Among my most popular posts from my old blog were those on my working definition of practical theology. As I am engaged in the section of my dissertation in which I establish my version of practical theology, I’ll repost the series here at BNet. Enjoy! I do get asked on occasion, “What is practical theology?” Lots of people are pretty sure they know what systematic, dogmatic, and biblical theology are, but less are sure exactly what practical theology is. At... Read more
So, I happened to turn the news on in the middle of the night, and I caught wind of President Obama’s bad joke about bowling being like the Special Olympics. We all now what’s coming: a media onslaught of replays and punditry about the president’s offensive remark. I, for one, cannot handle it. Yes, I’m sure it was offensive, and I am disappointed that he said what he said. But I haven’t seen it, and I’m going to do everything... Read more
Two announcements this morning: 1) The Emergent Village podcast relaunches with an interview of Daniel Harrell, author of Nature’s Witness. 2) Generate Magazine launches — it’s by and about the emerging church conversation, broadly conceived. Read more
Last week at the Transforming Theology confab, these terms came up again and again. And, as usual, much frustration was expressed about the lack of meaning in these words. One debate was over the words “liberal” and “progressive.” Some in the room wanted to recover the word “liberalism” from those who’ve made it to mean a “Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show.” My advice: too late. Others expressed dislike of the word “progressive” because... Read more
So, if theologians squared off on a reality show, would a brawl endue, like on America’s Next Top Model? Probably not. But Jonathan L. Walton (who, I must say, was very impressive at Claremont last week) takes up the challenges laid before the Transforming Theology group by me and Jack Fitzmier. Jonathan oversimplifies my statements to the group, but he does get the sentiment right. In the final session, I told the group that they had been outflanked by conservative... Read more
In my latest book, The New Christians, I cast Brad Cecil as the unheralded protaganist of the emergent movement . In many ways, he was. Coming from an ultra-conservative world of youth evangelism, he volunteer-pastored at a Texas mega-Bible church. And he read Rorty and Derrida. He was the intellectual rudder of the Young Leaders Network from 1996 through about 2000. (That’s Brad in the pic, with me in Dallas last year.) Brad’s engaged in more private than public endeavors... Read more
Here’s part two of the video conversation between theologian/philosopher of science, Phillip Clayton, and me. Read more
The Washlet. Does it creep you out? And seriously, how many euphemisms can you use to avoid saying, “This thing shoots hot water up your ass, then dries you.”? Read more
Phillip Clayton and I sat down on Friday night for a conversation about emergence science and emergent church. Here’s part one of the video: Thanks to videographer Ryan Parker. Read more
Well, my time here at Claremont is just about up. I’m sitting in Mudd Auditorium, listening to the second of two public panels. Here are my reflections, looking back on the last three days. First, I have to note that I felt somewhat out of place. In general, I think that I can hold my own academically with people who teach at places like Harvard, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, Yale, and Claremont. But the longer that I’m out of the... Read more
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