Theology after Google wrapped on Friday, and some peeps have taken the time to blog their thoughts. Here are the latest posts: // Get the “theology after google” – Google Blog Search widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) Read more
Starting tonight, I’ll be participating in (and co-hosting) Theology After Google, part of the Transforming Theology Project at Claremont School of Theology. You can watch much of it live on UStream. You can also follow our Twitter stream: #tag10 Read more
Kevin has posted an interview with me about the JoPa Social Media Boot Camps over at Church Marketing Sucks: Why do you think it’s important for pastors to use social media? Tony Jones: There was a time when churches and pastors needed to decide whether they were going to wire the church for telephones. There was another time when they had to decide whether to bring microphones and amplification into the sanctuary. Those were decisions about using new technology to... Read more
The future of Christianity lies not in increased division, but, as Moltmann wrote, in the “fellowship of mutual participation and unifying sympathy.” Or, as an even wiser theologian once said, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” I conclude with a prayer uttered by this same One, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their... Read more
Rick Bennett has taken his satire to a new level with this piece, imagining an Oscar roundtable discussion with Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Ed Young, Jr., David Dark, and a fictional Baptist pastor (think Pastor Dan before he met Neo). Here’s a snippet from the lattermost: Rev. Smith: My wife made me go to see Blindside. I liked it. Sandra Bullock makes a pretty blond. I didn’t see anything else besides Up, when my grandkids brought it over. It was... Read more
I don’t know that we’re far enough into this thing called emergence Christianity to proffer any definitive statements in the other direction, so I tender these suggestions humbly and tentatively. First, while Pentecostals have, as I said, excelled at listening to the voice of God open the scriptures, particularly to individuals, the emergent church has worked at listening to God’s voice in corporate environments. As my own community of faith, Solomon’s Porch in South Minneapolis, the weekly sermon is both... Read more
It’s on this very point that I’d like to suggest that emergents can learn from Pentecostals how to talk about the Spirit of God. In yesterday’s theology session on the emergent church, there was much talk about the need for emergents to develop a “robust pneumatology.” I agree, in part. For I think that emergents have a robust pneumatology, but I don’t think that we’re very good at talking about it. As I argue in The New Christians, I think... Read more
In any version of Christianity, certain things bind the persons who affiliate with that variety together. For some, it is ethnic heritage, and for others, a certain confessional stance. Most emanate from a particular individual, or, in the case of Pentecostalism, a particular event. The emergent movement has no such genesis, and no such confessional glue. Within emergent, you’ll find Southern Baptist preachers and lesbian Episcopal priests, Missouri Synod Lutherans and Quakers. For what binds emergents is not unlike what... Read more
Getting one’s arms around the emergent church is no mean feat – indeed, I believe that the same may be said about Pentecostalism. In a sense, the genesis of the emergent movement was the disenfranchisement of GenX evangelicals in the 1990s. But in another sense, of course, the Bride of Christ is always emerging. It is, as Brian McLaren has written, better referred to as “the church emerging” than “the emerging church.” Further, those of us involved in the emergence... Read more
Good evening and thank you. I want to begin by thanking the executive committee of the Society for inviting me, and thank Kim Alexander in particular. When Kim invited me over a year ago, little did she know the time and energy she would have to put forth defending that invitation. I am especially thankful that the committee in general, and Kim and Arlene Sanchez-Walsh in particular, took a stand for academic independence, freedom, and integrity. I also want to... Read more
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