Disqus - Latest Comments for andrewtatum

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

Re: On Corn Pancakes, Stanley Hauerwas, and Education

andrewtatum — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:07:34 -0000

In response to a number of these comments, I must say that to call the atmosphere at a public university "vocational" seems to miss something important about the tenor of the current 'secular' employment atmosphere (i.e. the 'job market'). I would say that most universities (public, private and "Christian" alike) are not preparing people for a vocation, or calling, but rather for a "career" based on a rather narrowly defined set of skills and parameters of knowledge rather than on holistic character formation.

It occurs to me that this idea of vocation - as opposed to "career" - might be part of the reason that Hauerwas claims that people end up in seminary because they have "failed" in "secular" careers. In a 'secular' world job market that is looking for people, not with a calling or any particular sort of character formation, but people who can perform particular tasks. As a student at Duke, it appears to me that this has been one aspect of Hauerwas' influence on the overall shape and curriculum of this particular seminary - that to be in ministry requires that we be 'virtuous,' i.e. that we develop particular practices peculiar to Christian ministry - practices with which the 'secular' job market is often wholly unconcerned - i.e. christian nonviolence, radical hospitality, truth-telling, etc. In other words, at its best the university should be "vocational" in that through education it should be an agent of holistic character formation (I suppose, then that I would agree with Matt's comment as well).

At any rate, I am aware of the statistics regarding the age of students in seminary. However, I find it incredibly ironic that the seminary which I attend (incidentally, also the seminary where Hauerwas teaches) has an average student age of 25 (http://www.divinity.duke.edu/about/studentbody). In addition, the students that I have met who are "older" do not fall into the category of those who have left 'unsuccessful' secular careers. Rather, many of them have either been in vocational ministry for years and are returning for a credential or (and I would say this is most common) have left highly successful 'secular' careers (just look at the Th.D. incoming class) because they have sensed a call to ministry. Anyway, good discussion.

Cheers, Andrew

Re: Abraham Heschel, Wendell Berry & the Subversive Sabbath

andrewtatum — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:35:49 -0000

Thanks so much...but may I suggest that you just read some Wendell Berry and Abraham Heschel instead of reading what I wrote...they say it much better anyway.

Blessings,
Andrew

Re: Abraham Heschel, Wendell Berry & the Subversive Sabbath

andrewtatum — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:02:47 -0000

Daniel,

Thanks for that clarification. What you (rightly, I thnk) point out is a possible difference between Heschel's view (a Jewish view) and one prevalent Christian view of the sabbath's role in the life of faith. I do love, however, the idea that, on the sabbath, we rest from our toil in the "world of the things of space" to experience a glimpse of eternity. Isn't this that in which we have been called by God to participate? Thanks so much for your comment. I look forward to more input.

Grace & Peace,
Andrew

Re: Papal Wisdom on Nonviolence

andrewtatum — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:01:40 -0000

I especially like the bit about the "novelty" of the gospel. In his book, Subversive Orthodoxy, Robert Inchausti describes the Christian worldview as one that is deeply ironic and comical. I'm certain that this idea could easily be misinterpreted. I think he means that, if done properly and with accountability and faith, the Christian life of discipleship turns many of the values of this culture, this time, and this place on its head and what comes from this is indeed deeply ironic and comical. Comical in the sense that, although life is serious business, we are (should be) often moved to laughter (and tears) over the absurd fact that because of the church's unfaithfulness, so many never know peace in this life. I suppose we must share Paul's hope that "now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."