Amy Stuart Taylor’s “Welcoming Children” blog

Amy is a mom and volunteer at Federated Church (Disciples) in West Lafayette, Ind., and is passionate about welcoming children into the church. Visit her “Welcoming Children” blog and welcome her to the growing ranks of Disciples bloggers!

What is your theological worldview?

Found this on Michael Davison’s blog and also on Rethinking Youth Ministry , whose author, Brian, is an emergent/postmodern like I am. Below is the breakdown of my score. Take the quiz over at Quizfarm.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 75% Roman Catholic 64% Neo orthodox 61% Modern Liberal 50% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 46% Classical Liberal 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 36% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 4% What’s your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

PS the guy in the photo is Brian McLaren.

Somebody send Tucker Carlson a Starbucks gift card, please!

Or a copy of James Cone’s A Black Theology of Liberation. Or at least help him look up the Wikipedia entry on Black Theology.

Because he needs to wake up.

Carlson, on his talk show, took issue with Barack Obama’s membership at Trinity UCC in Chicago, which openly promotes its adherence to the Black Value System. Dr. Carlson, apparently now an expert in theology (he mumbles something about being qualified to talk about this) takes issue with a theology that appears to him to favor one race over another. I guess nobody ever pointed out to him things like centuries of blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus portraits, the use of the Bible to justify slavery, etc. might just indicate a bias of one race (his) over another.

You can view his theological musings courtesy of The Angry Black Woman blog. She adds some South Park-style cartoons to go with it. Read what she has to say about Carlson too.

What do they mean by “progressive Christianity”?

Despite the propsensity of the mainstream media to obsess over the machinations of the Christian Right, there are a fair number of Christians who want to get beyond the whole liberal/conservative paradigm (some would say that we are already there, we just need to claim it). Here’s one more resource for those who are convinced that the term “progressive Christian” is not an oxymoron.  

Dr. Delwin Brown and a new bi-monthly magazine called The Progressive Christian are publishing, chapter by chapter, an online book called Progressive Christian Beliefs.

Starting February 19, a chapter of the book will be posted every two weeks on another WordPress blog: http://progressivetheology.wordpress.com/. You can check out the blog now and see a chapter-by-chapter preview of the book.  

Thoughts on God…and other stuff

No, not my thoughts — Kory Wilcoxson’s. His are much more interesting. Kory is a Disciples pastor in the Chicagoland area, and like me, he laments the sorry state of Cincinnati’s sports teams. He’s also a big fan of “24″. In other words, he knows Jack! (Bauer, that is).

Here’s his blog: Thoughts on God…and other stuff.

Petition to stop Bush library at SMU

Readers may have already heard about the petition against locating the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University. The petition was started by Andrew Weaver, a UM pastor and alumnus of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. If you’d like to read it, or sign it, here’s the link: http://www.protectsmu.org/

Of course, the Institute on Religion and Democracy has launched a counter-petition.

What I want to know is, will the library’s catalogue include a copy of The Pet Goat?

NBA loses round 1 of post-bankruptcy lawsuit

For anyone following the saga of the National Benevolent Association, the Disciples’ social and health services general unit (or “general ministry,” as they call them these days), the non-profit’s suit against Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the law firm that it hired to restructure its debt and handle its Chapter 11 bankruptcy was nixed this week by Judge Ronald B. King.

I was just getting ready to pack my suitcase and head to San Antonio for the Feb. 12 trial, when I got the news from NBA board chair Pat Parvin. (”Dang. Now I have to remain in the freezing cold Midwest,” I thought to myself.)

This isn’t the end of the matter though. Look for NBA’s attorneys to appeal to US District Court. It was kind of weird to have Judge King, who presided over the bankruptcy, having to also rule on a lawsuit over the same case.

Spending time poring over court documents is not really the most interesting thing to do, but every now and then there’s something interesting in the NBA case. There were more than 30 depositions taken - from former NBA management and board members, church leaders, creditors, case professionals, attorneys, and of course, ‘experts’. While the depositions themselves are not posted on the electronic filing system, excerpts of them are quoted in filings by both sides.

Interesting, like I said. It appears not all of NBA’s management and board were marching in lock-step, after all.

For the church’s sake, I hope the case comes to trial someday, in some court. It may be the closest we ever get to having answers to the questions that still linger today.

Here is a link to a different take on the latest development, from Law.com.

“The Bible Tells Me So”

Rev. Steve Kindle, a Disciples of Christ pastor, is featured in a film that recently was screened at the Sundance Festival.  “The Bible Tells Me So,” directed by Daniel Karslake, explores what Scripture says about the Bible and how several Christian families wrestle with the issues of homosexuality when it becomes a personal issue.

Bob Cornwall brought this to our attention and has posted a link to the YouTube movie trailer on his own blog, Ponderings on a Faith Journey. http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/2007/02/sundance-festival-featured-look-at.html. (Thanks Bob!)

Dr. Don Ray’s ‘Lost in Spaces’

New Disciples blog….Check out Dr. Don Ray’s “Lost in Spaces,” his musings on science, spirituality, religion and … playing with cats.

http://drdonray.spaces.live.com/

NFL nixes church Super Bowl bashes

A few days ago, we posted an AP article on the DisciplesWorld Web site about churches hosting Super Bowl parties. Well, the NFL has now warned at least one church against it, because of broadcasting rights issues. One the one hand, I can see the NFL’s point - they have strict rules about this. On the other hand, the church events are a nice alternative to alcohol-fueled, family-unfriendly bashes (and in their minds, a form of outreach).

What do you think?