Category

Theology

08.19.07

Emerging Church: Bridging the Academy & Church?
Christianity, Ecclesiology, Theology, emerging church (2)
This is just a quick observation that I seem to have noticed. It seems to me that popular evangelical leaders read books by people like MacArthur, Warren, Hybels, Swindol, Lucado, and Stanley: practitioners and pastors. However, it seems like emerging church leaders are reading books by Hauerwas, Wright, Brueggemann, Volf, McKnight, Moltmann, Franke, and Grenz: theologians and academics. I have no statistics to back this up. It is just a cursory observation based mostly off of blogs I read and visiting the ever-exciting Christian bookstore. So, my observations may not reflect reality. But for the sake of this ...
08.17.07

Birthday Books
Books, Christianity, Personal, Theology (3)
My birthday was last week. And, as birthdays go, I got some pretty decent birthday money. So, what did I do with it? Buy an iPod? Surround sound? A bluetooth earpiece? Heck no. I bought some books. And they are: The Mediation of Christ by Thomas Forsyth Torrance Principles of Lutheran Theology by Carl E. Braaten A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight Simply ...
08.13.07

We’re all Heretics
Christianity, Theology (1)
Wow, it's been while. I was pretty much non-existent in July, being gone for two weeks on mission trips, taking some vacation, and spending time with my wife as she was out of school. Hopefully, I'll get back into a semi-regular blogging pattern. Here's my first attempt to get back at it. I remember growing up and having lots of debates about beliefs versus actions. You probably experience the same thing. What's more important: belief or actions? Typically, in contemporary protestant Christianity, beliefs win. We tend to go back and proof-text Ephesians 2:8-9 to ...
06.26.07

I confess…
Christianity, Personal, Theology, Youth Ministry (6)
So, over at the Faith and Theology blog a meme has been started; it is spreading quickly. Sounded fun. I confess: I watched Kent Hovind videos as a child and argued with my fourth grade science teacher about the age of the earth. I confess: In junior high and high school I thought denominations that baptized children were heretical. I confess: In high school I attended a Bible study on Revelation that took a premillenial, pre-trib, dispensationalist view. I confess: Oftentimes I want to quit my job as a youth minister and pursue an academic career in theology. I confess: My conviction that all good ...
06.11.07

A Theological Test
Christianity, Personal, Theology (0)
I try to take theology seriously. It is helpful that I enjoy reading theology and listening to boring lectures by theologians and philosophers. However, I am deeply committed to the idea that theology is not for the ivory towers, but must be imbedded into the worshiping community. I mean, as much as I have respect for people like Volf, Vanhoozer, and Hauerwas, 99% of our churchgoers will never read them. It's up to those of us who do read such theologians to do the work of translation for the rest of the laity. So, I consider ...
06.03.07

Emergent Gnosticism?
Christianity, Theology, emerging church (1)
A common thread in dueling schools of Christian theological (or philosophical) thought is to characterize "them" (whoever "they" may be) as embracing some sort of heretical position. I've been reading a few posts recently that try to pigeonhole the emerging church as gnostic. I forget some of the other places I've seen this recently, but this post is the latest. I am at quite a loss. I don't feel like writing a whole lot on the subject right now, but if the emerging church is in danger of any heresy, gnosticism would not be it. Here are some characteristics ...
06.01.07

Brian McLaren is a Heretic
Blogging, Christianity, Theology, emerging church (9)
This is an experiment in blogging. I get nary a blip of traffic on my blog, which is fine by me. As I outlined in my first post on the blog, this is really an exercise in discipline and an opportunity to keep my writing skills intact. Additionally, it is becoming a place where I process through things like youth ministry and theology. But I was thinking the other day, "If I did want to increase my blog traffic, how could I do that?" Then I got a funny idea: I would write anti-emerging church rants. ...
03.22.07

Christian Radio
Christianity, Theology (0)
I still feel like I'm trying to catch up from when I was out of the office for three days being sick. Craziness. The blogging has suffered notably. Anyways, I heard something along these lines on the radio on the way to work yesterday morning, "Your body is simply a vehicle for transporting your soul." And then followed the usual body is bad, spirit is good business. Fun times.
01.11.07

All Books Read in 2007
Books, Christianity, Ecclesiology, Personal, Theology, Youth Ministry, emerging church (1)
I started doing this last year, and thought it would be a good idea to continue this year. Maybe this year, I can keep up with the list as I go and not forget books. Anyways, this post is mostly for my own personal record-keeping. As I read books and put them in my sidebar, I will also copy/paste that information here. Then I can look back on my year and see what all I've read and maybe offer some insights into the top books of the year. Or something neato like that. <A href="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fmattclecom-20%2F8001%2F26b0ac77-c00e-42a1-ae6d-aedf31391d0c&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widgets</A>
11.24.06

Commentary on 1 Peter 4:6
Christianity, Theology, emerging church (1)
I was listening to an interview with NT Wright, and very briefly he touched on 1 Peter 4:6, which people refer to when they talk about Jesus descending into hell and preaching to the people there. Essentially, he said he doesn't have a good exegetical explanation for what that verse means. Well, if he can't figure it out, the rest of us are in trouble.

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