By: Nancy VanderRoest on February 15, 2019
There is a story I once heard about God talking to a child. The child asked, “God, what is a million years on earth like for you?” and God replied, “It’s like one minute in Heaven.” So, the little boy asked, “God, what is a million dollars on earth like for you?” and God replied,…
By: Dan Kreiss on February 15, 2019
I have little doubt that ‘When God Talks Back’ by Tanya Luhrmann could be a difficult read for many who call themselves Evangelical. Akin to deep introspection or even constructive criticism that is unrequested, the sense that one is being observed with a critical eye is unnerving. Many might be prone to react defensively, feeling…
By: Trisha Welstad on February 15, 2019
Christians all over the world pray to God. At my church we have at least five different prayer ministries. Seeking God is a normative part of the Christian experience. But what about hearing a response from God? T.M. Luhrmann asks about the Divine response to humans in her multi-year anthropological study of the Vineyard…
By: Andrea Lathrop on February 14, 2019
I remember the first time I heard that saying – God helps those who help themselves. I didn’t give it much notice except that my husband made mention of it later and hinted that it was not biblical. I was in my mid-twenties and for the life of me could not figure out the…
By: Sean Dean on February 14, 2019
“Hard work pays off.” my band director would say time and time again to us. “Hard work is its own reward,” my parents and grandparents would repeat over and over to me and my sisters. Even in our deeply Catholic community the remnants of the faith system of the Puritans who founded our city could…
By: Jay Forseth on February 14, 2019
Before I jump into Luhrmann, I recognize she gives us MANY things we can EASILY discuss. I feel I must start this week’s Blog with the one word that kept coming up in my mind while reading Luhrmann’s, When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. [1] The word is—“believe”. No, I’m not saying God spoke this word to me. But maybe He…
By: Rhonda Davis on February 14, 2019
Weber’s book, The Spirit of Capitalism, is a founding sociology text. In this book, he advocates that capitalism is a direct result of the protestant work ethic. He argues that we are indebted to our religious heritage for the successes of capitalist economies.[1] According to Weber, it all began with the dawn of Protestantism. In…
By: Jason Turbeville on February 14, 2019
When I picked up When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God by T.M. Luhrmann I was expecting a hit job on evangelicals. Not sure why, just was. What I found was a deeply thought out discussion of the implications of hearing God speak. Luhrmann discusses her experiences within The Vineyard denomination, which, to my embarrassment, I had never heard of…
By: Jenn Burnett on February 14, 2019
Early in my youth I had an existential crises which led me to explore the purpose of my life. Perhaps this exploration is normal as children grow into adults, but it led me through a dark place. With an encouraging intent, a leader shared with me Jeremiah 29:11 “‘For I know the plans I have…
By: Mike on February 14, 2019
Tanya Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back explores a mental place of cognizance where Christianity, Science, and Psychology intersect to form a type of a sustainable space where one can pray, communicate, and hear the voice of God. Using a phenomenological approach and ethnographic method, Luhrmann immersed herself into the Vineyard church to observe, interview, and…
By: Digby Wilkinson on February 14, 2019
Back in the dark ages when I studied ethics for three years, I discovered to my consternation that the world of economics had a somewhat lopsided and precarious relationship to moral theory. Until the later part of the 19th century moral deliberations occupied a conspicuous place in economic studies. A principal notion in Max Weber’s…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on February 14, 2019
When I discovered Luhrmann’s book, When God Talks Back, was about the Vineyard Movement I got excited. I grew up in Southern California and was very well acquainted with the Vineyard Movement and even attended John Wimber’s founding Vineyard Fellowship in Anaheim, CA several times while attending Azusa Pacific University. I remember the excitement of…
By: Colleen Batchelder on February 14, 2019
T.M. Luhrmann, a social scientist[1]and psychological anthropologist[2], drops her readers down a rabbit hole and then challenges them to utilize their theological theories to climb up from the darkness. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God presents an argument that is built on the facets of a Luhrmann’s four-fold theological viewpoint, which includes,…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on February 14, 2019
Since the 1870’s “the tail wagging the dog” is used when something that should be driving circumstances is instead being driven by them, “it is a role-reversal.[1]This idiom came to mind as I read Max Weber’s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalismas the progression from virtue to task master takes hold. Weber describes…
By: Jennifer Williamson on February 14, 2019
Disclaimer: I’m visiting a niece in Carnforth, England and have little to no internet access. I wrote this on the train hoping to add in quotes and such once I could get on line, but I’ve been having trouble connecting. I have a window here, so I’m going to post what I have and hope…
By: Mark Petersen on February 14, 2019
As I read Tanya Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back, I was transported back in time thirty years to my seminary years (yes, I know this dates me, and I just re-did the math to verify that scary truth). The premise – an anthropologist with a scientific approach to understanding the ineffable and the sublime –…
By: Dave Watermulder on February 14, 2019
During our Advance trip to Hong Kong, one of our speakers was Dr. Philip Wickeri, an Adviser to the Bishop of Hong Kong and a Professor of Church History, especially the history of the Chinese Christian church. He is also a family friend who I have known through the years. During his presentation to our group,…
By: Harry Edwards on February 14, 2019
I wish I had come up with this clever title. I owe it to Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi, a scholar of Indian descent. The title comes from a series of lectures based on his book The Book That Made Your World in which he helps the reader understand the root cause of the West’s decline and…
By: Shawn Hart on February 14, 2019
Finally!!! Finally!!! Finally!!! T.M. Luhrmann’s book, “When God Talks Back” was a bible-based book that actually came with biblical perspectives all throughout it. Did I agree with everything the author said? Of course not; however, I did find many places of clarity regarding the Evangelical movement that are very helpful for understanding many of the…
By: Karen Rouggly on February 14, 2019
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Protestant Reformation lately. Luther has been a mainstay in my research on vocation and calling, understandably so, which is why I wasn’t all together too surprised to see Max Weber spend a good portion of time with Luther in The Protestant Work Ethic and the “Spirit” of…
