emergent in publisher’s weekly
Most of us who are most involved in "the emergent conversation" - from my perspective, at least - don't talk about "the emergent conversation" much any more. Instead of "talking about the conversation," we're busy having conversations ... about God, about Scripture, about life, about justice, about politics, about peace, about art, about poverty, about the environment, about movies, about spiritual formation of adults and children, about all sorts of things.
That might explain why a recent Publisher's Weekly article suggested that I have "moved beyond" emergent. (The author, Marcia Ford, is a tremendous writer and does an admirable job in tackling a notoriously squirmy subject.)
I think it would be more accurate to say (as the article does in fact say, later on) that the emergent conversation itself continues to develop and move forward (or "move beyond"), which explains why I feel like I'm as much a part of things as ever and I can't imagine why anyone would think otherwise.
I remember some relationships in college where my significant other and I were always talking about "the relationship," defining "the relationship," etc., etc. ... All that relational self-consciousness turned out not to be a very good sign about the future of the relationship! So I take it as a good sign when the emergent conversation is less and less about itself ... "moving beyond" to other things.
Some important and fascinating thinking has been going on about all this among the emergent village board, drawing from an absolutely fascinating survey that was posted this summer. We should be coming out with some news on the survey, future direction, etc., in a month or two.
In the meantime, there are a lot of good things happening at emergentvillage.com, and all the other nodes of this "something" that is happening among followers of Christ. For what it's worth, I have no interest in arguing who is and who isn't emergent, emerging church, missional church, postmodern, new monastic, etc., etc., etc. It's just not the way I think, and in fact, drawing branding lines to define an in-group or out-group makes me itchy. Besides, for some people, having emergent sympathies might be like working for the CIA - the people who are deepest in could be the last to admit it for lots of good reasons.
Anyway, I'm interested in finding common ground with everybody I can ... as the subtitle of "A Generous Orthodoxy" suggested. I tend to think that this is what the emergent conversation has actually been about all along ...
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Don Miller at the DNC
Steve Knight is doing a tremendous job putting up good content at the emergentvillage.com blog ... he posted Don Miller's benediction from earlier this week. Well done, Don!
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pursuing what makes for peace
My friend Ryan Beiler over at sojo.net posted an especially good piece today ...
It features quotes from the real Charlie Wilson that resonate with the main thrust of my book Everything Must Change ...
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Book of the Year in Brazil
I just heard from Jorge Camargo who has been involved with translating some of my books into Portuguese (thanks Jorge!).
Apparently A Generous Orthodoxy, which was recently translated, was just chosen by the Brazilian Association of Christian Publishers as book of the year. I'm honored!
If you want to order the book in English, you can do so here ...
I also just heard from Michel, a Farsi translator, that Finding Faith is now available in Iran. Here's some information ...
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Greenbelt …
I returned home from England Monday afternoon after missing my Sunday afternoon flight (stupid mistake on my part ... but that's another story). It was a wonderful weekend at Greenbelt.
My sessions were amazingly well attended, especially because ...
- at my first session, the electricity wasn't working so I used a bullhorn to speak to several thousand people, who sat patiently, straining to catch the gist of my message.
- at my second session, a fire alarm went off, forcing a thousand or so people to leave bleachers and sit on tarmac, but again, they stayed and listened with amazing attention.
- also at my third session (where we reprised my first session, this time with electricity), it started to rain, but people just pulled out umbrellas and nobody moved!
- at my fourth session, we joked that it would probably start snowing (it was pretty chilly, but not that chilly!). You can see some pictures here.
A special dimension of Greenbelt is seeing old friends and acquaintances ... including Andrew Jones from NZ and Scotland (among other places), Fuzz Kitto from Oz, Jonny Baker from the UK, David Dark from the US, Gareth Higgins from Ireland (soon to be from the US), Pete Rollins from Ireland, Steve Taylor from the UK and LA, and Phil Yancey from Colorado. And it's also a place to meet new friends - including Frank Schaeffer and Sarah Miles, folks I've looked forward to meeting for a long time, and whose company and conversation were really enjoyable.
In only got to listen to one band ... Aradhna, which I've become a big fan of. There was so much music going on, but I was almost constantly either speaking or in meetings.
There's a rumor spreading that a "faith-art-justice" festival in the spirit of Greenbelt is being planned for the US. As someone involved in the dreaming and planning for this, I can tell you that the rumor is true ... stay tuned.
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