By: Rev Jacob Bolton on March 21, 2019
This was a very difficult book for me. I have found beauty, inspiration, further faith formation, and lifelong relationships in many of the things that Douthat calls out in Bad Religion: How we Became a Nation of Heretics, and if that deems me a heretic, I have been called far worse, by far better. After…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on March 21, 2019
I had a pretty good idea what this week’s book was going to be about by its obvious title, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a focused life in a noisy world by Cal Newport, but I had no idea how much it would resonate with me and my core values. Newport is pretty clear what he means…
By: Colleen Batchelder on March 20, 2019
When I first delved into Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, I was highly skeptical. How could a book that challenges one’s daily interactions have any precedence or purpose in today’s growing technologically-driven society? However, I was reminded today why I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I won’t go into…
By: Chris Pritchett on March 20, 2019
In Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport applies the practices of the minimalist movement to our digital practice. In the second part of the book, Newport encourages the reader to embrace the discipline of solitude. I found that quite fascinating. In our world of digital distraction, we see the need to practice what the church has practiced…
By: Dave Watermulder on March 19, 2019
My friends! I am sorry to be submitting this paper later than the others and to be behind the wave on this conversation within our cohort. At the same time, in approaching this book and topic, I think that I am also ahead in a certain way. I say this, because the topic that we are…
By: Mike on March 19, 2019
Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism helps readers resist, adapt, declutter, reduce, detox, and hopefully become more effective within an otherwise messy digital construct of zero’s and one’s. The key comment by Newport that caught my attention was “The App Store” wants your soul.[1] This post will examine Newport’s ideas and claims while trying to extract and…
By: John Muhanji on March 17, 2019
The two books (Digital Minimalism and Simple Habits for complex Time) we have now read are addressing current challenges that we are facing in a complex world. The complexity of life we live in today is changing hourly, and before one adjusts to what is happening around, another new development comes up and what we…
By: Kyle Chalko on March 17, 2019
What a book. What a topic. What a world we live in. It was interesting timing that we were assigned to read this book. I dont mean to be hyperbolic and just shout “wow its worse than ever”, but this is just a few weeks after the final act of the story of the golden…
By: Wallace Kamau on March 16, 2019
This review by Pete Adeney captures the idea the thrust of the book Digital minimalism. Many phrases have been used and are becoming popular in reference to what can only be equated to addiction to electronic gadgets, social media and the internet, including but not limited to: are we becoming a nation of zombies; modernity…
By: Digby Wilkinson on March 16, 2019
This comes as less than my best reflection on a book. I find myself mired in a mass shooting that should never have happened on our unique shores. A man from another world came to kill refugees and migrants finding sanctuary from fear in Aotearoa, a land far from their own lands. It seems we…
By: Jean Ollis on March 15, 2019
I feel like this topic is coming full circle. Remember that night, not quite two years ago, in the hotel lobby in Cape Town? A group of LGP8’s, new to each other and travel weary, stayed up late in the evening to earnestly and respectfully discuss homosexuality and the church. We were vulnerable, we were…
By: Greg on March 15, 2019
A thousand words are not enough to really delve into the controversy that this topic brings up. A thousand words are a drop in the bucket to the research that has been done or even time spent in explanations of them. They are not enough to describe the friends that I have that struggle with…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on March 15, 2019
My heart is heavy this week. It has been a week filled with trauma and crisis, which has made it a little overwhelming for this small-town girl. The week started with a shooting in Kalamazoo of a police officer and cumulated with the tragedy in New Zealand. So, my heart has been hurting, and the…
By: Kyle Chalko on March 15, 2019
When I was in graduate school I took a class called Contemporary Issues in Theology and it was in one of my top classes of all time. We covered a total of six different heavy issues that semester… Women in Ministry Divine Foreknowledge Divorce & Remarriage The Providence of God Spirit Baptism Homosexuality There was…
By: Mary Mims on March 15, 2019
Today’s world is known as the internet age. Children at an increasingly young age navigate electronic devices with ease. Soon we will have a generation that will not know what it is like to live without electronic devices to communicate. This use of electronic devices to communicate has created what is known as a “network…
By: Trisha Welstad on March 15, 2019
Four years-ago I did one of the most challenging things I have done as a pastor. I sat with eight other pastors over the course of three days and dialogued for the first time on same-sex inclusivity and the church. We all came from a variety of tribes and traditions and represented the spectrum of…
By: Sean Dean on March 15, 2019
Running is my exercise of choice. Aerobics classes frustrate me lifting weights is fine and biking is nice, but nothing has captured me like running. I also happen to be a data guy. More data equals better results – in that way I am very much like Berger and Johnston from last week’s reading. As…
By: Karen Rouggly on March 14, 2019
Last winter, I completed my first Whole30. If you aren’t familiar with the Whole30, it’s like “pushing the reset button on your health, your habits, and your relationship with food”[1] It’s more than just a diet and a cleanse. Essentially, you remove certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy, and legumes) from your diet for…
By: Shawn Hart on March 14, 2019
(Disclaimer: I am prepared for the fact that not everyone will agree with my take on this week’s reading. Furthermore, though I am sure all of us will be passionate about our reasons behind our views, I wrote boldly this week, knowing that if there was ever an avenue for scholarly sharing on a topic,…
By: Jay Forseth on March 14, 2019
Hello Ellen! My name is Jay Forseth, and I am a Pastor in small town America. I am writing this letter because I think you are kind. In fact, many times on your show your actions appear more Christian than most Christians I know. Your generosity impresses me. You are obviously successful and loads of…
