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“It begins with a inarticulate groan…”: a prayer for my students this termEvery term begins with a flurry of activity: making lists, checking over student rosters, printing syllabi, making sure textbooks are available, updating library books on hold, loading up files onto blackboard, etc. When I step into the class each new term, I am reminded that for some students, a theology course can be nerve jangling – wrestling with deep questions of self, God, tradition, family heritage, and other challenging topics … There’s more to read here.
Posted in teaching, theology, Uncategorized
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U2 and Bonhoeffer’s cantus firmus: why we need music in our theologyIn Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, he develops an amazing reflection on the power of music to shape and transform theology. Given that I just finished a book on pop music and that I think most naturally in metaphors and similes (perhaps one of the reasons why parables of Jesus always made sense to me and the Epistles of Paul leave me generally dry and parched) Bonhoeffer’s … There’s more to read here.
Posted in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theology, U2, Your Neighbor's Hymnal
Tagged Dietrich Bonhoeffer, music, U2, Your Neighbor's Hymnal
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Third Verse Generation: the turning of the tide is pulling the old personalities awayI just returned from a wonderful intergenerational gathering of creatives: film makers, poets, studio artists, dancers and choreographers, novelists, essayists, apologists, working stage actors and directors, pastors and even some theologians in the mix. People were at turns extroverted to nominally passionate, distantly to distinctly vintage and pseudo to suburbanly Christian trending from high to low to no church. During the week together new friendships were forged, people who ‘liked’ status updates … There’s more to read here. Can you love God without a political party? Freedom of the Self and ‘Republicanity’In the introduction to my book Freedom of the Self, I open with a story regarding Rembrandt’s famous 1642 painting “the Nightwatch” I heard while viewing it a few years ago in Amsterdam that frames—both literally and figuratively—my concern with the church today and, in particular, a misguided loss of personhood for many faithful people. Those who have seen many of the 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon … There’s more to read here.
Posted in church, culture, Freedom of the Self, Jesus, missional, Models of the Church, theology, Uncategorized
Tagged church, culture, Faith, Freedom of the Self, Michelle Bachmann, pastoral vocation, politics, republican, shibboleth, theology
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5 things True Blood gets theologically rightThis week marks the return of the HBO series “True Blood.” For those who haven’t followed the series, “True Blood” is based on a series of pulp-ish novel by Charlene Harris that follows the travails and revelations of Bon Temps, Louisiana after “The Great Revelation” – the moment following the invention of synthetic blood (marketed and sold as “True Blood” which gives us the series title) where Vampires come out in … There’s more to read here.
Posted in belief, books, Imagination, Mikhail Bakhtin, television, theology, True Blood
Tagged Sookie Stackhouse, television, True Blood, Vampires
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Emergent vs. Progressive: Phyllis Tickle, WB Yeats, Toad the Wet Sprocket and learning to let goLast year I published a book entitled Freedom of the Self which was essentially an extended meditation on missional and emergent theology in light of kenosis. The book gets into areas of Continental philosophy as well and is one of those arguments in theology that often casts you as a radical, heretic, apostate or worse. One of the points I tried to make in the book is that the … There’s more to read here.
Posted in emergent, emerging adulthood, kenosis, Kenotic Theology, Phillipians, Phyllis Tickle, theology, Toad the Wet Sprocket, WB Yeats
Tagged church, Continential Philosophy, Emergent, existential musings, kenosis, Patheos.com, Phyllis Tickle, Progressive Christianity, theology, Toad the Wet Sprocket, WB Yeats
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Life after Pentecost – the Spirit in the Material WorldThis past Sunday is known in the Christian year as “Pentecost Sunday” which celebrates the beginning of the Christian church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as noted in Acts 2. What results from the outpouring of the Spirit is a movement toward radical community, signs and wonders of power, healing and reconciliation as well as the assurance that the promises of Jesus Christ are not merely waiting at … There’s more to read here.
Posted in augustine, belief, Bible, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Pentecost, Physicalism, theology
Tagged Acts 2, Bible, church, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Penecost, theology
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3 Things U2 has that the Church needs: Life after Emergent and the “Iron Maypole” movements
Posted in art, belief, Bono, church, theology, U2, Uncategorized, Your Neighbor's Hymnal
Tagged bono, church, Jesus, music, theology, U2, Your Neighbor's Hymnal
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5 things Oprah taught the worldLast night, Oprah Winfrey ended a 25 year, 4,561 episode run of the Oprah Winfrey Show not in a massive stadium spectacle nor by giving away cars or even having Tom Cruise jumping on the sofa next to her. No, she zeroed in on what the world loves her for: she stood before her regular TV audience – estimated viewing of 48 million per week and probably 60 million watching her finale last … There’s more to read here.
Posted in belief, books, faith, Oprah, Oprah finale, television, Uncategorized
Tagged church, Jesus, Oprah, Oprah finale, television
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Living beyond fear: Psalm 73, Walter Bruggemann, Kenzaburo Oe, and security checkpointsI am having one of those days when nothing seems to be going right – I am currently stuck in the Denver airport having missed my connecting flight due to long lines at the TSA security checkpoints asking me to tell them whether my toothpaste will be a danger to national security as I try to take off half my clothes in order to be scanned, prodded, poked and stared … There’s more to read here.
Posted in Bible, existential musings, Flight delays, George W. Bush, Kenzaburo Oe, Psalm 73, theology, TSA, Uncategorized, Walter Bruggemann
Tagged Airports, Bible, Kenzaburo Oe, TSA, Walter Bruggemann
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© 2011 Jeff Keuss |