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“Love Wins” is about love winning…and you have a problem with that…?

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Mar 23 14

I totally feel like I’m late to the game when it comes to blogging about Rob Bell’s newest and most controversial book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.” I guess the only difference between me and so many of the folks who were blogging about the book weeks ago is that…well, I read it (and to be fair, some of them have now, by this point).

So, whether you like my thoughts on the book or not, I feel like actually reading the book before writing a review on it automatically gives you additional credibility that folks like Justin Taylor didn’t have when they started the “is Rob Bell a universalist” fiasco. Now, obviously Rob probably really appreciated it considering the fact that “Love Wins” has been in the Top 100 books on Amazon for the past 25 days, and it’s currently #3 on Amazon’s Bestselling Books.

So, I’m going to try to not make this too much of an in-depth review of the book, but rather just some thoughts around the book specifically and the topic in general. If you want to read a great review of the book, check out this great review from Julie Clawson.

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Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling

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Dec 14 2

I’ve written before on Pomomusings about the power of story and even preached about storytelling and youth ministry. I’ve been drawn to other resources that talk about how to incorporate storytelling into ministry and so I was drawn to Jon Huckins‘s new book “Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling: Creating Fictional Stories that Illuminate the Message of Jesus.”

Jon is a veteran youth pastor and public school teacher who is now on staff with NieuCommunities, a collective of missional church communities who foster leadership and community development, in San Diego.

The book is broken up into four parts:

  1. Theology of Storytelling: here he discusses the importance of embracing the narrative of Scripture
  2. Philosophy of Storytelling: a discussion about why teaching through story invites and engages listeners
  3. How to Create Fictional Stories that Illuminate the Message of Jesus: this is the practical or “how-to” section of the book. Jon walks people through how to artfully create modern day parables that offer theological and practical insights
  4. Story Resources: Jon shares some of his own stories that he has written

If you’re in youth ministry or another teaching ministry and are interested in the power of story, you should check out Jon’s book. You can download the Kindle version here, which is available today.

This is Doug Pagitt’s Next Book

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Jul 5 12

You are looking at Doug Pagitt’s next book, Church in the Inventive Age. It was found lost in The Local, an Irish bar in Minneapolis, close to the Minneapolis Convention Center, which just so happens to be where the PC(USA)’s 219th General Assembly is taking place right now. It’s not clear as to whether Doug might have lost it (if you don’t know, he lives in Minneapolis), or if someone had received an early copy and simply left it in the bar. Anyway, I got it. I’ve flipped through it. I’m really not sure if this is supposed to be public yet, but it’s the real thing, and here are all the details.

I know you can download Chapter 1 of Doug’s book here, but it seems like just putting up one chapter of a book is a little lame. Seems like since we are in the “inventive” age – we should be more creative with the way we share information and our ideas.

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Doing Theology Means Waking Up!

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Jun 2 3

I just started reading “Doing Local Theology: A Guide for Artisans of a New Humanity” by Clemens Sedmak, and from page one I can already tell it’s going to be a great read. The book consists of 50 Theses for Doing Local Theology, in which he looks at the various ways in which local theologies are theologies created not by the educated elite, but by all who speak of God – by people enmeshed in local communities and thinking of God.

I think this would make a good read along with Philip Clayton’s “Transforming Christian Theology” – as they both seem to be making the move of taking theology out of the realms of the ivory towers of the academy and making sure that any good theology has legs – that any good theology IS a practical theology.

I love Sedmak’s very first thesis:

“THESIS 1: Theology is an invitation to wake up: to be mindful and attentive…In fact, being awake in a world full of wonders is the privilege of children. Doing theology in the spirit of children means seeking God in all things, being aware of God’s presence, listening to God’s voice, and being attentive to the signs of the times. We can do that only if we wake up.”

I love that definition of theology because it takes the intrinsic loftiness out of it. Theology isn’t something that comes off as a challenge, something that’s too hard for people of faith to do – but it becomes an invitation. An invitation to wake up – to become aware.

What do you think of this idea of theology as an invitation? Is it missing something?