A Community Called Atonement

My friend David Fitch's post on Scot McKnight's new book has reminded me to post on it. As I am the general editor for EV's series with Abingdon ("Living Theology"), I read the manuscript for A Community Called Atonement earlier this year. But, now that it's come out, I've read it again. And, I've gotta say, it's fantastic.

Scot has written an evenhanded, thoughtful, and generous book that brings the biblical narrative to bear on the several theories of the atonement that have been advanced over the past two millennia. And, his postmodernist colors show when he emphasizes the importance of metaphor in shaping our theological imaginations. That bears repeating: how we talk about something heavily influences how we understand something.

So do yourself a favor. Get this book.

Youth Ministry

I'm still in the thick of it in youth ministry, as it seems that my first book, Postmodern Youth Ministry has a long tail. And, I must say, I really do continue to enjoy it. Church youth ministry workers tend to be among the most open-minded, and methodologically progressive persons in the church. In fact, that's what often gets them into trouble.

So, thanks to my recent hosts at the Center for Youth Ministry Training in Nashville and Mid-America Nazarene University in Kansas City.

Hey, Mark

A Time to Talk

As an Enneagram 8, I'm not naturally predisposed to be a sit-around-and-talk-guy. I'm naturally more of a get-er-dun guy. I also tend to not get things done on time -- or, to be more accurate: I usually hit deadlines, but do so by massive amounts of work at the end, and at great emotional cost to those around me.

My frustration around this has been growing, primarily because the number of friends I have has grown. That is, my procrastination is directly proportional to the number of people I spend time talking to. Today, for instance, I have two conversations scheduled with people -- each will surely go over an hour, even though I am already a day late on a major writing assignment. And the thing is, I love talking to people. My life (and writing) is immeasurably richer because of the people I've met, a fact that will be abundantly clear in my next book.

Then, yesterday, I ran across this poem by Robert Frost (a fellow Dartmouth man). It sums up, I think, my feeling, and the emergent ethos:

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don't stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven't hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

Blogging about People

One of the reasons that I haven't blogged much recently is that much of my life is taken up with meetings.... meetings with real people. I've met with critics of emergent, and fans, talked with some on the phone, met with others in person. And I just don't think it's appropriate to blog about such things.

For instance, I met with Tim Keller last month. We had a great time together (at least I thought so), and I now consider him a friend. And I've gotten several emails and calls asking me to blog about our time together -- some people are jonesing to know what we talked about. But I just can't bring myself to blog publicly about what I talked about over a cup of coffee with a guy (OK, I'll tell you this: Tim had Earl Grey tea).

So there. I guess I've got to find other things to blog about.

Purple State of Mind

Craig Detweiler, erstwhile filmmaker, movie reviewer, and Fuller seminary prof and I went to Fuller together in the early 90s. We've kept in touch since then, and I really admire his work (especially The Duke ;-) ).

Well, he's got a new movie coming out, called Purple State of Mind, and you can see the trailer here. It looks like it's going to be fantastic!

Back Out

So, in the midst of my digestive cleanse, my back has gone out. Twice. I can barely move, barely type, and am falling behind on many writing assignments (including the blog posts I'm planning).