By: Kevin Norwood on May 26, 2017
I was in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on a school tour with my friend Derek Switzer. Londonderry or Derry, as he would call it, is quite an interesting place. The city is so divided that it is not possible to even call it by name without making people choose their side. Protestants loyalists call it Londonderry…
By: Jason Kennedy on May 26, 2017
I am a student of history and of people. I am fascinated in studying how people think about any particular event or action. Recently, I have discovered a documentary on Netflix entitled The Seven-Five. It is a gritty tale of how cops, those sworn to serve and protect, ended up running drugs for Columbian drug…
By: Pablo Morales on May 25, 2017
SUMMARY In The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, professor David Welsh describes the social system of racial segregation that the National Party established in South Africa from 1948-1994. Walsh divides the Apartheid in three chronological stages in which several laws were established in order to ensure white supremacy in the midst of a multiethnic society.…
By: Phil Goldsberry on May 25, 2017
Introduction The doctrine of Original Sin is straightforward. The ramifications and fallout are more challenging to understand their impact and profundity. I would propose that one of the most heinous of our fallen/sin nature is a breakdown, and even hatred, for people who are different than us. This breakdown/hatred is profoundly the opposite of the…
By: Aaron Peterson on May 25, 2017
I read David Welsh’s huge tome, The Rise and Fall of Apartheid specifically looking for some leadership take-aways. I know the history is important and that details matter. Trust me, this book is packed, maybe too much so, with details. Since this is a leadership class and not a history class though, I decided to…
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: Garfield Harvey on May 25, 2017
This week our doctoral cohort was challenged to read a book that has a shifting backdrop of global politics. There shouldn’t be any surprise since our program centers on global leadership. The author wanted us to see a struggle between those maintaining and defending one system, while the other concedes to threats or violence through…
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: 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: 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: 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.…
By: Aaron Cole on May 18, 2017
Summary Shaping The Church, The Promise of Implicit Theology by Martyn Percy is an academic and yet simple view of the status of the church in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Percy gives an overview both statistically and ideologically of how the church is working in England, especially with conversion, confirmation, and…
By: Rose Anding on May 17, 2017
Introduction Implicit and explicit thoughts are two major types of relative terms for religious formalization. Religion does not require explicitness of the person’s belief. Rather, it needs the implicitness that leads to a moral expansions towards nature. Martyn Percy’s book, Shaping the Church, explains the ideas of religious theology in an implicit manner…
By: Garfield Harvey on May 17, 2017
First Encounter In September 2015, our doctoral program heard Dr. Percy gave an incredible speech that continues to reflect his character and consistency in his writing. Percy, in his presentation, challenged us as ministry leaders with this question: What’s your occupation? While the question was rhetorical in nature, his argument was clear. He stated two…
