By: gfesadmin on February 21, 2013
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By: gfesadmin on February 21, 2013
Last weekend I was able to join Nadia Bolz-Weber at the conference „Kirchehochzwei“ in Hannover, Germany and translate her keynote from english into german. She was invited as one of the main speakers to share her experience of her ministry at House for all Sinners and Saints, a ELCA-church she founded in Denver, Colorado. The…
By: gfesadmin on February 21, 2013
(Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) In this writing I have decided to choose and explore a few concepts discussed by Vincent Jude Miller in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture; those of need, desire, scarcity, and lack; and analyze how these might interact and manifest. I will also briefly discuss…
By: gfesadmin on February 21, 2013
Today I was stunned. The first “stun” may seem small and stunned may be on overstatement. It was about choosing lights for a remodel in our church. We had to chose lights for a new foyer area. I was hoping to have very distinct lights, the design and color of which I first thought would…
By: gfesadmin on February 21, 2013
In “Consuming Religion,” Vincent J. Miller argues that the problem with a consumer culture and structure isn’t with belief but in its praxis. Nobody would argue that child exploitation for cheap products is good. A majority of folks active within Christianity can tell you what correct belief is, but that belief hasn’t trickled down to…
By: gfesadmin on February 16, 2013
After reading Douthat’s book: Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, I am compelled to ask if the ‘bad religion’ of American Christianity is bad only for America? Has it left just America in a crisis? In the wake of globalization, I believe this same version of Christianity has reached the urban shores…
By: Joy Mindo on February 15, 2013
The openness of Ross Douthat explains how America became a nation of heretics gives me a good understanding of the decline of Christianity. Although is difficult to relate to the American experience of Christianity through the years there are segments that many African Christians can relate. For many years, the evangelical main line churches…
By: gfesadmin on February 15, 2013
Maybe it is just me, but there seems to be a pungent sense amongst ministers today, and indeed in times past, with those preparing for the professional ministry and those who are already well seasoned, that we mostly focus on those things that divide instead of what unites us. In pursuing our various customized agendas,…
By: gfesadmin on February 15, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr_5wDmX3kY Oprahdoxy…is it as bad as Douthat imagines? Has it turned U.S. Christians into throngs of heretics? In the book Bad Religion: How we Became a Nation of Heretics, Ross Douthat, a conservative Catholic journalist, writes a synopsis of the history of Christianity in its various forms and denominations from the 1950’s to the present.…
By: gfesadmin on February 15, 2013
Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics is aserious review of the present condition of Christianity in America. Christianity which once had significant influence on American life and history has fallen from those heights. It has now come face to face with its enemy. Douthat points out that the enemy is not any external…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
Ross Douthat in his book Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics does an excellent job of explaining the scope of American Christianity over the last century. He delves into the complex reasons of the ebb and flow of various branches of American Christianity (Mainline Protestantism, Catholicism, and Evangelicalism) and their intersections. He…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
Different Phases The title caught me. I resonated with it immediately, thinking of others – then realization sat in. He was talking about me. Ross Douthat in Bad Religion holds the premise that through the ages, a “core orthodoxy” has held the church together and allowed her to weather the storms of heresy. However, today…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
I remember going to Dodger Stadium when I was in Junior High School to hear Billy Graham speak. The stadium was packed out. We sat in folding chairs in right field. He shared a dynamic and stirring message. George Beverly Shea in his baritone voice sang “How Great Thou Art” and I will never forget…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
A few weeks ago during the super bowl, a crowd of friends and family members came together to watch the big game at our house. Not long into the game, the Super Bowl was no longer what everyone was excited about. Rather, everyone was now excited about seeing some of the knew commercials during the…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
This last year the youtube video “I hate religion, but love Jesus” travelled on the internet like a virus. Most of us have seen the video. Jefferson Bethke who produced this video is a guy from our city, Tacoma. He said he was inspired by the book by Tim Keller called The Prodigal God. I…
By: gfesadmin on February 14, 2013
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By: gfesadmin on February 11, 2013
December 15th 2013, a 25-year-old woman went to see a doctor at an emergency center in Cologne, Germany. She told the doctor that she was at a party on Friday night, and that at one point she went blank, not remembering anything until coming to on a bench in a different part of the city…
By: gfesadmin on February 9, 2013
… but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13) The question of the last post will be the beginning of the new. At the end of my first look at Karl Polanyi’s epochal book “The Great Transformation” I asked: What is a freedom worth…
By: gfesadmin on February 8, 2013
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By: gfesadmin on February 8, 2013
Flow with the culture is the subliminal message tagged in our minds by advertisement everywhere. However, there are some things about today’s culture that I am not too sure if I am totally on board with its approach like retribution. Basically, retribution takes place in America through taxation when funds are divided out indirectly through…
