Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

Twitter is a little fun but mostly a waste of time

I started experimenting with Twitter. 

Follow me if you are interested:

http://twitter.com/AndyRowell

In short, with Twitter you can update people by answering the question, "What are you doing?" in 140 characters and people can follow what you are doing.  The fun is seeing in real time what those you are following are up to and those who follow you can know what you are doing. 

In the hierarchy of quality writing, Twitter is near the bottom, just above text messaging and instant messaging. 

• Nobel Prize literature
• Published material
• Graduate papers
• Undergraduate papers
• Blogging
• High school papers
• Elementary school papers
• Twittering
• Instant Messaging
• Text Messaging

I think it is a pretty narcissistic practice and a waste of time. 

nar·cis·sism
–noun

1.	inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.

2.	Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.

To clarify, I don't think the people who do it are more shallow than anyone else.  I just think the dynamics of the technology do not lend themselves to quality relationship-building or quality reflection.  The same also applies to Facebook (which I also do a little) and blogging.  Read books!  Interact with human beings in the flesh! 

Still, often my blog has greased the wheels to have good face-to-face significant conversations with people and has made me a better writer.  Will I be better informed about the world outside of my study carrel at Duke's library because of these technologies?  Probably.  Will I be better able to get connections to write and teach?  Probably.  I have already done a lot more writing because of the exposure my blog gives me.  Does this technology give me practical reminders of why I am doing this doctoral work?  Probably.

Wisdom in using these technologies is needed.     

I will end with this quote by Neil Postman in 1998, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death,

In the past, we experienced technological change in the manner of sleep-walkers. Our unspoken slogan has been "technology über alles," and we have been willing to shape our lives to fit the requirements of technology, not the requirements of culture. This is a form of stupidity, especially in an age of vast technological change. We need to proceed with our eyes wide open so that we many use technology rather than be used by it.

Below are nine posts by church leaders I follow who use Twitter.  They can explain its "benefits" and how it works.  Below that I have listed the people I am "following." 

1. Why We Twitter

from Tony Morgan | one of the simply strategic guys

2. Twitter

from Mark Batterson - Evotional, Thoughts on Life and Leadership

3. Twitter- Lost & Found?

from Dave Ferguson - Velocity

4. Twitter Community

from Mark Waltz | ...because People Matter

5. The Kingdom of Twitter

from Tim Stevens - LeadingSmart

6. 5 Reasons Why I Love Twitter

from Mark Batterson - Evotional, Thoughts on Life and Leadership

7. The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter

from Michael Hyatt - Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO From Where I Sit

8. 12 Reasons to Start Twittering

from Michael Hyatt - Thomas Nelson Publishers CEO From Where I Sit

9. How Do You Use Twitter?

from Dave Ferguson - Velocity


Here are some church leaders I am following:

	djchuang / DJ Chuang remove
	jasonclark / Jason Clark remove
	cwdaniels / c. wess daniels remove
	ahc / Andy Crouch remove
	pagitt / Doug Pagitt remove
	PastorMark / Mark Driscoll remove
	kemmeyer / Kem Meyer remove
	MarkBatterson / Mark Batterson remove
	cameronstrang / Cameron Strang remove
	daveferguson remove
	tpmorgan / tony morgan remove
	perrynoble remove
	davidswanson remove
	DanKimball remove
	knightopia remove
	tallskinnykiwi remove
	michaelhyatt / Michael Hyatt remove
	edstetzer / Ed Stetzer remove
	timastevens / Tim Stevens

Impotent or missional? Is Bush right that the Chinese need not fear religion?

Headline: Don't fear religion, Bush tells China

Aug 9, 2008

"Laura and I just had the great joy and privilege of worshipping here in Beijing," Bush said. "You know, it just goes to show that God is universal and God is love, and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion."

We could respond to Bush's comments by saying, "But religion (like Christianity) should be subversive!  It should undermine nationalistic values.  It should empower the vulnerable.  It should be a conscience to the state.  A state should fear it."

But before we are too hard on Bush, some people think that the book of Acts was written partially in the hope that the Roman Empire would recognize Christianity was harmless with regard to the state.  The book of Acts depicts Peter and Paul as innocent healers and reasonable people who had unreasonable detractors.  Luke implies that the church of Jesus was a law-abiding religious community--that the Roman state had nothing to fear.  As it turned out, the Roman Empire did not regard Christianity as innocuous for long--persecuting it and then later submitting to it.

One of my professors at Duke, sociologist Mark Chaves argues that indeed congregations in the U.S. are not all that "scary" because they are not very influential with regard to political and social issues.  Bush is right, China has little to fear if congregations are as tepid there as they are here!  Chaves bases his comments on the largest congregational survey ever conducted in the USA.  Chaves concludes, "If we ask what congregations do, the answer is that they mainly traffic in ritual, knowledge, and beauty through the cultural activities of worship, education, and the arts; they do not mainly pursue charity or justice through social services or politics"
Mark Chaves, Congregations in America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), 14.

Chinese government leaders worry about Christians like Alexander Solzhenitsyn and William Wilberforce who helped achieve great social changes.  I remember reading Charles Colson's The Body in college which anecdotally describes how Christians had a significant influence in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe.  

John Howard Yoder argues throughout his writings that a congregation's internal practices should inherently have social impact.  Christianity need not jettison its Christian practices to be missionally impactful.  Even baptism and communion “are not ‘religious’ or ‘ritual’ activities, they are by nature ‘lay’ or ‘public’ phenomena” (Yoder, “Sacrament as Social Process: Christ the Transformer of Culture,” The Royal Priesthood, 370). 

My conclusion is not a profound one.  Chaves and Yoder are both right.  As Chaves's data shows, congregations too often have very little social and political impact.  But Yoder is right that congregations have potential to have great social and political impact if they would only recover their missional focus.

Yoder writes,
"Pietism later sought to fill this gap by creating circles of believers.  Yet, without the dimension of outward mission, this type of gathering around common pious experiences is immediately threatened with stagnation and becomes little more than communal introspection." (Yoder, “A People in the World,” The Royal Priesthood, 78).

I recently read Luther Seminary professor Pat Keifert's book about the way he helps congregations think through their missional effectiveness. His church consulting method is called, Partnership for Missional Church (PMC).  He urges congregations to analyze their sense of mission together, rather than merely have leaders implement a new small group structure or contemporary worship service without this step.

“Absent that shared sense of mission—a deep cultural reality—strategic plans, no matter how well gathered and formed, fail to gain the commitment of energy, time and resources for transforming mission.”
We Are Here Now: A New Missional Era, 50.

Other comments:

See also Keifert's colleague at Luther Seminary Van Gelder's book:

The Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry (Missional Church Series) by Craig Van Gelder (Paperback - Oct 26, 2007)

What is the significance of Warren's interviews with McCain and Obama?  Not much. 
People debate the significance of Rick Warren interviewing John McCain and Barack Obama at his church.  The last couple of days McCain and Obama have spoken in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  My conclusion is straightforward.  At Saddleback Church and at the VFW convention, the candidates were trying to influence as many voters as possible.  Warren had gained a national platform in three ways: having sold lots of copies of The Purpose Driven Life, emphasizing social justice through his PEACE plan, and avoiding embarrassing gaffes.  Neither Obama nor McCain could afford to decline Warren's invitation any more than they could afford to skip the VFW convention.  Warren is trying to get Christians to think critically about national and international issues.  This was one way to do that.

Is Bush himself afraid or not afraid of religion? 
Many leaders in his own denomination, the United Methodist Church, were unsupportive of the war in Iraq but Bush felt free not to "fear" them!  But Bush's national security policy is rooted in the hope that strong national defense (and offense) will preserve freedom including freedom of religion. 

Regardless, I doubt Bush, who is known around the world for his hawkishness mixed with religious rhetoric, is the most persuasive spokesperson for religion being loving.  I suppose it is still worth him making the comment because some people still value his opinion.  Happily, there are many Christian olympic athletes (and English teachers) who are trying to demonstrate in concrete ways the love of Jesus to the people of China. 

Best book on ecclesiology I read this year: Body Politics by John Howard Yoder

I am doing my doctoral work here at Duke Divinity School on "The Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions" with my secondary concentration in "New Testament."  This spring each of my courses (Scripture and Ethics with Allen Verhey and Richard Hays, Church and Ministry in the New Testament with Richard Hays, and Theology of Mission with Laceye Warner) required me to read John Howard Yoder.  Yoder's 80 page, (that's right, very short), Body Politics is the book I find myself recommending almost daily. 

Here is my Amazon.com review of John Howard Yoder's Body Politics, which I just wrote tonight.  

• 

  John Howard Yoder: Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World

 

Outstanding brief book of provocative ecclesiology, July 8, 2008

By	Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews

John Howard Yoder (1927-1997), who was a professor of theology at Notre Dame and a Mennonite, outlines in 80 pages five practices that should be central to every church's life together. He argues that congregations need to recover these practices that are described in the New Testament and have since become distorted. This book grew out of a 1986 lecture at Duke Divinity School entitled "Sacrament as Social Process: Christ the Transformer of Culture," later published in his book The Royal Priesthood: Essays Ecclesiological and Ecumenical. In Body Politics, Yoder describes the five practices this way:
(1) Binding and Loosing
(2) Disciples Break Bread Together / Eucharist
(3) Baptism and the New Humanity / Baptism
(4) The Fullness of Christ / Multiplicity of gifts
(5) The Rule of Paul / Open meeting

In each case, Yoder argues that the original New Testament practice has been today almost entirely lost in most churches. (1) Binding and loosing - moral discernment through dialogue and forgiveness as described in Matthew 18 - is rarely practiced. (2) The sense of the Eucharist as a meal (1 Corinthians 11) where people share their food with one another is rarely practiced. (3) Baptism (Galatians 3:27-28) rarely communicates the profound transcending of social and cultural barriers - between Jew and Gentile, slave and free there is one baptism. (4) In almost every church there a few so-called "gifted" people who dominate the church while most congregation members are spectators. (5) And it is the rare congregation that truly opens the floor for all congregation members to participate (1 Corinthians 14).

What is compelling about Yoder's writing is his skill as a reader of biblical texts, his weaving of historical context (his dissertation work was on the Radical Reformation), and his ability to talk to theologians of many denominations (he did his doctoral work with the reformed theologian Karl Barth, taught at a Roman Catholic school, and strongly influenced the United Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas).

Yoder is also amazingly concise for a theologian. In my first year as a Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) student at Duke Divinity School, this is the one book I read this year that I find myself recommending to friends and family.

So, who will like this book? Yoder writes sympathetically denominational groups that have less formal hierarchy: Mennonites, Quakers, Methodists, Plymouth Brethren, evangelicals, Baptists, Pentecostals, Puritans, and house churches. If you are a part of any of these denominations, you will probably cheer all the way through this book and say "Aha!"

On the other hand, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians will surely find Yoder's ideas radical, wild, far out, untenable, foreign and unrealistic. For example, a Roman Catholic might initially think about the five practices: (1) the priest facilitates confession, (2) the priest facilitates the mass / Eucharist, (3) infants are baptized, (4) the priests have a special religious ritual calling, and (5) the congregation is silent as the priests recite mass. Yoder argues from the New Testament that all of these developments are unfortunate! Thus, if you are coming from that perspective, it will probably be tough to swallow Yoder's ideas and he may not convince you to be a radical protestant in 80 pages! However, if you have a niggle of doubt about any of these things, Yoder is sure to fan it! It is also worth noting that many Roman Catholics want to recover the biblical meaning of these practices. For example, I read this year at Duke a number of books that get at this by Roman Catholic authors: Raymond Brown's The Churches The Apostles Left Behind, Michael Warren's At This Time, in This Place: The Spirit Embodied in the Local Assembly, and Vincent Miller's Consuming Religion: Christian Faith And Practice in a Consumer Culture.

Yoder, is most known for his book The Politics of Jesus and for his defense of pacifism but this little book is a gem. I would highly recommend this book for anyone thinking about church leadership or planting a church. I would also highly recommend it as a textbook for Systematic Theology III courses which cover ecclesiology. If you liked this book, read Yoder's For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public next.

A number of other books that I read in the past prepared me for thinking as Yoder does about ecclesiology: 

• 

  R. Paul Stevens: The Equipping Pastor: A Systems Approach to Congregational Leadership

In all of his work, retired Regent College faculty member Paul Stevens argues for the empowering of the laity, for every-member-ministry, for a lessening of the clergy-lay divide. 

• 

  Ken Sande: The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict

Sande in all of his work argues for the practical benefits of biblical conflict resolution, particularly Matthew 18. 

• 

  Doug Pagitt: Preaching Re-Imagined: The Role of the Sermon in Communities of Faith

Pagitt describes the way that he encourages interaction at his emerging church - soliciting feedback during the preparation, inviting oral questions and comments after the sermon, and encourages dialogue about the sermon online afterward. 

• 

  Brian D. McLaren: The Church on the Other Side

This is one of McLaren's earliest books (now revised) where he stresses some basic ways most churches can improve.  It is the least provocative of any of his books.  It is basically how he would talk if he was gently encouraging pastors to consider change.  With his book  A New Kind of Christian, he decided to be more provocative and controversial. 

• 
  

  Gordon D. Fee: Listening to the Spirit in the Text

Retired Regent College New Testament professor Fee describes the lack of formal leadership structures in the New Testament. 

Hays (one of my doctoral work advisors) and Fee (a previous mentor) both describe the participative and fluid nature of the early Christian communities.  Barrett, Banks and  Käsemann, who Hays had me read this semester, all do the same. 

• 

  Richard B. Hays: First Corinthians (Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching)  

• 

  Gordon Fee: The First Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)

• 

  Robert J. Banks: Going to Church in the First Century

Banks's book is 48 pages and much faster to read than Yoder's 80 pages!  You can read for one afternoon and claim to have read two books!

• Ernst Käsemann: "Ministry and Community in the New Testament" in Essays on New Testament Themes
• 

  C. K. Barrett: Church, Ministry, & Sacraments in the New Testament

 
I also reviewed Barrett's book on Amazon.com since there were no reviews!
 

Excellent reflection on ecclesiology by a great New Testament scholar, July 8, 2008

By	Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews

C.K. "Kingsley" Barrett preached at 90 years old in November 2007. He taught New Testament at the University of Durham from 1945 until 1982, writing commentaries on John, Romans, the Pastoral Epistles, Acts, and 1 and 2 Corinthians. This book "Church, Ministry & Sacraments in the New Testament" incorporates Barrett's love for the church and his New Testament scholarship.

Below are my summary notes from reading Church, Ministry & Sacraments:

Barrett begins the book by acknowledging that though he is a Methodist he has been highly influenced by Anglo-Catholics and has worked with many Anglicans at the University of Durham. In chapter one, Barrett explains that his thesis is a paradox: "that the church is both central and peripheral in the New Testament." On the one hand, calling disciples was central to the mission of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Barrett argues, the formation of an organization was surprising necessity when the consummation of the age did not follow the resurrection.
In chapter two, entitled "Ministry," Barrett reflects on the leadership of the church as described in the New Testament - beginning with the Pauline literature. Every member was to be a minister. Functions are emphasized over offices. There was no leader who gathered money, administered the sacraments, oversaw worship or led church discipline. He points out that Paul was the authority in his churches while he lived and Spirit-gifting was emphasized. Churches also met in the households of rich people who probably exercised some leadership. Barrett emphasizes the importance of talented people and people who specialize in their ministries but also warns of the dangers of people flaunting their gifts, being enriched by them, and creating an aura of superiority.
Barrett then looks at the issue of presbyters and episkopos in 1 Peter. He wonders if presbyters may have been primarily older people rather than an office. The advice of 1 Peter is to lead with humility. In the Johannine literature, Barrett sees evidence of apostles, prophets, a leading elder, traveling preachers and witnesses. The criteria for evaluating these leaders is their teaching that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and in their love. In the book of Acts, Barrett again emphasizes the informal nature of leadership: evangelists, prophets, teachers, elders, apostles - not ordained but chosen by people and the Spirit. They are unpaid and part-time.
Barrett points out the diversity in the practice of the sacraments in the New Testament in the third chapter. He argues that the writer of the book of Acts is likely trying to point out that baptism is not magic because the Spirit and water are usually but not always together. Barrett argues that Paul too mitigates the importance of baptism in his comments in 1 Cor 1. Barrett theorizes that Paul may have infused the two basic practices (baptism of initiation and regular resurrection meals) with greater cruciform emphases because they were causing division in his communities. Thus, he argues, the sacraments like the church should be seen as both peripheral and central.
In chapter four, Barrett reflects on the development of the church into a more formal, priest-dominated institution. Barrett concludes that the church is at its best, is central, when it sees itself as peripheral.

Tim Russert and Tiger Woods inspire me to do my tasks with greater focus and determination

Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's Sunday morning show Meet the Press, died on Friday of a heart attack at the age of 58.  I watched Meet the Press every week as a podcast download.  Here was someone who was gracious, passionate about the truth, playful, prepared, thoughtful, and sensitive.  A good man.  A devout Roman Catholic who never missed Sunday mass.  I looked forward to hearing his take on things.  I was often moved by things he said. 

Tiger Woods, just hit a shot to tie the U.S. Open and force a playoff tomorrow.  He had to hit the put on hole number 18 to tie it.  He has a sore knee from recent surgery.  Huge crowds follow him everywhere.  I heard one golf expert predict before the tournament on ESPN radio that the only two golfers he would predict winning would be Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson - no one else is close.  So under all that pressure, Tiger does it anyway. 

They both inspire me to approach life's duties with more focus and energy.  Russert worked at Meet the Press for some 19 years.  His integrity and outstanding work eventually became clear to everyone.  Woods worked at the game of golf from the time he was in diapers.  Most of us are doing mundane things tomorrow morning.  I am studying German and writing a paper on John Howard Yoder.  But I think Russert and Woods inspire me to do both of those things a bit better.  Work, excellence, focus, integrity . . . they are often done in the darkness of the mundane but these things do impact people.  Eugene Peterson borrowed Friedrich Nietzsche's phrase, "a long obedience in the same direction" for the title of his book.   Will we do what we are called to do tomorrow with determination to do it well?  Eventually, it will impact people and bring glory to God.  We can trust God for the results. 

Russert:
NBC's Meet the Press videos and podcast tributes
PBS NewsHour: Mark Shields and David Brooks Mull Campaigns, Reflect on Russert's Life
NBC's Coverage
CNN's Reliable Sources

Woods:
Tiger Woods at NBC Sports forces playoff

Related:
See my post: Why pastors should be both goal-setting fanatics and cynics

8 pieces of advice for a new pastor

A friend asked for advice in his first month as a pastor.  He writes,

So tomorrow I begin and lead my first staff meeting and begin my first week of being a pastor. What are the things you all think I should make sure I do.

Here is my take:

1. Study the Scripture text you are going to preach on. Read 2 commentaries on the passage. If you and the commentators agree, you are on the right track. Preach it!  Get this reference to help you find some good commentaries: Commentary and Reference Survey: A Comprehensive Guide to Biblical and Theological Resources by John Glynn (Paperback - Feb 15, 2007)

2. Take walks just for the purpose of praying.

3. Learn everyone's name (first and last name) including the kids and janitor. Make your own directory or flash cards if you need to.

4. Schedule as many meals and coffees with people as possible. Go to their workplaces and pick them up and take them to a place nearby that they often go when they go out to lunch. These meetings should be 45 minutes to 1 hour 1/2 - no longer.  Pay and turn in the receipts to the church. But only order very basic things at the restaurants - equivalent to the price of a burger and soda. No dessert or alcohol on the church's bill. I'm tempted to say on this one, "It is better to ask forgiveness than permission" because I think you should do it even if the church does not typically pay for these sort of things.  You will not get fired for meeting with lots of people. It is difficult to do it if you don't meet at restaurants and coffee shops in this day and age. People don't have time to go to your house and people often don't host people in their homes often. Every day meet with someone. Please! This is crucial. There is a book called:
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi (Author), Tahl Raz (Author)   It is a good motto.

Questions to ask when you meet with people:
a. Where did you grow up? Where are all the places you've lived?
b. What is your job? Can you tell me enough about it so I really get what you do? Is it terrible or great or just so-so? Why? How is your relationship with your boss?
c. What is your church background? Why did you come to our church?
d. Should I just lift up these things we have already talked about to the Lord or is there something else I can pray about as well? (In other words, you will know enough already to be able to pray for them). Do a quick prayer for them.

People will be surprised at how pleasant and interesting and good it is to meet the pastor and you will be relieved not to get into all the church politics until you get to know people. This person is more important than their complaint about the church.  When you get to know people, you will understand where they are coming from. The person who is passion about missions grew up in Africa. The person who is passionate about pastoral care, works in a nursing home.  They are passionate for legitimate reasons!

As you can see from my questions, I would urge you to have low expectations for those first 1on1 meetings. The point is to get to know people. You will get close to some of them eventually. You will need to have difficult conversations with some of them eventually. But at this point, just enjoy people and get to know the basics. This is critically important to eventually ministering deeply to them.

Pastoring is 1/3 preaching (study, prep, reading), 1/3 administration (meetings, email, phone calls, mail, chaos), and 1/3 pastoral care (meeting with people). But you will have to initiate and be intentional to meet with anyone. Very few will reach out to you.

5. Read books by pastors for some sympathy.  Read Eugene Peterson's books The Contemplative Pastor and Under the Unpredictable Plant. Just read the stories if you get bogged down. Ditto - David Hansen's The Art of Pastoring. I would also recommend the Mitford books (fiction) by Jan Karon to get a sense of warm personal pastoral ministry practiced by Pastor Tim.

6. Eventually, read some leadership books to help you analyze the organization.  "Pastors overestimate what they can accomplish in one year and underestimate what they can accomplish in five years." Sandy Millar, former Vicar at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, England. Next year, when you get madly frustrated by the disfunction of the organization of the church, you can read leadership books like Five Disfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and his book Death by Meeting; Good to Great by Jim Collins; Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman; First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham; Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley; Simple Church by Thom Rainer and The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter Drucker. The article (available online for free) entitled "How to Minister Effectively in Family, Pastoral, Program, and Corporate Sized Churches" by Roy M. Oswald, former Senior Consultant, Alban Institute like the books listed above, were helpful for me.  At a minimum, these books will help you realize that disfunction in churches and other organizations is the norm but that there are some things you can do to start positive movement in the right direction.  Will Willimon reports in his post, "Non-synoptic church leadership in church" that he was given the following advice as a young pastor which he now shares with others, 

"I am sure someone has told you that you shouldn't change anything when you go to a new church for at least a year," he said to me.  Indeed, someone had told me just that. "Well, forget it!  Don't change anything in a new church unless you become convinced that it needs changing! Change anything you think that needs changing and anything you think you can change without the laity killing you.  Lots of churches are filled with laity who are languishing there, desperate for a pastor to go ahead and change something for the better.  Lots of times we pastors blame our cowardice, or our lack of vision, on the laity, saying that we want to change something, but we can't because of the laity.  We ought to just go ahead and change something and then see what the consequences are."

7. Get 8 hours of sleep. Get to bed the same time every night and get up the same time.  You will thus have more resources of patience to keep your cool as you encounter all kinds of craziness, disfunction, and beauty. The sleep will help you from getting too discouraged. Expect the organization to be terrible! Expect the people to be great . . . once you get to know them.

8. Learn the history of the church.  You need to be able to tell the old, old stories as well as anyone. 

Introduction to the online theological world

Someone emailed and asked me about the online theological world because she is researching it for her DMin. 

Here is the online theological landscape in my opinion:

1. There are a few collaboration projects. The New Testament Gateway is run by Duke professor Mark Goodacre.  You can also check out Theopedia.  See also TheResurgence for Conservative Reformed Folk and Emergent Village for the emerging church and Anglimergent for emerging church folks who are Anglican.  Here is a Yahoo group for Jurgen Moltmann that Tony Jones alerted me to.  Many organizations that exists in the real world have a way to interact online today.   Christianity Today and Beliefnet especially God's Politics with Sojourners have powerful online presence. 

2. Most of the real discussion is happening on blogs.  Some blogs have multiple authors like Reformation 21 for conservative reformed folk and the Generous Orthodoxy Thinktank which has a lot of evangelical professors.  They sometimes collaborate.  See the recent post about an online Karl Barth theology conference.

3.  Here are a few important individual blogs by professors:

• Richard Mouw - president of Fuller Theological Seminary has a blog
• Scot McKnight - New Testament professor at North Park has a huge blog audience and he writes 4 posts a day or something like that
• Ben Witherington - New Testament professor at Asbury writes a lot
• John Stackhouse - theology professor at Regent College
• Mark Goodacre - professor of New Testament at Duke
• Here is my list of the most important church leadership blogs by leading thinkers and writers: 80 very good Church Leadership Blogs.    
  

4.  Sometimes bloggers get together in real life.  For example, people like Mark Goodacre get together with other bloggers at meetings like the SBL and AAR -major theology conferences. 

5. Some seminaries are now offering free online courses. 

Covenant Theological Seminary's "Covenant Worldwide" - free seminary courses.

Gordon-Conwell's Dimensions of the Faith free online theological education program. Listen to full Church History, Systematic Theology, and Biblical Studies courses.

Many other seminaries are putting MP3's on iTunes so people can listen to audio.  See Chris Tilling's post Theology and NT lectures on iTunes and Nijay Gupta's Excellent Christian Academic Material (Free) on ITUNES-U.

Fuller Theological Seminary puts all of their Syllabi / Course Descriptions online. 

6.  Most seminaries have all of the faculty email addresses on the web on the faculty pages which leads to some interaction with the online world.  Some schools that make available the email addresses of their professors include Duke Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Gordon-Conwell, Luther Theological Seminary, Wheaton College, Tyndale, Bethel, Denver, Aberdeen, and Durham.  On the other hand, Regent College, Asbury Seminary, Westminster Seminary, and Covenant Seminary do not make faculty email addresses available.  I think seminaries should make them available online.    

7.  I have a Facebook account but I have not seen much theological discussion going on there except for some groups to join. See the Out of Ur group for the Christianity Today Leadership Journal Out of Ur blog and another group for Tony Jones's book The New Christians. 

Theological Reviews of The Shack by William P. Young

This week I noticed three reviews by church leaders who have read The Shack by William P. Young, the latest piece of hot Christian fiction.  From the reviews, it seems to be worth reading.  It asks some hard theological questions and has some suspense and tragedy that keep the casual reader interested.   

I have excerpted from the reviews to give you a quick summary: 

Andrew Jones - Tall Skinny Kiwi - (UK emerging church / missional blogger) - from his blog post The Shack:

It's a good book. . . The Shack reads a little like a Frank Perretti classic but its not as complex or gripping and neither does it produce paranoia in the weak minded . . . Unfortunately, The Shack is also cheapened by well-used Christian cliches and drags horribly in the middle where the story gets stuck in a theological conversation about the Trinity - which i did not struggle with theologically, despite the accusations of modalism from the fundie [fundamentalist] bloggers.

Brad Lomenick - Director of Catalyst Conference from his blog post - Have you read The Shack?

Alright, I have to admit- I am usually a major critic of Christian fiction books. They just usually don’t deliver on expectations. But I recently came across a gem- The Shack by William Paul Young. You have to check it out. Buy it immediately. And then buy it for your family, friends, and co-workers. It will change your perspective and spiritual paradigm, especially as it relates to the Trinity and God’s desire for relationship with us humans.

Mark Batterston - Pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC - from his blog post What I'm Reading

Love it for lots of reasons. First of all, I love books that touch the emotions and inspire the imagination. This book does that. But it also has an amazing storyline that is really gripping.
 

Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.- from the book jacket:

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of "The Shack." This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" did for his. It's that good!

See also Checking Into "The Shack" by Steve Knight at the Emergent Village blog.  Steve has more links to different opinions.  Mark Driscoll, a conservative Reformed theology megachurch pastor in Seattle, has some problems with it.

Novel about God hits a chord in Nashville area: Self-publishing turns rejected manuscript into a big seller.  By BOB SMIETANA April 3, 2008 in the The Tennessean. H/T Scot McKnight. 

The article by Smietana tells us more about the author. 

[Young] self-published The Shack after no publisher would touch it, and it held Amazon.com's No. 1 spot in fiction for weeks. The book he wrote for his children has now sold close to 400,000 copies . . .

"I'm being asked to speak to thousands of people, and I am as dumb as I was last year," said the 53-year old Young, who until recent weeks had a job as an office manager that also included cleaning toilets at a small sales company in Oregon . . .

Just before Young started on The Shack, they lost their home to foreclosure, and spent several years living with four of their six children in a 900-square-foot rental. "It's nice to know that we can pay the bills," Kim Young said.

See also The Shack Reviewed by conservative Reformed theology writer Justin Taylor which links to a 17 page review by another conservative Reformed theology blogger Tim Challies. Justin includes this quote from Tim:

Despite the book’s popularity among Christians, believers are divided on whether this book is biblically sound. Where Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, says it “has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim Progress did for his,” Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says, “This book includes undiluted heresy.” While singer and songwriter Michael W. Smith says “The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God,” Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, says, “Regarding the Trinity, it’s actually heretical.”

New Articles:
See also "The Shack" Built on Shifting Sands? William Young's surprise bestseller sparks heated response and prompts important questions at Christianity Today's LiveBlog by Derek Keefe

The USA Today article:
'Shack' opens doors, but critics call book 'scripturally incorrect' By Cathy Lynn Grossman
is probably the best short summary to read of the criticisms of the book. 

Regent College theology professor John Stackhouse's The Shack 1: In Defense of Ideological Fiction

The Shack 2: Some Theological Concerns (Part 1)
The Shack 3: Theological Concerns (Part 2)
The Shack 4: Some Celebrations

Greg Boyd, Minnesota pastor and author, Sunday, June 22, 2008 The Shack: A Review

Warning: Do not read this novel on a plane or any other public place where you're trapped around people -- unless you're totally okay with becoming emotionally undone in front of perfect strangers. There are points where this book rips your heart out. At least it did me. The body building dude sitting next to me on the plane must have thought I was a first rate wimp, weeping over a novel. Anyway, to my surprise, I loved this book!

Out of Ur June 16, 2008 Taking The Shack to the Shed Is the hottest new Christian novel an exercise in heresy? by Brandon O'Brien

Young does two things I wouldn’t advise fiction writers to do: 1) depict the Trinity in bodily form and 2) put words in the Trinity’s mouth. My fear would be that such attempts would result in hokey prose—and, to be honest, that happens from time to time in The Shack. But several notable Christian thinkers have more serious charges for Young.

Perry Noble, South Carolina pastor, What I’ve Been Reading

In my opinion this book is an excellent piece of fiction writing that is loaded with some tricky theological issues. I’ve seen both positive and negative reviews on it…but I can say that, for the most part, I enjoyed it. It made me think…and I love books that make me do that. It will definitely cause you to look and God in an entirely different way.

DJ Chuang at Leadership Network, The Shack touted as Pilgrim's Progress

While William Young does intend to challenge our preconceptions of God, the story risks confusing some readers with theological misunderstandings. Is this a risk worth taking? I personally think so, but I know not all would agree.

The Trinity: So What?
The Shack allegorizes a tricky but foundational doctrine.
Collin Hansen | posted 5/30/2008 Christianity Today

Given the doctrine's complexity, it's no surprise that we turn to analogies for help. But every analogy breaks down. "Most analogies drawn from the physical realm tend to be either tritheistic or modalistic in their implications," Millard Erickson writes in Christian Theology. Following Augustine's lead, Erickson therefore opts for analogies drawn from human relationships, though he admits that they, too, fail to convey the deep beauty of this central Christian confession. 

More links and reviews from July 2008:

SHACKING UP WITH GOD—William P. Young’s ‘The Shack’

Ben Witherington - Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary - Jul 23, 2008

The shack

Greg Surratt - Multi-site church pioneer - Jul 22, 2008

How to Read 'The Shack'

...The Shack' is a tale of tragedy redeemed, not a theological treatise.

Christianity Today Magazine - Jul 11, 2008

Review: 'The Shack'

...The Shack' tells a compelling, if imperfect, story.

Christianity Today Magazine - Jul 11, 2008

• The Latest on "The Shack" Phenomenon [2]
  from Emergent Village

Additional reading:

I provided links to good reviews of:
Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club)
at Sermon on Colossians 1:15-23 - The Supremacy of Jesus: Pursuing depth of spirituality the right way

Putting the Conservative Reformed Theology movement (Piper, MacArthur, and Dever) in perspective

Summary of this post:

I think the Conservative Reformed Theology movement's emphasis on solid theology is good but I think there is a lot of other great theology being done today outside this movement. 

Why does the Conservative Reformed Theology movement matter?  

1. Recently a reader of my blog from the UK emailed to ask me for seminary advice.  One of the things he mentioned was that one of his three favorite authors was John Piper. 
   
2. Another friend recently told me that his congregation wished he preached more like John MacArthur. 
3. Another friend who attends a United Methodist Church (not-Reformed) expressed her frustration with her own church and her appreciation for Mark Dever and his Reformed Theology. 
4. One of my best friends attends Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

What do these four things all have in common?  Conservative Reformed Theology.   

Christianity Today's Collin Hansen described the movement in his September 2006 Christianity Today cover story positively as: "Young, Restless, Reformed: Calvinism is making a comeback—and shaking up the church."

Collin has now written a book called Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists (Mar 30, 2008) (which I haven't yet read).  Hansen covers the Passion Conference in Atlanta, John Piper's Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota, Yale University's Jonathan Edwards Center, The Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville (Al Mohler), Covenant Life Church in Maryland (CJ Mahaney & Josh Harris), The New Attitude Conference in Louisville, and Mars Hill Church in Seattle (Mark Driscoll).

John Piper is perhaps the best known of these Conservative Reformed leaders and is also a leader in some organizations that are not explicitly Reformed but are strongly influenced by Conservative Reformed Theology:   

• Together for the Gospel
• The Gospel Coalition
• Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Piper's fans admire him for his passion and academic rigor.  Who doesn't like that? 

But problems develop when Piper's fans don't realize that the Conservative Reformed Theology movement is only one slice of the church-renewing substantive theology being done today in a variety of places in a variety of theological traditions. 

1. Conservative Reformed Theology is just one particular kind of Reformed Theology.

I call this Piper-associated movement "Conservative Reformed Theology," because there is Reformed Theology that is associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), Princeton Theological Seminary, Jurgen Moltmann, Lesslie Newbigin, and Karl Barth which would not be related at all to the Conservative Reformed Theology of Piper and friends.   I use the adjective "Conservative" because this is the operative word within American theological circles.  It is left over from the Fundamentalist / Modernist and Conservative / Liberal controversies within the United States in the twentieth century.  It bothers me that the Piper movement sometimes seems to portray themselves as the only theological heirs of Calvin when there are many more "Reformed Theology," "contemporary Calvinist" and "evangelical Calvinist" theologians.

2. Much of the Conservative Reformed Theology movement is Baptist-leaning.

Some significant parts of the Piper / Dever /MacArthur / Mohler "Conservative Reformed Theology" are very Baptist (rather than Reformed in their polity).  For example, unlike Calvin and the Puritans they often cite, many embrace Believer's Baptism rather than Infant Baptism.  Non-Presbyterians Jonathan Edwards (Congregationalist) and Charles Spurgeon (Baptist) are some of the people these Baptist-like Conservative Reformed Theology people see as their theological fathers. 

3. Some of the Conservative Reformed Theology movement is Reformed in polity (that is, Presbyterian). 

But Piper and friends see theological kinship even with others who disagree with them about Baptism and other polity issues.  Piper writes, "I would gladly admit Ligon Duncan or Sinclair Ferguson or R. C. Sproul or Philip Ryken to membership at Bethlehem (if I were allowed by our constitution), and in doing so I would not be giving up my view on the proper nature of baptism" (from John Piper's dialogue with Wayne Grudem on infant baptism). As Piper indicates, there are people who are Reformed in their polity (church structure) who Piper sees as colleagues in the Conservative Reformed Theology movement.  Presbyterian Church of America people include Tim Keller and Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. Westminster Theological Seminary, R.C. Sproul's church, Reformed Theological Seminary are not officially part of the Presbyterian Church of America but are part of the Conservative Reformed Theology movement. Michael Horton of Westminister Seminary California (Reformed Episcopal Church and United Reformed Churches in North America) and Modern Reformation is also associated with the what I am calling the Conservative Reformed Theology movement. 

All of that to say, that one of the main things that unites this disparate group is the Conservative part of their theology.  The "Reformed" part varies greatly.   

4. What the Conservative Reformed Theology people have in common is the "the study of doctrine" and particular emphases on substitutionary atonement and limiting women's roles in church leadership.

The two greatest "doctrines" that I hear unanimously emphasized by the Conservative Reformed Theology people are (1) an emphasis on substitutionary atonement and justification by faith (See Piper's book in response to N.T. Wright) as the uniquely true interpretation of the cross; and (2) opposition to women in church leadership.  Piper was one of the founders of