Comments on: Guest Blogger: Dr. Ray Anderson on his new book, “An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches”

By: In Memory of Professor Ray S. Anderson (1925-2009)

In Memory of Professor Ray S. Anderson (1925-2009) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:03:12 +0000

[...] The last time I spoke with Dr. Anderson in person was in early 2006 when he taught one of the counseling courses for my MSMFT degree. I still remember him that day…strong, farmer hand shake as always. I could hardly believe he was 80. His body and mind seemed as sharp as ever, and he was breathing theological life into a new class of students. Something he had been doing for decades. I consider Dr. Anderson a friend and mentor, and he was always gracious to meet me on campus on Mondays (his day at Fuller in the last few years), as well as always exchanging emails with me…I had sent him more than my fair share of theological question that were causing me problems. He was even a guest blogger back in July of 2006 when he wrote about his then new book, An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches. [...]

By: human3rror

human3rror — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:29:30 +0000

wow, that's a solid tip right there… one that I haven't really pushed out so hard, but worth noting… i've found that education is the vast majority of our efforts, especially in the ministry space. it makes sense that it would apply elsewhere.

By: human3rror

human3rror — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:28:26 +0000

ah, the wonderful evernote… you a crazy user of it? i have “yet” to become a convert.

By: leoschmidt08

leoschmidt08 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:29:20 +0000

I would advise anyone who wants to start a blog to begin by reading and commenting on other people's blogs for a couple of months. When I first started advising clients to use a blog, I had them start all at once. The problem arose from the fact that even though I spent a lot of time educating those clients, they never really understood what a blog was. As a result they rarely wrote articles and even when the clients did the blog suffered from the lack of experience.

I had to almost start over from scratch. Once I got them to participate in blogs and get in the conversation for a couple of months their own blogs benefited and you could see an improvement. I now advise all of my clients to participate before leading. I have seen how this helps them when they start their own blog. A hard-learned lesson for me and a word of caution for those wanting to start a blog in the future.

Thanks for good PR info.

By: human3rror

human3rror — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:21:01 +0000

yeah, i'm excited to see what God will be doing!

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:17:08 +0000

Very cool points. Lots to think about and do. Stephen will do a great job at this!

By: sredden

sredden — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:39:39 +0000

This is amazingly helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share these thoughts, but moreover thanks for taking the time to sit down with me and enter into our story. I'm continually amazed at how God keeps bringing the people and resources we need at just the right time.

By: jakebouma

jakebouma — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:34:39 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, man. I will add this book to my ever-growing stack of books to read (and probably give it a boost to the top). For a movement that is struggling somewhat with formulating a coherent theology (and asking if a coherent theology” is necessary in the first place), this promises to be a great read.

By: tarwater

tarwater — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:19:29 +0000

The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his own age.

G.K. Chesterton

By: wayne

wayne — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:01:27 +0000

Rhett I hope this one gets through.

Dr. Anderson, I really appreciate your thoughts here.

If I am understanding you correctly than I think I would have to agree with your concern “that a postmodern philosophy has too easily become a hermeneutical criterion in which attempts to make the message if the gospel culturally relevant is in danger of presenting ‘another gospel.’” About a year or two ago I dove into some of the more prominent writings on the emerging church because I was thirsty for more of what I believe you describe here as being incarnational. My question is this: How do we use the language “of the people” without making the mistake of so many Christians before us (liberal protestants and some evangelicals to name a few) of exalting cultural relevance to the point where we are “in danger of presenting ‘another gospel’”?

Also, I absolutely love what you have to say about an emergent theology being eschatological! Several years ago, I traded in the dispensationalism of my upbringing for covenant (and amillenial) theology. But unfortunately with that I lost a sense of how important it is to have a “theology of hope” that looks forward with expectancy to the promise of renewal in the eschaton (to plagiarize Moltmann).

I am looking forward to reading your book.

Blessings,
Wayne B.