Thursday, December 20, 2007

Great Free Theology Audio and Articles

I love finding good theology stuff online and I recently ran into a bunch that were interesting so I thought I would share them.

1. Jon Sobrino's interview from sojourners. It is a great little article about his theological conflict with Rome, working among the poor, and how suffering influences his reflection on the Cross.

2. Leron Shults shared three articles online and they are all worth reading. "Nothing More Lovely" demonstrates how theology can be both rigorous reflection and inspiring doxology.

3. John Cobb and his process friends had a one day blogging outburst that was great and hopefully it will continue. There is also audio here of his lecture "Why Faith Needs Process Philosophy," which includes commentary on 9-11, Karl Barth, Thomists, and a good intro to process thought.

4. A blog with a giant list of links to major works of continental philosophy in pdf format.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Sobrino on the West's only unquestioned dogma of the Christmas season

"The unquestioned dogma of profit...We are speaking of those fundamentalisms - individualism, comfort, or pleasure (so soft in appearance, but with grave consequences) - that are accepted without justification and unquestionably prized and promoted. We are speaking also of the simplistic and infantile attitudes that may express themselves in very pretentious language, sometimes in the political sphere and very frequently in the religious."

What will we do to uphold this orthodoxy?

"Accept as normal the arrogance and dominance of some human beings with respect to others. And it accepts obedience to the empire's directives as necessary, or at least comprehensible, if we want to be assured of a 'good living,' 'success,' and 'security,' or whatever passes for definitive salvific goods."


What is the practice of this gospel?


"We are dehumanized by our selfishness...Such dehumanization is assumed with an attitude of impotence and naturalness ("that's the way things are!), and it is hardly noticeable since, in contrast to the evils that produced physical death or move people toward it, the evils of the spirit are not so obviously calculable. But they are harmful."

- Jon Sobrino, No Salvation Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays (40-41)

This book just came out so you should get it while it's hot.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Deep Shift Excitment in NC

I am very pumped about the upcoming Deep Shift event here in NC. Brian McLaren is bringing an interactive experience with music, art, discussion, just coffee, and Brian speaking around the content of his newest and best book yet.

If you haven't read the book you should, but to tempt you I will point you to three appetite inducers.

- The Other Journal has a great, revealing, and down right fun interview to read. So go read it.
- The Emergent Village Podcast has an interview with Brian and Tony Jones. So go listen to it.
-Finally, if you haven't checked out Brian blogging at Table For One.....go blogger-read it.

My brother-in-law Cory, Steven (the bio-brother), and I are going to the event. It will be my first night of not going to bed at 7pm with the new baby so if you thinking about going, GO and I promise to go out until the early morning and discuss theology while we smoke fine cigars.


So if you are going to be there or are interested check out the Charlotte Deep Shift blog. If you haven't paid yet there is a discount code from our friends in the Emergent Village cohort in Charlotte.

Caputo on Radical Orthodoxy

I found this comment as an end note in John Caputo's The Weakness of God: A Theology of Event:

Radical Orthodoxy is a movement that turns the quaint and (self-)comforting idea that everything is either a Christian metaphysics of participation (that is, Radical Orthodoxy) or nihilism, by which they seem to mean variants of their version of Nietzsche or Derrida, which for them means that human existence is awash in an irrational flux. So Radical Orthodoxy, which gives us a choice between being Cambridge Thomists or nihilists, needs to expan its horizons. (310)

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

McLaren talking with secular fundies

I had three friends email me about Brian McLaren blogging this week at Table For One and so I checked it out. If you haven't read Brian's new book you will see him summarize himself well. Most importantly are the comments under each blog. If you want to see how to engage in religious dialog with a secular fundamentalist check it out. Brian always tells people that at his heart he is an evangelist and here I think we can see how an evangelist who
counts conversations and not conversions shares, listens, and responds. For all three of you who shared thanks.

My New Son has Arrived



Here is Elgin Thomas Fuller. He arrived at 4:51 am yesterday. He is doing great. Now back to see him and mommy.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

"Theologies of the Two-Thirds World: Three-Thirds Important for the Western Church"

Table Talk, a Wake Forest University Divinity School student group I helped to start, had Dr. Rob Sellers come to give a super lecture and now you can hear it. Dr. Sellers spent 25 years living in Indonesia and the Philippines and has committed his life and academic pursuits to inter-faith dialogue and trying to help fellow Westerners understand the theologies coming out of Asia, Africa, Latin and South America. He's spent about two months preparing a presentation for Table Talk specifically and its brilliance is here for you to enjoy. Download and Listen Here!