Study Shows Emergent Is Not As Liberal As You Thought

October 24, 2014 By Tony Jones

Just when you thought emergent was dead, scholars are showing that it’s very much alive and kicking. I will soon write about the excellent full-length book, The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity by Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel. That book came out earlier this year. Now, two political scientists — Ryan P. Burge of Eastern Illinois University and Paul Djupe of Denison University — have co-authored two academic articles about the Emerging Church. Each article shows some fascinating insights into the movement, and... Read more

Doctrine DOES Change

October 20, 2014 By Tony Jones

Over the last two weeks, Pope Francis made some courageous steps in dragging the Catholic Church into the 21st century. First, he called a Synod to discuss non-traditional family arrangements, including divorces, those raising children outside of wedlock, and gays and lesbians. Then he began the synod by telling the assembled bishops to speak their minds honestly, not holding anything back. Halfway through the synod, the Vatican released a provisional report on what they were discussing, and it contained language... Read more

Nadia Brings Queers, Gays, and Lesbians To an Evangelical Party

October 17, 2014 By Tony Jones

Post by Nadia Bolz-Weber. The above video was posted by Nadia on her Facebook page (If you can’t see it, click on “Post” above; WordPress doesn’t always load Facebook videos correctly). It’s her submission to The Nines, a online “conference” hosted by Leadership Network. In their request for submissions, LN wrote this: There is no greater and faster shift in culture today than the swing towards the acceptance of same-sex marriage. Church leaders need to determine the right path moving... Read more

Postmodernism Is Dead (Again), and Its Successor Is Worse

October 15, 2014 By Tony Jones

Postmodern philosophy saved my faith. Of that there is no doubt, and I’ve not been shy about asserting that fact. Surely I was immersed in postmodernism in college — one of my vividest memories is a classics professor mockingly reading a course description for comparative literature as our class laughed uproariously. But it wasn’t until I arrived at Fuller Theological Seminary in the fall of 1990 and fell under the sway of Nancey Murphy and Jim McClendon that I put... Read more

Rob Bell’s Atonement

October 13, 2014 By Tony Jones

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (a rock without internet), you probably know that I’m nearing the completion of a book on the atonement. It’s called Did God Kill Jesus?, and it comes out in March. (It’s the wrong subtitle, and the cover isn’t done yet, but you can preorder it!) I’m fortunate to have the same editor and publisher as authors I admire like Barbara Brown Taylor, Lauren Winner, and Rob Bell. Speaking of Rob Bell, he continued his... Read more

New Feminist Christianity [Book Week]

October 10, 2014 By Tony Jones

This fall I’m teaching Introduction to Theology at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Over the past decade, I’ve taught about a dozen different courses at half-a-dozen different schools. I’ll say that halfway into the semester, this is one of my favorites. I’ve been loving the task of introducing incoming seminary students to the richness of the theological task. Having queried existing students at UTS about their experiences, I got the sense that they were well versed on contemporary... Read more

Did You You Know that Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was a Youth Pastor? [Book Week]

October 9, 2014 By Tony Jones

Last Friday I was wandering through my old stomping grounds, the National Youth Workers Convention, in Sacramento. Beside me was Andrew Root, a friend since we were both Ph.D. students at Princeton Theological Seminary. Later that day we would sit together on a theological panel considering the state of the science-and-religion dialogue, but at that moment we were wandering through the conference book store. Root is among the top rank of theologians working in youth ministry today, and he is undisputedly... Read more

Moltmann’s Masterpiece [Book Week]

October 7, 2014 By Tony Jones

In completing my forthcoming book, Did God Kill Jesus?, I was driven back time and time again to the masterpiece by Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God. Moltmann is my theological muse, and, as Miroslav Volf says to him the in the above video, The Crucified God is his most important book. For one thing, Moltmann followed up on his earlier Theology of Hope by continuing what today we’d call theopoetics. That is, Moltmann broke away from the staid German prose of theologians like... Read more

Balance at the Top of Fuller Seminary [Book Week]

October 6, 2014 By Tony Jones

I’m going to focus on books this week — some that I’ve read, some that I am reading. When Richard Mouw announced his retirement from the presidency of Fuller Theological Seminary, I was nervous. I’m both an alumnus and a part-time employee of Fuller, and I’m very much a product of that place. In face, I’d say that who I am as a theologian is much more a reflection of Fuller (M.Div.) than of Princeton (Ph.D.). That’s as much because... Read more

The Art of Events

October 2, 2014 By Tony Jones

Putting together the roster of speakers for an event is an art, not a science. I’ve been working with Sarah Cunningham to put together Christianity21, coming to Phoenix in January. Of course, we strive to invite speakers who have something to say and are good at saying it. But one of the things that we most desire is that the 21 leaders who grace the main stage will represent the widest swath of the church. I’m very proud of the... Read more