Entries Tagged as ‘theology’

March 20, 2008

The need for missional transformation…

The notes from the 2008 State of the Conference Address given by LMC moderator Keith Weaver include this summary of the findings reported in unChristian:  What the New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…and Why it Matters–Kinnaman, David & Lyons, Gabe (2007) Grand Rapids, MI:  Baker.  See interview with David Kinnaman here. 
What Kinnaman and Lyons learned is [...]

March 3, 2008

The illusion of control…

 But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people….for he himself knew what was in everyone.
John 2:24-25
Emergents find the biblical call to community more compelling than the democratic call to individual rights.  The challenge lies in being faithful to both ideals.                   -Tony Jones, The New Christians
A first person confessional story [...]

February 20, 2008

The Scandal of Evangelical Politics…

Ron Sider has a new book (see excerpt here) that looks like an important read.  I also found this endorsement by Scot McKnight for the upcoming conference at Eastern University. 
After observing the divisiveness of the 2004 election season, even within Mennonite congregations, John Roth proposed that Mennonites take a 5-year sabbatical from political engagement.  I was a delegate [...]

February 16, 2008

A stunted ecclesiology…

“To read deeply in history is to cease being Protestant.” 
Cardinal John Henry Newman, himself a famous convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism
 
I’m pretty sure I have ceased to be Protestant (to the extent that I ever was).  As a good Evangelical, I grew up with a fairly under-developed ecclesiology (H/T J.I. Packer for the “stunted ecclesiology” [...]

February 15, 2008

The Future Lies in the Past…

Here is an excerpt from a story in the most recent issue of Christianity Today.  The article is entitled…

The Future Lies in the Past
Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century. 

From Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living, practicing monks and nuns, they must learn both the strengths and the [...]

February 11, 2008

Orthodox Study Bible…

 
Thomas Nelson is publishing the first ever Orthodox Study Bible.   Here is the way Amazon presents this Bible:

The FIRST EVER Orthodox Study Bible presents the Bible of the early church and the church of the early Bible.
Orthodox Christianity is the face of ancient Christianity to the modern world and embraces the second largest body of [...]

February 11, 2008

The problem in postmodern society from a Christian perspective…

G.K Chesterton once entered a public debate on the state of the nation by writing a letter to The Times.  In response to the question of what was wrong with the world he wrote this:
                                         Dear Sir, I am.
A prayer for the Church… 
Lord,
Help us in our weakness and inadequacy to understand the ways in which [...]

February 7, 2008

Exclusion and embrace…

Someone shared a story with me this week about some young men who had been shunned by their Beachy Amish church.  They were shunned not for some sexual sin or for any other hedonistic indulgence.  It actually is quite different than that.  I heard the story second hand, so I can only relate the gist [...]

February 5, 2008

The Sacrament of Unity…

The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity.  It makes us into one body.  The apostle Paul writes, “As there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
The presence of Jesus among us and in the gifts of [...]

February 4, 2008

Gospel word pictures…

Kingdom Grace posted a number of wonderful pictures which are representative of key words in the emergent church conversation as well as many other parts of the Church.  They are words inherent to Gospel living. 
I re-post them here with a HT to Kingdom Grace.  I also found the comments exchanged in response to her pictures [...]