Book idea..?
Paul writes…Jason and I have been talking about writing a book about deep church. One of the practical difficulties of deep church so far is that it is:
a) primarily academic/rooted in the academy at present
b) dense
c) hard to imagine what this looks/feels/tastes like in practice and therefore why bother/get excited about it.
My own feeling would be to take a book idea like Doug Paggitt’s book on Church re-imagined and adapt it to write practically about what we are doing around the values of deep church that we have in our own church community/context. Not that I’m saying that we are the example of deep church in action just an example that people may find helpful.
In terms of content the chapters would echo the values, something like:
Introduction - theory and practice
Chapter 1: what is thing called deep church and why are we in it? (thinking/practice/acacemic context)
Chapter 2: our context: who, what, where we are and why this might not work for you or work differently (i.e. an example not THE example).
Chapter 3: Positive church not pancea church - rediscovering our churchianity, doing life together = best/worst of each other and how we connect that
Chaper 4: historical not hysterical - living out biblical/church history/metaphors/narrative that inspires/informs our reimaging/re-interpreting our heritage for our environment - for example if church is family then what do we do with kids?
Chapter 5: Practices of Personal/communal faith - weekly faith/orientation - the challenges/tension of Jesus, me and the church
Chapter 6: Creative/programmed - right and left brained, spontaneity, creativity and play in structures and programmes
Chapter 7: Our place amongst many - fitting in with and promoting other churchs/denominations
Chapter 8: Mission, participation and prioritisation - the ongoing process of re-orientation away from consumerism towards a communally practised christian faith
Chapter 9: conclusions/wrap up
Chapter 10/appendix: resources/share our stories
I’d love to know:
What do you think about the idea?
What would you like to know more about (certainly for instance what we do with kids and spirtual formation)?
What else would you like to see in or taken out?
8 comments
8.34 am on 3.13.2008
Hi, I think this would be a great book, and certainly one that I would be interested in reading…
8.38 am on 3.13.2008
time scale for book?
12.24 pm on 3.13.2008
Paul,
It’s a great idea, but I think you really need to think who you are aiming the book at and what you hope to achieve in writing it. People may well be itching for this, but it will need to be packaged in a way that makes it look like an itch scratcher - if you get my meaning.
Also, the overview here looks like a lot of content, which could mean big book, which will reduce interest in it, plus thematically, it still looks like you could run the danger of leaning towards the academic.
I’d like to see Deep Church shake off it’s academic clothing and have a broader audience, and you and Jason may just be the people to do this.
2.40 pm on 3.13.2008
Deep Church is new to me, but I’m so glad I’ve come across it, as many of these ideas (academic and practical) have been floating around my head for years but I never had a language to put to it. I think the book would be great.
Also, I would like to hear how “deep church” fits in to the ancient-future movement of the U.S. academy and theologians. Robert Webber, Tom Oden, etc… Is there a connection?
7.26 pm on 3.13.2008
We need books that bridge the academy and the daily activities of local faith communities. We never have enough.
I encourage you to build the bridge with the bricks and mortar in your hands, as soon as you are able.
11.26 pm on 3.13.2008
Well, I’d buy it!
7.23 pm on 3.15.2008
Thanks all - it’s still very much on the drawing board at the mo but we thought we’d float the idea to see what the reaction is - i’m getting some +ive vibes :)
5.02 pm on 3.26.2008
I think this is a good idea but I agree with Alan that you need to think about who it’s for. I do think a book is one way of pushing content/thought outwards to people who aren’t necessarily picking up the blog, events etc and of course it can lead to speaking events outside that same community which is another way of opening up discussion, but it needs to be accessible.
I like the outline but so much depends on tone etc. I would read it!
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