What's the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian? is both an important question and the title of a popular new book by Martin Thielen. According to Bob Smietana's March 13 article in The Tennessean the book was released in January and "has become a surprise hit, with a second printing on the way." Thielen is a former Southern Baptist who left the denomination when it took a fundamentalist turn. He is now an ordained United Methodist pastor who serves as the Pastor of Lebanon Read More …
Learning to Be a Better Blogger (#0303)
Matthew Paul Turner is best known for his Jesus Needs New PR blog. Additionally, he is the author of ten books and the former editor of CCM Magazine. Recently he shared nine suggestions for bloggers who seek to improve their craft: Stop reading advice posts about how to blog and instead just go blog something. Chances are, if you follow MY advice, it won’t work for you. Yes, I realize those last two sentences sort of contradict each other, but they’re both true, so you have no Read More …
A Leadership Check-Up (#0302)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He earned his MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week. For more information visit his website or read his blog. He recently posted "Seven Questions for Leaders" Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story? What do you do with people Read More …
Theology in a Post-2004 World (#0301)
After writing about Philip Clayton's “Theology and the Church After Google: How This New Age Will Change Christianity” a few days ago, I found myself in several discussions about the topic. One of my conversation partners directed me to an article John Dyer wrote on the topic for Christianity Today's guest opinion column "Speaking Out," which was published this past weekend. Dyer is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he is now employed as Director of Web Development. Read More …
Review of The Good and Beautiful God (#0300)
James Bryan Smith. The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows. InterVarsity Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780830835317. Meet the Author James Bryan Smith is an ordained United Methodist minister who specializes in spiritual formation. He has been associated with Friends University for over twenty years and currently serves as the Director of the APRENTIS Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation and as Assistant Professor of Read More …
Theology and the Church After Google (#0299)
"Theology and the Church After Google: How This New Age Will Change Christianity" is both an article about how theology is shifting and must continue to change as well as an example of such change. It is written by an academic (Philip Clayton, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Claremont Graduate University and Ingraham Professor at Claremont School of Theology) and was published in an academic journal (The Princeton Theological Review), however, it now appears online in its Read More …
Research Suggests that Evangelical Christians are UnChristian (#0298)
"Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus" is the title of a recent Huffington Post article, which seeks to explain the findings of research conducted by the Pew Research Center. The post was written by two professors: Phil Zuckerman (associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College) and Dan Cady (assistant professor of history at California State - Fresno). They suggest the research confirms: what social scientists have known for a long time: White Evangelical Christians are the Read More …
One Year Later (#0297)
My life has changed a great deal over the last year: Ash Wednesday 2010 marked the final day of serving my last church. I spent most of the morning packing up my office and saying goodbye to other members of the staff. Ash Wednesday 2011 marked two and a half months working for a university. I spent most of the morning leading a workshop for faculty. As I started my Lenten journey last year I did so having just resigned from a position without having first accepted another Read More …
Giving is Both/And not Either/Or (#0296)
Adelle Banks recently wrote a piece for Religion News Service about research conducted by Grey Matter Research & Consulting on behalf of the nonprofit fundraising firm the Russ Reid Co. The research suggests: Houses of worship and other charities often aren't in competition for dollars but instead tend to reap donations from similar donors . . . the more Americans give to a house of worship, the more they donate to other groups. So What? In the article, Banks quoted Ron Read More …
The Underrepresented Writers (#0295)
VIDA, a relatively new association for women in literary arts, recently published a somewhat shocking report showing a significant gender gap on the bylines in major magazines and publications in 2010. Steve Thorngate, assistant editor of The Christian Century, summarized those findings thusly: At the Atlantic, men outnumbered women by a three-to-one ratio. The New Yorker was only slightly better, and Harper's and the New Republic were worse. Worst of all? The New York Read More …