This morning I am preaching at Naples United Church of Christ in Naples, FL. You can read the full text of my sermon, Rethinking Religious Rules, here. For more information about the books referenced visit my review of One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow and my thoughts on The Jesus Creed, which was a part of my Who is Jesus? series. So What? In his recent book, One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow, Scot McKnight writes these words: “Every religious culture Read More …
Discipleship
Review of Missional Church in Perspective (#0467)
Meet the Authors Craig Van Gelder (at right in the lighter jacket) serves as tenured professor of congregational mission at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, having taken this position in 1998 following ten years as professor of domestic missiology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI. He holds two earned Doctor of Philosophy degrees: Mission (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) and Administration in Urban Affairs (University of Texas at Arlington). Read More …
Is That Really in the Bible? (#0464)
"The Bible may be the most revered book in America, but it’s also one of the most misquoted. Politicians, motivational speakers, coaches - all types of people - quote passages that actually have no place in the Bible . . ." These words appear in John Blake's recent post on the CNN Belief blog. The following quotes are among those he listed as being wrongly attributed to the Bible: God helps those who help themselves. Spare the rod, spoil the child. God works in mysterious Read More …
High Levels of Education and Religion (#0458)
The claim that as levels of education increase levels of religious belief and practice decrease is stated so often that many simply assume it is true. Earlier this year, I shared Barry A. Kosmin's (Trinity College) work that provides substantive data suggesting the relationship between religion and education is far more complex than this generalization. In fact, in some areas those with post-graduate degrees have higher rates of belief or practice than those with less education, Read More …
So What? (#0457)
In the August 9, 2011 edition of the Christian Century the following item appeared, which had previously been printed in the July, 2011 edition of Interpretation: A young woman preaching her first sermon seemed to do everything right: her exegesis was sound; the text and title of the sermon matched well; the sermon was carefully organized and delivered in a clear and understandable manner. But the sermon was wrongheaded, especially in context -- an African-American congregation. Read More …
Review of Introducing the Practice of Ministry (#0456)
Meet the Author Kathleen A. Cahalan is an associate professor of theology at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary, which is a Catholic and Benedictine school that educates both ordination candidates and lay ecclesiastical ministers. Previously, she taught at Christian Theological Seminary and as an evaluation coordinator for the religion division of the Lilly Endowment. Cahalan is the author of three books: Introducing the Practice of Ministry Read More …
Incarnational Christian (#0455)
Tony Jones, author of The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier and theologian-in-residence at Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, MN, recently began calling himself an "incarnational Christian." In making the declaration, he suggests that others who use the term should understand it is not about being evangelical and the term should not be capitalized, politicized or commoditized. In a second blog post that explores the theology behind the term, he writes: to say Read More …
Consumerism and the Church (#0453)
Carl Trueman, professor of historical theology and church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, recently explored the impact of consumerism on our society and the church. In society, Trueman finds that consumerism leads to the infantilisation of society; huge levels of personal debt; and notions of truth and ethics that are as malleable as the market place. The larger culture of consumerism is now impacting the church in a number of ways. According to Trueman Read More …
Shifts in American Religious Behavior (#0450)
The Barna Group recently published a list of changes in American religious behavior over the last twenty years based on data collected via their annual OmniPollSM survey conducted each January. Bible reading undertaken during the course of a typical week, other than passages read while attending church events, has declined by five percentage points (to 40%); Church volunteerism has dropped by eight percentage points (to 19% who do so during a typical week); Adult Sunday school Read More …
Review of A Public Faith (#0445)
Meet the Author Miroslav Volf is the Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. He was born in Croatia, and studied at Evangelical-Theological, Osijek, Fuller Theological Seminary and received his doctoral degree from the University of Tübingen, where he studied under Jürgen Moltmann. As “a member of the Episcopal Church in the Read More …