Disqus - Latest Comments for andrewtatum

Re: April 2014 Box Preview (Spoiler Alert) [Video]

andrewtatum — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 19:08:29 -0000

My perfect spring day would be spent with family grilling out in the back yard and picking some bluegrass.

Re: coping with OS frustration

andrewtatum — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 05:54:41 -0000

It occurs to me that it might do me good to eventually get rid of the smart phone altogether. After all, I don't exactly need additional sources of frustration beyond those already present in my life. Additionally, I'm beginning to question what real value my mobile device adds to my life. All it really seems to be able to do with any degree of consistancy is distract me from face to face human interaction.

Re: Don’t Climb Alone: A New Discipleship Tool We Can’t Wait to Use!

andrewtatum — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:25:38 -0000

You may have already said this but how many weeks does each Don't Climb Alone booklet / series cover? Could I effectively rely on these studies for a full school year's worth of small group studies?

Re: Why Youth Ministries Are Not Working In America

andrewtatum — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:44:49 -0000

Oh and I thank you for your courage to say hard stuff that churches need to hear! Again, great post! I am challenged to think more critically about the way I do ministry just about every time you blog.

Re: Why Youth Ministries Are Not Working In America

andrewtatum — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:43:08 -0000

Great post! I wonder what the stats are on general church involvement in the general population (adults and youth included). I'd be willing to bet the youth stats reflect the facts among the general population (i.e., that church involvement in general is down in the US -- and throughout the West). People in general are leaving "institutional" Christianity (or, chances are, they were never part of it to begin with) such that the US (and the West as a whole) is now one of the greatest "mission fields" in the world. Not surprising in a nihilistic culture that worships the idols of money, self, and success.

Re: Faith and Theology: Nothing-better-to-doodlings

andrewtatum — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:37:35 -0000

"The problem with WWJD ethics is that you could ask the same question of, say, Gandhi. Whether Christ is living or dead makes no essential difference to an answer that will be trapped in immanence."

Perfect!

Re: Associated Baptist Press - Opinion: How could something so good have been such a bust?

andrewtatum — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:28:45 -0000

My apologies! I stand corrected. It could be that my serving in the UMC for the past three years has made me less "in the know" -- and of course I am not blaming the CBF or my seminary that the event drew fewer people than was hoped for. It sounds like a lot of the issues came from NBC II organizers and not from the CBF.

Again, my apologies.

Re: Associated Baptist Press - Opinion: How could something so good have been such a bust?

andrewtatum — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:08:05 -0000

I was was present for the first meeting and would have been to this one except I didn't know anything about it. No word from the CBFNC no mention from my college or seminary. I was even in Atlanta that weekend and never even knew the NBC II was happening. Sounds like a simple case of bad / no publicity.

Re: What the &%#$? When did cussing become OK at youth group?

andrewtatum — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:34:13 -0000

Cursing is simply the way people who lack the capacity for creative speech express themselves. It's not "cool" or even "using the vernacular of the day" -- it is the debasement of language with a complete lack of creativity. This ought to be offensive to anyone who takes the way they use language seriously. Moreover, those who do not think about the way they speak or express themselves probably shouldn't be in ministry at all.

Re: Links for the weekend

andrewtatum — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:33:20 -0000

Hey! Thanks for the linkage! Glad to have discovered your blog.

Blessings,

Andrew Tatum
www.astatum.net

Re: Are Atheists Basically Just Like Liberal Believers?

andrewtatum — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:27:15 -0000

I stand corrected (or, should I say, properly nuanced)...

Re: Are Atheists Basically Just Like Liberal Believers?

andrewtatum — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:04:57 -0000

The irony here is that the most popular modern atheists (Hitchens, Harris and perhaps Dawkins) are, in fact, politically and socially conservative. At least here in the U.S., the relationship runs opposite: many (if not most) religious liberals are also socially and politically liberal.

But to your questions, I wouldn't consider myself "liberal" mostly because the term has no substantive meaning in the postmodern world. While I may hold some viewpoints that are outside of what has been historically normative for Christian faith, I am by no means theologically in-line with the classical theological liberalism of the 19th century.

That being said, I suppose you are right to be frustrated when people cannot see the nuance between your own positions and those of atheists. Many (if not most) "religious" people today (liberals and conservatives) are solely lacking in necessary skills of critical thought that allow them to offer any sort of nuanced articulation of their own beliefs and practices, much less the beliefs and practices of others. The same is true of many atheists who, once they have "seen the light" of atheism, are unable to even countenance the idea that they might be wrong. This is another irony of modern atheism (of the Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etc. ilk). The repudiation of religious belief is undertaken in much the same fashion of religious fundamentalism (of, say, the "religious right" or contemporary Southern Baptists) which, once it has compiled its various "sources" for beliefs, refuses to move beyond certain "foundational" beliefs.

The question of the extent to which cooperation is possible is not a difficult one. The root of the problem is pride (or arrogance) which does not allow people to cooperate on even the most important of tasks. We can clearly cooperate on shared social aims if people can get past the mutual hatred (or even mere rudeness) toward those who do not share their belief systems.

Things like intellectual formation get somewhat tricky since there are many Christians especially who understand intellectual growth in spiritual terms that would clearly be a "turn off" to atheists or secular humanists.

But, in the end, I think it all goes back to pride and willingness to put our own systems to the side when the need for cooperation arises.

Re: If I Blogged...

andrewtatum — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:14:36 -0000

I got a bookstore gift card and bought this book on a whim...definitely a paradigm shifter for me. So glad to see others listening to Roy's distinct and important voice.

Re: “I can’t believe is not non-fiction: a Reading Experiement”

andrewtatum — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:57:39 -0000

Mark, I think - as far as taste in books is concerned - we're the same person. I would only add Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible.

Re: go where god is, not where you believe god ought to be.

andrewtatum — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:42:55 -0000

Great post! As a youth minister, I often become painfully aware of my own attempts to "take God where I believe God ought to be" instead of helping the youth in my church & my community experience God where God already is (namely, everywhere). I am consistently challenged by your posts! Keep em coming!

Re: go where god is, not where you believe god ought to be.

andrewtatum — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:40:14 -0000

Is Berger utilizing Michael Polanyi in this? Or is "plausibility structure" simply a general sociological / philosophical term that I've only, until now, encountered in Polanyi?

Re: go where god is, not where you believe god ought to be.

andrewtatum — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:37:14 -0000

Rob Bell? Heresy?

Re: lutherans make historic vote, and the AP wire F's it up

andrewtatum — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:39:24 -0000

Great post! I'm going to make sure everyone on my facebook / twitter feed uses it to balance what the AP is saying. Thanks for being out there on the forefront so that people are not unfairly maligned or the church's stance misunderstood.

Re: Do we get Kierkegaard wrong?

andrewtatum — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:29:08 -0000

My undergrad philosophy prof. was a huge Kierkegaard nut and I can say (thankfully) that I have never heard a reading like the "common" reading. Great post!

Re: Something Like Hypocricy: Emergent Churches, Ordinary Radicals, and the Urge of Ecumenism

andrewtatum — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:45:46 -0000

This post reminds me of a moment in a seminary course called, "Learning Theology with C.S. Lewis." The course was taught by a Lutheran who had recently converted to Roman Catholicism. In the thick of a riveting discussion of the fracturing divisions in the church the professor threw up his hands and yelled, "STOP!" We all turned to look at him and he was silent for a long moment. Then he said in his thick German accent, "The church is not broken! It never has been! It's whole and completely one...IN ROME! Where it has been since Christ, our Lord, gave Peter the keys to the kingdom." He, of course, meant to assert that - although we were at a "mostly orthodox mainline protestant" seminary - the One True Church was the Roman Catholic church. Ever since then I've learned to tread lightly in discussions of the "fractured church" and of "ecumenism." I've flirted with Catholicism but have also found myself drawn to more 'simple / organic' forms of church and, honestly, my preferences change from day-to-day.

I guess what I'm rambling on about (at 3:30am) is that it would be easy for me to dismiss my professor for being "unfair" or "exclusivistic." But I've got to wonder if there's a way forward between these varying "sects" (for that is, in reality, what all denominations really are) of Christianity. Paul was never too keen on sectarianism and Jesus' prayer was that we might all be one but it seems that none of us are speaking the same language. This is really about more than whether or not we're "Post-Constantinian" or "Radical" or "Emergent" - that such words are even possible (along with the ensuing ecclesial fracturing and confusion) is an indication of something else that's at the root of all this. We're simply not speaking the same language. It's becoming increasingly difficult to tell one's faith journey in a way that seeks reconciliation with others when our very language of reconciliation and our very faith journey itself might be an offense to the Other. Honestly, I've got no answers - just questions. But I'm not seeing a way out of this until (in the words of the Methodist liturgy) "Christ comes in his final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet." Of course, who knows if we'll all be there. Even so, Come Lord Jesus!

Re: blog book tour for Coffeehouse Theology

andrewtatum — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:04:14 -0000

Your blog has been in my google reader for months and I'm glad to see on the tour as well! I'm really looking forward to hearing from you on this book!

Re: sound bites of life on 2008-10-01

andrewtatum — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:46:18 -0000

Hey! Thanks for linking to my blog in your blogroll...just letting you know that my URL has changed to http://astatum.net.

Peace,
A.T.

Re: Weird Fishes

andrewtatum — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:34:57 -0000

Just had a look at your bikes...somehow I wasn't surprised you're riding a fixie. I'm actually selling mine and buying a mountain bike in its place. I'll probably buy an old frame someday and get back to basics but for now, the fixed gear just doesn't work for me in the Raleigh, NC streets.

Re: Why is “New Monasticism” controversial?

andrewtatum — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:01:56 -0000

I don't want to state the obvious but I think it's controversial for the same reason that your recent satire piece is actually pretty scary. To challenge the status quo of evangelical Christianity in North America is almost sinful. It's similar (oddly enough) to the "if you criticize the government, you must be a terrorist" mentality that some Americans tend to have. And, of course, Catholics - for many evangelicals - are heretics so anything remotely resembling "Catholic" must be scorned. That's my stab at it.

Re: Soundtrack for Revolution

andrewtatum — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:39:06 -0000

Sufjan Stevens