuesday evenings for the next couple of weeks - see here for details. The session on 26/6 had to be rearranged due to flooding, so tonight is session 2.If you are unable to get to any of the sessions WTC is kindly recording them and they are available here from their site.
