Theoblogy

Come to the New Tony Jones Blog

2009-12-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have moved my blog here: http://blog.tonyj.net. Please come and visit.

If you're reading this in a reader, change your feed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/tonyj/IWxO

Different Versions of Christianity

2007-10-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

So here's my thought on the Driscoll fiasco that everyone keeps asking me about. Doug had a great quote in the CT article on Mark. He said, "I think that we're basically talking about two different versions of Christianity." With this, I think, Mark would agree.

What troubles me about Mark's critiques of Rob, Brian, and Doug, is that he is investigating the minutiae, the fine print, the footnotes. It's almost like the scribes that Jesus constantly dealt with -- those who kept trying to trap him in his own words (while ignoring the overall gospel that he was promoting). Mark doesn't like that Brian footnotes a book called The Scandal of the Cross, that Rob recommends the philosophy of Ken Wilbur, that Doug has one line about our need to find "new ways to be sexual." Once, at lunch with me, John Piper had a similar concern: that Brian endorsed Steve Chalke's book, a book that in one line reiterates a view of penal substitutionary atonement held by many feminist theologians for three decades. (Please, read Chalke's book -- the rest of it really isn't about denigrating your sacred theory of propitiation. Most people I meet have heard one line of Chalke's book, but haven't actually read the book.)

This kind of argument is tenuous at best. Criticizing folks for who they read, who they footnote, and who they endorse is not particularly persuasive, methinks. I'd much rather have Driscoll and Piper say, "We're promoting a very different version of the faith than the emergent folks. Let's look at the big picture of what they're saying versus the big picture of what we're saying."

I'm sure that I'll take some flack for implying in a sermon last Sunday that John MacArthur is a soft gnostic (I happen to think that 90% of Americans are soft gnostics, just as I think that 90% of Americans are semi-pelagians). I am talking about the overall Christianity that Johnny Mac is espousing -- I think that it's too platonic, and that it neglects hebraic holism -- the water that Jesus swam in. I don't really care if Johnny Mac (or Piper or Driscoll) reads Paula White, Jonathan Edwards, or Karl Marx. I'm most interested in the overall theology that he's espousing. I do, indeed, think that it's very different from the version that I'm espousing.

And I sure do appreciate the folks who keep inviting me to come and talk about it. They may not like it, they may not agree with it, but they should at least have the opportunity to hear about it.

That's all.

Don't Mess with Texas

2007-10-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

As usual, I had a great time in Texas last weekend. I mean it, a truly great time. First off, I wasn't at hotel, but had the honor of my auntie-in-laws' hospitality -- thanks Johanna and Kathy.

On Sunday morning I preaching at UBC-Waco. I love that church. I got to hang out with Ben, Dave (who says he's going to endorse my book), and Josh, as well as others. You can listen to my sermon here -- if you do, you might find something really juicy that you could blog about...

After worship, Josh and I met up with Roger Olson, his wife, nephew, and nephew's girlfriend for some Cajun food (Josh is a wimp and had a Philly Cheese Steak). Roger and had I never met, and we had a great conversation.

Then I drove up to Dallas for the inauguration of The New Journey Zero.Com. Seriously, they're going to give Watermark a run for the $$$$. It's a great new new space -- lots of room for large portraits of Jurgen Moltmann.

After BBQ and beers with the Journeyers, I stopped by Jason Mitchell's house for some frivolity. It was genius. Wheels off.

Monday morning, back down to Baylor to speak at University Chapel. I loved it. Great kids, great staff, and a great shawarma sandwich for lunch with some Truett students and UBCers.

And I bought some new boots on my way back to the airport. You'll see them soon.

I'm home for 24 hours and off to The Emergent Gathering this evening.

A Community Called Atonement

2007-09-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

A Time to Talk

2007-09-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

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).

Fasting, and Fasting

2007-08-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'll be fasting from e-communication this week, vacating with the family. That will include a day of gorging on fried goodies at the Minnesota State Fair. Then, on September 1, I'm commencing a month-long colon and liver cleanse, under the direction of Shelley Pagitt. This will be my third attempt at a cleanse -- my addiction to coffee has derailed me the other two times.

Talk at ya after Labor Day.

NYC

2007-08-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

Had a great day in NYC yesterday: a wonderful Vietnamese lunch with my friend (and church planter) Bowie; a leisurely and theologically stimulating cup of coffee with Tim Keller; time to rap with cohort-team-member Jeff Kursonis; a wonderful meeting with the NYC cohort; and a late-night dinner with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Thanks to priceline, I'm on the 28th floor of the Millennium Hotel U.N., overlooking the East River.

In the blogosphere, Skye at Out of Ur becomes one of the first mainstream evangelicals to call out the sinful practice of stereotyping and caricaturing the entire emerging movement that goes on in some evangelical circles. Read it.

Le Mis and NYC

2007-08-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

Last night, Julie and I went to see Le Mis at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, starring Solomon's Porch's own Ben Johnson as Marius. I'd never seen the show, but our companions--Julie's brother (a reader of this blog -- Hi Kevin) and sister-in-law--have seen it a dozen times. They graciously guided me through the production. Ben did a great job. He was really wonderful.

I'm in MSP today, about to fly out for a one-night trip to NYC. I'm having lunch with a friend, Bowie, who works for the Episcopal Church (USA) and runs a house church, then swinging by the offices of Redeemer Pres to meet with a guy. Tonight, I'll be with the NYC Emergent Village cohort. Meet us at 7pm at the Stonecreek Bar and Lounge for a couple hours of conversation.

Tomorrow, I've been invited to Abingdon's meeting with Barnes and Noble execs over lunch, then I'll fly home.

I'm Teaching an Online Course this Fall

2007-08-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

This fall, I'll be leading an online course through Andover-Newton Theological Seminary. It can be taken for seminary credit, or as an audit (which you can probably apply toward Con Ed requirements). I'd love to see you online!

What's Really Going On in Emerging Church Worship
Core Seminar: LS501, $275
Project Option: LS501P, $75
Instructor: Tony Jones
Dates: October 1-26
Registration Deadline: September 21
Description:
What's happening in worship? What is worship? These questions are being asked in the context of communities of practice in the emerging church. In this course, we'll investigate the innovative worship practices of emerging churches and relate them to broader shifts in American worship.

Reading:

Bridge Collapse

2007-08-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

I've posted on it at God's Politics.

Fall Travel

2007-08-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

I'll be on the road a lot this fall. If you can make it to one of these events, drop me a note and maybe we can get together for a beverage and a chat:

September 6-7: Center for Youth Ministry Training (for CYMT students only), Nashville

September 20-22: MidAmerica Nazarene University, Kansas City

September 30: University Baptist-Waco, Waco

October 1-2: Baylor University, Waco

October 2-5: The Emergent Gathering, Santa Fe

October 13: National City Christian Church, Washington, D.C.

October 27: National Capital Presbytery, Washington, D.C.

November 2-3: National Youth Workers Convention, St. Louis

November 9-10: Presbtery of the Inland-Northwest/Whitworth College, Spokane

December 4-6: Church of Ireland Youth Department, Belfast

A Book

2007-08-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Don't you love it when this happens? A book comes in the mail, and, unbeknownst to you, there's an essay by you in it! It's especially sweet when the cover letter is in German since the publisher is in Germany. That's about when you think, "Man, I should have worked harder when I learned German!"

Well, that happened last week. A book that I thought would go straight-to-microfiche actually got published in Europe. If you're interested, you can check it out: Youth, Religion, and Globalization.

The Big Day!

2007-08-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! We've worked so long and hard for this day -- over a year and a half. But all the patience paid off.

Finishing my book? Hell no.

The world debut of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2!!!

We're having a party tonight to celebrate -- each of the kids got to invite a friend. And the parents are all excited that now we'll have six more songs to sing in the minivan.

Oh, yeah, I finished the book, too. Just emailed off the final edits.

Audio from Bend

2007-08-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

I had a 2-hour Q&A at First Presbyterian, Bend, Oregon on Monday, and you can listen to it here. Go to Nate's blog to read more about the visit, and to get updates on his brother, who was badly hurt in a motorcycle accident (hit by a drunk driver on the autobahn) in Germany.

Going Dark

2007-08-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm that regular of a blogger to begin with, but I'll definitely be quiet for about a week. The copyedits on my next book are due on Friday, and I've got half the book left to go. Then, on Friday, I fly out to Oregon for a couple speaking gigs and a day of fly fishing with my brother.

In the meantime, I'm writing a few posts in my head, so maybe they'll appear here before the end of August:

On Creeds

What I Would Have Said Differently at Wheaton

Why John Piper Is Wrong about the Minnesota Bridge Collapse

Have a good week!

Smashing Stereotypes

2007-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, I visited a church in Rochester, Minnesota. Apart from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester is small town America. But, because of Mayo, it's also growing.

As is to be expected, the large and evangelical church, First Baptist, sold its plot in the city and moved to the "suburbs" of Rochester -- a host of new subdivisions, surely inhabited by well-heeled docs. There they built a state-of-the-art mega-church facility. They changed their name to Autumn Ridge Church. And you can find nary a word of their denominational affiliation on their website or in their literature.

This is the very kind of church that liberal Christians bewail. They're all Republicans, right? And they care only about saving souls. Or maybe they are involved in the Big Two social issues: ending abortion and a gay marriage ban.

Right?

Wrong.

Last weekend, they spent three days raising awareness about and mobilizing people to end the genocide in Dafur. They hosted (friend of Emergent Village) Celestin Musekura, the president and founder of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) and survivor of the Rwandan genocide. He was on a panel discussion on Friday night and preached on Sunday. And he was there last night when the church screened The Devil Came on Horseback -- a new film about Darfur. And the worship center was packed.

There was nary a word about salvation. Only a call to get involved with stopping the genocide, writing congressional members, even joining a relief trip to Darfur early next year. I then spoke to the college group about the meaning of "the gospel" after viewing a film like that. They were a sharp and articulate bunch.

Honestly, it's encounters like that that keep me grounded in this truth: there is little truth in stereotypes. Had Marcus Borg been there last night, he wouldn't have been able to caricature evangelicals like I heard him do in May at the National Cathedral. The fact is, mega-church evangelicals are just as complex and paradoxical as inner-city Episcopalians. They all come by their beliefs and convictions honestly, and with integrity. Too often, it's their national spokespersons who fulfill the stereotypes.

(Now, the trick will be not caricaturing anyone in my forthcoming book on the emergent phenomenon. I'm sure I'll fall short. And I'm sure that the blogosphere will let me know where.)

P.S. Another friend of Emergent, Bob Pyne, recently joined the staff at ALARM.

P.P.S. I was in a carpool to 9th Grade Confirmation class with writer/producer/director of The Devil Came on Horseback, Annie Sundberg. We were also classmates at Dartmouth.

P.P.P.S. Celestin recently completed his Ph.D. at Dallas Seminary, and Miroslav Volf was one of his readers. Congrats, Celestin!

Midwest Emergent Gathering

2007-07-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Chicago (a.k.a. up/rooted) and Indianapolis cohorts may have given us a picture of the future of Emergent last weekend. They hosted a regional conference, The Midwest Emergent Gathering. Other than your truly, the speakers were excellent, the workshop leaders wonderful, and the environment extremely hospitable. I saw old friends (Mike and Julie Clawson, Sarah and Ryan Notten, Will Samson, Al Hsu, Lilly and Rob Lewin, Jeff Kursonis, David Fitch, Spencer Burke, Nanette Sawyer, Karen Sloan, and some I’m sure that I’m missing).

Plus, I met some great new friends:

Helen Mildenhall and I talked at length whilst waiting for the hotel Starbucks to open. She’s a thoughtful British-American who spends lots of time hanging around with Off-the-Map.

Maurice Broaddus is an Afromergent dude who is a biologist/church planter/horror writer (not necessarily in that order). You’ll be hearing more from him. The dude rocks.

John Armstrong, whom I met for the first time, seems to know everyone. He runs a ministry and teaches adjunct at Wheaton. He’s been on quite a theological journey over the past decade, and he’s had many friends in the conservative evangelical camp turn against him as a result. He was asked to offer the emergent crowd some warnings, to give advice as a “friendly outsider.” Not only was his advice helpful, I applaud the conference organizers for inviting him. John blogged about his experience at the event here.

Annie Gill-Bloyer works for Bread for the World/ONE as a community outreach organizer, and she’s been contacting EV cohorts to mobilize emergents on the Millennium Challenge Goals. She generously gave me ride to the airport.

Many thanks to the Clawsons and the Nottens and the other co-hosts for putting on such an excellent event.

My Night with a Rock Star

2007-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last Monday night, I spent the evening with Zach Lind, drummer in the band, Jimmy Eat World. They’re on a tour in advance of their next album, which is due out sometime in September. I showed up for their sound check, then I took him over to Solomon’s Porch and gave him a couple of books. We ate dinner at Chino Latino (curry shrimp with rice).

Most interesting about our conversation were the similarities and differences between the music industry (which he knows well) and the book publishing industry (which I know). For instance, bands choose their CD titles, while authors do not choose their book titles. On the other hand, I’ve known the release date for my book (February 1) for a year, and he still doesn’t know the release date for his CD (even though it’ll come out in less than two months).

One interesting stream of the conversation was over categories. I had read earlier in the day that his Jimmy Eat World is considered and “Emo-Core” band—that is, a cross between Emo and Hardcore. He said that label doesn’t really fit, but once a band gets categorized by the media and the retailers, there’s no getting out of it. The problem with this, of course, is when a music category (Zach mentioned “Ska”) goes out of fashion, all of the bands in that category are pretty much screwed.

Some of us are wondering about the future of “emerging church” or “emergent church,” especially as a book category. The former is now an official category among Christian bookstores (which means that you can find it above the bar code on the back of the book). For some of us authors, this category is helpful because it tells retailers where to stock, and how to sell, the book. But for more popular authors (Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, etc.), this category is probably too confining, and they’d just as soon be shelved with general Christian nonfiction.

After dinner, we went back to the Fine Line, where I stayed for the first four or five songs. Backstage, before the show, we had a couple beers and hung out with the band. The backstage vibe was very laid back. They had a great sense of camaraderie (after all, they’ve been a band for 13 years). It was a bit like the feeling I had running camp for many years. I could definitely see the allure of being a rock star.

As well as Zach’s music and blog, you can check out the podcast that he co-hosts with Shane Hipps. It’s some top-notch stuff.

I've Blogged about the Pope

2007-07-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

Over at the God's Politics Blog.

Listen Up

2007-07-15T04:37:00.001-07:00

A couple links:

Shane Hipps, whose "Third Way Faith" podcast is subscription only (though I highly recommend it) on Wired Parish, you can now read his blog and hear clips of the podcast here. He's got a few interviews with me there...

And you can now listen to the archived audio of my time on the Albert Mohler Radio Show here. (So, Ken Silva, how did I do?)

On Al Mohler's Radio Show Today

2007-07-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Based on my rejected Wheaton paper, made available here, I've been asked on the Al Mohler Radio Show today (with guest host Russell Moore). I'll be on from 5:17 - 5:40 PM EDT. You can listen here.

Currently Reading, Part II

2007-07-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

War is hell. It’s a euphemism, I know, but it also happens to be true. And, unlike so many previous generations, those of us who were born in the 1960s have no idea what it’s like. The closest I ever came to war was a couple of rumors of the draft that floated around my high school in 1986. Each time, the rumor was linked to some U.S. military operation, and each time it lasted about an hour before some teacher told us how ridiculous it was.

The next fall, during my freshman year in college, I took an incredible seminar called, “The Iliad and Memories of War.” It was taught by an extravagant Classics professor, James Tatum, and he later wrote a book, The Mourner's Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam, on the topic.

In the seminar, we started with The Iliad of Homer, then read a book per week for eleven weeks on war. They included Xenophon's Anabasis: Book 1-4, The Red Badge of Courage, and Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War. Ever since that seminar, I’ve been fascinated by war memoirs, particularly because I don’t want to forget that war is hell, even though I’ll never fight in a war. In fact, I think it’s tragic that my generation doesn’t know first-hand just how hellish war is.

So, in light of the current war—which I experience primarily via Jon Stewart and Frontline—I’ve begun to read back through the corpus of that freshman seminar. First up is Dispatches by Michael Herr, considered possibly the finest Vietnam memoir (though I’d nominate Tim O’Brien for that). Herr was a reporter for Esquire; he saw the war first-hand, and he describes with unparalleled reality and grit. Here’s an example from his chapter on the Tet Offensive, titled, “Hell Sucks”:

One morning there was a fire at the prison camp across the road from the compound. We saw the black smoke rising over the barbed wire that topped the camp wall and heard automatic weapons’ fire. The prison was full of captured NVA and Viet Cong or Viet Cong suspects, the guards said that they’d started the fire to cover an escape. The ARVN and a few Americans were shooting blindly into the flames, and the bodies were burning where they fell. Civilian dead lay out on the sidewalks only a block from the compound, and the park by the river was littered with dead. It was cold and the sun never came out once, but the rain did things to the corpses that were worse in their way than anything the sun could have done. It was on one of those days that I realized that the only corpse I couldn’t bear to look at would be the one I would never have to see.

2007-07-08T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hmm... The title bar doesn't work on Blogger this morning. I'm off to ICRS, the den of thieves for Christian publishers and retailers. From there (Atlanta), I fly to La Guardia for a couple days of church consulting.

We had a great 4th, with our annual tradition of marching in the Edina Parade (this year with the Cub Scouts), then the Sousa band and fireworks at the city park later that night. My bro was in town from Oregon, so we hung out with their family for the rest of the week.

Almost 700 persons have downloaded my address from Wheaton, and there's some really good commentary. I think I'll submit it to a theological journal, reworked with many of your suggestions. Kind of an "open source" essay. Also, some of this material will be in my forthcoming book.

If you read it, please remember that those are my speaking notes, untouched since I presented it. It's not by any means ready for publication -- or even for peer review. In fact, this is part of my frustration with Wheaton: they never saw a copy of the paper and never requested one. They went simply on their memory of what I presented -- and anyone who has been to an academic conference knows that only sections of papers are actually presented in the oral session. The paper is usually redacted on-the-fly to make it fit in the allotted time.

But, like I say there have been some great suggestions -- particularly about how I could have ended the presentation more strongly. So, if/when I rework it, I will have a better conclusion.

A Sermon

2007-07-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

I preached at the church of my dear friend, Shane Hipps, a few weeks back. Here's the sermon.

Thanks

2007-07-03T06:59:00.001-07:00

My last post has brought out some of the best comments I've ever received, and so I say, "Thanks!" I appreciate all of the feedback. The thoughtfulness of the comments will, indeed, make me a better theologian.

I'd write more, but I'm home with Tanner and Aidan while Julie and Lily are have a "Girlz Date" in Chicago -- yes, the American Girl experience.

Happy 4th!

Rejected by Wheaton

2007-06-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Last winter, I was one of the plenary speakers at the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference. I was asked to present the emergent perspective on the relationship between the corpus of patristic literature (the "Church Fathers" and the early councils) and the present church. I gave it the old college try, and was greeted with mixed reviews. Some reported their own ambivalence and the feelings of "disaster" among the theological intelligentsia. I was even emailed by one MDiv student that his professor mocked me in class the next week. Nice. Two other influential persons sent me long emails detailing their disappointments with my paper. Several Wheaton students approached me after the talk to thank me for it and express their agreements. So, it was a mixed response.

Yesterday, I received a call from the Wheaton folks informing me that, against the objections of InterVarsity Press, my paper will not be included in a forthcoming book on the conference. When I asked if it was my scholarship that was in question, or that I was "off message," I was told, "The latter." I was then told that parts of my presentation were "provocative but less than helpful." Ultimately, I was told, I did not treat the Fathers and the Councils as normative to the life of the church today. I argued that we're in conversation with the Fathers today, just as they were in conversation with one another in their day. I also posited that the victory of one theological position over another was as much a matter of politics and context as a matter of divine providence. Finally, the lack of marginalized voices in all of the ancient (and medieval and modern) theological debates should give us all pause.

Does that mean that the Councils and creeds and Fathers lack authority today? I hope not. But I hope that they will have a more credible authority if we understand all of the vicissitudes of their times. As in our day, they had pressures on them from all sides, and, while I in no way think this precludes God's Spirit from guiding the process, it was not a unanimous and clean decision on, say, the dual-nature of Christ.

Finally, this: In the last four or five decades, with the maturation of evangelicalism, several schools of thought on the appropriattion of ancient sources have developed. Most evangelical church historians could draw you a diagram of these schools and tell you the various leaders of the schools, as well as telling you into which one they fall.

Emergent, on the other hand, is less than ten years old. As such, we are making our first forays into these hallowed grounds. We're in process. In other words, my paper was in no way a final statement on the authority of the Councils, but a first attempt at a faithful articulation of the emerging position.

What I find a bit troubling, however, is the mixed messages that we're receiving. On the one hand, emergent is accused of not being theologically rigorous enough. But then we're excluded from a book like this on account of our preliminary conclusions. Had my essay been included in the book, I assume it would have come under some sharp critique, and, as a result, I would have become a better theologian.

Instead, I will avail myself of the new media and post it here. Read it and decide for yourself. Please note that these are my notes for the presentation -- they have not been edited for a scholarly book. I was asked to present in such a way that would be approachable by undergrads, pastors, and professors, so I attempted some humor and lightheartedness. And you'll want to scroll along with the powerpoint presentation, too, since that was essential to my paper.

Lemme know what you think...

Get the paper here.

Get the powerpoint here.

Fire at The Simple Way

2007-06-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

From The Simple Way

6/20/07 12:30PM

This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors' homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm's way.

This fire will forever change the fabric of our community. Eight families are currently homeless, and in many cases have lost their vehicles as well as their homes. One of our neighbors, the Mahaias Family, lost their three cars as well as the equipment one family member uses for her massage therapy business. Teenager Brian Mahaias is devastated not because he has lost his belongings, but because he fears that this fire will force him to move away from this neighborhood that is his family as well as his home.

The Simple Way has lost a community center that was home to our Yes! And… afterschool program, community arts center, and Cottage Printworks t-shirt micro-business as well as to two of our community members. Community members Shane Claiborne and Jesce Walz have lost all of their belongings, Yes! And…'s after school studio and library were ruined, and community member Justin Donner's Cottage Printworks equipment and t-shirts were destroyed.

We are thankful that we are able to help each other during this time of need, and we will continue to keep your informed about today's events.

We have established funds to support the families who have lost their homes, the Yes! And… afterschool program, and the Simple Way community.

A fund to support the families has been established through a partner organization, EAPE. Tax-deductible donations can be made at https://www.tonycampolo.org/online_donation.php . Please make sure to put "Kensington Families Fund " in the memo section.

Donations to the Rebuilding Fund can be made via PayPal to contribute@awip.us.

-The Simple Way Community

UPDATES HERE

Currently Reading

2007-06-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've just started two books. One of them is George Marsden's magisterial, Jonathan Edwards: A Life. I'm particularly interested in Edwards because, unlike Francis, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, et al, Edwards's revival did not reify into an "-ism." In other words, there is no Edwardsism. There is no First Edwardsian Church of Minneapolis. Why is that? It's that question I seek to answer, for I hope and pray that there is never an Emergentism.

(Some will say that Driscoll/Piper/Mahaney represent the legacy of Edwards, but I think they represent only one stream of his legacy. Edwards was a Congregationalist, not a Baptist. We'll see -- it's a long book.)

My favorite line so far:

"Jonathan Edwards is sometimes criticized for having too dim a view of human nature, but it may be helpful to be reminded that his grandmother was an incorrigible profligate, his great-aunt committed infanticide, and his great-uncle was an ax-murderer."

Good Post...

2007-06-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

...on the connection between iPhone and church (specifically, the Roman Catholic Church). People want something that looks forward, not backward, in their technology and their church. Check it out.

HT: Andrew Sullivan

What a Classic!

2007-06-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

At Luther Seminary

2007-06-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

I take Mondays off (when I'm in town, that is) so that Julie can work on her master's degree, which she has just begun. So I had a great day at home with the kids yesterday.

Today, I met with Rick Bliese, the president of Luther Seminary in St. Paul. A mutual friend thought that we should meet since we hold some things in common but come from different angles. He's an institutional man, but one of a different sort. He's got a healthy skepticism of the "Berlin Model" of graduate education -- he explicitly said that it doesn't work for training practical theologians.

We talked of lots of other things, as well. It actually gave me (a little) hope for the future of seminaries...

San Francisco

2007-06-13T20:00:00.001-07:00

The kids got out of school on Friday, and we drove straight up north to the cabin. It was beautiful up there, and a great celebration of a successful year of first grade and kindergarten.

We drove home on Sunday, then Julie and I flew to San Francisco. We were put up at the sexy Hotel Diva near Union Square, and Julie and I ate a wonderful meal at Two on Sunday evening. We were there, as was Doug, to meet with Jossey-Bass folks on Monday about our two books. This was the "marketing meeting," the time to talk about how we get the word out about our books next winter and spring. The meeting was fun and exciting and hope-filled. And I'm glad that Julie was there, because it gave her a glimpse into that part of my life.

Julie flew home on Tuesday morning, and Doug and I headed over to Mission Bay Community Church for the "Spiritual Ecology Project" gathering, hosted by Mark Scandrette. It was great to see Barry Taylor, Spencer Burke, Karen Sloan, Bruce Reyes-Chow, Dieter Zander, David Cobia, and many others. I briefly met Brit Ian Mosby, which was cool. But the highlight was finally meeting Bob Carlton. We've talked on the phone, argued over email, and become great friends, but we'd never hugged. Now we have. He's everything he's cracked up to be.

Oh, and the event was great, full of crepes and conversations. A real Scandrette experience.

Jerry Falwell

2007-06-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

(This is, quite honestly, an auspicious way for me to reenter the blogosphere)

On April 14, just weeks before he died, Jerry Falwell preached a sermon entitled "What's Wrong with the Emergent Church?" I'm especially interested because he mentions me by name.

You can listen to the sermon here (it's also available on iTunes), and you can see his notes here. I suggest you listen as you look over the notes, since he several times leaves the notes and makes some extemporaneous comments.

He's got some things right, and some things wrong in this sermon. And I'll interact with them point-by-point. But the first thing I'd like to note is that this is not a biblical sermon. I mean, it seems to me that Falwell and other evangelical leaders excoriate "liberals" for not being biblical preachers, but in this sermon the Bible is hardly mentioned. He reads a passage from Matthew at the beginning, then briefly and vaguely mentions it later, and that's it. He doesn't interact with it, interpret it, or even preach about it. In that respect, this isn't so much a sermon as it is a speech, and it seems to me that the Bible is nothing more than a covering for a speech about some things that he holds dear.

1) The Intro: Jerry begins by saying that the emergent church started with people who are dissatisfied with evangelicalism. Partly right. Then he says, "I've studied the emergent church, and I'd like to tell you what's wrong with it." Based on what's below, you be the judge of how much "study" he's done.

2) The Passage: what I said above. I think it's funny when he says, "Right answer" about Peter's reponse to Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?" It's funny because it's cute, and because of how many times Peter gives the "wrong" answer to Jesus in other places.

3) Peter Drucker: Jerry quotes Peter Drucker on cultural shifts, then riffs on all the shifts he's seen in his own life. It's a bit eery that Jerry refers to his birth in 1933 and all the changes since then (ball point pen, computers, etc.). He says that other than the printing press and the steam engine, his parents grew up in a world very much like the Apostles. Hmm. That's curious. "And so the world is changing rapidly," he says, "And, unfortunately, so is the church."

4) Method and Message: Jerry goes on about how great microphones are and how styles of music don't matter. "I remember all of those changes, but they have nothing to do with spirituality. It has to do with preference and taste." I think many people would be hard-pressed to agree that they're musical preference is disassociated from their spirituality. But he does say that the emergent church has become destructive.

5) What is Emergent: He says that Leadership Network is the "fountainhead" of emergent, then he quotes at length from the LN website -- "You can look it up," he says, "At the Leadership Network." The problem is, it's not from LN's website, but from the Emergent Village website. He reads from this page, under the last three subtitles. I wrote those paragraphs, and, I must say, they sound great in Jerry's mouth! I wonder if anyone at Thomas Road Baptist Church that morning thought, "Hmm, that sounds pretty good! I'd better check that site!" I checked our analytics, and out hits weren't particularly high that day, so I guess not.

6) Context: Jerry talks about innovations in worship that are cool by him, then he takes us to task for re-analyzing "the Bible against the context in which is was written." He says that's from our own words, but I don't know where that's from. Nor do I know what it means to read something "against a context," but anyway, I guess he's on the right track here. Hermeneutics is key in emergent...

7) Foundation: He says we've built our movement on the wrong foundation (this is where he refers to the Bible, equating Jesus' statement about on this "rock" I will build my church with a philosophical foundation and with Jesus himself. Isn't Peter the "rock" in this passage???). He then accuses us of
Denying the divinity of Christ (I don't know of one person in Emergent who does)
Denying the Second Coming (I know of about 3 "full preterists" who do)
Denying the knowledge of Christ for salvation (again, I know of a few, but not many)

8) Slippery Slope: That's what he says we're on. Then he says something very curious: "I know the founders [of emergent]. I have ministered with them, and they have ministered here. We have been friends, and we still are friends. And I have cautioned them just as I am speaking here, that you have weak biblical foundations." So, if you are one of those emergent leaders who was friends with Jerry, please leave a comment below.

9) Theology: He says several times that we don't have any theologians in the group, that we don't care about theology, and that we learned everything we know at a few pastors' conferences. "No theology. A bit of knowledge, but no wisdom."

10) Non Sequiter: He talks about neckties and says, "Please bury me in a black suit and a red necktie and a 'Jesus First' lapel pin, or I'll come back and haunt you." Strange. Eery. He also talks about DC Talk, etc.

11) My sinful mouth: Now here's the fun part. We are

"encouraging profane and vulgar speech, in private and now from the pulpit. Tony Jones, who's one of the leaders of the emergent church, recently was speaking from the podium, and he was asked a question about the Bible. Here is what he said -- obviously I can't use the expletive, but I'll just use the letter. These are his words. He's the leader. He's the minister. He said, he said, 'The F Bible is scary to me. The F Bible is scary to me."

He then says that if anyone says that at Thomas Road Baptist Church, the men should rush the stage and remove that person from the building.

Now, I hope I don't have to say that -- unlike some of my friends -- I've never dropped the F-bomb in the pulpit, nor do I have any plans to (breathe easy, Mission Gathering!). What Jerry (or the person who actually wrote his sermons) found was a post at churchandpomo in which I wrote (in the midst of a longer post on deconstructionist readings of texts),

This connection between deconstruction and the Bible is especially meaningful, methinks. I am quite convinced that the Bible is a subversive text, that it constantly undermines our assumptions, transgresses our boundaries, and subverts our comforts. This may sound like academic mumbo-jumbo, but I really mean it. I think the Bible is a f***ing scary book (pardon my French, but that's the only way I know how to convey how strongly I feel about this). And I think that deconstruction is the only hermeneutical avenue that comes close to expressing the transgressive nature of our sacred text.

Well, I could go on and on. He compares a bottle of beer with cocaine. He talks about traveling "with some of them" to Egypt and, at a stop in Zurich, his co-travelers drank wine at dinner. Again, if you're one of the emergent church leaders who traveled with Jerry to Egypt, please drop a note in the comment section so I can hear about that trip. He lists Dave Travis (an LN staffer) as an emergent church leader.

Anyway, you can listen to the rest of it about how Jerry shuns all forms of evil, about drunk gospel singers, etc. It is wild stuff. He even promotes gossip in the choir (that is, tell me if you know of a choir member who is drinking or sleeping around, and I'll be sure they aren't in the choir next Sunday). We are "galvanizing into a denomination."

I must say, it is something to be immortalized by Jerry Falwell just days before his death. I will say this, during the whole "sermon" he seems to have a smile on his face. He was not an angry critic, like some. But still, I don't quite know what to make of it.

Wild stuff, friends. Wild stuff.

I FINISHED!

2007-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

The book is done, revisions and all.

Thank God.

Paging Phoenix...

2007-05-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

From Shane Hipps:

Calling all “emergent-types” in the Valley

Tony Jones is in Phoenix next weekend and we’re having a little get together. Tony is the National Coordinator of Emergent Village, author of numerous books and most recently editor of An Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Tony and I will be enjoying a beverage at Aunt Chiladas near 16^th st. and Northern on Saturday June 2^nd at 8pm. You’re welcome to join us.

June 12 - San Francisco

2007-05-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 12, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.

The stars have aligned and a critical mass of emerging church
leaders happen to be in the Bay Area on the same date. We thought this
convergence a good reason to host a day of conversation and
friendship-building among missional leaders and seekers.

Please join us for...

The Spiritual Ecology Project:
A day of conversation about the emerging church and God's mission in our world.

Featuring: Karen Sloan
Ian Mobsby
Doug Pagitt
Nathan George
Mark Scandrette
Tony and Julie Jones
Bob Carlton

9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Introductions & Break Out conversations
12 p.m. - 2 p.m. Lunch and continuing open source conversation

Come for all or a portion of the days festivities.

San Francisco Location TBA.

Limited Space available. Please RSVP to Amy Ross: amy@reimagine.org

Weary

2007-05-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

I promise, I will return to regular blogging after June 1. The final revisions on my book manuscript are due that day. And, in the meantime, I'm licking my wounds over a couple of difficult speaking engagements, most recently this past weekend. More on that later, as well.

But I will say, I'm thanking God for my dear friend, John Franke, who has been providentially available to me twice in the last few months as I've been received less than favorably at two different venues. If I were in this thing alone, I'd have quit a long time ago.

Over on the MonsterPod...

2007-05-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

...with Will Penner. Check it out.

Thoughtfully Reformed

2007-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am so way, far behind on blogging! My final (and fourth) draft is due to Jossey-Bass on June 1, so it's difficult to write here when that's breathing down my neck. I'm also traveling to speak every weekend this month.

I was at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan for the first half of last weekend. As I arrived, I saw two girls walking down the sidewalk in full Dutch costume with wooden clogs on. No joke. Turned out it was the weekend of the annual Tulip Festival. Of course, I immediately thought this meant they were celebrating driscollian/piperian theology, but in fact it was the flowers they were excited about.

Speaking of reformed theology, I found the folks at WTS to be warm, open, evangelical, and reformed. They were thoughtful, and not the least bit reactionary. Surely some didn't like all that I had to say, but their hospitality trumped any disagreements.

The conference was for area youth workers, as well as interested seminarians and Hope College students. When I meet people like that, I almost reconsider my current thoughts about seminary education...

Looking for Work

2007-04-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

As some of my friends know, I'm trying to piece together a living: part-time with EV, part time speaking, and part-time writing. The speaking is what keeps the Joneses liquid, and I happen to love it. But, as I'm figuring out the rhythms of this life, it seems that some times are great for speaking engagements (Sept-Nov, Jan-Mar, May), and other times, well, it's slim pickins. So, I'm trying to figure out a way to pay for our lives while I write my dissertation (which is next in the queue after the current book).

Anyway, I've got some travel scheduled for the summer, and I'd love to speak to your group, preach at your church, or spend time with your staff or volunteer leaders. I've also got a bunch of frequent flier miles, and I'd be willing to fly somewhere for a day or two to get some work. I've listed below some places I'll be for meetings, and I'd love to talk if you're interested in scheduling something else around that time. Or we can talk about another time in another place. You can email me at jonestony@gmail.com.

Also, I'm looking to land a regular column in a magazine or journal. I've talked to a couple periodicals, but I'm open to suggestions on this, too. Lemme know what you think.

June 2-3: Phoenix
June 10-11: San Francisco
June 24-25: Los Angeles/San Diego
July 8-9: Atlanta
August 11-12: Oregon/Idaho

(This is a bit of a vulnerable post for me, thus the comments are turned off. And if you are considering sending me an email telling me that I'm preaching heresy, etc., you can keep it to yourself.)

An Open Letter to Me

2007-04-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Over at Emerging Anglican, Robert Lancaster has posted an open letter to me regarding my address at Wheaton. He asks more good questions, and I will respond to him next week. In the meantime, you might check it out and drop a comment on him with your own response.

In other news, I have just begun Draft #4 of my book. That's right, Draft #4. Ugh. And yes, it's still due on June 1. I'll be heading into the northwoods for a few days to pound out many words, which is why I can't respond to Robert till next week.

Then, the following weekend starts a harrowing three weeks of travel and speaking (along with many late nights of writing in hotel rooms).

Manifesto of Hope Promo Video

2007-04-25T03:07:00.001-07:00

More on Wheaton

2007-04-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm glad that Al commented on the last post to clarify that the fellow theologians don't consider me a real theologian. I wonder if that has more to do with the powerpoint, or that I haven't finished my dissertation (or that I didn't wear a tie). At least Ken Silva has the cojones to call me an anti-theologian. (In fact, I think I like that title!) My thoughts on academic guilds are well known, and it does not surprise me that they esteem me not.

My "paper" went for a bit over an hour, then there were about 40 minutes worth of questions before Vince Bacote and I finally had to cut it off. I'll likely publish a version of that paper somewhere, sometime, so I'm not ready to give it all away here. But, the gist of it was that I said that orthodoxy doesn't "exist." Instead, orthodoxy is an event, in the Derridean/Caputoean sense. That is, orthodoxy happens when human beings get together and practice it (talk about God, worship God, pray to God, write books about God, etc.). There's no orthodoxy somewhere out there that one can point to and say, "See that? That's orthodoxy. That's what we're trying to get to."

The thrust of the conference was to talk ancient-future, to bring the patristics to bear on the present. I argued that the way we are faithful the Fathers (and Mothers, and the many marginalized voices in the history of the church) is to be conversant with them as we are attempting to be faithful in our time and place. I suggested that the Council of Chalcedon, for instance, was a messy, political event that eventuated in the "orthodox" rendering of Jesus the Christ as two substances, one person. Now, I don't reject that articulation of Christ, but I do want to acknowledge that it was a human and political process that resulted in that event of orthodoxy.

I received some comments during the Q&A time, as well as a couple of emails, all suggesting the same thing: I'm opening the door to liberalism. One emailer has asked if I've not abdicated all realism to the infinite deferral of deconstruction. But, like he said in his email, liberalism and conservativism are two sides of the same coin. They both rest on foundationalist assumptions that I reject. So I see no fear of sliding into some kind of neo-liberalism.

I used the analogy of a baseball umpire who has to call balls and strikes during a game. While the rulebook declares what will constitute a strike, and the umpire can quote that definition verbatim, there is really no such thing as a strike until the ball is thrown and the umpire declares it. I asserted that, though the Major League strike zone does not accord exactly with the rule book, there will not come a time when batters will be required to swing at pitches over their heads. The community of baseball (umps, managers, batters, pitchers, catchers, fans, and MLB officials) all hold the strike zone in a dialectical tension.

Similarly, Christian orthodoxy is held in tension by you, me, the Pope and Benny Hinn -- by all 2.2 billion of us. Plus, we're also listening to the interpretations of those who've gone before us -- the church fathers. (Sadly, we don't have the voices of the mothers and the slaves to guide us, but we're getting better at that.) As such, I do not consider the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed a perfect articulation of the Christian faith. They are remnants of our liturgical past, and, as such, they carry much hermeneutical weight. However, they as limited as all human language is limited.

My best argument that the "strike zone" of orthodoxy will hold is the 2,000 year history of the church. From the Early Church through the Conciliar Age, from the Dark Ages, through the Middle Ages, the Scholastics, the Reformation, the Modern Era, and until now, the worldwide community of faith has adjusted the strike zone, but also guarded it. Now, wrested from the hands of ecclesial elites and placed in the hands of bloggers and "laypersons," the same thing will happen: we will all work out our orthodoxy together.

Thinking Bloggers

2007-04-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

I don't often do this, but it might get Blair some readers (which he needs). So, go read Blair, because he tagged me. Do you hear me? Read Blair.

However, I'm not going to take the bait and tag five others.

Initial Thoughts on Wheaton

2007-04-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week now since I spoke at the annual Wheaton Theology Conference. Again, let me say that I was honored to be asked -- although Al Hsu reports that several theologians with whom he spoke were disgruntled and felt I had no right to be on the slate of speakers, much less in a keynote role. I guess if they want to maintain the purity of academic conferences, I can understand. But I think that the conference organizers are wary of the internecine battles that often result from academic inbreeding -- not to mention that very few academicians can speak with any credibility on the emergent church. So I gave it my best shot, and I took some criticism -- more on that tomorrow.

Due to Tanner's birthday on one end and the Emergent Theological Philosophical Conversation on the other, I couldn't stay at Wheaton for more than the day on Friday. This was a great disappointment, and it's not the way that I like to be at conferences.

The folks at Wheaton treated me with the utmost hospitality, particularly my friend, Vince Bacote. And I also want to give a shout-out to Karen Sloan, a true phenom in the emergent church. There she was, as she is at every EC event in the States. She reported to me that some of the other speakers were disgruntled because they'd heard that I was using powerpoint. (What's funny is that while my use of this Microsoft product seemed intimidating and out-of-place among academicians, it draws almost universal ridicule from all my Mac-happy co-emergers.) Another speaker reportedly scoffed at the emergent church with some derogatory comment about powerpoint slides. The problems with this assumption that academic discourse should (can?!?) be purely verbal are too numerous to post, so I won't.

John Franke was also there, and he was supportive throughout. I took a long walk with Jason Byassee of the Christian Century. He's an excellent and thoughtful guy who later in the day presented a paper on the emergent church. He was relatively fair, though he took a couple of cheap-shots at Doug; and his deconstruction of Mark Driscoll was devastating.

I ate two lunches: first with Collin Hansen of Christianity Today, who's working on a profile of Driscoll, and then with Andrew Bronson of InterVarsity Press, active in the Chicagoland Emergent Village cohort, up/rooted. Finally, I was graciously invited to the IVP author dinner, even though I'm not an IVP author. Seated amidst members of the Hauerwasian Mafia, it was fight or flight. I chose flight. Fortunately, Karen Sloan loaned me her car, and I got back to Wheaton without broken kneecaps.

Tomorrow: The Speech...

Wheaton Week

2007-04-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

Back from the beaches of Naples, Florida, we're due for two days of what they call a "rain-snow mix" in Minnesota. That's good for keeping me indoors for my my assignment, which is to finish up (begin?) my presentation to the Wheaton Theology Conference on Friday. It's a daunting task, to be sure. But I think I've got a line on it. The title is "Whence Hermeneutic Authority?", and I'll be attempting to both describe how the emergent church movement approaches hermeneutics and suggest a thoughtful way forward. I'm beginning with an extended analogy (that has to do with baseball), then move to description of the emergent church, then philosophical considerations, then normative theological suggestions, and, finally, practical solutions. So far, I've nailed down part one and moved into part two...

Keeping Ken Honest

2007-04-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

Iggy is doing some good work, and he could use some links...

A Cool Event in DC

2007-04-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'll be in Washington, DC three times this year. Here's the first event, and it will be a great one, if you can make it:

Church for the 21^st Century:

A Gathering to Envision, Encourage and Energize Congregations

Dear Friend:

Join the journey of generous-spirited Christians creating the church for the 21^st century. Come join us at Washington National Cathedral to reflect on the direction of the church. Share in creating a time of holy space in worship, music, meals and prayer. Explore key areas including worship, hospitality, discernment, tradition, justice, formation and beauty, drawn from Diana Butler Bass’ latest book Christianity for the Rest of Us.

We are pleased to announce presentations by leading theologians and practitioners including:

Diana Butler Bass
Michael Battle
Marcus Borg
Fred Burnham
Carmen Guerrero
Tony Jones
Samuel Lloyd
Barbara Brown Taylor
Phyllis Tickle

Conference activities also include: best practices sessions with examples from thriving congregations; a wide variety of community conversation circles for networking; shared meals; and roundtable discussions. More … Register now

Schedule and Fees: The conference runs from Thursday, May 10 at 2 pm until Saturday, May 12 with the conclusion of the noon Eucharist. The registration fee of $250 includes program costs, Thursday dinner, Friday lunch, Friday “Eucharist meal” and Friday evening reception.

Click “more” for complete descriptions of our activities and participant bios. Or click on “Register now” to go directly to our secure online registration page. You will have the option to make hotel reservations at one of two convenient and affordable hotels when you register.

More … Register now

Ready for Vacation

2007-03-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

I've been mui lax on this blog, and it bums me out. I really wanted to blog more this year, but I just can't find the time. And, I hate writing self-referential posts like this. Yuck.

But, I am looking forward to a week of vacation which starts right after I drop Len Sweet off at his hotel (he's speaking in the Twin Cities tonight, then we're going out for a beer). We're going to Naples, Florida, where my parents and Julie's parents spend the winter. (But we're leaving our big, scary dog at home, so stay away!) Other than the plane flights, our vacation should be fantastic.

I've been working on my presentation for the Wheaton Theology Conference, but I'm not nearly far enough yet. The pressure is mounting. It's coming together, but slowly.

And I'm spending an inordinate amount of time getting ready for the EV conversation with Caputo and Kearney: administration, reading, emails, etc. It's going to be fantastic. Plus, we've got the annual EV board meeting on the day preceding that event.

So, here's a public promise that I'll blog more soon...

(BTW, it seems that some of the Tony-haters have returned in the comment section. For a long time I quit blogging and turned off the comments to shed these people, which I did. But some of them are back. I encourage you, my friends, to ignore them.)

Deconstruction, Anyone?

2007-03-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

I've got a post on it at churchandpomo today.

Wanna Canoe...

2007-03-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

...in some of the most beautiful lakes in the world? My friends at Boundary Waters Experience have approached Doug and me about leading some canoe expeditions this summer.

Basically, here's the deal: For $695, you get a full week of outfitted and guided paddling in Boundary Waters Canoe Area on the Minnesota-Canada border. But that's not all! You'd also be a part of a 7-person cohort, and there will be discussions around the campfire each night. Doug will be leading one on church planting and leadership, and I'll be leading one on spiritual formation and theology. Plus, we've got a couple others in the works. The date: the week of June 23.

But, honestly, we have no idea if anyone would be interested in such a thing. So, if you are, please email Hillary Hicks in the next couple weeks and let her know: bwxsales@mac.com. If there's enough interest, we'll get the permits and away we go!

PS: I've been canoing in the BWCAW, and it's truly extraordinary.

Wheaton Is Getting Desparate

2007-03-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

At least that's the only way I can explain my invitation to be a keynote presenter at this year's Wheaton Theology Conference. I mean, past presenters have been giants in the field of theology, and I'm merely a Ph.D. student who will (someday) write a dissertation and get the damn degree. Even the folks doing the seminars have twice as many letters after their names as I do. I am clearly out of my league.

But, I found a loophole in one of the emails from the conference coordinators. They ask that our presentations be relevant to theologians, pastors, and college students! So, clearly, I'm the guy to speak to the lattermost crowd.

But seriously, I'm deeply honored and very much looking forward to it. I'm not much of one to present a "paper" at an event like this, but I did follow the rules enough to turn in an abstract today. Here it is:

“Whence Hermeneutic Authority?"
Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent Village

Abstract

Tipp O’Neill famously quipped that “All politics are local.” Maybe so, but the postmodernists have argued that all hermeneutics are local. It is our local communities that shape how we see the world, and—as Christians—our ecclesial communities that shape how we interact with the texts of scripture. Stanley Fish calls them “authoritative interpretative communities;” we call them “church.” But in what way does the grand tradition of church history interact with our local iterations of the faith? Does Chalcedon trump Minneapolis? The emerging church movement offers some insight into how coming generations will navigate this relationship between old and new, for in an age of micronarratives, Vincent of Lerins’s exhortation that orthodoxy must “hold fast to what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all” rings somewhat hollow. Or, maybe, orthodoxy has always been fluid, dynamic, open source…

I Fly A Lot...

2007-03-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

...and I even sit in first class quite often, as I am a "Platinum Elite" passenger at Northwest Airlines.

And I see several cadavers a year as a police chaplain.

But having those two experiences combined would be quite unnerving!

The Primacy of Sweet Rolls

2007-03-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Each morning last week in Denmark, Thomas and Henrick would meet me with coffee and two bags. One held dry, white hardrolls, and the other held sweet rolls. You and I might call the latter "Danishes" (which the Danes hate). They call them "snails," since they're wrapped up like a snail. In either case, that's what we had for breakfast.

We'd sit down, and one of them would tear open the bags. They'd start with the dry rolls, maybe with some butter or jam, and I'd go for the sweet roll first.

Finally, on the third day of this, I asked them, "Why do you eat those shitty dry rolls first?"

They smiled and said, "What you're doing is very wrong. One never eats the snail first. You start with a hard roll. Then, if there are any sweet rolls left, you can have one."

"That's crazy!" I said. "You should eat the sweet one first, then if you're still hungry you can eat a hard roll."

They just smiled and looked at me like I was a gluttonous American. I, meanwhile, ate my snail and thought about the miraculous wine at the Cana wedding...

On Stools

2007-03-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

I like a stool when I speak. I almost always want a stool. I like to have the option to sit and to occasionally get on my feet to walk around. Honestly, I think the only time I don't want a stool is when the crowd is over 500 or so. And since I rarely speak in front of crowds that big, I usually use a stool.

I don't know why. It feels more humble to me, more unassuming. More like a chat, and less like a lecture. Maybe it's a security blanket for me, an anchor. Some people hide behind the pulpit, I am held up by a stool.

I haven't made much of a study of stools. I tend to like one that allows movement, like The Stool That Spins at Solomon's Porch. And I need a footrest. A stool without a footrest is worthless.

So, leave it to the Scandinavians to build my perfect stool. I used it only on my first day here, when I was speaking at a Pentecostal church in Copenhagen. It looked like something you might find in IKEA. It had a footrest, at just the right height. But, most importantly, it cradled me, held me securely.

I loved that stool, and I miss it.

Random Thoughts on Scandinavia

2007-03-10T23:53:00.000-08:00

Gas costs $6.32 per gallon.

Fundamentalism -- as we know it in the U.S. -- is not possible here. I don't know if it's the socialism, the media (which simply would not cover fundamentalist leaders), the church-state mix or what, but it just wouldn't work. I asked everyone I could, and they all agreed that American fundamentalism will never take root in northern Europe. Pentecostalism? Yes. Conservative evangelicalism? To be sure. But not fundamentalism.

No one is obese. I saw nary an obese person in a whole week.

Among men, horizontally-striped shirts are popular. We wear only vertical stripes in the States. They say that vertical stripes are slimming. So I guess this is related to the last item.

The beauty of a hairstyle is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There is no stronger argument for the contextualization of beauty than the Euro Mullet.

Other than the horizontal stripes and the mullets, I felt very much at home here.

Friends

2007-03-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

I am truly blessed, I have once again discovered on this trip. I am now in Norway, and I've again been taken in by wonderful people who love God and love the church. Enough of this, and I might forget about all of the bloggers out there who think I'm the spawn of Satan.

After my engagements in Arhus, Denmark, I said a sad farewell to my friends Thomas and Henrick. I was driven by some fun-loving Americans to my next stop, a Pentecostal Bible college about an hour away. Jakob Vagner, teacher there, welcomed me with another great Danish meal (you don't hear much good about the food in northern Europe, but lemme tell you, the Danes know how to eat!). On Thursday, I addressed the student body in four sessions in the morning and had a session exclusively with the second-year students after lunch.

I was driven to the Billung Airport by a couple of students, and I flew in a very small plane to Oslo, where I was collected by another new friend, Bente. She had an excellent Norwegian breakfast for me this morning: bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and strong coffee. She then drove us to the Norwegian School of Theology, where I held forth for the morning, and into the afternoon. Now I've got a bit of downtime prior to my last engagement, tonight at a Covenant Church (where I'm sure to make more friends).

Somebody said that a man is rich, who is rich in friends. These are wise words indeed. And, I'm not trying to be sappy or anything here, but I've been thinking a lot about this concept of friendship whilst on this trip. There's really something to it -- the theological virtue of friendship -- and I'm mighty glad that we've made that a hallmark of Emergent Village.

The Twin Cities Parade of Churches...

2007-03-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

...is coming!!! Check it out!

Danish Musings

2007-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

Having a great time here in Denmark. On Monday, I spoke on emerging church issues to a group of church planters and other interested parties in Copenhagen. They were open and engaged, although our contextual differences were soon apparent. My host, Thomas Willer, opened by reading a bit from Soren Ostergaard's dissertation on Danish church plants in which Soren argues that the gospel is "radical contextualization."

I heartily concurred. The Danes (as has been my experience elsewhere in the world recently (Singapore and South Africa)) have been too easily co-opted by American models of church growth and revitalization. I pleaded that those of us from the US version of emergent church not be another in a long line of Americans offering a model. We're not offering a model, we're offering friendship. So, if you're looking for friends around the globe as you rethink church in your context, I said, then emergent is for you. Here's a pic of the Copenhagen group:

Early Tuesday morning, we travelled three hours by train to Jutland, the northwest part of Denmark -- kind of the equivalent to the Midwest, it's more agricultural, people a bit more conservative (in lifestyle, not politics). I spent Tuesday with a group of church planters in this area around Arhus. Today (Wednesday) will be with a new group in Arhus around issues of youth ministry, tomorrow at a Pentecostal Bible college, and Friday in Oslo, Norway.

One of the interesting things I've had to think through on this trip so far is the relationship between emergent thinking and charismaticism. The charismatic movement, particularly in its British "apostolic" form (as opposed, for instance, to the Vineyard) is very robust here -- well, I should say, robust among the small minority of Danes who are not part of the national Lutheran church. There's much talk about a church in Sheffield, U.K. who has developed this movement. My background is so thoroughly uncharistmatic that I always have to try extra hard to communicate faithfully in this idiom. More on this later...

Anyway, the hosts here are fantastically hospitable, the food exceptional (two types of herring at lunch on Monday!), and the beer.... mmm, what to say?... it's wonderful, and it comes in very large glasses!

Intrepid Journalist...

2007-03-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

...Scot McKnight interviewed me a couple weeks ago. Part one available here.

Re:Gen - Copenhagen

2007-03-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

My host, Thomas Willer, collected me at the airport and we dropped off my bags at the convent/hospital where I'm staying for my first two nights in Scandinavia. He and I then joined three of his church-planting colleagues for lunch at The Laundromat Cafe, owned, they tell me, by some Icelanders. Over lunch, we talked of church planting, differences between the U.S., the U.K., and Scandinavia, and the strange marriage in their church plant of Baptist, emergent, and charismatic sensibilities. We also had a fairly in-depth theological/philosophical discussion on human ontology, in which they said, basically, a human being is more than what s/he does and I argued the opposite. (Don't read too much into that -- there was some devil's advocacy going on.)

We then walked to the loft bar/cafe where their church, Re:Gen, meets on Sundays at 3pm. After about an hour of set-up, the folks started to flow in -- mostly university students and people in their 20s. Worship went almost 2 hours, with some music, lots of discussion, and a coffee break in the middle (which I think is a fantastic idea!). My friend, Simon Willer, who visited Minnesota last summer, led the sermon/discussion time on materialism and tied it in with a Lenten practice.

After worship, I was taken to dinner by Ivan, lovingly known as "The Godfather" at Re:Gen. A long-time Baptist children's pastor, Ivan now works at a Catholic preschool and volunteers his time with Re:Gen. His children are grown, and one of his boys joined us at dinner, along with another friend. We had a great dinner with lots of laughs, talk of the Bush Administration (uniformly despised in every country I visit) and global economics. My big question here is: Can liberal socialism compete in the global economy as emergent free markets (like India, and maybe someday, China) embrace liberal democracy...

The Flight Over Here

2007-03-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

Seven and a half hours from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, a long walk through the Schipol Airport, then and hour and a half to Capenhagen. As usual, I couldn't sleep at all. And, as usual, I cried at an in-flight movie: Rocky Balboa. As I had read in reviews, it really is a fitting end to that series of movies, a series which sometimes expemplified the worst of 1980s filmmaking. Stallone wrote and directed it, which gives me more respect for him that I'd previously had.

I also watched Casino Royale. As a young boy, I read all of Ian Fleming's novels about James Bond, so I was confused when I watched the movies -- also examples of bad 1980s filmmaking -- like Moonraker. The books were about long card games in exotic locales, while the movies were about guys skiing and shooting at each other with their gun/ski poles. Casino Royale not only parallels the book of the same name, but Daniel Craig is the most kick-ass Bond ever. His chase scene on foot beats any other Bond chase scene in cars. And, he screws up, which other Bonds never did -- it's a Bond who's learning epistemic humility!

PS: Thank God the Phil Yancey -- who has my dream job (author/columnist/speaker) -- is all right.

Scandahoovia, Here I Come!

2007-03-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

Like many life-long Minnesotans, I'm at least one-eighth Norwegian. I don't know exactly -- I'm between one-eighth and one-fourth. I had one great-great grandfather named, Thor Thorson. Sounds pretty Norwegian to me. He changed it to Thor Michaelson when he came to the States.

Growing up, many holidays were spent in Gaylord, a small farming town in south central Minnesota. My grandmother, Florence, was the Norwegian (she married a Welsh-American), and she served the Norwegian-Minnesotan staples: lefse (that's flat potato bread, often served with butter and sugar), egg coffee (made with the whole egg, shell and all), and the coup de grâce, lutefisk (cod, soaked in lye, then boiled until gelatinous). Supposedly, she made a nasty entry in her diary about me once since, when I was about 10, I complained about the smell in the house while the lutefisk was cooking.

Thus, the Norwegian heritage played strongly in my upbringing; in fact, more than the German, Welsh, or English did. So, it is with great anticipation that I sit in the MSP Airport, about to take off for my first trip to Scandinavia. I'll land in Copenhagen tomorrow morning and spend some time with my host, Thomas Willer, and his church-planting team. Then I'll lead seminars Monday-Thursday. On Friday I'll speak for Soren Ostergaard in Oslo, and have a free day in the Norwegian capital on Saturday before flying home next Sunday.

So, needless to say, I'm excited. It'll be great to see the land of the Thorsons, to meet some emergent folks there, and to smell the lutefisk again.

Of course, if you're in Copenhagen or Oslo, look me up and we'll grab a cup of egg coffee.

Do You Read Bob?

2007-03-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

Bob Robinson, that is? Well, he's consistently one of the most incisive, thoughtful bloggers I read. Currently, he's blogging about his interactions with DA Carson. I know Bob gave Don the benefit of the doubt -- and he shares Don's Reformed sensitibilities -- so I thing Bob is doing us all a service by blogging through his thoughts. Three posts so far:

here

here

and

here.

P.S.: I also happen to agree with Bob's criticism of Randy Balmer's book. In other words, neither Bob nor I are "lefties."

In Praise of Herring

2007-02-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

People think pickled herring is gross, but I love it. I eat it whenever possible. I think it's fantastic. I mean, who wouldn't love a raw little fish, soaked in vinegar and placed on a cracker.

All I can hope is that next week in Norway and Denmark, there will be lots of herring.

There was no herring last week in North Carolina, but there was some good BBQ. And much excellent conversation was consumed. The folks at Campbell University were gracious as always, I got ashed at Emmaus Way on Wednesday, followed by some great Hauerwasian debates over beer at a local watering hole with EW folks, and then a couple days at UNC-Greensboro. Finally, a great seafood dinner with Tim and Mimi Conder before I flew home.

Two reflections:

First, something is up in North Carolina. There are, like, three or four strong cohorts in the state. Folks like Zach Roberts are starting new monastic communities, and lots of people are debating the retreatism of Hauerwas :-). And Doug just told me that he'll be in NC four times this year for different meetings and events.

And second, I cannot speak highly enough about Scot McKnight. Honestly, there are few people in the world that I'd rather spend time with. He's funny, humble, and he knows the New Testament. He can handle friendly disagreement, and even some ribbing about the cuffs and pleats in his pants. I get the real sense that he's a man of integrity, and I'll bet that his students at North Park love him. So, book him to speak at your church or event before his schedule gets too full -- you'll have a new friend.

Finally...

2007-02-27T05:10:00.001-08:00

...Courtney blogs.

I've Posted Again...

2007-02-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

...over at God's Politics, in an effort to clarify my position on pluralism and tolerance.

Scot Has Blogged...

2007-02-26T07:17:00.000-08:00

...about our time together in NC here.

In Advance...

2007-02-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

...of my bare knuckles brawl this weekend with Scot McKnight (and his Cubbies proxy, Luke):

Cubs 2006 total payroll: $94,424,499

Cubs 2006 W-L record: 66-96

Cubs dollars spent per win: $1,430,674

Twins 2006 total payroll: $63,396,006

Twins 2006 W-L record: 96-66

Twins dollars spent per win: $660,375

That's a 2.1:1 ratio.

And, what does 2007 hold in store? Well, the Cubbies hired the washed-up, peripatetic manager Lou Pinella for $3.25 million, whereas the Twins continue to employ baseball genius and team loyalist Ron Gardenhire for $1.25 million. The Cubbies will pay $12.4 million to keep over-hyped Carlos Zambrano around for one more year, whereas the Twins signed hometown hero Joe Mauer $33 million to stick around for four years. I could go on and on. But one thing is clear: the Cubs haven't gotten the message that throwing money at the problem isn't the answer. Whatever magic Andy McPhail had in Minnesota, he has lost in Chicago.

Read it and weep, McKnights!

I've Blogged about Mitt Romney...

2007-02-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

...over at the God's Politics blog, and it's kicking up some good comments. Go over and add your $.02.

Last Night...

2007-02-21T04:36:00.000-08:00

...I gave a talk to about 150 Campbell University students. Afterwards, a few students came up and we exchanged the requisite pleasantries. Then, one guy shook my hand and said, "Hi. I've been waiting six or seven months for you to come here, so thanks for coming. I'm really glad you're here. I think most of what you say is full of shit. You know how you said that the people have been duped by the church? Well, I'm pretty sure that's what you are doing. I'm looking forward to hearing you again on Thursday."

That's my kind of college student!

I've Been Interviewed...

2007-02-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

...by a couple hosts at Wired Parish. The first, by Jay Kelly is here. We talk primarily about my book, Divine Intervention.

My Week as a Tarheel

2007-02-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in the MicroTel (not the best name for a hotel) in Lillington, NC, at the beginning of a week here in NC. Tuesday and Thursday, preaching at Campbell University, then DEBATING Scot McKnight at UNC-Greensboro on Friday and Saturday (no wagering, please).

I'm really looking forward to joining Tim Conder's community, Emmaus Way, for their Ash Wednesday gathering tomorrow night. That will be excellent, I'm sure.

I've been asked by another entity to blog about Mitt Romney, and I've asked, in turn, if it's allowable for me to be honest about my deep ambivalence about Mormonism. We'll see what they say...

Writing

2007-02-16T05:31:00.000-08:00

I only have a few habits when writing:

To write, I need at least 2 hours uninterrupted; any less than that is too frustrating.

Read what I wrote yesterday; ask myself, "Does it suck?"

Avoid the "to be" verb whenever possible. (is, are, were, etc.)

Avoid the passive voice at all times.

Don't avoid contractions.

Vary sentence structure in every paragraph.

Have as few block quotes as possible: if I can't say it in my own words, I shouldn't say it.

Use semicolons, colons, and em-dashes often.

That's it. Not too much to keep in my head as I attempt to conjure up words of brilliance.

Today's the Day

2007-02-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

Today I will finish my book. It was due on January 8, so it's only 5 weeks late, which isn't so bad. By no means is all work is done on the book, but I am finally ready to send it off for the developmental editing process to begin. I'll spend many more hours on this book in the coming months.

Several years ago, I was behind on a book manuscript. I went out with Julie for dinner on Valentine's Day, with the weight of the book hanging over me. I looked at Julie at the end of dinner and said, "I'm leaving before you get up tomorrow, and I won't be home till after you go to bed." I wrote for 18 hours the next day (on Saturday, in the empty church office). I took a 10-minute break each hour to walk my dog around the church. I logged 15,000 words that day and completed the book. Driving home at 2am, my fingers were so swollen that I couldn't grip the steering wheel.

That was not my proudest day. But, honestly, I still think that book is a good book. I'll let you figure out which book that was.

Nothing crazy like that today. Instead, I'll be reading it through once more, filling in some holes, etc.

So, if I owe you a phone call or email, thanks for your patience. Life will be returning to normal soon.

Free Event In Greensboro

2007-02-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

Want to hear me debate Scot McKnight in what's sure to be a serious smackdown?!? Come to a free event in Greensboro, NC, Feb 23-24.

We'll debate:

Are there really five streams that flow into the emerging lake, or six?
Who's more EmergenT, Don Miller or Len Sweet?
Why does Scot insist on leaving "Church" out of the "Emerging Church Movement"? Doesn't he believe in the Church?!?
Which town is more EmergenT, Chicago or Minneapolis?
Why are the Twins so much better than the Cubs?
Why did the Bears choke?
And much, much more!!!

(Seriously, we're part of a very cool event by the combined campus ministries of UNC-Greensboro titled, "Keeping Jesus Revolutionary." We'd love to see you there.)

Solomon's Porch

2007-02-07T10:15:00.001-08:00

A nice video from a night at the Porch.

"Leaving Behind Left Behind"

2007-02-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

That was the recent sermon/discussion series at one of my favorite churches on the planet: Journey in Dallas.

If you, too, would like to engage in the book of Revelation in a way that goes beyond unbiblical eschatologies, may I commend to you, Painting Revelation, a wonderful DVD with discussion guide by painter and teacher Debby Topliff. It's top notch, and will help you approach this beautiful book of the Bible aesthetically, not propositionally.

Recent Travels

2007-02-06T12:21:00.000-08:00

I'm just home from an intense three-week stretch of travel. The most shocking part of the whole trip was taking the red-eye home from LAX: I left 78 degrees and returned home to -19 degrees. However, you won't catch me complaining about the cold, cuz I Love It! Now, some highlights in reverse order:

Last weekend, I was at the incomparably beautiful Pepperdine University in Malibu. I spoke at a Friday morning chapel service, had lunch with some faculty and administrators, and led a prayer retreat for about 40 student leaders. I'm not a big fan of Christian colleges in general, since they too often promote just the kind of Christian enclaving that I dislike, however, Pepperdine gives me hope. While they are attempting to stay true to their Restorationist heritage, they are also desiring to be "radically ecumenical" (to quote one faculty member). This, I think, is just the way to move forward in a pluralistic world. The students were sharp and theologically inquisitive, and the faculty were outstanding -- I was afforded a warm reception.

Prior to that, I was in Decatur, Georgia, at the Mainline Emergent/s event at Columbia Seminary. This was a hybrid event, a meeting-of-the-minds between mainliners and emergers. Many ask, "What is Emergent?" But here, the question was, "What is the mainline?" Of course, the answer is that term is just as squishy as "evangelical" or "emergent." Diana Butler Bass helpfully called it, "Name brand Christianity," but that falls a bit short, too.

Different collections of our two groups came together over a year ago at Princeton Seminary with painful, if not disastrous, effects. This event at Columbia was much better. There was spirit in room -- and Spirit -- thanks in large part to Troy Bronsink and Eugene IV who led us in song and reading. The sessions and break-outs were helpful, but the connections at the Brickstore Pub each night were the high point. As usual, the formalities serve to make way for the relationships.

But the event was not without discomfort, as the blogosphere has told the tale. Where were the people of color? (They were on the stage, but not in the crowd.) Was it another event of "us" vs. "them"? What's the common ground? For my part, I'd say the difficulties all stem from an inability to really hear one another. That is, just because someone (me) challenges someone else to theological justify their practices does not necessarily imply a lack of commonality, or a lack of respect. Surely, emergers have engendered an ethos of sharp, even deconstructive, debate; to other ears, that often sounds harsh and unchristian. But we don't mean it to.

The week before last, I was teaching a week-long intensive class at Olivet Nazarene University. I'll say this: teaching one of those classes is hard work. And this: eating in a college cafeteria all week is not good for the waistline. Again, my hosts, particularly Mark Holcomb, were extraordinarily hospitable. The class went well, I think. The most fun was doing some cultural anthropological exegesis on the Olivet dining hall -- where different kids sat, and what that said about their cultural position. A dinner one night with the Dean of Theology and a historical theology prof cleared up some misconceptions about Emergent, I hope.

And the week prior to that, I was in Boston, meeting with a dozen Episcopal priests engaged in young adult ministry around that city. What a great group! I ran my smack about an Aristotelian understanding of spiritual formation, which I hope they found helpful. Plus, I got to have dinner with my cousin and her boyfriend, and then have a beer with the Boston Cohort -- now that group is crazy! Seriously, they remind me of my friends at Journey in Dallas.

Boston, Illinois, Atlanta, Los Angeles.
Episcopal, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Churches of Christ.
Anglican, Holiness, Reformed, Restorationist.

Honestly, I feel exceedingly blessed to have made friends with such a wide array of Jesus-followers.

Now, two weeks at home to finish the book, be with the family, and do the taxes before the next trip.

It's a First!

2007-02-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

As I've been speaking, I've seen people sweat, and I've seen their blood pressure rise. Heck, I've even had Phil Chalmer's Posse stand up and shout me down.

But never before have I given a talk that has sent a woman into labor.

Congratulations Abby and Jake!

Evangelicals Behaving Badly

2007-01-30T05:15:00.000-08:00

My friend, Christian Smith, has finally published what he and I have talked about on occasion. The misuse of stats by evangelicals -- particularly those involved in youth ministry -- is appalling and needs to be called what it is: devious and deceptive.

Various Surrealities at MonsterJam

2007-01-29T03:07:00.000-08:00

In order for Tanner to earn a "Group Activity" badge for Cub Scouts, we joined his den at MonsterJam a week ago. Yes, that's the "sport" where monster trucks race each other around in circles and run over smaller cars. I had a few surreal moments therein:

-The Metrodome was nearly full -- probably 50,000 people -- leading me to seriously reconsider my contention that Minnesotans are generally more intelligent than the rest of the American population. (No, the election of Jesse Ventura had not caused me to reconsider this.)

-As Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American" was playing at massive decibel levels, an enormous American flag was carried into the middle of the stadium by about two dozen people. Tanner (6), fresh off of a week of public education, said, "Dad, are they singing about Martin Luther King, cuz he wanted freedom?"

"Not exactly," I told him.

-About halfway in to the evening, I realized that every event was rigged so that Grave Digger would win. A quick Wikipedia check later that night explains that "Digger," was purchased from driver Dennis Anderson by Clear Channel Communications in 1998. Of course it was.

-The emcee, a rotund man who ran around the track and cajoled us through our earplugs into cheering, had obviously failed to watch the ESPN report on the 25th anniversary of "The Wave." The Wave is over, dude. It's passé. No one does it anymore.

-The thought occurred to me that I'm very likely the only Red-Letter Christian who's ever been to MonsterJam.

Winter in Minnesota...

2007-01-20T15:29:00.000-08:00

60 above zero:

Floridians turn on the heat.

People in Minnesota plant gardens.

50 above zero:

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

People in Duluth sunbathe.

40 above zero:

Italian & English cars won't start.

People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:

Distilled water freezes.

The water in Bemidji gets thicker.

20 above zero:

Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.

People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:

New York landlords finally turn up the heat.

People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

Zero:

People in Miami all die.

Minnesotans close the windows.

10 below zero:

Californians fly away to Mexico

People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:

Hollywood disintegrates.

The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero:

Washington DC runs out of hot air.

People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:

Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.

Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 below zero:

ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.)

People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:

Hell freezes over.

Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

A Change in Policy

2007-01-15T10:57:00.002-08:00

I began this long, slow war of words in May. In that time, I've made some important progress. I nailed the introduction, and the acknowledgements. I wrote the dedication and the Table of Contents. Some look past those accomplishments, but we must not lose sight of these important footholds in the writing of a manuscript.

About 50,000 words have been cycled in and then out of the theatre of the book -- they now reside stateside in the "First Draft" and "Second Draft" files. Some expect to be rotated back into the manuscript soon.

We (the words and I) keep slogging away -- this book won't be done in a day -- but some words are deleted every day. Other words have lost a prefix or a suffix. It's an unfortunate but unavoidable aspect of writing. I've visited many of the words in the recycle bin, told the rest of their sentences that I'm sorry for their loss.

So, we've been hovering at around 45,000 words. That's not acceptable! The contract clearly calls for 70,000 words! And, it was due on January 8 -- I had really hoped that this manuscript would be done by that deadline, but we've gotten bogged down in circumstances that we didn't foresee.

So, I have no choice. I'm sending in a surge of 20,000 words in the next two weeks.

We will finish this manuscript! We will not back down!

Failure is not an option!

But Will They Serve Lutefisk...

2007-01-15T10:57:00.001-08:00

...when I'm in Norway?

[UPDATE: Oops, I meant Sweden. Yeah, I know the difference. Really, I do.]

Another Ken Silva Post

2007-01-12T12:19:00.001-08:00

Did you know that Ken was a radio DJ? Yeah, that's pretty cool. He has a good radio voice.

More on Ken Silva

2007-01-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

I found it refreshing to hear some of Ken's story: his past as a rock musician -- he's written dozens of original songs -- and high school football coach. We also shared some fondness for the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont, where he lives and where I went to college.

A Big Week for my Brother

2007-01-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

First, my brother, Ted, presented a case before the Minnesota Supreme Court, then the StarTribune printed a feature on his very popular blog.

Way to go, Ted!

[UPDATE: Ted's oral arguments in streaming video.]

Ken Silva

2007-01-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

I talked to Pastor Ken on the phone today. Called up his church and he answered. We chatted for about half-an-hour and agreed to hang on to each other's phone numbers. Of course, we disagreed on some things, but agreed that friendship is possible and desirous. He seemed like a good guy, and I got to hear part of his story, which was quite interesting.

I'm hobbling around like a drunkard with my knee in bandages. The surgery was a success.

Today is the day that the Edina Police Chaplains have a chili feed for the cops. The Rabbi's is usually the hottest chili, but mine beat his this year.

Life is good.

Going Under

2007-01-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've been able to avoid surgery for 38 years, a streak that will be broken tomorrow. (I'm no Tim Conder, who hasn't puked since 1983!) It seems I'm in good enough health to go under general anesthesia. According to my physical yesterday: my blood pressure is 92 over 70 and I have a small hernia, but other than that, I'm ready to go.

And, yes, I did become faint when the doc was describing my hernia to me!

Christmas Greetings

2007-01-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

The Joneses were a little late getting our card out this year, and we didn't send it to as many friends as we would have liked (including anyone overseas). So, here it is for mass consumption.

Happy New Year!

Winter Travel Schedule

2006-12-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've added a Google Calendar on the right sidebar that will have all of my speaking gigs listed, but here's a list of the ones in the upcoming months. If you're in the area, drop me an email and let's get a beer.

January 17: Boston Young Adult Ministry Project, Boston, MA
January 22-26: Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL
January 30-February 1: Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA

February 2-3: Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
February 20-22: Campbell University, Buie's Creek, NC
February 23-25: UNC-Greenboro, Greensboro, NC

March 4-10: Sweden, Norway, Denmark

April 12-14: Wheaton Theology Conference, Wheaton, IL
April; 16-18: Emergent Theological Conversation, Philadelphia, PA

May 3-5: Western Seminary Youth Ministry Conference, Holland, MI
May 17-19: Faith as a Way of Life Conference, New Haven, CT
May 19-20: Washington Arts Group Conference, Washington, D.C.

I'm Digging Jay Bakker

2006-12-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched One Punk Under God (hooray for Comcast On Demand), and I really like Jay. I didn't always. Once, a couple of years ago, he was a speaker at the National Youth Workers Convention, in the evening slot, and I was hosting a late night deal. He went long--really long--and that meant I had to start late and stay up later. I was pissed.

What's funny is that, on the first episode of the show, his wife talks about a speaking gig where he went way over his time, and she was in the front row making the finger-across-the-throat sign. I'm about 90% sure that was the YS convention.

I've never met Jay, but I've heard he's a good guy. The show portrays his as really gentle, a bit insecure, and totally likeable. His wife feels about pastoral ministry about how mine does. And he is totally overshadowed by his Dad, the fallen televangelist (although I know how documentarians can shape things to look a certain way).

In any case, I think the show is good, and I think Jay is a good guy. I hope to meet him.

What Makes Me Faint

2006-12-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

Now, I don't want you thinking that I faint willy-nilly. The sight of blood, even my own, doesn't make me weak in the knees. Neither do dead bodies -- I see 3-5 cadavers every year as a police chaplain.

No, I faint in very specific circumstances: in a clinical setting, when a physician is describing the internal functions of my body, usually accompanied by a drawing or x-ray.

It first happened in college. I had reffed a hockey tournament that had me skating 14 hours a day for three days straight. By the end of the tourney, I couldn't even walk. I went to the college infirmary and was told I has severe tendinitis in both ankles, and, as the doc drew pictures of my tendons on that white paper they pull over the exam table, I went down. This week, it happened as soon as he popped the x-rays of my knee on the light box.

I also occasionally faint at the sight of really bad theology.

Second Opinion

2006-12-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

So, my brother, the doc, tells me that when I faint in doctor's offices, it's not a fight-or-flight response. That's a sympathetic response that sends blood to the extremities that need it. Instead, I'm having a vasovagal reaction, which is a rapid drop in blood pressure connected to the parasympathetic nervous system.

Then he told me I'm a wus. I think that's a clinical term.