N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright, one of my favorite writers, was on the Colbert Report last night talking about heaven. Quite interesting… both the topic and how he did in that setting. It’s a hard topic to get across in such a short amount of time and with the jokes flying back and forth but I think he did a good job. Then again, I spend a lot of my time trying to sort out those kinds of things so maybe I’m not the best judge of how well he communicated. The fact he was on, however, is really interesting and might be among the nicest ‘theology in popular culture’ events I’ve seen in a long while. Hopefully, there will be more of that. Bringing theology directly to the people is a very needed task.
Here’s the clip (scroll down–I can’t embed it here for some reason and can’t link directly to the exact clip).
the pledge
It’s tough to run a college these days. It’s tougher still when you set high standards. And it’s toughest of all when those standards reflect an Ozzie and Harriet morality in a Sarah Jessica Parker world.
Just ask the folks at Wheaton College.
My alma mater, Wheaton College, in the news about its community covenant. Or as we called it, ‘the Pledge’.
When I was there, and probably still, the hip, attempting to be chic students (probably now users of Macs–which were pieces of junk then) reveled in breaking the pledge. Go out dancing, drinking, whatever. Go to the most conservative place you can, and break the rules. That’s rebellion!
I never really got that attitude. Freely choosing Wheaton meant freely choosing to live according to certain guidelines. No, they didn’t all match what I saw in Scripture. But they were there, and I signed that I would live by them. It was a matter of my own honor and commitment. A covenant indeed.
I’ve never been a rebellious sort, though I’m certainly not one to walk as everyone else does just because those are the rules. At Wheaton though it did create a certain atmosphere, and one that resulted in profound intellectual and spiritual growth for me.
I didn’t have the typical college experience, but then again, I didn’t have the typical college experience. Meaning I don’t remember all the social adventures or the craziness, but I did get this utterly classic liberal arts education which opened my eyes to the whole world, in depth and breadth. I learned how to think historically and think globally and go beyond the provincial thinking that I saw so limited a good many people I knew… and know. I think big, because of Wheaton, because of the modeling that came from professors who not only knew their subjects but truly and deeply loved God and conveyed that in a powerful way.
Yes, there will be those incidents that seem gray and grate against what seems otherwise entirely fair. But that’s a minor sacrifice in helping to maintain the kind of place where iron is really sharpening iron.
And those who broke the pledge, and celebrate(d) it? They talked a lot about hypocrisy and God’s freedom and such things. Still do. But the fact is that to a person they pushed people away from God and wallowed in their own frenzies. They undercut what could have been not only a profound intellectual experience but also a profound expression of amazing Biblical community.
The Spirit is, after all, the Holy Spirit and leads us towards holiness.
That’s why I really do support, in every way, the kinds of policies that help Wheaton continue to nurture a specific environment. As Bill McGurn says, “Today Wheaton is the counterculture. And the men and women who teach and study there know it.”
For Christ and his Kingdom.
claiming the Spirit
Kirsteen Kim, writing about the views of Indian theologian Stanley Samartha, intrigues me with the following:
Similarly, he cautioned Christians against assuming that they could always claim to have the Spirit of God, insisting that such a claim is not for us to make but for our neighbors to recognize. Christians, therefore, encounter their neighbors of other faiths with humility, not knowing how the Spirit will blow, but in anticipation that the Spirit will work to lead the participants further into “all truth”. Discernment is intended to recognize the activities of the Spirit, not to control them, and therefore, he argued, the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit must be given greater weight than prior doctrines of the Spirit.
Charismatic renewal in the Orthodox church
It was added late to the schedule so I’m really glad I noticed it. I was wanting to jump right in and this was a perfect way to do it, albeit rather unexpected.
I’ve long been interested in the Orthodox church. Well, not really all that long. Ten years or so. When I was first really introduced to it I wasn’t interested at all. It was in my Historical Theology class. Robert Webber was very interested in Orthodoxy and brought in a man who was once an Evangelical firebrand and then converted to the Orthodox church.
I didn’t find much to like about the presentations in that class. Of course, I was still myself wholly Evangelical with all the biases that meant, so I wasn’t quite listening with an altogether open mind. I wonder what I would think now. I suspect I still wouldn’t like it, but I would have a better sense of the specifics.
Here’s why. Because the stories and presentation in that class were about Orthodox ecclesiology. The man who became a priest loved the Church, the history, the formality, the liturgy, the whole Apostolic succession that maintained a strict, orderly hierarchy. He was in love with the form of church the Orthodox presented.
I did, though, come out of that class feeling like the Orthodox had a much better claim for real succession than does the Roman Catholic church, whose theology likes to claim early centuries but is really late medieval. The Orthodox think the 4th and 5th century were worth keeping around for a good while longer.
Since that time I’ve done a lot of reading. I’ve done a lot of reading of early church sources, and many of the very sources that the Orthodox raise as their sources. And it hit me again and again.
Where’s the passion? Where’s the real presence of the Spirit?
What I saw was all the theology of the Spirit, this elegant, wonderful, deep theology of spirituality and holiness being poured into yet more justifications of hierarchy, and power, and church politics. The theology doesn’t match the expression. I’ve little interest in forms or power structures or thinking that I need a man in a beard and dark outfit to somehow be my connection to the living Christ and his ever present Spirit. I believe in apostolic succession but it is through the Spirit that this is conveyed, not in the structures. I wondered where the living power of the Spirit that is so present in the early church writers has gone. Why is there such political battles even as they claim to be bearers of the one who has upset all those politics?
The presentation was on the charismatic renewal in the Orthodox church. So, given all my thoughts, I was interested.
And I was in turn absolutely delighted. Father Eusebius Stephanou spoke on his own realization of the living power of the Holy Spirit forty years ago and then on his, as he terms it, prophetic ministry within the Orthodox church to bring this renewal to all. It is, as he puts it, not a matter of bringing something new to the church. The Orthodox church, he said, is the Pentecostal church, it is the church that began on Pentecost, but has lost its way for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of distractions.
He told the story of how he had absolutely no interest in those from other churches, thought them (us) all heretics. A charismatic group of Orthodox began to include him, and he was entranced by their passion for God. He didn’t feel the same warmth they did, even after they prayed over and with him, but he knew there was something there leading him to greater depths. One evening, while eating alone as he usually did, the Spirit met him. Came over him with an overpowering love for Jesus, a passion for Jesus, a love for the work of God, and began to see and think with a profound new awareness of God’s work. This was the beginning of his ministry.
What’s so interesting to me is how so much of what he said, beginning with the absolute emphasis and adoration for Jesus, were points that I talk about in my book. He expressed what I was thinking we should see when the Spirit came. He emphasizes Jesus, he wants to participate with all those who call him Lord, he sees the frustrations that a rigid hierarchy can lead to. He is filled with this love for God, and is coupled with an absolute love for his church.
In this love, in this passion, in these emphases I resonate so strongly. He is the expression of what I read in the works of Symeon the New Theologian, or Nikitas Stithatos, or any of the other absolutely profound Christian Orthodox writers who have been so central to my developing faith.
I feel a bond of unity with Father Eusebius that goes beyond so much of what I’ve felt with so many Evangelical pastors.
And so, the conference started out well for me. And it was only my first taste of orthodox and Pentecostal dialogue.
But in between I got a taste of Peace–Baptist, Quaker, Pentecostal pacifism.
Which will be the subject of another post.
A society of Pentecostals
Last Wednesday I flew out to Durham, North Carolina to attend the Society of Pentecostal Studies annual meeting. Though there was wireless in my hotel room and at the conference I didn’t check in here. I guess it’s the same part of me that tends not to take pictures at big events. I want to enjoy the moment, be in the moment, rather than be thinking how to document the moment.
I guess it’s another sign that I studied history rather than journalism in college.
That being the case, now that the trip is in the past I can begin to document the goings on.
My dad took me to the airport early on Wednesday morning, on his way to work. Which was nice, though his work and my flight time didn’t exactly match up. I got there round about 7. My flight took off at 11:40. Plenty of time to get to know the Ontario International Airport. I walked for long while. And I read for a long while, read a book I was hoping to re-prime me for theological conversation. It certainly did. The Holy Spirit in the World is a wonderful, wonderful book, though very dense, and got my brain moving again. It even ignited thoughts about new trails of study.
The time went by fairly quickly. Hardly felt like a wait at all. I boarded my flight, a very new Delta 757, and had a 4 hour ride to Atlanta, in which I mostly read some more, listened to a lot of classical music, as well as one of my favorite people in the world.
Landed, then I had to go from one side of Atlanta to the other for my next flight. Well, one side of the airport to another, Terminal A to E, which involved a mile+ walk and riding a train for ten minutes. Then onward to the Raleigh/Durham airport. Totally uneventful, entirely full, flight.
Landed. Was picked up by my good friend Maria, who used to be a SoCal resident before finishing up her degree at Fuller and wandering over to see what kind of extra education she can pick up at Duke. We first met at the church I used to go to/work at, and had good long conversations about very intellectual things as well as less intellectual things. She was, without a doubt, one of my earliest and most encouraging cheerleaders when I began my writing in 2003. That she’s brilliant and exceedingly well read with a superior grasp of English (despite being born and raised in Austria) made the encouragement all the more encouraging. So it was nice to see her. And not have to walk to the hotel.
She made me a turkey sandwich, because it was late and she thought I would be hungry. I didn’t know I was, but it turned out I was more hungry than I knew.
Got to my Quality Inns and Suites, right next door to the Durham Hilton, checked into room 103 and proceeded to immediately not fall asleep. Sure it might be 10:30 local time, but it was just starting out the evening in my time. Add the fact I was really suffering from a cold and a bad cough… well, I didn’t get to sleep until around 1.
Woke up wide awake at 6. Round about 7:30 I walked over to the Hilton, checked into the conference, opened my little packet of materials and was happy to see me staring back. A flier on It’s a Dance was included. Made me smile. I also got a couple of free books, which occupied my time until the shuttle came to take folks to Duke. Sat next to one of the main organizers of the conference, though I wasn’t aware of it at the time, not until he stood up at the main session that evening.
Did I say I’ve not been real involved in academia for a while and don’t really know anyone?
A new session had been added at the last minute. I decided to go. The Rev. Eusebius Stephanou spoke on his charismatic conversion in the early 60s and his subsequent ministry within the Eastern Orthodox church for the last forty years.
My thoughts on that will be in the next post.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. The night before my flight to the conference I got some nice news which helped my attendance take on more substantive meaning. I got a note from Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen that I had been accepted as his PhD student at Fuller Theological seminary beginning this Fall, and more that I had been awarded by the School of Theology a scholarship that entirely pays my tuition.
Off and Away to an emerging pneumatology
I’m leaving on a jet plane, be back late Sunday evening.
Going to the Society of Pentecostal Studies annual conference, out in North Carolina–at Duke to be more exact.
Should be a grand time. I’m giving a little presentation on emerging pneumatology, in which I take the traits of the emerging church and view them through the lens of Moltmann’s theology to identify these traits as an emerging pneumatology.
In other words, the same thing I did with my book.
This morning I practiced and recorded it. I need more practice, and I need to get over this cold and cough, but for the most part I’m happy with what I’ve done. The book is 270 pages. The paper I wrote for the conference is 27 pages. The text of the presentation I will be giving on that paper is 13 pages. Editing down is fun!
Here’s the 1/2 hour presentation.
Or you can visit me on youtube.
If there is good access I’m going to try to do regular posts from the conference, and maybe get some video. We’ll see.
Cheers!
a wee prayer request
So a curious thing happened in 2007. I ended 2006 rather burned out. I had a book written, but no word on if it was going to be published. I felt a bit brain dead, isolated, and otherwise unfocused. I felt stuck and I felt I needed to push. Potential ministry possibilities were staying flat and quiet. I couldn’t seem to get any connections to spark or any directions to open up. So I started looking in to PhD programs. In history. The process for this required me to get in touch with old professors. And getting in touch with one old professor sparked my taking a couple of classes early in 2007. I get two free audits a year as part of my Fuller Seminary Alumni Rewards program so I took a class on Pursuit of Wholeness (mostly uninspiring and tending towards psychobabble) and I sat in on a class on Jurgen Moltmann’s theology. It was a PhD class. After a presentation I did on the Coming of God, the professor heartily encouraged me to to pursue a PhD under his guidance.
While this had been in the back of my head I had basically pushed it aside after graduating with my M.Div in late 2002. Ministry is what did it to me. I loved working with people, disciplining, wrestling with real life situations and approaches. When I had entered seminary in 1999 I didn’t know which path aI wanted to take, and went through three years setting myself up for either ministry or academics. By the year after I had finished I was burned out with both. Not because of a lack of interest or passion in the subjects. Because of the politics that seemed to be much more influential in both directions. I’m bad at politicking. I’m bad at saying what should be said as opposed to what I think. I keep opening my mouth at the wrong times, or not networking as I should.
This pushed me into other directions, and after seeing there was no life there, I went towards writing. My interests continued towards practical ministry, even as my reading regained an academic influence. Most ministry books bore me, to be honest. While most academic books ignite thoughts of practical application. There’s an engineer in me wanting to come out, I think, and my tools and materials are theological.
No doors opened, or have opened, in ministry directions, other than a wee little curious conversation that’s happening in Pasadena each Sunday at Lucky Baldwins. But a door did open in academics, and as I kept peeking through, the door remained open, with increasing curious encouragement.
So I applied to Fuller, for a PhD in systematic theology, where my dissertation, as recommended by that old professor would focus on emerging church theology and Moltmann’s theology. A curious blend of both academics and practical ministry study under one of the foremost scholars on the Holy Spirit in the world.
Well, in the past I thought I had to choose either/or, but with this it might be a wonderful both/and in what is increasingly, I think, becoming one of the institutional centers of emerging/missional church thought.
I got the application in early this year. Yesterday I filled out all the financial aid applications. It’s the latter that is the bigger thing in my mind. I have utterly no money for more school, and I’m still in debt from past schooling, which while pushing me deeper and farther in study and discipleship and spiritual growth, hasn’t at all pushed me farther in finances or income.
If God wants me to take these next steps, go through this seemingly opened door before me, he has to provide a way. I would have to move back to Pasadena, and that ain’t cheap. And I’d have to pay for all the costs of school and books.
So, if you’re thinking of me when you toss some words God’s way, could you pray that he opens the door for finances to go this direction. If there’s no money I can’t do it. And I can’t get more loans. I’m not so sold on this to mean that I’d be utterly crushed if it didn’t work out, but it would be nice to know that as many prayers as possible are out there for me to be confident that how it works out really is the best.
I’m working on a new book now, and hope to have it done before summer no matter what, but I can’t help think it would give me a bit of a boost to know there’s a new step and stage waiting for me not too long after, and the money enough to do it without more financial angst.
So, if you would, pray for financial aid decisions being made on my behalf during this next month. That or encourage everyone you know to buy 5 or maybe even 6 hundred copies of my book. 
I’ll keep updating on this as I hear news.
random book goodness
Here’s the game:
- Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
- Find Page 123.
- Find the first 5 sentences.
- Post the next 3 sentences.
- Tag 5 people.
Now this is going to be a bit of a surprise. Sure, someone might think Patrick will have some theology musing or spirituality suggestion or at least a tale of derring-do upon the high seas. Nope. If I was on my bed, I would lean over and open my book of Complete Works of O. Henry. But since I’m at my desk, and not near my bed, my nearest book is utterly a bit random. It’s one of my Amazon Vine books for the month. I get a couple free items each month from Amazon.com. All I have to do to keep getting items each month is post a review of what I’ve received. Some months I get electronics. One month I got power bars. This month it was books. One was the first volume of a biography of Napoleon. But that’s not the one closest to me. No, closest to me is even more outside my usual. It’s The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard.
While not exactly the most heartwarming reading, it’s actually quite interesting, especially for folks concerned about global welfare and politics. But, for a longer review, I’ll wait till I finish the book and post my dues on the Amazon site.
For now, it’s just the sentences. Page 123, sentences 6-8:
“It contributed to a major reduction in malaria mortality in Italy, which declined from 490 per million in 1900 to 57 per million in 1914. Yet morbidity rates over the course of this period, while fluctuating from year to year, remained essentially constant. Despite the hopes of Grassi and Celli that the massive distribution of quinine could lead to the eradication of malaria in Italy, the quinine campaign had little impact on transmission.”
I’ll let you know how the book ends. I think the butler did it.
I guess I’m supposed to tag people.
Some names then. Amy, Jim, Peter, Christina, Erik, Debby and well, anyone else who reads this. I loooove knowing what people are reading. So if you decide to follow up, post a link in the comments and let me know.
Oh, and just because I’m curious if I was typing this while sitting on my bed. Here’s the bit from O. Henry, near the end of his story “The Ransom of Mack”.
“He will,” says I.
“There was lots of women at the wedding,” says Mack, smoking up. “But I didn’t seem to get any ides from ‘em. I wish I was informed in the structure of their attainments like you said you was.”
Indeed.
on the other vine
For those who have followed my writing and schooling a bit you’ll know that I really liked, and really used, the book Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
He and Eddie Gibbs, have then, been my primary, academic, exposure to this movement over the years and helped shape my thinking on church before the emerging church was named. I owe a lot to their research and their questions.
All this to say, Ryan Bolger is being interviewed over at Shapevine tomorrow, January 31st, at 1pm my time, which is 4pm on the East Coast, and other times in other places. 
He’s well worth checking out.
From the Vine — Every Day Lasts a Year
This is one of those rare treasures of a book that hardly seems real at first. Primary documents are the foundation of history. For me this is especially true when the documents are not official political or military papers but are instead a reflection of the average person within a certain context or era.
And that is what these are. Every Day Lasts A Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence from Poland
They were Jewish.
But this isn’t a book about the Holocaust or World War II or Polish history. This is a book about a family living in the midst of a crisis, trying to live as they could. It is a book about the contrasts between history on a grand scale and mundane details of daily life. In these all too often mundane details, however, the specter of Nazism is ever present, even if not mentioned.
The letters themselves take up about 180 pages of this 280 page book. They are well edited and formatted so as to make for easy reading, presented without commentary except for the occasional footnote clarifying a point of history or making note of a translation or transcription issue. These are not great literature, but that is the point. They are the kinds of letters sent by family members to one of their own far away. And they are amazing insights into life.
The first hundred pages is made up of three essays. The first by the son of the letters recipient. He tells the story of Joseph, his father. While the prose is not the best, the story is well told and quite interesting. We get to know the one who is so present and yet so silent through the later laters. It is an engaging story, not only because he was able to escape Poland but also because of the immense legal troubles he had when he got to the States. The US tried to deport Joseph back to Europe just when Europe was exploding into war.
The second two essays are much more academic in tone. The first details the Nazi rule in Cracow throughout the war. The second is broader in scope, giving a background to Jewish life in Poland before and during the war.
Overall this is an incredible book, amazing for anyone interested in World War II, Holocaust studies, social history, or Poland. My only critique, and it’s a picky one, is that I felt the book was a little unsure who to target as an audience. It is very accessible to a popular audience interested in the topic, but at times the essays feel a bit too rigid and stolid. It takes a while to get to the actual letters, and at that point it is a huge shift in reading style. I almost would have liked to have the letters at the beginning with the two academic essays at the end for reference.
Again, a picky complaint. Overall, Every Day Lasts a Year is an extraordinary book, mostly because those we meet in it were not extraordinary at all but just regular men and women caught up by hell on earth.
