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Posts Tagged: emerging church
September 24, 2009
Exploring Emerging Theology: The Connections between Emergence and John D. Caputo’s The Weakness of God
An Emerging Theology
“The SS seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows … ‘Where is merciful God, where is he?’ someone behind me was asking … Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard an answer: ‘Where He is? This is where – hanging from this gallows.’ That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” – Excerpt from “Night,” by Elie Wiesel in which he recounts his time spent as a young boy in Auschwitz.
I don’t have a personal copy of John D. Caputo’s The Weakness of God: A Theology of Event but this wonderfully advanced technological age in which we all are living and playing has afforded me the opportunity to read most of it for free online. Sure, Google Books intentionally discards pages here and there so that paupers like me will be forced to actually go and purchase books, and I will, but in the meantime I am happily perusing large sections of this very, very enlightening work for free. Read more…
September 3, 2009
Christianity21
Christianity21 Faith in the 21st Century
Faith in the 21st Century. 21 Voices. 21 Ideas. 21 Minutes Each.
That’s the tagline attached to what promises to be an important event for Christians today. Christianity21 is an open celebration of Emergence produced by JoPa (Tony Jones + Doug Pagitt). The roster of presenters is impressive. Speakers include: Phyllis Tickle, Diana Butler Bass, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Julie Clawson and Makeesha Fisher, and more. Read more…
May 25, 2009
Four Types of Emerging Churches
Earlier, I posted Scot McKnight’s Five Streams of The Emerging Church in effort to clarify the differences between the divergent expressions of what is cumulatively called the Emerging Church Movement. Again, I think McKnight’s differentiation is important information for those who have questions about or are exploring the Emerging Church. That said, I don’t think McKnight’s “streams” are as clear or concise as C. Wess Daniel’s Four Types of Emerging Churches. Wess’ Four Types highlights differences by not only placing a serious focus upon the specific theology/philosophy types represented by the different emerging groups, but also by citing examples of the thinkers and churches that emphasize important aspects of these differences. Read more…
March 13, 2009
Growing the Emerging Church
So, I just watched the video of Perry Noble speaking at Unleashed ‘09. He had some really, really negative things to say about the missional and emerging church movements. In fact, negative isn’t even the correct term; judgmental is more fitting in this case. I wonder if anyone thinks Perry should focus more upon the things he is for rather than the things he is against? Just asking.
Here’s a quick hit list of things he said during the AM session of Unleashed (lifted from the Emergent Village Twitter)
Perry Noble says to the Emerging Church (very accurate paraphrase), “Emergents, sober up … or get saved. Come get me! Most of those guys are going to have to sober up before they do anything … Because of the Emerging Church movement hell will be more crowded. Emergents have sided with Satan in questioning the Word of God. Emergents have a problem with authority: Including the authority of Scripture. Emergents are a bunch of spoiled former church kids who have a problem with authority. All these guys watch on the Internet. The definition of missional: Nobody showing up, so we created a term to affirm our dysfunction.” Read more…
February 24, 2009
A Reflective Rant Concerning Postmodernism, Objectivity and The Emerging Conversation
<reflective rant> I talk before I think, and often. But don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: It is a good character trait! It is a good character trait with a bit of potential for bad. I would rather be the guy who talks before he thinks than the guy who never says anything because he is thinking. A handful of bad consequences born from talking before thinking are more valuable than a million good thoughts never spoken. I, however, don’t stop there. I actually act before I think too. Now, that’s a bit risky. I’m a spontaneous guy, for sure, but I think what I’m talking about here goes well beyond spontaneity. I’m talking about taking real risks. I see a chaotic fray and I’ll dive headlong into it and worry about the cognitive aspects of my act during tomorrow’s reflections. The dive has garnered me way more success in life than it has failure, but it has also introduced me to more than a few unfortunate experiences. That’s the risk! And it’s a good risk! After all, you never really know what’s in a fray until you dive into it and take a good look around for yourself. In fact, until you do so, it’s all second-hand knowledge. If “knowing” is worth it, if 1st hand knowledge is worth it, than the risk is a good one no matter what you find in the fray. So, the dive – succeed or fail – is an edifying one. Risky? Yes! You might lose! You might win! Sometimes you chase the bear; sometimes the bear chases you. That’s real life and living! That’s reality! Read more…
May 2, 2008
Emergent Motivational Posters
These posters used to be funny, when I didn’t really understand or take the time to understand all that the emerging conversation proclaims and represents. Emerging/Emergent is so much more than the incredibly thin caricatures represented in the below images. These posters are just iconic symbols of NeoReformed ignorance and its burning need to constantly talk before it thinks. Sad, really.
More emergent motivational posters can be found hosted at the Spurgeon.org web site. It’s all tongue in check, of course. Yeah, right.