Each summer I select a slate of books to work through. In fact, I'll spend a good bit of my vacation - if and when I take some - reading. This summer I am delving more deeply in Missional Ecclesiology and Emergent literature. By "Emergent" I mean Emergent Village's recently published "An Emergent Manifesto of Hope."
I'm looking forward to all the non-definitions that are sure to be found in my fellow seeker's and friend's work. While I'm sure the book will light some of the path forward for many of us, I suppose others will be frustrated. Those who want all of life to be tidy and as unwrinkled as hospital corners, have a difficult time with those associated with Emergent Village. The reason is that we are all very different and that makes some people uneasy. Emergent Village is made up of conservative baptists and church of Christ folks from the south, Biblical liberals from the west, northeastern academics, mid-western radicals, staunch Republicans and vehement Democrats and that makes for an eclectic group that is no where near univocal.
Personally, that's why I'm engaged by it. I'm fascinated to meet and know other committed Christians who read Scripture differently than what I've been taught to read and hold to an alternative ecclesiology than I know. These people make my experience and knowledge of God richer. So I read them, praise them, disagree with them, and love them as the Father loves me - or at least I try to. And at the end of the day we're all trying to walk in the way of Jesus.
On the missional front, I've got a copy of Alan Roxburgh's new book, "The Sky is Falling" and Patrick Kiefert's, "We Are Here Now." In my book, the best emerging church practitioners are deeply and intentionally missional. The two should go hand-in-hand.
I'm also in an online group that's reading Rob Bell's "Sex God" and I've also got to finish BarackObama's "The Audacity of Hope." I had to Obama down recently as I waded my way through Jones' and Lakeland's Constructive Theology, the writings of Freidrich Schlieirmacher, Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth, Luis Pedraja's Teologia, and the sermon's of John Wesley.
So, what are you reading this summer?
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Hmmm... I ordered Sex God on Wednesday, and along with it, I ordered The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World's Poor, because Shane Claiborne apparently wasn't enough new monastic for me back in March. I'm also reading a couple of books on poverty for my internship; I just finished What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty, which I would recommend to, well, every church member. In case Jeanine Reese, Robert Oglesby, or Sonny Guild happen to read this, I'm also very carefully reading Sacred Rhythms.
I'm also reading a couple of fiction books, such as the last of the Harry Potters when it comes out, but I know you stopped caring after the word fiction. ;)
Two comments in one day. Weird. Probably have too much time on my hands. Oh well, now to go shave the other half of my head. Yep, definitely too much time.
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