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A Postscript on Starting to Deconstruct Church
My favorite part of exploring ideas is seeing how ideas affect other people. The other day I shared an article suggesting that instead of tinkering with Daylight Savings Time or opting out of it, what if we adopted it all year round? It is not as novel a concept as one would think and has far…
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This is the shift
We are shifting toward enlightenment. Not The Enlightenment, for we are leaving much of that behind. But a certain enlightened view of the world that is more than logic and rational, ideological and fearful, more than cynical and compassionate. We’re moving toward being real and being forgiving. I know this sounds pie in the sky…
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The Sleeping Giant of Progressive Christianity
Is this the end? Phyllis Tickle has long argued that the fight over human sexuality and marriage is the last battle of the culture war. It is the last plank of the cultural conservative political platform; and the plank is crumbling. That is why the fight has been so brutal. She argues that conservative Christians…
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Emergence Is Not a Fad
Using Words We have a communication problem in the church. About change, tradition, our existing culture. We struggle to understand each other when we talk about our liturgy and our patterns of worship and our expectations of leadership. We argue that we want our church to have a more engaged role in the community, but…
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Je Suis Baltimore?
It has been a week. A week since peaceful protests were transformed into an uprising. A week since the eyes of the world descended on the city to watch images that, since the dystopian experience of those living the protest and militarized police response in Ferguson, MO last year, have become increasingly familiar: flames, destruction…
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What I Heard Phyllis Say
At the end of last week’s Emergence Christianity conference (#EC13) there was a confusion. Phyllis Tickle, the conference keynote speaker, who presented her work on Emergence Christianity throughout, made a couple of controversial statements. Julie Clawson makes a good accounting for them here. However, I heard her differently. First, I will state that I…
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A Ridiculously Basic Introduction to Emergence Christianity
Before I begin, I need to give a whole bunch of caveats. First, this is not only ridiculously basic, but inappropriately basic. The subject is too big to cast in just a few sentences. Second, you should probably just go out and buy Phyllis Tickle’s book of the same name and read it yourself. Third, I have…
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Feeling the Movement
Here in Memphis, I’ve joined together with many Christians to celebrate Phyllis Tickle at the Emergence Christianity conference (hash tag #EC13). We’re hearing presentations from Mrs. Tickle about the subject of the book of the same name (Emergence Christianity) and responses from dozens of people involved in emergence. I’m loving it! There is plenty…