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Conrad Gempf is the only man I know who can handwrite with different fonts. He was my New Testament lecturer in my much earlier life, and was one of the most inspiring teachers I ever had. He still inspires me today.
He is a creative genius, and brilliantly smart biblical expert…he knows his eggs, and yet is one of the most gentle, humble and self effacing people you could meet. I am using his new book, for my personal reflection and reading of the bible this summer on sabbatical.
His blogis one of my favourites.
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First up is Stephen Shields over at emergesque. I rely on Stephen who seems able to see the bigger picture and keep up with way more blogs than I ever could. Thanks Stephen.
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I am finishing of my sabbatical and doing some traveling, and will be away from my blog alot. So over the next few weeks some posts will appear here with reviews of the some of the blogs I enjoy reading the most.
There are so many I could mention, but these ones I am going to post about are some of my favorites and the ones I personally draw strength and inspiration from.
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Very politically incorrect now due to gender issues, but there was the idea of the Renaissance Man. So lets rephrase it as the Renaissance person.
The Renaissance person is someone who is constantly learning and mastering new skills. (It’s this quality that allowed Leonardo Da Vinci to become skilled at both scientific and artistic endeavors).
Continue reading »
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“Empire of the Stars” (Arthur I. Miller)The subtitle of this book is ‘Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes’.
An amazing true story, about how a young indian scientist, Chandra, in 130, on a boat from Madras to London contemplates the fate of stars and realises that must eventually collapse into nothing, and comes up with the theory of black holes.
Sir Arthur Eddington, a brilliant astrophysicist decided to deal with this claim, not by engaging with it, but by ridiculing Chandra, out of resentment and prejudice.
Chandra was eventually proved right, and given the Noble Prize in 1983, but he was devastated emotionally and his work held back for years, purely for personal reasons.
Continue reading »
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Interview with Brian McLaren about emerging church and his writing.
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Just getting round to mulling over the discussion day outcomes we had in June. I think as I work through the stuff we discussed I’ll blog it here, starting with the question who and what is Emergent UK?
Affirmations
- Emerging Church is much bigger than Emergent, and broader, and we would not assume to speak on behalf of the Emerging Church.
- We consider ourselves very involved in aspects of Emerging Church, whilst having our own distinctives, flavor and focus.
- We recognise and value that people are connecting to Emergent in multiple ways, outside this web site, organised events and conversations. No-one owns or controls Emergent in the UK. We do not presume to speak on behalf of, or in totality for everyone that feels part of Emergent in the UK.
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This is the iTunes podcast link for my church Vineyard Church, Sutton
Or open itunes and search for ‘vineyard church’ in the podcast directory. We’ll be getting one for Emergent-UK talks/materials asap.
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A carnival of Christianity Theo Hobson, Saturday July 09 2005, The Guardian newspaper.
On the Greenbelt site here, and the Guardian here.
I don’t buy the analysis of institutions, that they are inherently and intrinsically bad, or that it’s possible to move beyond them (all the festivals qouted are institutional with a hierarchy and structure and power and politics of some sort), but I love festivals, and it’s a great article.
I think we need to stop doing so many conferences and have more festivals, to allow more participation, and involvement. And the idea of church as festival, is very engaging.
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I am on the last part of my sabbatical for july and august and when not in Denmark have been churning out my last chapter for my disseration. I just finished the last part today. All 200 and bit more pages are now with a professional editor. I thank God for them. They will scrutinize my paper for grammar, spelling, and that the paper adheres to all the technical requirements of my university, down to every comma, full stop, citation/qoutation and footnote. Something that would cause me to lapse into a coma and never finalise the paper if left to me.That gives me until the 1st January to work on any edits before submitting a final draft on 1st January 2006.
Reviewing my writing today, I was so thankful that it is a journal of so much that I have learned, in my church, and in emergent. So many of the conversations and visits monthly to other places, churches and countries, have found their way into my paper, from web sites, to ideas, to books.
And on this blog, many of your comments and interactions, and those who downloaded and read some of my papers/writings, have been so helpful. So thank you to everyone who has helped shape me and get me this far.
Now two publishers, one in the US and one in the UK are interested in turning it into a book of some sort, so I guess the autumn will be busy with that process.
