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It’s a bit quite for posts this week from me, I’m trying to rebuild my mac laptop, that has struggled after 10 years of upgrades and need a major overhaul, and I have my motorbike theory test, as well as some annual leave with my family.
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You can’t engage with post-modernity without bumping into some french philosophers, who are de rigueur.
You’ll certainly look uncool if you don’t know some of them when it comes to emerging church conversations. Then there are some German philosophers, who because they are less cool, seem to get far less attention.
And already I have revealed just how little I know about philosophers. There is a part of my brain that when thinking gets too abstract, just time’s out and wants to lay down in a dark room. I need something concrete to latch onto, maybe it’s the church planter in me.
And in my PhD research, I bump into philosophy all the time. You can’t understand major christian doctrines and their location in our emerging culture without doing some philosophy.
So if like me you know the value of philosophy, but want to know what’s important for ‘theology’, rather than being sucked into the agenda of what’s important for ‘philosophy’, how do you navigate that? How do you learn the ‘philosophy’ you need for ‘theology’?
So as I try to make that navigation, with the abyss of post modern nihilism on one side, and the equally destructive certitude of naive realism on the other, I thought I’d share with you, the most helpful resources I have found.
And I hope you’ll share yours with me, here.
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Emergent Village in the USA, have a theological conversation/event, 9-11th September this year, with Jürgen Moltmann.In terms of theologians, it doesn’t get much better than this. In terms of format, as with previous events, you can expect Moltmann to be ‘put into conversation with pastors – no notes, no papers delivered, no formality – simply a conversation about things that matter.’
For more information go here.
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My old friend, Carl Tuttle, is starting a new church community in Anaheim Hills, CA, USA.I’m cheering him on. Carl is one of my heroes, and one the most influential people in my life with regards to church planting. In 1999 when I had a complete nervous breakdown, he was there for me with support in so many ways.
Carl has had his own dark times, that he readily shares and it’s great to see him in a good space now. If I was in Anheim and looking for a community that would be real, and engaging with faith and community, I’d be at that first meeting.
So if you’re in the area of have friends in the area, do let them know. This will be something special.
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With the new Doctor of Ministry that I will be leading for George Fox Seminary, we’ve been trying to ensure that when people are searching the net for a Doctor of Ministry, that we have things set up so that our sites reach those searches.
So if you have ever searched or were to ever search for a Doctor of Ministry, what would you put into google or another search engine?
Do let me know, as any answers will help us optimize our sites so people can find the course.
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Paul writes… one of the hardest problems I face is reconciling my faith to the experiences of my life or vice versa.I’ll often say in response to a question about my experience of God, “nope, that’s not the God I know…” By which I am saying that is not a God who I’ve experienced or want to experience. It is a flippant way of dealing with a God who is being portrayed as a miserable lemon sucking, guilty making miser. Or a God who is out for lunch, doesn’t care, leave your name and number after the tone and he’ll get back to you later… much later. Or indeed a God who is a happy go lucky glowing cheeked santa claus/generous grandfather dispensing pats on heads, freebies and Worthers Orginals at will.
In truth though my experience of God is shaped by my subjective shifting experience of God in my life. I am grateful for counterpoints such as the bible and other people’s experience of God to challenge my creation of God in the image of my own life – and it is some challenge!
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I was thinking about how much my online life has developed since I started blogging 6 years ago. after running an email resource newsletter for a few years before that.
Back in late 2002 early 2003, when blogging was taking off, it was an exciting time, starting a blog, seeing visitors and comments develop, and all the great learning and connections that have happened over the years through that.
So how have things changed in the last 6 years for me:
1. Blogging: is more focused, scheduled and a key place in my online life. Whilst blogging was once central to my online life, it’s now just one tool amongst many and I suspect is that way for many people. The pressure for new content, to update and interact has been a challenge at times, until I found a flow and pattern that was workable for me.
2. Facebook/Twitter:These tools with micro/nano blogging have opened up a whole new world of interactions, for connecting with people, updates, resourcing, messaging. In some ways they seem more relational and less content driven than the blog, but at the same time they interconnect with some of the blog material and topics, and feed each other. I feel the richer for the interactions with people all over the world, and closer to home in these areas.
3. Integrated:The technology seems to be getting out of the way of itself for me, and is integrated into my life, instead of being a thing itself. Like being the first person with a mobile and making calls just for the sake of using the mobile, at some point you use a mobile within your life and don’t think about the fact that you’re using a mobile, it becomes ubiquitous.
It’s the move from a being a ‘blogger’ to some who ‘blogs’. I think we are long way from the the technology being the focus itself, but it seems to be getting there.
How this all shakes down and what it all looks like in the future I don’t know, and there is much about it that is a foolish end in itself (like most things in life), but I can’t imagine some of the best things in my life without it.
So how has your online world changed and been developing?
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Within my PhD research I’m exploring consumerism, and how within that, commodification affects our relationships with other people, and for Christian, our Christian identity and formation.
Yet after all the complex theories I have read, I have found that one of the simplest to follow and mot enduring resources for understanding our relationship to ‘things’, is the ‘Story of Stuff’.
The ‘Story of Stuff’ is a “…20-minute film that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration.”
You can view it here for free.
I think most of use don’t ever think about our relationship to the things they buy, where they come from, and how the ways things are made and sold, shapes us. I couldn’t recommend this movie more highly.
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I just got these details about a day conference on whether ‘Fresh Expressions‘ has an ecclesiology? In others words how does Fresh Expressions what the nature of church is.The event is Wednesday 15 July 2009, 11am – 4pm at the University of Chichester. The keynote speaker are, Angela Shier-Jones and Doug Gay.
I got to have lunch with Doug back in january, and was very impressed with his experience of emerging church and Fresh Expressions, his research and ongoing involvement in church as a minister.
I’m planning on going to this, should be interesting with lots of connections more broadly to the emerging church. You can get more information here.
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A slight over claim, but this book by Philip Greenslade has to be one of the best books on worship I have ever read.
It’s sat on my desk for a few days, and I must admit I found the title uninspiring. But Philip is the most wonderful writer, and this book is part of the Deep Church series for Paternoster, so I cracked it open early this morning.
The premise of the book is an exploration of worship that is open to the surprising moves of the Spirit, and at the same time ordered by the liturgical outline of the gospel narrative. That hooked me immediately, given my church location that has held onto it’s charismatic worship, and explored the recovery of the church calendar to retell, practice and live our the gospel narrative/story.
This book is no ‘how to worship’ book, and is no expose of modern worship, but a friendly critique, that opens the doors into something deeper and more profound, that I think so many of us have been looking for. I’m going to ask our worship team to read it, and explore it together for our church community.
