I’m going to eat this book up
Saturday, December 01, 2007
While I do plan to get McLaren’s new book, Everything Must Change, I’m really more excited about this one: Consuming Jesus, by Paul Metzger. I read some reviews online (Jesus Creed), and really think this will be helpful to my project. While it focuses on how consumer churchianity diasbles multi-ethnic congregations (an incredibly important observation), It looks like it will translate well to other issues, as well.
Thanks to Derek for referring. Consider it on my Christmas list, bro. That, and the iPod touch 16 Gb. See my wife to contribute : )
TSAWWT Bookmarks:
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Discover the woeful inadequacy of my education
Saturday, April 14, 2007
My previous post led me to check out a unique approach to higher learning. St. John’s College in Annapolis and Santa Fe features only one course of study. No choice of 40 different majors—just a four year trek through all of the ‘significant’ literature of Western civilization. It’s hard to look over this reading list and argue that St. John’s graduates wouldn’t emerge as more highly educated and literate thinkers than those earning degrees from the many supermarkets of higher learning across most of the country (that includes me). Reading their web site makes me want to go there and get a real education (preferably in Santa Fe).Here’s a fun little game: How many authors on the St. John’s College list have you read? They need not be the same titles or the complete works of these authors to play. Shoot me a comment and let me know.
Todd’s list: Austen, The Bible, Dostoevski, Eliot (George), Tolstoy, Twain and Shakespeare.
Pretty scant. I credit my college freshman lit. teacher for likely helping me double the size of my list. I’m a little shocked at not seeing some big names on the St. John’s list—but with all of Western civilization to get through, I suppose you gotta make some cuts. Hemingway is probably ticked off. How did you make out?
Suspicious minds
Monday, August 21, 2006
We're back from our ten day western odyssey through 5 states (Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota). I now need a vacation from my vacation.I happened upon an interview today while combing through the comments on an Out of Ur story, and thought I would share a link and a pertinent quote.
One of the significant differences between modern and post-modern thinkers is how, generally, they understand and respond to consumer marketing tactics. While the established evangelical church has embraced marketing techniques to advance the gospel, the statistics show a marked generational dropoff in younger adults (30s and 20s). My suspicion is that the very thing (cultural relevance through pop media) being used by the older generation to reach the younger one is the very thing that is driving them away.It's hard to prove this hypothesis without some serious new research. Voices like Sarah Cunningham are beginning to draw this into focus:
"Twentysomethings were raised in a media-driven culture and are naturally suspicious of stunts, ploys, and marketing campaigns crafted to get their attention. For good or bad, we carry this suspicion with us into the spiritual arena as well. So when we are confronted with new Christian trends and conferences and books pitched as the end-all-beat-all answers, we can't help but wonder if the movement at hand will have any lasting value or whether it will be one more flash in the pan. Liturgy, on the other hand, speaks to us of a timeless, unchanging God who is not reliant on magic tricks or aces up the sleeve to get people into his congregations. here is something proven, and therefore credible, about practices that extend back to ancient times."
Cunningham is the author of Dear Church: Letters From A Disillusioned Generation, published by Zondervan. You can read the interview this quote came from here.
Blurbs don't make the man
Monday, July 17, 2006
I recently enjoyed Brian McLaren’s The Secret Message of Jesus, part of my summer reading list. One thing I noticed was the long list of blurbs that were included (perhaps by the publisher and not the author). The litany of laudatory reader quotes started on the dust jacket and continued on into the first four pages of the book. It was a who’s who of authors, academics and artists, from Anne Rice, to Donald Miller, to Frederick Buechner. All this was very interesting and impressive–all well deserved (heck, I'd write one myself). But I came away feeling a little bit like this book must be what all the cool people are reading right now. (At least there was no sign of Bono.) There has been a pretty heavy Christian marketing assault going on for this book since it was released (which is great for McLaren and the whole topic of the Kingdom), but the excessive blurbing just seemed to take it to an extreme. Did I pay to read the book, or famous people talking about the book?This is a trifling point, but here’s an insight I picked up from Guy Kawasaki in his recent post about another book: “As a rule of thumb, the more blurbs you see on a book, the lower the quality of the book.” Ouch. That’s a bit harsh, but maybe something McLaren should consider talking to his publisher and publicist about next time out. I happen to think his name alone has enough clout to sell quite a few books these days.