Ja, på sista tiden har jag haft en känslomässig berg- o dalbana med självransakanoch ansvarskänsla, sorg, glädje och på ett sätt även fått en känsl...
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As a child, John R. Rice would come and preach at my church. I remember him and Jack Hyles preaching a Sword conference there. In fact, in one of Hyles’ books he mentioned a story that took place while they were speaking there. During a break Rice...
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In his new book, Todd Hunter, recounts the unexpected trail that took him from the Jesus People movement of the 1970s through the Vineyard community of churches to his recent appointment as an Anglican Bishop charged with the mission of planting two...more
In his new book, Todd Hunter, recounts the unexpected trail that took him from the Jesus People movement of the 1970s through the Vineyard community of churches to his recent appointment as an Anglican Bishop charged with the mission of planting two hundred new Episcopalian churches in the western United States in the next 20 years. Is that a wild and crazy ambition, or what?
My own notions of high church Episcopalianism were set by my family's outlook. I grew up as the product of several generations of Southern fundamentalists, and we were more than a little suspicious of what we regarded as the "rigamarole" of Episcopalianism--not too far distant from the heresy of Catholicism. We figured that any prayer that had to be read--e.g., from the Book of Common Prayer--could not possibly be a sincere or genuine prayer, from the heart. We were suspicious of choir robes and ministerial garb of any kind. We never used the word "liturgy" to describe anything that we were doing, and I was pretty sure that any "liturgical" church was full of people who were going to hell because they were more focused on form than substance.
So it is fascinating to me to read Todd Hunter's stated mission of creating "Churches for the Sake of Others." By that phrase, he means something fundamental about how he approaches his Christian faith. Hunter says faith is all about serving others, listening to others, loving others. It's a funny form of self-denial, which, says Hunter, rebounds to do unexpectedly good things for the person who follows that path. By setting out to serve and listen to others, you find fulfillment and happiness for yourself.
Far from being deadly and formalistic, Hunter says, liturgy is vital to how he understands and practices his faith. It provides him a structure for his practice of Christian love and faith; it gives him a consistent and trustworthy community of fellow practitioners; and it leads to respect and reverence--an increased love of God and neighbor. I will be interested to hear more of where Todd Hunter's calling takes him.(less)
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One of the most important books I read this year was by Peggy Holman: Engaging Emergence; Turning Upheaval into Opportunity. As Peggy says in her blog, emergence is a process "through which order arises from chaos as the existing order is disrupted,...more
One of the most important books I read this year was by Peggy Holman: Engaging Emergence; Turning Upheaval into Opportunity. As Peggy says in her blog, emergence is a process "through which order arises from chaos as the existing order is disrupted, differences appear, and a new coherence coalesces. By engaging emergence, you can help yourself and your organization or community to successfully face disruption and emerge stronger than ever." She advises: "Step up by taking responsibility for what you love as an act of service. Prepare to embrace mystery, choose possibility, and follow life-energy. Host others by clarifying intentions, welcoming disturbance, and inviting diversity. Engage by inquiring appreciatively, opening, and reflecting. Then do it again!"
At some point within the past 40 years or so, the Christian world embarked on an immense and historic reconfiguration that called into question the doctrinal and institutional assumptions that had held sway for hundreds of years. And by now, we are right smack in the middle of epochal changes. The struggles of a century ago between liberals and conservatives that led to the creation of modern fundamentalism after World War I are no longer relevant to the conversations that now resonate most powerfully for Christians. Dry arguments about dogma no longer compel desperate arguments or inspire movements. The United States is no longer a "Christian nation," and fortunately for Christianity, it never was. A new generation of Christians is asserting that the core teachings of Jesus are inherently universal and transnational, and can never--and should never--be owned or identified as the characteristic of any nation-state.
At the same time, all of the principal institutions and denominations of the church--Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Other, evangelical, mainline, charismatic, and neo-Anabaptist--are undergoing wrenching change. The population centers of Christianity have rapidly shifted from the North--Europe and North America--to the South--Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Within the United States, Christians are becoming a minority alongside other religions and spiritual movements, and Christians themselves are becoming less white and more racially diverse. Finally, Christians generally are beginning to seek a more genuine and Spirit-filled expression of their faith, focused on service to others and finding the essence of their faith in compassionate love rather than in dogmatic pronouncements. Significantly, the 2010 American Congressional elections were the first in 30 years in which the Religious Right did not play a significant public role--in its guise as the Religious Right.
Peggy Holman's insightful book has much to offer Christians who are pondering what to make of the chaos and how to live a faithful Christian witness. As Christians move from disruption to coherence, what will we learn to notice? What will we explore, what will we be bold enough to try, and what new possibilities will we be open to? How will we reinvent ourselves in the 21st century?(less)
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" I'll let her know! "The Wive's Tale" was published on the day of our wedding in 1991. I am trying to coax her to join goodreads. Here is the web site...more
I'll let her know! "The Wive's Tale" was published on the day of our wedding in 1991. I am trying to coax her to join goodreads. Here is the web site for the book I just wrote and published: http://swordofthelordbook.com. The events of one of the chapters -- the Scopes Monkey Trial -- were set in Dayton, Tennessee.(less)
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I wrote this book and published it on November 25th! My granddad, John R. Rice, was a prominent national leader of fundamentalist Christianity for decades, and was the mentor for many younger evangelicals such as Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell. This...more
I wrote this book and published it on November 25th! My granddad, John R. Rice, was a prominent national leader of fundamentalist Christianity for decades, and was the mentor for many younger evangelicals such as Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell. This book tells my family and personal history in the context of fundamentalism, and explores how we can take what was originally positive in fundamentalism and use it to re-frame the "fundamentals" of Christianity: loving God (transforming yourself) and loving your neighbor (transforming the world).
Christian fundamentalism in America emerged a century ago, the faith of generations of immigrants who had experienced war and revolution, removal and upheaval, and in response to the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Scots-Irish who settled the South inherited both an evangelical legacy of abolitionism and social reform on the one hand, and responsibility for the painful and destructive consequences of human slavery on the other.
I come from a long line (of fundamentalist preachers -- including my dad, my brother, many uncles and cousins, my granddad, John R. Rice, the dean of American fundamentalists for decades until his death in 1980 -- and my great-granddad Will Rice -- who was a Baptist preacher, Texas State Senator, and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. This book brings the complicated and contradictory story of fundamentalism to life through the generations of the Rice family -- who were immigrants, soldiers, farmers, slaveowners, refugees, and preachers -- as well as the story of my own life.
In this book, I've brought it all together in a work of history, memoir, and personal testimony about the shape of faith and an image of God that can help us transform ourselves and change the world. I hope you'll join me in the conversation!
Order the book now! The prerelease edition of
The Sword of the Lord
is available
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