The Emerging Church Panel in Dallas

We hear much about the emerging church, but pinning down its beliefs and goals can be challenging. What is the movement emerging from and where is it headed? How influential is the emerging church? Participants, observers, and critics examine this movement from all angles — biblical, theological, pastoral, and missional. Christianity Today’s Mark Galli moderated this panel on March 21, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

Panelists:
•Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet (Zondervan)
•Tony Jones, The New Christians (Jossey-Bass)
•Kevin DeYoung, Why We Are Not Emergent (Moody)
•Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

The Emerging Church Panel in Dallas

We hear much about the emerging church, but pinning down its beliefs and goals can be challenging. What is the movement emerging from and where is it headed? How influential is the emerging church? Participants, observers, and critics examine this movement from all angles — biblical, theological, pastoral, and missional. Christianity Today’s Mark Galli moderated this panel on March 21, 2009 for the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

Panelists:
•Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet (Zondervan)
•Tony Jones, The New Christians (Jossey-Bass)
•Kevin DeYoung, Why We Are Not Emergent (Moody)
•Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

The Humanness of the Unborn Reconsidered

Samuel Alexander Armas (born December 2, 1999) is the child shown in a famous photograph by Michael Clancy as he seemed to grasp his surgeon's hand from a hole in his mother's uterus during open fetal surgery for spina bifida.

Prolific blogger and theologian Ben Witherington III noted in his post The Humanness of the Unborn that

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. DrBruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

I was actually amazed at the comment of BW3 that he believes the 21-week-old fetus understands enough to reach out and thank his surgeon. That the operation took place, I have no doubt.

It is the intepretation of the event I have problem with. I find it hard to believe a 21-week-old fetus can reach out of the uterus for his doctor. Can he see from inside his mother's uterus? Does he have the musculature and nervous coordination to reach out? How many muscles and brain coordination does it take to squeeze something?

The photos has circulated continously since it was published and used by many for the anti-abortion lobby. I am sure that many people has reacted emotionally to the photograph which I agree have a powerful emotional impact.

My problem is the intepretation of the event and how it was used to support certain well meaning causes. Are we still dealing with truth anymore?


from Wiki

The photograph was taken during a pioneering surgical procedure performed on August 19, 1999 to fix the spina bifida lesion of a 21-week-old fetus in the womb. The operation was performed by a surgical team at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The team, Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan, had been developing a technique for correcting certain fetal problems in mid-pregnancy. Their procedure involved temporarily opening the uterus, draining the amniotic fluid, partially extracting andperforming surgery on the tiny fetus, then restoring the fetus to the uterus back inside the mother...

The picture attracted a lot of attention as, when it was released, it was seized upon by opponents of abortion who asserted that that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand, thus showing signs of life at the 21st week of pregnancy. Indeed the photograph and many of the texts which often accompany it seem to support this view including the account of the photographer Michael Clancy:
“ As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, "What happened?" "The child reached out," I said. "Oh. They do that all the time," she responded.”— - Michael Clancy

However, the surgeon later stated that Samuel and his mother, Julie, were under anesthesia and could not move. "The baby did not reach out," Dr Bruner said. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on." He also stated, “Depending on your political point of view, this is either Samuel Armas reaching out of the uterus and touching the finger of a fellow human, or it’s me pulling his hand out of the uterus … which is what I did.”

The Humanness of the Unborn Reconsidered

Samuel Alexander Armas (born December 2, 1999) is the child shown in a famous photograph by Michael Clancy as he seemed to grasp his surgeon's hand from a hole in his mother's uterus during open fetal surgery for spina bifida.

Prolific blogger and theologian Ben Witherington III noted in his post The Humanness of the Unborn that

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. DrBruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

I was actually amazed at the comment of BW3 that he believes the 21-week-old fetus understands enough to reach out and thank his surgeon. That the operation took place, I have no doubt.

It is the intepretation of the event I have problem with. I find it hard to believe a 21-week-old fetus can reach out of the uterus for his doctor. Can he see from inside his mother's uterus? Does he have the musculature and nervous coordination to reach out? How many muscles and brain coordination does it take to squeeze something?

The photos has circulated continously since it was published and used by many for the anti-abortion lobby. I am sure that many people has reacted emotionally to the photograph which I agree have a powerful emotional impact.

My problem is the intepretation of the event and how it was used to support certain well meaning causes. Are we still dealing with truth anymore?


from Wiki

The photograph was taken during a pioneering surgical procedure performed on August 19, 1999 to fix the spina bifida lesion of a 21-week-old fetus in the womb. The operation was performed by a surgical team at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The team, Dr. Joseph Bruner and Dr. Noel Tulipan, had been developing a technique for correcting certain fetal problems in mid-pregnancy. Their procedure involved temporarily opening the uterus, draining the amniotic fluid, partially extracting andperforming surgery on the tiny fetus, then restoring the fetus to the uterus back inside the mother...

The picture attracted a lot of attention as, when it was released, it was seized upon by opponents of abortion who asserted that that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand, thus showing signs of life at the 21st week of pregnancy. Indeed the photograph and many of the texts which often accompany it seem to support this view including the account of the photographer Michael Clancy:
“ As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, "What happened?" "The child reached out," I said. "Oh. They do that all the time," she responded.”— - Michael Clancy

However, the surgeon later stated that Samuel and his mother, Julie, were under anesthesia and could not move. "The baby did not reach out," Dr Bruner said. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on." He also stated, “Depending on your political point of view, this is either Samuel Armas reaching out of the uterus and touching the finger of a fellow human, or it’s me pulling his hand out of the uterus … which is what I did.”

Henri Nouwen on Compassion

Compassion means to suffer with, to live with those who suffer. When Jesus saw the woman of Nain he realized, This is a widow who has lost her only son, and he was moved by compassion. He felt the pain of that woman in his guts. He felt her pain so deeply in his spirit that out of compassion he called the son to life so he could give that son back to his mother.

Henri Nouwen

Church Meeting in a Bar

Cartoon of the Month

By Kevin Frank | posted 4/01/2009 08:24AM

The cartoon is very appropriate to what I am reading in Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch 2003 book.

I am still reading it so I shall reserve my comments until I have finished it.

Church Meeting in a Bar

Cartoon of the Month

By Kevin Frank | posted 4/01/2009 08:24AM

The cartoon is very appropriate to what I am reading in Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch 2003 book.

I am still reading it so I shall reserve my comments until I have finished it.

The City as Educator

Cities, Youth, and Technology:Toward a Pedagogy of Autonomy
Robert McClintock
Institute for Learning Technologies
Teachers College, Columbia University
A Contribution to the International Symposium
Zukunft der Jugend
ORF RadioKulturhaus
Vienna, September 20, 2000

This is an excellent insightful lecture about youth, the new media and the role of cities. I really enjoyed it.

With the new media, in school and outside of it, we are putting very powerful tools of inquiry and communication into the hands of students. This action may change significantly the educational ecology prevailing within the city. Reforms, which did not work under prior conditions, may now flourish under emerging conditions. The limitations that undercut the progressive solution to the educational weakness of city life may be quickly overcome. The new media transfer a great deal of educational control to the student. The new media amplify the power of communication and interaction that each young person can employ. A pedagogy of open ended inquiry, which once would inexorably end in frustration and mystification, can now dependably lead to a deep, expansive engagement with powerful ideas and concepts. The exercise of choice, so characteristic of urban life throughout all ages, becomes the driving means of educational work in a well-wired classroom. The power to communicate ideas and accomplishments, essential in the urban effort to create a persona, becomes feasible for anyone who has learned to use the Internet as a locus of self-expression.

The city, extended and universalized with new media, may become the locus where all persons at all places and all times can pursue an intellectually rigorous progressive education. When that happens, the city as educator will be perfected and complete.

read more

picture source

The City as Educator

Cities, Youth, and Technology:Toward a Pedagogy of Autonomy
Robert McClintock
Institute for Learning Technologies
Teachers College, Columbia University
A Contribution to the International Symposium
Zukunft der Jugend
ORF RadioKulturhaus
Vienna, September 20, 2000

This is an excellent insightful lecture about youth, the new media and the role of cities. I really enjoyed it.

With the new media, in school and outside of it, we are putting very powerful tools of inquiry and communication into the hands of students. This action may change significantly the educational ecology prevailing within the city. Reforms, which did not work under prior conditions, may now flourish under emerging conditions. The limitations that undercut the progressive solution to the educational weakness of city life may be quickly overcome. The new media transfer a great deal of educational control to the student. The new media amplify the power of communication and interaction that each young person can employ. A pedagogy of open ended inquiry, which once would inexorably end in frustration and mystification, can now dependably lead to a deep, expansive engagement with powerful ideas and concepts. The exercise of choice, so characteristic of urban life throughout all ages, becomes the driving means of educational work in a well-wired classroom. The power to communicate ideas and accomplishments, essential in the urban effort to create a persona, becomes feasible for anyone who has learned to use the Internet as a locus of self-expression.

The city, extended and universalized with new media, may become the locus where all persons at all places and all times can pursue an intellectually rigorous progressive education. When that happens, the city as educator will be perfected and complete.

read more

picture source

Movie Review on Fight Club

"You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"

With this memorable words narrated by Edward Norton began the 1999 movie, Fight Club. Norton met Tyler Durben in a bar and end up fighting. They find the bare knuckle street fighting so enjoyable that more and more people joined in. The Fight Club was so popular that it became a franchise and went worldwide. That is until Tyler Durben came out with Operation Mayhem! And the surprising revelation of who Tyler really is.

On the surface this is a movie about street brawls. However it is a social commentary about the raging anger most people felt inside them in living in a society that is so frustrating and chaotic. Most people are on the lookout for ways to release these anger. Street brawling became the means of release of anger and male empowerment. These fight clubs gave them a sense of community, belonging, liberation, release, rebellion and rejection of the middle class consumerism values they have to live by. In the fight clubs, some people through their pain experience some form of 'religious' experience.

I was horrified by the outrageous behavior of Tyler Durben, ably played by Brad Pitts. But what he did was to thumb his nose at many of the social norms of the North American society. I enjoyed the movie in spite of the gory fight scenes. I watched this movie with a sinking feeling in my stomach. It is due to the realization that somehow the church has failed in her task to provide for these people. And this failure was the reason they find meaning in the fight clubs.

Not suitable for children. Good for group discussion.

picture source here and here

Movie Review on Fight Club

"You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"

With this memorable words narrated by Edward Norton began the 1999 movie, Fight Club. Norton met Tyler Durben in a bar and end up fighting. They find the bare knuckle street fighting so enjoyable that more and more people joined in. The Fight Club was so popular that it became a franchise and went worldwide. That is until Tyler Durben came out with Operation Mayhem! And the surprising revelation of who Tyler really is.

On the surface this is a movie about street brawls. However it is a social commentary about the raging anger most people felt inside them in living in a society that is so frustrating and chaotic. Most people are on the lookout for ways to release these anger. Street brawling became the means of release of anger and male empowerment. These fight clubs gave them a sense of community, belonging, liberation, release, rebellion and rejection of the middle class consumerism values they have to live by. In the fight clubs, some people through their pain experience some form of 'religious' experience.

I was horrified by the outrageous behavior of Tyler Durben, ably played by Brad Pitts. But what he did was to thumb his nose at many of the social norms of the North American society. I enjoyed the movie in spite of the gory fight scenes. I watched this movie with a sinking feeling in my stomach. It is due to the realization that somehow the church has failed in her task to provide for these people. And this failure was the reason they find meaning in the fight clubs.

Not suitable for children. Good for group discussion.

picture source here and here

Formation In Faith

Sondra Higgins Matthaei (2008), Formation in Faith: The Congregational Ministry of making Disciples, Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Sondra Higgins Matthaei is professor of Christian Religious Education at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. I have been following her writings closely and have enjoyed her other book, Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesley Tradition.

This book builds on her thesis of her previous book that spiritual maturity involves three stages; invitation to communion, deepening communion, and full communion. However she has taken the further step to suggest how her thesis may be translated into a congregation that is making disciples. She looks at the development of such a congregation in terms of relationships, structures and practices. I like this book because Matthaei is making a genuine effort to apply the results of her thesis. Many Christian educators are very good in suggesting theoretical models but often fails to teach us how to apply it to the grass root level of the church.

There is much to recommend for her model. However it could have been better if she had paid more attention to the leadership of the church in her model. Any disciplemaking processes in the church depends heavily on the support and commitment of the upper echolon leadership of the church. If the upper echelon are not interested in faith formation but more in building their own empires, then whatever model will fails. I wish she have given us some indicators how how she will convince church leaders to be spiritual leaders rather than glorified adminstrators.

A good book to read.

Formation In Faith

Sondra Higgins Matthaei (2008), Formation in Faith: The Congregational Ministry of making Disciples, Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Sondra Higgins Matthaei is professor of Christian Religious Education at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. I have been following her writings closely and have enjoyed her other book, Making Disciples: Faith Formation in the Wesley Tradition.

This book builds on her thesis of her previous book that spiritual maturity involves three stages; invitation to communion, deepening communion, and full communion. However she has taken the further step to suggest how her thesis may be translated into a congregation that is making disciples. She looks at the development of such a congregation in terms of relationships, structures and practices. I like this book because Matthaei is making a genuine effort to apply the results of her thesis. Many Christian educators are very good in suggesting theoretical models but often fails to teach us how to apply it to the grass root level of the church.

There is much to recommend for her model. However it could have been better if she had paid more attention to the leadership of the church in her model. Any disciplemaking processes in the church depends heavily on the support and commitment of the upper echolon leadership of the church. If the upper echelon are not interested in faith formation but more in building their own empires, then whatever model will fails. I wish she have given us some indicators how how she will convince church leaders to be spiritual leaders rather than glorified adminstrators.

A good book to read.

The Buddhist Hippocratic Oath

"One who cares for the sick is fit to do so if he has 5 qualities.

What 5?

He can prepare medicine,he knows what is healing and administers it BUT never administer what is harmful,he cares for the patient out of love NOT out of desire for gain, he is unmoved by excrement, urine, vomit and spittle, and from time to time he can instruct, uplift, gladden and encourage the patient with talk on the Truth."

The Buddha in Anguttara Nikaya

HT: Punna

The Buddhist Hippocratic Oath

"One who cares for the sick is fit to do so if he has 5 qualities.

What 5?

He can prepare medicine,he knows what is healing and administers it BUT never administer what is harmful,he cares for the patient out of love NOT out of desire for gain, he is unmoved by excrement, urine, vomit and spittle, and from time to time he can instruct, uplift, gladden and encourage the patient with talk on the Truth."

The Buddha in Anguttara Nikaya

HT: Punna