By: Rose Anding on May 25, 2017
Introduction The Apartheid rule had dominated the South African nation for a long time and the Nationalists practiced it with utter disregard for the minorities.[i] Walsh’s book introduces F. W. de Klerk as the leader of the Nationalist movement and as willing to accept the replacement of Apartheid by a more comprehensive and inclusive rule.…
By: Aaron Cole on May 25, 2017
Summary The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, by David Welsh, is an expansive and historical explanation of the South African Apartheid moment and its’ ultimate downfall. Welsh’s focus is on the effect of the mid-century rise of racism due to Afrikaner nationalism, white South Africans of Dutch origin who held anti-British sentiment resulting in white…
By: Claire Appiah on May 25, 2017
David Welsh—The Rise and Fall of Apartheid Introduction In this detailed and thorough work, David Welsh traces the emergence of apartheid in South Africa in 1948 to its demise in 1994. This scholar explores the dynamics contributing to the transition of South Africa from a racial oligarchy to an inclusive democratic social order. His stated…
By: Jim Sabella on May 25, 2017
Summary There was a time when people stated that the world “is becoming” more and more global. We may be at a point and time where that is no longer the case; in many ways, we now live in a global world. And yet, culture is still culture, and geopolitical lines are still hard lines…
By: Mary Walker on May 25, 2017
“The challenge for us as leaders is to see our existence not only in terms of our own interests but ultimately about things larger than us.”[1] Of all the books we’ve read so far, this book really rocked with me the most. David Livermore’s enthusiasm for his subject, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is very captivating. Because…
By: Geoff Lee on May 25, 2017
“I have a friend in London – do you know them?” “Y’all are visiting England – do they still serve bland food like they did when I visited twenty years ago?” These are just a couple of the culturally intelligent questions I have heard or read from a certain nationality in the past couple of…
By: Marc Andresen on May 25, 2017
In the Spring of 1970 two foolish twenty year old young men, one white and one black, walked the streets of Capetown, South Africa together. We went places marked for whites only and for blacks only. We were refused service in restaurants. We were cheered by cars of blacks who drove by. Phil and I…
By: Kristin Hamilton on May 20, 2017
There is so much meat in Martin Percy’s Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology that I cannot wait to sit down and really devour it as a full meal rather than as a buffet from which I only have the ability to eat a few bites from each section. I’m not sure exactly…
By: Kevin Norwood on May 19, 2017
Being a part of a denominational church has its challenges. There are structures that have existed for a hundred years. There are political positions and there are power players. There are traditions that are amazing and there are traditions that are very out of touch and out of date. There are names that have become…
By: Pablo Morales on May 19, 2017
SUMMARY In Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology, Martyn Percy explores the complexities of contextual ecclesiology within the narrative of the Anglican tradition. Percy explains that churches across denominations have a set of stated theological propositions that shape each church. However, the way in which the church interacts with its socio-cultural context also…
By: Jason Kennedy on May 19, 2017
Sitting on the clouds forty thousand feet above earth is always interesting. You never know who you will be sitting next to and this is my case today. I headed to California to handle a bit of business for the church. Next to me is a polite woman reading a book. I glance at the…
By: Chip Stapleton on May 19, 2017
If you have never had the pleasure of watching Iron Chef (in any of it’s many variations) it is a pretty serious cooking competition/reality show, that centers around a ‘secret ingredient’ challenge each week. Once the secret ingredient is revealed – in dramatic fashion, of course – the competing chefs have have one hour to create…
By: Phil Goldsberry on May 18, 2017
Introduction I have heard, and have even said, that “perception is reality”. What we “perceive” is real to us, no matter its validity. Our perception can/is tainted by the “lens” of life that we look through. This “perception is reality”, seems to be the premise for Martyn Percy’s book, Shaping the Church: The Promise of…
By: Aaron Peterson on May 18, 2017
I’m so glad I remembered Dean Conniry’s advice this afternoon at 3pm as I was leaving school. Our first day in Hong Kong way back in 2015, he told us a story of how he missed his daughter’s soccer game to write a paper. With my blog still only half-baked, I closed my laptop and…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on May 18, 2017
This week we read the book Shaping The Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology, Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology by Martyn Percy, he explores Implicit Theology and its impact on shaping ecclesial life. He writes “Only by understanding implicit theology can theologians gain an understanding of ecclesial evolution, pastoralia and faith development. The…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on May 18, 2017
Through reassurance, hope, and practical steps, Percy consistently reminds the reader of the significance of religion and how to make subtle, yet distinct changes in an ever-changing church culture. His nurturing tone flows throughout his analogies, as he persuades the reader to pay attention to the implicit messages that shape the purpose of church and…
By: Stu Cocanougher on May 18, 2017
Seminary students and others who want to study the history and current forms of Christianity are often drawn to creeds and conventions such as the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, The Anglican Catechism, the Augsburg Confession, The Baptist Faith and Message, etc. Much time is spent on debating Calvinism versus Arminianism, the nature of the…
By: Lynda Gittens on May 18, 2017
SHAPING THE CHURCH, THE PROMISE OF IMPLICIT THEOLOGY Dr. Percy approaches the Churches’ views and practices of Implicit Theology. He identified ‘Implicit Theology’ as “examining the basic theological habits of the daily life of churches, congregations, and denominations and guessing at the hidden meanings in structures and practices that on the surface appear to be…
By: Marc Andresen on May 18, 2017
“We bring our culture into our worship.” Wednesday I sat at our international student lunch talking with Gaetan, a civil engineering student from Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that was his statement to me. We were not discussing Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology, by Martyn Percy, we were just talking about…
By: Claire Appiah on May 18, 2017
Martyn Percy –Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology In this monograph, The Very Reverend Professor Martyn Percy acknowledges that, “There is no doubt that ecclesial communities look to formal theological propositions, creeds, articles of faith, and the like to order their inner life, establish their identity and maintain their distinctiveness in the world.…
