Deep Church

Philip Pullman, the children’s author and atheist, known most famously for his trilogy His Dark Materials (1995-2000) where he attacks and seeks to undermine Christianity, (the film of the first book comes out this Christmas) says in an recent essay:

‘We need a myth, we need a story, because it’s no good persuading people to commit themselves to an idea on the grounds that it’s reasonable. How much effect would the Bible have had for generations and generations if it had just been a collection of laws and genealogies? What seized the mind and captured the heart were the stories it contains’ (‘The Republic of Heaven’, The Horn Book Magazine, 2001, 666). Continue reading »

A thesis: if a Deep Church vision is to have a viable and vibrant future it needs curriculum. And curriculum needs institutions; not just one institution, many. Discussions in the blogsphere have to translate into formal, intentional, accredited learning and research if they are to have a pervasive transformative impact on our lives. From gathered essays the Deep Church conversation will need to move to the publication of peer-reviewed critical responses and texts books. The content has to solidify and find modes of delivery that form the minds and hearts of a new generation of thought-leaders and agents of societal change. Continue reading »

I have been considering the idea of deep church. Is there church and deep church? Deep church and shallow church?

In Spanish the word for deep is profúndo. If this site originated in Spain, Mexico or Venezuela, it might be called Iglésia Profúndo. This helps me to think that church is, by its nature, profound. I am not talking about methodologies or systems or specific liturgies. I am talking about essence. In its essence, the church is profound. It extends below the surface of things and goes somewhere deep. In that depth there is mystery and things unknown, but there is also life. Continue reading »