By: Claire Appiah on November 10, 2016
Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Early on I developed an aversion for the content in this book due to the following representative statements and more: P5—“Like it or not, we are members of a large and particularly noisy family called the great apes. Just 6 million years ago, a single…
By: Garfield Harvey on November 10, 2016
Introduction One of the outcomes of our program is to “gain an advanced understanding and integration of ministry in relation to the dynamics of globalization and leadership.” Culture helps to define situations, attitudes, values and sometimes our careers. When we look at culture, it helps us to identify how we fit in based on our…
By: Jason Kennedy on November 10, 2016
Yuval Noah Harari is a brilliant writer. His book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind flows seamlessly from section to section describing man’s evolution from the cousins of chimpanzees to the highly intellectual being that roams the earth today. Compared to Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species, Harari’s is easy to understand and digest.…
By: Katy Drage Lines on November 10, 2016
I’m holding my copy of Who Needs Theology? in one hand and my newspaper in my other hand today [yes, I’m part of the proud few who still subscribe to a hard copy newspaper], and I’m flummoxed over what to say, how to respond to our country’s choice of president. Clearly, we who have critically…
By: Jim Sabella on November 10, 2016
Throughout the year I am in many churches. In recent years I’ve noticed a bit of an emerging theme within the churches I’ve visited. I’ve heard it say that everyone is a pastor; everyone is a minister; everyone is a leader; everyone is a MISSIONARY; everyone is a deacon; everyone is an evangelist; everyone is an…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on November 9, 2016
Sorrow was the primary emotion I felt when my daughter, McKenna, a freshman at George Fox University, called me to discuss the reactions of her classmates to the new presidency. The folk theology that entered their evening discussion was: “God allowed Trump to win the presidency because men are the ones who are supposed to…
By: Lynda Gittens on November 9, 2016
God, the One we have been taught to trust and believe. We have been preached to for numerous years to ask in Jesus name, and you shall receive, be obedient, and God will bless you. November 8th for many believers in America were left wondering why their prayers were unanswered, but there some who believe…
By: Chip Stapleton on November 9, 2016
In the wake of the US presidential election yesterday, I have found it incredibly hard to untangle my thoughts – let alone my emotions – about theology, it’s purpose and usefulness in our lives and our world. [Warning: political opinion] One of the questions that I have been wrestling with is: how in the world…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on November 9, 2016
There is no denying that fact that today Americans woke up with many feelings, emotions, questions, etc. For some, the president-elect is seen as a revolutionary political messiah. A person who vows to protect the racist, bias, sexist, religious, and misogynistic ideals of America while reassuring them that their superiority is restored leaving the marginalized in…
By: Mary Walker on November 9, 2016
Who Needs Theology? By Stanly J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson “Taking faith into life means looking at the society in which we live through theological eyes.” (p. 127) “We invite you to set out on a journey toward becoming a reflective lay Christian theologian anyway.” (p. 135) “Perhaps the largest hurdle or greatest chasm…
By: Geoff Lee on November 9, 2016
One of the leading theologians of the denomination to which I belong reflected that our movement has traditionally preferred exclamation marks to question marks. This has certainly been my experience. I feel like I have grown up in a church full of exclamation marks, that has focused very much on experience and the heart,…
By: Pablo Morales on November 4, 2016
SUMMARY Collins told us that Level-Five leaders surround themselves with self-motivated people who seek understanding together. They learn from mistakes and develop an atmosphere where people’s input is valued. Hirshman told us that it is very important to develop this kind of environment because it allows people to have voice, and in doing so it can…
By: Jason Kennedy on November 4, 2016
In Charlene Li’s work, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead, she describes a business and leadership world in which openness is the new key to success. Her book is divided into two parts: what is openness and how does a companies and leaders achieve openness. For her, she does not…
By: Kristin Hamilton on November 3, 2016
“So, who is your favorite social theorist?” This isn’t really the kind of question that comes up at dinner parties, sporting events, or (let’s be honest) in seminary hallways. Even now, after reading Contemporary Social Theory by Anthony Elliott, I couldn’t begin to answer that question. I can tell you that social theorists…
By: Phil Goldsberry on November 3, 2016
Introduction Show-and-Tell needs guidelines. Even the concept of “showing” must have some parameters or you can cross over lines that are both offensive, immoral, and possibly illegal. To “tell” is the challenge in today’s social media, world access through the internet, and hundreds of cable stations that bombard us 24/7. In a society that is…
By: Aaron Cole on November 3, 2016
Summary: Open Leadership, How Social Technology Can Transform The Way You Lead by Charlene Li is a guide to leadership in the 21st century. It is an almost sequel to Li’s first book, Groundswell, were leaders are given the how to’s of new technologies of social and mobile media. Open Leadership shows how the social…
By: Aaron Peterson on November 3, 2016
Open Leadership by Charlene Li who co-authored Groundswell is essentially a book about transforming relationships. There are 3 main sections. First, she makes the case that giving up control is inevitable and then gives 10 characteristics on what giving up control and being open look like. Second, she unpacks what a strategy to create open…
By: Chip Stapleton on November 3, 2016
As I worked through this interesting and engaging – but dense and challenging work, Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction by Anthony Elliot, my mind was racing with many questions (quite possibly to try and distract me from the hard work of processing all that I was reading). One of the questions that kept coming back to me…
By: Jim Sabella on November 3, 2016
I just came from a strategy meeting. The topic of the meeting was the ways in which we as a mission can reach the secular peoples of Europe by building bridges. It was more a symposium than it was a meeting, in that various people presented papers followed by discussions. One discussion centered on the…
By: Claire Appiah on November 3, 2016
Charlene Li—Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead Introduction Li observes that there has been a tremendous shift in power in which individuals have the capability of disseminating their views throughout the entire world. This state of affairs has been ushered in by huge and rapid increases in various types…
