Free Money for Evolutionists

May 26, 2012 By Tony Jones 2 Comments

If you’re a scholarly type, and you’d like to get a project funded that will help Christians understand evolution, check this out:

A new funding opportunity for scholars and church/parachurch leaders. The BioLogos Foundation was recently awarded a large grant from The John Templeton Foundation to launch a subgrants program, Evolution and Christian Faith (ECF).  This $3.5 millionprogram will fund research and projects that address theological and philosophical concerns many Christians have about evolutionary creation.  We also invite proposals which explore how evolution as God’s tool enriches Christian faith and worship.

Grant amounts vary from $30,000 to $300,000 over 34 months. Young scholars are especially encouraged to apply. Proposals from teams—especially those which are inter-disciplinary in nature or focused on translation from the academy to the church and parachurch—are enthusiastically welcomed. We also invite proposals from well-established scholars who wish to explore a particular topic in depth (see example topics here).

We anticipate funding projects that explore consonance between evolution and Christian faith. Proposals will not be considered if they reject (or at least do not helpfully inform) historic, creedal Christianity (e.g. historical Resurrection, high view of Scripture, etc.) or if they reject the conclusions of mainstream science (e.g. old earth, common descent, etc.). Please note that this does not mean all grantees must be ardent supporters of evolutionary creation. Church leaders, for example, may be interested in exploring the ramifications for their tradition if evolution were true, even though they personally remain unsure. Also, teams may represent a variety of viewpoints.

One of the best things about the program is that ECF grantees won’t be working in separate little ivory towers.  It is important to build a collaborative network of scholars and church leaders who are interested in helping the church think about evolution in constructive ways.  To that end BioLogos will host three summer workshops for grantees to gather, share ideas, and learn together.

Time is short!  Pre-proposals are due June 15, 2012. Luckily, the application process is not too arduous: it consists mostly of a short (1,500 word) letter of intent describing the project along with a rough budget.  Successful applicants will be invited to submit full proposals at a later date.  Please direct folks to EvolutionChristianFaith.orgfor details about the program and how to apply.

Richard Beck Gets His Ass Kicked

May 25, 2012 By Tony Jones 1 Comment

Theoblogger Richard Beck has a beautiful post about his worship home, a small service called Freedom:

Another thing I like about Freedom: One of the church leaders and I have a running conversation (and he might have this conversation with more than just me). A few months ago he came up to me and asked, “Richard, do you know why we come to church?” “Why?” “So God can kick us in the ass.” Every week it’s a variation on that theme. “Richard, did God kick you in the ass today?”

I smile and say yes.

Read the rest: Experimental Theology: Freedom.

And if you haven’t yet read Richard’s book, Unclean, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Update: Minnesota Governor Sides with the Lawyers (and Against Dads)

May 25, 2012 By Tony Jones 3 Comments

A while ago, I wrote about a bill making its way through the Minnesota legislature. At first, the bill was going to take the presumption of parenting in cases of divorce from 75%-25% to 45%-45%, with the remaining 10% to be worked out by the divorcing parties. Effectively, that means that dads would go from [...]

An Evangelical Argues for Legal Same Sex Marriage

May 24, 2012 By Tony Jones 10 Comments

Out of Ur is the staunchly evangelical blog of the staunchly evangelical magazine Leadership, published by the staunchly evangelical Christianity Today International. Nevertheless, minority voices are sometimes heard there, and this is one of those times. Chad Hall prefaces his post by saying that he thinks homosexual practice is unbiblical and that he’s against same [...]

The Church Is Dripping with Culture

May 24, 2012 By Tony Jones 8 Comments

My response to Jason Clark’s review of my book is up at Church and Pomo: If I may put a finer point on it, the question is this: Is there a normative (biblical?) ecclesiology that is timeless, to which every congregation must aspire? Or is ecclesiology necessarily shaped by the culture that inevitably envelops every congregation? [...]

Gay Christian College Students Exist

May 23, 2012 By Tony Jones 4 Comments

Richard Flory has the evidence, but he wonders why they don’t transfer: What strikes me most about [Biola Queer Underground] and its counterparts at other evangelical colleges is that its members are not only committed to evangelical Christianity but also to the institutions that systematically marginalize them. From my perspective, it would be much easier [...]

Ten Missional Myths

May 23, 2012 By Tony Jones 5 Comments

A couple weeks ago, Steve Knight took notes during a talk I gave at the Funding the Missional Church conference, and he’s posted them on his new Patheos blog, Missional Shift. Here are the first 5; click thru to Steve’s blog to see the rest, plus my theological reflections on “missional.” 10. Missional is trying [...]

Debating Creatio Ex Nihilo

May 22, 2012 By Tony Jones 26 Comments

In response to my quote bomb, Tripp has bombed me back with a very good post debating the merits of the traditional doctrine of creatio ex nihilo — that is, the belief that God created the cosmos out of no pre-existent material. That God created everything that is out of nothing but Godself. I agree [...]

I Sure Hope the Bible Isn’t this Creepy

May 22, 2012 By Tony Jones 49 Comments

So, it seems that this image is making its way around the evangelicalfacebookosphere. Maybe it’s just me, but it really creeps me out. If you have that kind of relationship with the Bible, you may need counseling. It also leads me to ask, What if the person getting the creepy hug were a man?

Jason Clark Reviews The Church Is Flat

May 21, 2012 By Tony Jones 1 Comment

Church and Pomo — now hosted at The Other Journal — today started a two-week conversation about my book, The Church Is Flat: The Relational Ecclesiology of the Emerging Church Movement. Today, Jason Clark reviews the book, and my response will post on Thursday. Likewise next week. Here’s Jason: As someone very involved within the [...]

Prepare to Have Your Heart Broken in 3 Minutes

May 21, 2012 By Tony Jones 1 Comment

Driving home from the cabin yesterday, Courtney and I had the pleasure to hear the latest winner on NPR Weekend’s 3-Minute Fiction contest, “Rainy Wedding.” It’s a heart-rending story of grief deferred, read beautifully by Susan Stamberg. Listen to it here.

When Should a Church Schism?

May 21, 2012 By Tony Jones 24 Comments

I took a lot of heat from my Methodist friends last week for suggesting that young clergy forsake the denomination and go do something new. Let me be clear: I don’t expect one single Methodist clergyperson or seminarian to jump ship because I blogged about it. Puhleeze, people. I will reiterate something: It is virtually [...]