Today’s Stops on the Coffeehouse Theology Blog Tour
October 06, 08 by edChristine Sine over at God Space has reviewed Coffeehouse Theology.
Joel Newton will be reviewing it later on today.
‘ theology ’ category archive
Today’s Stop on the Blog Tour: Coffee Shop Journal
October 03, 08 by edMarla Saunders of Coffee Shop Journal posted her review of Coffeehouse Theology today as the blog tour swings by her coffee bean-friendly site. I’m grateful for her take on the book, especially the parts that stand our to her in particular. It seems she liked my “Andy Griffith meets the The Real World” bit, which I was a bit nervous about. I’m glad it worked for her.
By the way, Marla commented on the writing style and overall clarity of the book, and while I would love to take all of the credit, behind every well-written book is pushy (in a gentle, likeable kind of way) editor who helps polish an author’s prose and vastly improves the book. I’m grateful for the good work of my editor Brad Lewis and the way his work is commended in this review.
I also can’t help nothing that I love the title and design of Marla’s blog. It’s like my book and her blog are distant cousins… or something.
The tour picks up next week on October 6th with Joel Newton and Christine Sine.
The Coffeehouse Theology Blog Tour Schedule
October 01, 08 by edThe Coffeehouse Theology blog tour is picking up steam and our schedule is filling up. Bloggers will be sharing their reviews and/or thoughts throughout the month of October and into November. There are a number of bloggers who have not yet received books or are not quite ready to settle on a date, so this is a somewhat tentative list that will be updated over time. The complete list of bloggers can be found here.
I think it’s important to note that while blog tours are a form of promotion for a book, I hope this will be a springboard for fruitful discussion about the role of theology in the church. I especially hope that theology will strengthen the church and build greater unity in our common love for God, even if our beliefs aren’t quite the same across the board. In some cases I have sought out bloggers from different perspectives, and if a few come through with reviews, you’ll find that I’ve even asked bloggers to review the book even though I have every reason to believe they’ll disagree with me. I’m looking forward to discussing a wide array of reviews and reactions.
Without further ado, here is a list with most of the bloggers on the tour. I’m grateful for their contributions.
October Dates
1 Grace
6 Joel Newton and Christine Sine
12 Andrew Tatum
13 DJ Chuang
17 John O’Hara
21 Amy Spiegel
22 Laurence Tom
24 Molly Aley and Heather A Goodman
25 Andy Rowell
26 Adam Malliet
27 Brother Maynard and Tripp Fuller
28 Jim Bonewald
31 Darryl Dash and Adam J. Copeland
November (or sometime thereafter) Bloggers
Date TBA
Coffeehouse Theology Blog Tour Begins at Kingdom Grace
October 01, 08 by edThe Coffeehouse Theology blog tour begins today at the blog Kingdom Grace. Grace is a blogger I’ve been reading for quite some time now, and I’m pleased to have her on the blog tour–kicking it off no less. If you have a moment today, swing by her blog to find out what she thinks of the book.
Conversations Christians Need to Have
September 28, 08 by edIt’s my hope that my book Coffeehouse Theology will help Christians apply theology to their everyday lives, and to that end I have written two study guides that will help readers actively engage in contextual theology. In the Contemporary Issues Discussion Guide I bring up a variety of topics relevant for Christians, and that’s what I’d like to share today, with my next post covering the Bible Study Guide.
When an acquaintance read through the Contemporary Issues Discussion Guide, he shared that he felt it was so badly needed in the church today. Christians need to talk about these issues. At the time he said this, he was thumbing through the chapter on homosexuality.
Throughout the study guide I bring together scripture, global and historic Christians, and a series of thought-provoking quotes on issues we face today that include social justice, race, gender, the environment, war, torture, and evil. Some of these are matters on the political stage, while others are pressing matters for Christians in particular. I could have included other topics, but I felt these were a good start.
Part of my criteria for this guide were issues you typically can’t bring up in church without things getting a bit messy. These are topics that are tempting to avoid, issues we could potentially place outside our spheres of influence. Perhaps some of our views are outdated or not fully engaged with all of the angles and possibilities. For example, have Christians been too quick to condone war or torture? I think we need to talk about that–a lot.
I’m not going to kid myself that this study guide will sway Christian opinion or solve these topics once and for all. However, just as Coffeehouse Theology serves as a point of entry into contextual theology, bringing together a vast array of sources and ideas together, I hope this study guide will help us start more conversations about these important topics.
Do Female Theology Bloggers Prove Egalitarianism is Right?
September 25, 08 by edI was paying a visit to Adrian Warnock’s excellent blog today and read a post called “Theology is for Women Too.” Adrian is a complementarian in his views on women in ministry which, in part, means that women are not allowed to teach men. Therefore, I raised an eyebrow at Adrian’s post on the new book by blogger Wendy Alsup called Practical Theology for Women. In his post, he shares the following,
“I just recently discovered Wendy Alsup’s blog. I was so impressed with the blog, I decided to issue her an instant Warnie award, the second so far this week. I must be feeling generous as I haven’t issued many Warnie’s lately! From now on her headlines can be found in my sidebar, along with many other top Christian blogs.”
For those not in the know, a Warnie is his award for blogs. Kind of like a Dundie for those of you who watch The Office.
So here’s my question… Did Adrian just violate his own rule that women should not teach men by reading a female theology blog?
I’m not trying to be critical or to be a smart guy. I’m just asking an honest question. If you believe women should not teach men the Bible, why make exceptions for a blog?
In my humble little opinion, I think this goes to prove that egalitarianism is the way to go.
View the Introduction to Coffeehouse Theology
September 24, 08 by edThe introduction to Coffeehouse Theology is now online at The Ooze.
On Coffeehouse Theology: Context Matters
September 23, 08 by edI can’t remember the day this happened exactly, but while in seminary I learned that my Christian faith came from “somewhere.” I didn’t just read the Bible and become an Evangelical Christian in a conservative Baptist church. I had entered a tradition, a tradition that had a history, that held certain beliefs in response to certain theological debates and events. I was adopting a theology that has been forming over a long stretch of time.
This was jarring for me. I’d always thought that my beliefs came straight from the Bible, but over time I began to see that matters were a bit more complex than that. I read the Bible the way I did because of my context and my place in church history, even if I was one of many sincere Christians trying to simply interpret and apply the Bible. This doesn’t mean that my tradition was unbiblical or invalid, only that all traditions come from somewhere and are responding to something from the past.
In an interview at The Ooze, Jeannine Brown comments, “You think a person is just saying, Hey that’s the Bible, but it’s a particular tradition saying, We just believe what the Bible says. They are unconsciously being shaped by a tradition that has full sway over how they think and act. We all have traditions that inform how and what we believe.”
Dealing with this realization that we bring our own baggage to scripture, and to theology in general, is a big part of what I tried to accomplish in my book Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. It is crucial for readers to understand that talking about the ways context and Christian tradition influence our theology is not the same thing as simply letting our context or traditions tell us what to believe.
We need to be aware of these traditions and interact with them, always looking at the ways they shape us. It is in this awareness that we can study scripture and come to our own conclusions that may or may not fall in line with what’s been passed down to us.
What’s One Stoning Among Old Friends?
September 23, 08 by edIt’s so easy to read the Bible as some kind of other-worldly story, forgetting that it simply narrates the work of ordinary people encountering God. I find it easy to miss out on the more extraordinary pieces that can be easily glossed over in the midst of moving from one supernatural event to another.
In Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey in present-day Turkey. After successfully preaching in Antioch, but encountering a great deal of resistance, they shook the dust off their feet and moved on to Iconium. At Iconium they enjoyed success with many following Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit, but some in the city began plotting to stone them. When they catch wind of this, they move on to Derbe and Lystra.
Things go pretty well at Derbe and Lystra until the wild card of pagan idolatry emerges, and Paul and Barnabas are treated like gods. When the plotters from Iconium arrive on the scene, their plot to stone Paul is carried out and he’s left for dead.
Now I’ve always thought it’s amazing how nonchalantly the text says, “But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe” (Acts 14:20). I can’t believe Luke just drops that fact on us and moves on. But I think it’s also extraordinary that Paul and Barnabas retrace their steps, returning through the towns of Antioch and Iconium that they had previously fled.
I wonder if he spooked some people who left him for dead.
It seems Paul almost taunted them to stone him again. I can’t imagine what he was thinking and the Bible isn’t much help on that account. I just can’t get over the boldness God gave them on their return journey!
The Coffeehouse Theology Blog Tour
September 21, 08 by edStarting on October 1st roughly 50 bloggers will be sharing reviews or at least a few thoughts on my newly released book Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. Some will post longer reviews than others, and some will need to wait until some time in November or December, but at some point you will find each of the bloggers below posting on my book.
As a thank you for their support during this tour, I’m sharing links to each of them below in no particular order. Also, if you’re a blogger not listed here and you write fairly regularly on theology and culture, drop a comment below if you’d like to be on the list for the second leg of this blog tour, the dates are still TBA. I have a few more slots open for those who love writing and free books.
Now, here are the bloggers who will be reviewing Coffeehouse Theology:
Women, Teaching, and Publishing
September 18, 08 by edIn Coffeehouse Theology I take a pretty strong stand in favor of women teaching in the church. For myself, it was meeting a female missionary who was the only teacher to a tribe in Papua New Guinea that convinced me it was no longer tenable for me to be skeptical of a woman teacher. However, I now have another instance that I believe reveals the weakness of any view that restricts women from teaching men in church.
Have you ever read a book on Christianity or theology by a woman? I was thinking of the wonderful writings or Ruth Bell Graham and realized that while she may not be permitted to stand up in a church and teach on a Sunday morning, countless Christians have read her teachings and benefited from them.
So why would Christian men, who don’t believe women should teach men, pick up a book by Ruth Bell Graham? Because they inherently know that a woman is every bit as qualified to teach men. Add a pulpit and suddenly things change…
For more on this check out Mike Morrell’s piece.
The Bible as God’s Word from the Holy Spirit
September 01, 08 by edI happened across an article at Reformata.org today blasting the emerging church in a bit of a sensational manner. While I don’t feel a need to rush to the defense of the emerging church, I do want to respond to Reformata’s notion of the authority of scripture.
The author is suspicious of the emerging church’s love for Karl’s Bath’s notion of Biblical authority that adds the voice of the Holy Spirit into the mix, instead of simply saying the words of scripture themselves are inspired by God and authoritative. The article’s author quotes Kevin DeYoung from Why We’re Not Emergent:
According to Grenz and Franke, the text has its own intention, which begins in the author’s intended meaning but is not exhausted by it. We must start with the original meaning of the text, but we are not bound by it. For God has spoken, but He still speaks. The words of Scripture, therefore, are not the norming norm but the Spirit speaking through the Scripture becoming the Word of God. (79)
Here’s the thing, as nice as it would be to have a tidy notion of Biblical authority that limits everything to the written word, is that really how Christians even function? There are verses like this: “I am trusting the Lord to bring you back to believing as I do about these things” Galatians 5:10. In other words, Paul is relying on them not only reading his letter, with apostolic authority behind it, but also on God to apply the truth to their lives.
The trouble with simply giving authority to the Bible as it stands, is it requires interpretation and application. What are the guidelines we should follow? Do we only apply the Bible as our traditions tell us? Or do we rely on reason and a hermeneutical method we trust? The author in Reformata places the question perfectly, even if he misses the inherent problem:
How does one know when/if a particular text has now “become” the Word of God? Answer: The reader will then decide if it does. When we factor the corrupt human nature into the equation we now have a recipe for picking and choosing the parts of the text we like while simply disregarding those we don’t.
If we simply say that all of the Bible is the word of God, then why aren’t there Reformed people applying every single part of it literally to their lives? The reason is they have a hermeneutic, a reasonable way of interpreting scripture that tells them when to apply “the Word of God” as an instructive word from God, and when to simply pass on a passage that may have meant something to someone, but it doesn’t apply to them.
My point is that we’re all in the same boat however we consider the Bible. The difference is that Barth is a bit more forthcoming about the dilemma of application, acknowledging that scripture becomes God’s powerful word in our lives when the Holy Spirit applies it to our lives.
If I was given the choice between a Reformed hermeneutic and the Holy Spirit, I’ll have to side with the Holy Spirit. Though I agree with much in the Reformed camp, I refuse to call listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit relative or subjective. Our hermeneutics can be far more flimsy. If we are told to live by the Spirit and to keep in step with the Spirit, then it isn’t a far cry to believe the Holy Spirit can apply the truth of scripture to our lives, especially if we believe the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible in the first place. In that sense, the Holy Spirit has never really been removed from the process.
On one last note, the Reformata article has closed comments, which is kind of a bummer. It hints at the possibility that they’re not willing to hear other points of view. Even if that isn’t the case, and I hope it isn’t, it sends a terrible message to readers.
Christianity: Making God Accessible
August 23, 08 by edWould you believe me if I told you Christianity aims to make God as easy to access as possible?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and I believe Christianity works out to be something like this. Christianity makes it incredibly easy to come to God, but once you’ve come to God, you have a lot of hard work to do. Grace is available in abundance, but obedience must follow grace.
I don’t know how exactly to compare Christianity with other religions, but for all the frustration people have with Christians who say their faith is the only way to God, I think this makes a decent case for such a “narrow” view. In other words, God wants to make himself as accessible as possible, so Jesus is sent down to earth. Jesus not only simplifies every command into one: “love,” he also dies and rises from the dead to clear a path to God so that we only need to accept the forgiveness he won by believing it is so. He even leaves the Holy Spirit to help us obey and to guarantee we’ll one day be in heaven.
No pilgrimages necessary.
No special prayers needed.
Meditating is good, but it’s more of a bonus.
Attending religious services will help, but they don’t replace meeting God.
In other words, all of the things we associate with religion are well and good, but Christianity offers a religion where God is reaching out, visiting us, and even dwelling among us. How much easier can God make it? If we start adding other religions to the mix it suddenly becomes more complicated, missing out on the simplicity God has in mind. Believe and love: these two verbs sum up so much of scripture. Why add anything else and muddy the waters?
While we can find many helpful practices along the way to help us believe and love, there is no substitute or mixing of anything else at rock bottom. God has made it simple for us to come and believe, even if we are asked to love one another, even our enemies, not to mention loving God above all else.
What is the Difference Between Evangelical Christians and Fundamentalists?
August 03, 08 by edI was recently asked this question by an acquaintance, and I believe it may in fact be one of the more important questions Evangelicals can answer today. With fundamentalist Islam looming as a supposed threat and fundamentalist Christians sometimes causing offense with their stringent separation from the world, Evangelicals will want to carefully parse out their differences and commonalities in comparison to the fundamentalist branch of Christianity.
Of course we can’t do all of this without a quick sweep through history.
I could start in any number of places, but I’ll pick up the story in England 1700’s. A group called the Pietists from Europe, mainly Germany, had a profound impact in the 1600’s and 1700’s, prompting Christians to seek out God in personal devotion in addition to public worship. As the Bible became available to people, lay preachers became more common, and the people took greater responsibility for their personal walks with the Lord. In this time a group began to coalesce under the banner of the simple Gospel message the Christ died for sins, rose from the dead, and we can be saved by believing he’s the Savior.
Preachers also spread this ecumenical message in America during the 1700’s, and revivals moved through a variety of congregations, though the ones with lay preachers spread rapidly such as the Methodists. Throughout the 1700 and 1800’s the Evangelical movement emerged as a Gospel-centered group, even certain denominations took up the “Evangelical” qualifier to their names (such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church).
In the late 1800’s theological liberalism took a strong hold in many denominations and removed the supernatural elements from the Bible in the wake of the scientific method. There was great anticipation about the progress of humanity under the Bible’s moral guidance and humanity’s reason until World War I broke out. In the 1920’s a group of theologically conservative Christians worked to hold on to five key fundamentals for Christianity such as the inerrancy of scripture, the virgin birth, and the resurrection. This group set a course of withdrawing from the world as it tried to preserve the truths of scripture. Thus, the Fundamentalists of Christianity formed.
After twenty years of cultural retreat in the interest of preserving truth, a number of Christians, especially in the Northeast section of America in towns such as Boston, began to rediscover the importance of an Evangelical consensus on the truth of the Gospel, much like the consensus in the 1700’s and early 1800’s. Though many laid the groundwork, Billy Graham became the face of this neo-Evangelical movement. Graham simply focused on preaching the Gospel message of salvation; however his son has since founded a relief agency known as Samaritan’s Purse.
It is this neo-Evangelical movement that we know today. Over time many of these neo-Evangelicals entered the political fray under the group known as the moral majority in order to support several issues deemed important for the moral health of America. In the past five to ten years this group has begun to unravel with more moderate and liberal elements emerging in the Evangelical camp.
Though some mistake Evangelicals for Fundamentalists, the two groups have very different approaches to contemporary culture and theology. They both believe in the same God and the same basic elements of the Gospel, but one could never drop the words of a Fundamentalist into the mouth of an Evangelical or vise versa without taking great care. One scholar once quipped that you can tell someone’s an Evangelical if he/she likes Billy Graham. In my experience, this statement is generally true.
Jim Spiegel’s Gum, Geckos, and God
July 29, 08 by edJim Spiegel of Taylor University has published yet another fantastic book that Christians will find immensely insightful: Gum, Geckos, and God. Using conversations with his children about God as a springboard, he explores the most perplexing questions Christians face such as where did God come from, What is God Like, Why is it hard to be good, and What will we do in heaven?
Jim delves into deep theology one moment, and then swoops back into the world of his children, never leaving the reader behind in the conversation. His writing is clear, entertaining, and always spot on. Over this week and the following week Jim’s book is on a blog tour.
A number of blogs are part of Zondervan’s tour, and today is my stop:
July 21 - Spunky Homeschool
July 22 - Beauty from the Heart
July 23 - At a Hen’s Pace
July 24 - A Holy Experience
July 25 - Family Voice
July 28 - Ted Wins
July 29 - In a Mirror Dimly
July 30 - Oversight of Souls
July 31 - Christians in Context
August 1 - The A-Team Blog
August 4 - Embarking
August 5 - Challies.com
Q & A with Jim Spiegel
As part of the blog tour Jim has fielded questions from bloggers and then shared his responses. I’ll forward any comments on to him today so he can reply. I’ll begin with a passage that I questioned Jim about, and then share his reply. On page 35 he relates his response to an atheist’s question “What would it take for you to stop believing in God?”
“Belief in God is not just about evidence, or at least not in the sense that we usually think about evidence, where, say, data from science, history, or some other source are used to justify a position on an issue. Most of us believe in God because of a personal experience. Yes, the reality of God is confirmed by everything from design in nature and big-bang cosmology to near-death experiences and the commonsense belief in moral values. But what really compels most of us is our sense of God’s presence with us. My personal experience of God has persisted for many years, working itself out in all of life’s details–pleasurable and painful, trivial and momentous” (35).
Based on this passage, I asked Speigel the following question:
Ed Cyzewski: You speak of God as an experience. I’ve hit a similar point myself, as I asked myself the question, “What makes Christianity the only true religion?” The best answer I can think of is that God has revealed himself in my life and in the lives of others. It all begins with that revelation. I wonder if you could expand on that concept of experience in your own faith. Also, there are plenty of Christians who assert that they can prove Christianity is true or can be 100% certain of salvation, but they may not be satisfied with where you land on this. What would you say to them?
Jim Speigel: You really touch on two distinct concerns here–the truth of the Christian worldview and the question of one’s own salvation. Many people feel certain about the former but struggle with confidence about the latter. As for evidence for the Christian worldview, I think the preponderance of the evidence is conclusive here regarding two key facts: the existence of God and the resurrection of Jesus. These are not the only two doctrines within the Christian worldview, but they form the crux of it. I’m not sure that Christianity can be proven beyond reasonable doubt (a much higher evidential standard), but this distinction is not as important to me as it is for some folks. And at the end of the day, my own confidence in the truth of Christianity does come largely from my experience of God, as does my confidence in my own salvation. This experience, I believe, derives from the Holy Spirit’s inward testimony. He assures us of both the truth of our beliefs and of God’s saving love toward us, and this assurance transcends apologetic arguments.
I also made a point of asking Jim about his kids:
Ed Cyzewski: What do your kids think about their leading roles in your book? What’s it like for them to see their names in print?
Jim Spiegel: This has been one of the most fun aspects about the publication of Gum, Geckos, and God. My sons, Bailey and Sam, have been thrilled to hear us read selections to them and to be reminded of the actual conversations and events that were recorded in the book. And they have been excited to tell some of their friends who are mentioned in the book as well. But my wife, Amy, and I have been careful to remind our sons that the book is not really about them, so much as it is about God’s truth and building up the faith of those who read the book. So whatever inclinations our kids might have to think of themselves as celebrities have been thoroughly quashed!
Reviewing the Book
