andygoodliff

Evaluating Fresh Expressions

This is a new book edited by Martyn Percy and Louise Nelstrop (Canterbury Press) and is a welcome contribution to the recent Anglican phenonoma of 'fresh expressions' (what happens when they are no longer "fresh"?).  Having given it a quick read, several chapters stand out. Martyn Percy's 'Old tricks for new dogs? A critique of fresh expressions', Pete Rollins' 'Biting the hand that feeds: an apology for encouraging tension between the established church and emerging collectives', Mark Mason's 'Living the distance between "a community of character" and a "a community of the question"' and Louise Nelstrop's 'Mixed economy or ecclesial reciprocity: which does the Church of England really want to promote?' What each of these chapters raises is the serious theological and ecclesial questions behind pragmatic ventures like 'fresh expressions'.  I don't want to suggest the emerging church and fresh expressions are all bad - there is much, in my opinion to like, especially within emerging churches - but there is a serious need for theological reflection. I hope to blog some more on specific chapters.

Reading over Christmas

Term is over and dissertation and other reading begins. Here's my current list of books I'd like to get through:

Graced Vulnerability: a theology of childhood by David Jensen
Let the Children Come: reimagining childhood from a Christian perspective by Bonnie Miller-McLemore
Welcoming Children: a practical theology of childhood by Joyce Ann Mercer
A Baptist Theology of the Child (Phd dissertation) by Gordon Miller
For the life of the world by Alexander Schmemann
Imitating Jesus: an inclusive approach to new testament ethics by Richard Burridge
Christian Ethics by David Cunningham
Participation and Mediation by Pete Ward

and if they come in enough time:
The Child in the Bible: biblical perspectives edited by Marcia Bunge
Revelation and Reason by Colin Gunton
Scripture's Doctrine and Theology's Bible edited by Markus Bockmuehl and Alan Torrance
The Word Leaps the Gap: Essays in honour of Richard Hays

Fantastic line-up of advent bloggers

This year's advent bloggers at hopeful imagination represent a wide range of voices - Scottish, Welsh, northern England and southern England, male, female, young, old, ministers (baptist and URC), regional ministers (a sort of baptist version of a bishop), a college principal, a college tutor, ministerial students, a theological student, a youth worker, a children's worker ...

if you've not read the wonderful thoughts of lynn, ashley, julian, geoff and jim, go visit now.