Barna Group has identified four mega trends from the last quarter of 2007: 1) Americans’ unconditional self-love; 2) designer faith with rootless values; 3) the five Ps of parenting; and 4) nouveau Christianity. Click here for explanation.
Primers on Pullman and the Golden Compass
With the theatrical release of The Golden Compass, all kinds of rumors and reviews are floating around about Philip
Pullman and the Golden Compass. Opinions and convictions are being formed left and right, some informed other in ignorance. If you are remotely interested in forming an informed opinion, read the books and see the movie. If you are looking for some discernment before plunging in head first, here are a two excellent resources:
- Mars Hill Audio piece on Philip Pullman (w/ excellent literary critique from Alan Jacobs).
- Atlantic Monthly article entitled “How Hollywood Saved God.”
Theology, in a global perspective
Tim Tennent’s second major book, Theology in the Context of World Christianity explores Systematic Theology from a Global perspective. Tennent takes an interdisciplinary approach, relying on biblical exegesis and contextual theologies to present the various doctrines that comprise systematic theology in a global perspective. Here are the table of contents:
1. The Emergence of a Global Theological Discourse
2. Theology: Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?
3. Bibliology: Hindu Sacred Texts in Pre-Christian Past
4. Anthropology: Human Identity in Shame-Based Cultures of the Far East
5. Christology: Christ as Healer and Ancestor in Africa
6. Soteriology: Is “Salvation by Grace through Faith” Unique to Christianity?
7. Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in Latin American Pentecostalism
8. Ecclesiology: Followers of Jesus in Islamic Mosques
9. Eschatology: Jonathan Edwards and the Chinese Back to Jerusalem Movement
10. The Emerging Contours of Global Theology
Converts or Proselytes? The Nature of True Conversion
We hard-pressed to find a better missiologist in our day than Andrew Walls. Though Walls has not written prolifically, he makes up for it in the profoundity of his work. He has written two landmark books that explore the relationship between history, missions, and theology: The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in Transmission of Faith and The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History along with a number of articles.
Former missionary to Sierra Leone and Nigeria, Walls later served as director of the Centre for the study of Christianity in the Non-Western world, at the University of Edinburgh. In an article appearing in IBMR 2004, Walls explores the difference between proselytes and converts in the Early Church.