Class Reflection for Monday Week 6

Today Dr. Bolger continued his discussion on the emergent church.  One thing I thought was interesting about his lecture was the implications about the gospel that he seemed to be making...that part of what Jesus was doing in his work was to narrow the gap that is achieved in a subject-object dualism.  This, is, however,...

Book Review: Boff, Leonardo, The Base Communities Reinvent the Church (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997)

The title of Boff’s book, Ecclesiogenesis, refers to what Boff understands as a new phenomenon in the Roman Catholic Church, the birth of a new type of ecclesiology.  As a Brazilian theologian he has seen the emergence of Christian communities among Brazil’s poor, called basic communities that have come up with creative new ways for...

Class Reflection for Wednesday of Week 5

Today we talked about the so-called "Emerging Church," which, as self-consciously "post-modern" resists any definitive labels or categories, although there are certain emphases that such churches seem to embrace: Focus on community, elevation of the laity, use of the arts, eclectic appropriation of various Christian traditons, engagement with culture/context, and porous boundaries.  And, as a...

Class Reflection for Monday of Week 5

Today we talked about Kingdom-like qualities that the historic denominations may or may not possess.  My group looked at the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  One of the things that concerned us about this denomination was its tendancy to conflate the Kingdom with the Orthodox Church...but when we gave our presentation, one student--who seemed more familiar with...

Book Review: Sider, Roland J., Olson, Philip N., and Unruh, Heidi Rolland. Churches That Make a Difference (Grand Rapids: Baker Books,2002)

Roland J. Sider is president of Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA) and professor of theology and culture at Easter Baptist Theological Seminary.  Philip N. Olson is vice president for church relations at ESA and director of Network 9:3.  Heidi Rolland Unruh is associate director of the Congregations, Communities, and Leadership Development Project at Eastern Baptist...

Class Reflection for Wednesday of Week 4

Today Dr. Bolger asked us to imagine what the kingdom of God might look like in our ministry settings.    Immediatley, I began thinking of social justice concerns and the missional posture of the church; that in someways the church's outward focus is primary over against defining church as a worshipping community.  But, then as soon...

Class Reflection for Moday of Week 4

Today Dr. Bolger asked us to imagine what it might look like if Jesus made a visit to the places/contexts of our case studies.  I took a kind of meditative/prayerful approach to the exercise and almost played the role of "audience" to whatever was playing out in my imagination.  The situation that I am considering...

Book Review: Karkkainen, Veli-Matti, An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002)

Veki-Matti Karkkainen is associate professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.  He has published numerous articles in international journals of theology and written: Pneumatology: An Introduction. As its title suggests, Dr. Karkkainen's book is a survey of differing approaches to ecclesiology.  In Part One, he looks at Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Free...

Class Reflection for Wednesday of Week 3

This week, Dr. Bolger, asked us what we thought the Kingdom of God might look like in society, our personal spheres and our churches.  In particular, he wanted us to think about what the kingdom of God might look like in the specific situations of our case studies.  It doesn't seem as though there should...

Class Reflection for Wednesday of Week 2

Last Wednesday's class was my favorite yet.  Mostly because it was the most content driven yet.  Our discussion about the ways we see domination being played out in culture, in our personal lives, and in our church, has been something that I've recently been thinking a lot about--that is, even before this class.  Last quarter,...