Unique Challenge #1 : Postmodernism
May 13, 2012One of the central tenets of postmodernity is the rejection of any centralizing myth or grand narrative that attempts to present truth. One can make a claim for a story, but that claim is limited and, consequently, weak. What one cannot claim is a Story, since there are no claims that have universal weight to them. What this means for “curricula of Christlikeness” is that they can no longer be created from data and information imposed by an authority figure or “information dispenser” offering a worldview or moral philosophy [...]
3 unique challenges to spiritual formation in our time
May 6, 2012So this sounding of the alarm is nothing new. It is a persistent and common motif throughout religious history for leaders to decry the current state of spiritual maturity and sound the call for return to the more rigorous and devoted practices of earlier generations. This naturally begs the question whether there is anything distinctly different about the time in which we now find ourselves, and many observers and researchers in a variety of fields — sociology, anthropology, and neuroscience to name three — have concluded that we have entered [...]
Church: We have a problem.
May 5, 2012Church, we have a problem and its time to admit it. Once we admit it we can transcend it but until we face the facts we won’t be able to rise above it. If Jesus, John the Baptist, the earliest Apostles or even Alcoholics Anonymous have taught us anything it’s that we must first admit we have a problem before the solution will present itself. In the present-day church at large and, more specifically, in my own personal context (the Brownhouse, a communal household in Norwood, Ohio), spiritual formation typically [...]
Econocide
May 1, 2012Alice Skirtz, one of the founding members of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, has spent a lot of time in meetings. She’s been on lots of committees, she’s advocated on behalf of a great number of political causes. These might not always be exciting pursuits, but they can teach you something. Skirtz says that going to meetings, spending time reading the minutes of meetings, stepping back and examining the arc of public policy decisions, has given her insights on an extremely unpleasant topic: “Poor people [are] literally being [...]
“Community is this indomitable force”: An interview with Jenn Summers
April 20, 2012Jenn Summers is the Community Education Coordinator at Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati. (Full disclosure: when I’m not working with Formed, I’m working for Peaslee, so she’s my co-worker.) “Community” isn’t just a word in her job title, it’s something she clearly values in all her interactions. “Community means different things to different people,” Jenn said as we talked earlier this month at Iris Book Cafe. “I talk about that with the students.” High school and college students come to Peaslee for service learning projects, “urban plunges” and other experiences [...]