So, the first thing I want to tackle is some semblance of a definition. What on earth are we talking about when we say “postmodern” and “emergent.” The simple answer is that there isn’t a simple answer. In The Emerging Church, Dan Kimball describes the post modern world as: An emerging and developing worldview and culture pursuing…
The Body of Christ
we are the church
Postmodern Church and the Farmlands of Iowa… Part 1
In our final year at Vanderbilt Divinity School, we work on the crowning glory of our graduate work: our seminar paper. As I sat down three years ago to write this work, I was very interested in how I might take all that I had learned and take it back home to Iowa. I knew…
Why the Revised Common Lectionary is the perfect model for Emergent Church
Random thought came to me tonight. How it came to me is the subject of my next blog…. but in any case. Every week, people all across the world use the exact same texts to tell the stories of scripture. We start with the exact same thing. And then we take those few words, those…
Doctrine of God… or something.
When I submitted my candidacy papers, I had just finished Constructive Theology. I was in a totally heady space, although I also had a lot of practical application involved. In my first round of papers, here is how I talked about God: We have come to know and trust in God primarily through scripture –…
what we owe God…
I’ve been thinking a lot about atonement theories as we journey through the book of Hebrews in worship. Anselm’s understanding of atonement says that we owe an infinite debt to God because we have marred God’s honor. Christ comes and pays that infiinite debt for us. All fine and dandy. Thank you Jesus. But in…
the limitations of congregations
The following is something that Taylor Burton-Edwards presented at our School For Ministry here in Iowa this spring, and I was reminded of it again through a series of posts about how we nurture disciples and can we do it in the church. What really strikes me is that we use the same words to describe a…
Reading the Church into the individual
Lately I have begun approaching scripture with a whole new set of eyes. As I think about what it means to be the pastor of a congregation… even more than that, what it means to speak the Word to the congregation… I’ve started thinking about “we” instead of “me.” In my preaching, I have felt…
the redemption of creation
Over the next few weeks (months probably) I want to go back through my notes and blog a bit about some of the amazing things I have brought back from the Moltmann conference. The first one that has been really chewing in my soul is the idea that creation needs redemption. I guess this has…