2015-03-13T17:03:16-05:00

My good friend and theological colleague, Andrew Root, has a new book out.  I was happy to serve as the general editor on this, his latest project, The Promise of Despair: The Way of the Cross as the Way of the Church.  It really is a great book, and I’m not just saying that.  In it, Andy finds an intersection between Luther’s theologia crucis and the many pockets of despair in our modern existence. This week, I’m participating in FirstThird,... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:16-05:00

I’m spending the first half of this week helping to run FirstThird, a theological dialogue on youth ministry with Kenda Dean and Andrew Root.  Follow our conversation on Twitter: #1st3rd Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:17-05:00

More about my reflections in advance of the Society for Pentecostal Studies at which I am presenting a paper on what emergence and Pentecostalism have to learn from one another. Time is winding down for my presentation at the end of the week, and I’m honing in on my main point.  I think it’s this: Emergents, more than other versions of American Protestantism, seem to share with Pentecostals a robust pneumatology.  But, whereas Pentecostals are good at listening for the... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:17-05:00

I’ve hoped for a while that the Huffington Post would get into religion, and they have, with Paul Raushenbush.  They’ve got a new section covering religion, and so far I give it a B+.  Unfortunately, it trots out some of the same old voices, saying the same old things.  But they’ve also got some fresh faces, and even a little humor, like this laugh-out-loud post by John Bobey: John Hello…God? God Hey John, what can I do for you? John... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:17-05:00

I mentioned the ordo salutis a couple days ago, which got Bo Sanders to laughing about the silliness of salvation being portrayed like a factory assembly line.  But better than all that was a comment by “Dan” under Bo’s post.  Here it is: I decided that my wife and I should have a romantic Valentine’s Day.  We’ve been married for almost 22 years and I have gotten really good at romancing her.  I know exactly what to do to put her in... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:18-05:00

I must say, I agree with Scot’s assessment of the problem, if not his solution.  There’s an illness in evangelicalism, and it’s that everything is always worse than it used to be.  Teens are more pregnant, politicians are more corrupt, culture is less Christian, and, yes, the church is less relevant.  I think Scot’s right to point this out.  But what do you think of his suggestion that an Augustinian ecclesiology is the answer? Everywhere I go and nearly everyone... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:18-05:00

More about my reflections in advance of the Society for Pentecostal Studies at which I am presenting a paper on what emergence and Pentecostalism have to learn from one another. My friend, Dallas Gingles, who also knows something about Pentecostalism and about emergence recommended that the one book I need to read is Amos Yong’s The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology.  I can see why he pointed it out to me, because... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:18-05:00

I’m a huge fan of TED.  I don’t mean my brother (though I am a fan of his).  I mean TED Talks.  (If you live under a rock, TED stands for technology, entertainment, design.) Not long ago, the 10 Commandments of TED Talks was posted at one of their events, and an intrepid scribe wrote them down and subsequently posted them.  As someone who frequently speaks to groups, they are a brilliant list of Shalts and Shalt Nots. Thou Shalt... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:19-05:00

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I have been charged by the Society for Pentecostal Studies to present a paper at their annual conference that addresses what emergence and Pentecostalism have to learn from one another.  The first thing to consider, I think, are the origins of the two movements.* The Wittenburg Door moment of Pentecostalism, of course, is the revival that took place at the Azusa Street Mission in Southern California in 1906.  What I did not... Read more

2015-03-13T17:03:19-05:00

This week and next, I’m preparing for my address to the Society for Pentecostal Studies on what emergence and Pentecostalism can learn from one another.  To remind myself of the religious landscape in America at the time of the birth of Pentecostalism, I turned to the trusty A Religious History of the American People by Sydney Ahlstrom. Ahlstrom’s magisterial tome was first published in 1972.  In other words, he was researching and writing right in the thick of the Jesus... Read more

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