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 There are traditions that are amazing and there are traditions that are very out of touch and out of date.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.…
By: Katy Drage Lines on May 18, 2017
In his book, Shaping the Church, Martyn Percy introduces us to the concept of “implicit theology,” the idea that hidden, often unreflected practices, habits, and culture are not simply “benign and innocent,” but offer a great deal of value to understanding the ecclesiology of a particular expression of the church (both local congregations and broader…
By: Jim Sabella on May 18, 2017
Summary “Christianity is about much more than beliefs, propositions and formally sanctioned practices. Indeed, this is a deep misunderstanding about the nature of Christian life. The belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not an arid set of directives, but rather a faith that is embedded in a community of praxis…
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: Geoff Lee on May 18, 2017
In examining the “basic-but-nascent theological habits (e.g. language, culture, worship, practice etc.) that more properly account for the daily life of churches, congregations and denominations”[1], Dr Martyn Percy examines what he calls “implicit theology”, which is where theology and sociology, or Christian and contemporary cultures, meet. Implicit theology “notices and gives due attention to the…
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…
By: Mary Walker on May 16, 2017
“But the central foci with which we are concerned is how might we locate an implicit theology within a church, denomination or congregation, particularly if it is hidden?”[1] Shaping the Church is a collection of essays on ecclesiology, ministry, and sacraments particularly within the Anglican Communion in England with a view towards answering this question.…
