Rate of Change

In Lon's post on "The Great Emergence" by Phyllis Tickle there is disucssion about these pivotal moments every 500 years or so.  A wave of culture shifting  occurs... even if it takes 150 years to accomplish.

But something I'm wondering in the back of my head is if change occurs faster these days.  On NPR's Weekend Edition, May 1, there was a story about how small generations are becoming.  It is an interview with Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, and he talks about how the cultural generation gap has shortened from 25 or so years to only 6-7 years.  Now, much of the story has to do with how technology is impacting the learning and relating styles of these youth... and because technology changes so quickly, so does culture.   But my question is... if culture is rapidly changing, how will that impact the rate of change of church culture? Can we expect this "great emergence" to happen faster than others? Or is the church a giant slow tortoise?  Will we be able to keep up? 

something about truth?

In prep for our meeting tonight, I (at the last minute of course, that's something to know about me), read the email about posting something about ourselves.

Yesterday as I sat in a small group with others from my church, the youngest person by probably forty years, our topic was the unchangeable, the constant.  I just about laughed out loud. I think my adventure into postmodern thought and the emergent church conversation came when I realized that Truth was not constant, not black and white... and yet, here it was, the first point of three in a conversation about what we can count on. The second bullet point was Love - and I'm much more okay with love being a constant - as long as we realize that love is dynamic and moves and changes and grows. The third was God.  Now, they had just spent the entire conversation on Truth talking about Jesus (the way, the truth, the life) and then they talk about God being the constant... didn't we sort of just have the conversation? 

My main interest in these conversations is going to be ecclesial.  How on earth do I reconcile the thoughts of my head and heart with what I share with my congregation?  Where and how can I stretch concepts and problemetize what we have always known... in a pastoral way?  But I also love to read and need to do that more.  I love talking theology and need to do that more. And I'm a big fan of the emergent - missional conversation and more than anything want to help enliven the thought/praxis connection.

So, that's a little about me!
Peace,
Katie Z.

The Great Emergence

I recently read (or in my case listened to) Phyllis Tickle's book The Great Emergence. It's quite interesting, and as some might say, even prophetic. I often say that I am lucky to be living at this "hinge" in history. It's not that way for everyone. There are a lot of people that are afraid. They seem to see the changes as threatening and are circling the wagons, as it were, to try and stop the tsunami. It won't help.

I'm having a little deja vu. In the 80's and 90's there was a revolution going on in my field, counseling or psychotherapy as some call it. The theories of the 19th and 20th century were being supplanted by more post-modern approaches like solution-focused and narrative therapies. It was an epistemological shift. Many resisted and still do. The revolution happened. It's over. There is no turning back. I remember being at a conference with one of the pioneers of these approaches. He's dead now, but at that time he was quite provocative as well as innovative. The health insurance field was pushing "brief therapies", so most clinicians went to a conference to learn a "technique" to add to their "eclectic" approach. The first day the place was packed. Each day after the numbers dwindled, until the last day there were only a handful of people. It was too threatening for the clinicians who had invested years and thousands of dollars in their approaches. I was young and willing to jump on the bandwagon with little to lose.

I'm 45 now. I still find I'm drawn to innovative ideas, fresh ideas. Not everyone is like me. Christianity is changing in some profound ways. If you've been paying attention for the last 50 years, notions like the atonement, eschatology, ecclesiology, harmartiology, the trinity, these are all morphing. For the most part, what I'm finding is richer, deeper, and more meaningful - not to mention they make more sense. But like I said, not everyone is like me.

As Tickle describes, this is about a 150 year process. By my estimation, we've got some time to go before we reach that calmer period between "hinges". So, hold on for the ride. In the meantime - I'm getting closer to wanting to talk about what the Great Emergence will be, versus what it isn't. Most of what I think about now is what I don't like. That takes too much energy and it's not as energizing as talking about what I do like. Anybody have any ideas? I have really been enjoying N.T. Wright's books "Simply Christian", "Surprised by Hope" and now "After You Believe". His hopeful take on eschatology and the affect it has on us now is encouraging.

Trying to get the Cohort going again

I've had some recent inquiries regarding the cohort. Several have expressed interest in getting together and having some dialogue over the internet regarding emergent conversations. I was thinking about scheduling a meet up in or around Coralville, maybe in early June, and maybe having a Skype conference sometime in May for those who want to participate.

Are you interested? Please leave comments or send me an email. Also, if you know of others that would like to be involved in this, send me their email addresses, or forward this post on to them.

Discover the Bible: New Episode Half-Baked Theology Podcast

A conversation with George Larsen and Tim Isbell about "Discover the Bible", a tool George developed on the web. Besides being a great resource to engage postmoderns in conversation and introduce people to the Bible, Tim and George share stories of how they have used it and particular stories of God's leading in their lives. The new music is by the band, Church of the Beloved. Their album, Hope for a Tree Cut Down is being offered for free on their website. The song is called Given.

You can watch the video at the Half-Baked Theology webpage or listen to the mp3 version here.