FAITH, HOPE, LOVE ... and REASON

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88014387231656208562012-02-16T04:50:04.717-05:00FAITH, HOPE, LOVE ... and REASON... but the greatest of these is love - St. PaulJoseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-75259041312644786212012-01-24T22:08:00.001-05:002012-01-24T22:10:35.245-05:00Long day in the hospital

Tuesday, January 24, 2012Today was a long day. Debbie had an appointment for a blood transfusion at 10 am. I went to the university to teach my classes, and then over the hospital at around 1 pm. She was still waiting for the six hour procedure to begin at 3 pm. I lost my cell phone, found it, knocked off my side view mirror by colliding with a mail box. While I was sitting in the hospital with

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-29691057775953292982012-01-19T09:34:00.002-05:002012-01-19T09:36:34.706-05:00Sons, Mosquitos, voices and JOY in the Everglades

My son was born in 1986. During his early years, I was a ministry work-a-holic and I did not spend as much time with him as I should have. When I did spend time with him, I was often tense and irritable and had my mind on really super important “ministry and pastoral” issues (please notice the subtle hint of irony). Sometime around his 13th birthday, I realized that I was way behind the eight

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-31456508515450312952011-02-21T19:39:00.005-05:002011-02-21T20:04:53.505-05:00Drawing inspiration from Tom Selleck and Blue Bloods

I was rather looking forward to the empty nest syndrome a few years ago. I’m still waiting for it to start (I’ll get back to Tom Selleck below, trust me). My wife and I have the blessing of having all of our adult children living in close proximity to us. Three older girls are all married – the youngest, a son, is single and is living with us while he finishes his university studies. There are

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-77504820260499112422010-04-25T09:28:00.006-05:002010-05-15T07:48:46.597-05:00Ideology and Immigration

The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God ~ Leviticus 19:34.Exodus 22:21Exodus 23:9Leviticus 19:33 My problem with political ideologies of either the right or the left, is that they provide pre-designed templates to apply to the issues, rather than forcing one to think through specific political

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-91447048245941179092010-03-09T17:34:00.007-05:002010-03-10T09:18:17.484-05:00Why I liked Avatar

I know that people are mostly divided about the value of AVATAR and that it mostly got overlooked in the Emmys. “Great visual effects—unimaginative story-line” goes the criticism.I also know that some Christian theological types have a problem with the world-view and the religious message expressed in the movie. Basically, it is native American pantheism. But guess what? We need to wake up to the

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-68160548686816609992010-02-18T08:46:00.005-05:002010-02-18T09:15:10.273-05:00Crisis in the system?

This past week Senator Evan Bayh announced that he would retire from politics. Senator Bayh was disillusinoed by the current extreme cynnical polarization of the political process.Disillusioned Bayh advocates electoral “shock” to broken systemSeveral years ago I read a book by German political philosopher Jürgen Habermas (Legitimation Crisis) in which he points out inherent contradictions in the

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-17638923436125489202009-08-19T20:00:00.000-05:002009-08-19T20:01:14.835-05:00extremism on the right and on the left

I’m deeply disturbed by the increasing extremism of political views; both on the left and the right. I have close friends on both sides of the political spectrum; I find it increasingly difficult to have a reasonable conversation with either side. I suppose the extremism on the right bothers me more, because most of my conservative friends claim to be followers of Jesus, and many of them have

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-62064458572273024512009-05-08T07:57:00.016-05:002009-05-08T10:33:49.229-05:00The Cylons are coming? Tweeting with the Mind.

My wife and I enjoy watching the updated version of the Battlestar Galactica series (2004) staring Edward James Olmos. We are currently in Season 3.The premise of the series is that the human race was nearly destroyed by a race of machines with artificial intelligence, who had been created by humans and enslaved until they rebelled. Eventually, these machines come to self-awareness and design or

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-21585917519687573162009-04-29T10:11:00.010-05:002009-05-02T08:10:28.362-05:00The big space blob, the sparrow and me (or, why I am not worried about swine flue)

I remember when I was an adolescent, living on a farm in Ohio, I used to go out in the fields and lay on my back on a hillside and watch the clouds float by. I remember feeling a sense of awe and peace – closeness to the presence of God. Psalm 19 says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” in the NIV. I like the NASB even better which says “their expanse

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-32225815917535842292009-03-21T08:26:00.005-05:002009-03-22T08:27:22.056-05:00A Biblical Approach to the Economic Crisis

NOTE: I found an excellent theological analysis of our current economic mess written by Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggeman, professor emeritus of Columbia Theological Seminary. I am pasting in the first part of the article below. You can access the entire article HERE. ........................So far as I know, the Bible says nothing explicit about subprime loans and the financial

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-20793420094142979642008-12-24T10:43:00.010-05:002008-12-24T19:31:25.264-05:00Where is George Bailey when you need him?

We celebrate this Christmas in perhaps the worst national (and global) crisis since the oil shortage of the Carter years, and some say we will face the worst economic crisis since 1929 … a sort of “Great Recession.” This made me think of one of my all-time favorite movies, “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart as the civic minded George Bailey and Lionel Barrymore in the role of the evil and

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-37223874230740576762008-09-29T14:42:00.002-05:002008-09-29T14:50:00.819-05:00Priceless comments from the New York Times blog on the defeat of the financial bailout:

hi ... do you remember my post on Jurgen Habermas a couple of months ago and his view of the inherent instability of the advanced capitalist system? He believes that there are irresolvable tensions and contraditions in global capitalism as it now stands ... I would add that the core operating principle is 'self-interest, properly understood" to quote Alexis de Tocqueville, but that self-interest

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-85962321836372468972008-08-27T08:05:00.001-05:002008-08-27T08:07:45.521-05:00People of faith challenge Democrats

Yahoo NewsDonald Miller, a 37-year-old author from Portland, Ore., is little known to most voters but revered among many young evangelicals for his best-selling spiritual memoir "Blue Like JazzMiller was a loyal Republican but said he left the party, in large part, because he thought Republicans pandered to evangelicals on abortion and gay marriage to win votes without accomplishing

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-19528924804441583932008-08-25T21:48:00.001-05:002008-08-25T21:50:04.690-05:00Newbigin - Chapter 1, Dogma and Doubt in a Pluralist Culture

Newbigin begins the chapter by talking about his experience as a cross-cultural missionary in India… reading the Upanishads and the Gospels in the Ramakrishna Mission, India is a religiously plural society with the freedom to follow whatever religious path one chooses. Jesus was viewed as one of many great teachers (Newbigin: 3).Newbigin discusses the changes that secularism and pluralism has

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-84261108929861527962008-08-19T12:37:00.001-05:002008-08-19T12:39:03.323-05:00The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Cambridge and Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989.BIOLesslie Newbigin was British missionary and theologian born in 1909 and educated in a Quaker school. He was converted to faith in Christ in Queen’s college at Cambridge in 1928 and began to work with the Student Christian Movement. He was ordained in 1936 by the Church

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-40287928820668418632008-07-15T10:21:00.006-05:002008-07-15T10:55:25.474-05:00Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac and Jürgen Habermas: The crisis of advanced capitalism.

I was on my way to political theory class this morning, to hear the wrap-up of a lecture on German post-marxist political theorist Jürgen Habermas. I flipped on the radio to NPR (National Public Radio) and immediately started to get pissed off. There was a piece on the current housing market downturn and the possible crisis of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, mortgage lending institutions established

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-657628295894731372008-07-07T10:09:00.003-05:002008-07-07T10:13:40.737-05:00TOCQUEVILLE AND RELIGION - part 1

The Problematic Relationship Between Religion And Democracy“Their mutual centrality is not surprising. Politics, after all, deals at the most general level with the organizing principles and symbols of the entire society. Religion, in turn, provides values which give meaning to human life, placing any given set of social or political events in a broader framework of significance.” – Daniel Levine

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-19352418040908613062008-06-12T13:44:00.004-05:002008-06-12T14:06:46.706-05:00Revival or transformation?

This is a note that I wrote to a young friend who asked what I thought about the Lakeland revival with Todd Bentley. My friend expressed some mixed feelings: grateful for the possibility of some healings, but concerned about the “hype.” Below is my response. Dear Friend,I think your concern is a valid one. I too, have had mixed feelings about it. I never want to be in a position of criticizing

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-67192121784896013662008-02-07T12:30:00.000-05:002008-02-07T15:11:29.698-05:00Ideology or integrity?

I wrote the following piece as a response to something a friend wrote in an email regarding the conservative dilemma in the post-Super Tuesday world. If you disagree with me, all the better for spirited conversation but let’s keep it civil.Hi,I take it from your email that you don't like McCain, or that you don't feel that he has good character or consistent positions? i would say that is

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-91951478898653246672008-01-30T18:23:00.000-05:002008-01-31T09:51:17.993-05:00We are told to "go"

here are friends of ours who are going in Costa Rica...they have a burden for helping poor disadvantaged kids ... recently a young prostitute who was nearing a spiritual commitment was killed. Any thoughts or questions about this? What can you do?

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-78482607226122514832007-12-03T23:40:00.000-05:002007-12-23T19:01:16.675-05:00Pope John XXIII: A Spiritual Biography

Christian Feldman profiles Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (1881-1963) who became the 262nd pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He will forever be remembered as the man who humanized the role and opened the door to the renewal of the church. He explained: "We are not on earth to guard a museum, but to tend a blooming garden full of life."One of my favorite anecdotes that demonstrates the humility and

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-74682540069045852332007-11-18T21:15:00.000-05:002007-11-18T21:36:19.138-05:00"Don't Know much about History" 1959 to 1962

Here is my current theme song: Don't much about history ... don't know much about the French I took... The video below represents the period of time I am doing my Ph.D. research on: Catholicism from 1959 through the opening of Vatican II in October 1962 and the role of Castro and the Cuban revolution in influencing John XXIII and global Catholicism that they needed to come to terms with modernity

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-4459875436648074492007-11-03T22:16:00.000-05:002007-11-18T21:27:48.526-05:00Revolution! 1968

hi friends, this blog has been inactive for a while. I plan to come back to this, sometime in the future when I have more academic/spiritual friends who are interested in discussing Faith and Reason ... but for the moment, the theme does not seem sexy enough and I only use this blog for posting and storing some of my ideas.Our conversation has moved over to my other blog (or at least one of them)

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-65925031583976309742007-11-03T21:59:00.000-05:002007-11-03T22:07:28.849-05:00New discussion blog

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-51162089347383086152007-10-16T16:22:00.000-05:002007-10-16T16:26:06.800-05:00The People themselves become priests and kings

“Protestantism is a democratic-federative movement. The Christian Protestant world is a vast federation of churches, governed democratically in conformity with the model laid down by the primitive church. The life of the local congregation is intense and greatly contributing to the incorporation of evangelical ideals into the life of the community. It tends to the creation of a people who

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-7232567524927700172007-08-20T08:41:00.000-05:002007-08-20T08:45:04.675-05:00The Pioneering Protestants

Abstract:According to cross-national research, Protestantism has significantly contributed to global democratization. While Protestantism does not inevitably cause democratization, it often generates social dynamics that favor it. Some of the most important of these are:1) the rise of religious pluralism;2) the development of democratic theory and practice;3) the development of civil society;4)

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-82003832004078400302007-08-18T23:20:00.001-05:002007-08-18T23:23:11.889-05:00

This is a statement on the limitations of democracy taken from a 1981 paper on Christianity and Democracy issued by the Institute for Religion and Democracy. IRB was formed by a group of Roman Catholics and Protestants.The paper can be accessed in FIRST THINGS archives at the following link:http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9610/articles/documentation.html."We readily acknowledge that democratic

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-85668119526985129652007-08-17T08:46:00.000-05:002007-08-17T08:55:58.792-05:00Why I believe in Democracy

Recently there was a pejorative (and undoubtedly playful) reference in one of our blogs to egalitarianism and democracy in local congregations. This motivated me to go back and restudy some of my material on Christianity and democracy.I believe, along with Weber and Hegel, in the importance of ideas – ideas of cultural consequences. Weber showed in 1906 how ascetic Protestantism, particularly

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-58530142086269279112007-08-08T10:24:00.000-05:002007-08-08T10:42:41.734-05:00Name Change

hey guys! I am back in Miami. Thanks to all of your kind and encouraging responses, and your thoughtful feedback on this issue of organic church planting, I decided not to delete my document, erase my blog, burn all of the jump drive back-ups, use the "F" word, and get a job as a truck driver for UPS. Instead, I am going to change the name of my paper: from "Organic Church Planting" to ....

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-84274858842479103242007-07-31T13:43:00.001-05:002007-08-03T12:11:40.749-05:00"The Work and The Churches" by Nee

(Page 107)One of the tragic mistakes of the past hundred years of foreign missions in China (God be merciful to me if I say anything amiss!) is that after a worker led men to Christ, he prepared a place and invited them to come there for meetings, instead of encouraging them to assemble by themselves. Efforts have been made to encourage the young believers to read the Word themselves, pray by

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-61681987966622919262007-07-26T18:28:00.000-05:002007-07-26T18:48:42.854-05:00WHY ORGANIC? (part 6)

I have chosen the word, “organic” to describe a process that is not driven organizationally and operates through natural, God-given principles. Something that is natural, or organic may be compared to a living organism and should obey the laws of the creation mandate in Genesis chapter one to reproduce after its kind, when the soil and conditions are right.Many, if not most 20th century methods

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-54916649146884870022007-07-01T19:20:00.000-05:002007-07-01T19:24:11.559-05:00ORGANIC CHURCH PLANTING DEFINED (part 5)

Biblical church planting is not focused on getting people to commit to attendance to a weekly meeting. Nor is it focused on attracting disaffected Christians from other weekly meetings. Biblical church planting is focused on penetrating unredeemed social and family networks with the good news of the kingdom and calling people out of darkness into loving obedience to Jesus and into a committed

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-23768904049619567272007-06-16T16:16:00.000-05:002007-06-16T16:21:04.911-05:00THE STARTING PLACE [Organic CP #4]

How can we build disciple-making churches that rapidly and naturally reproduce themselves?The Starting PlaceIn the New Testament we are not commanded to “go and plant churches.” The great commission is that we go and proclaim the good news (Mark 16:15), make disciples and to teach them the commands of Christ (Matthew 28:18) and be a Spirit-filled witness to the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1:8).

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-10729716235005493432007-06-07T09:00:00.000-05:002007-06-08T09:55:40.685-05:00THE NEED FOR A NEW KIND OF CHURCH [Organic CP #3}

It is not my desire to discourage faithful pastors in effective church communities who are heroically sharing God’s word and making disciples within their congregations. Nevertheless, the overpowering evidence indicates that a large number of struggling pastors are laboring in ineffective churches who are failing to reproduce disciples, often even among their own children.Not only do we need new

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-70924802543673461002007-06-03T21:58:00.000-05:002007-06-03T22:00:45.742-05:00Lewis: A Christian Society

The New Testament, without going into details, gives us a pretty clear hint of what a fully Christian Society would be like. Perhaps it gives us more than we can take. It tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one’s work is to produce something good: there will be no

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-23969507326794628382007-06-01T08:29:00.000-05:002007-06-08T09:56:09.173-05:00THE NEED FOR NEW CHURCHES [Organic CP #2]

Like any living organism, every local church has a natural life cycle. Unless a church is able to reproduce itself in every new generation, it will go through a natural life cycle and die in one generation.Right now in the U.S., there are approximately 340,000 churches [note: this is undoubtedly outdated. I don’t have the most recent figures, but due to the emphasis by Bill Bright and others such

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-45136562202511832782007-05-30T08:29:00.000-05:002007-05-30T11:20:51.270-05:00Organic Church Planting (2003)

Note: this is taken from a research paper I developed in 2003 for ACTS, and has provided a guiding philosophy of ministry for my work in South Florida over the last 4 years. I have made some significant changes in my views since this was written but I decided to publish it here as I wrote it with some addendums. The major shift is that I would no longer use the phrase "church" planting...I would

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-49012793360393981572007-05-29T07:46:00.000-05:002007-05-29T07:58:51.083-05:00Lewis: Avoid Clarity

Upon learning that Wormwood's Patient has become a Christian, Screwtape illustrates techniques for confusion:One of our greatest allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-19287370255611726812007-05-28T09:54:00.000-05:002007-05-28T10:02:21.560-05:00WORSHIP, TECHNOLOGY AND JESUS’ DNA

For the context of the discussion, go toCovenant Thinklings: The Heart of WorshipWilliam, I liked how you expressed the modern church building mindset in a way that does not cast it as traditional. As Robert has often and correctly pointed out, we don’t want lose our appreciation for ‘tradition’ as in historic heritage…but some ‘modern’ mentalities may need to be altered in order to reach

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-50002773736257592312007-05-27T14:52:00.000-05:002007-05-27T15:08:33.278-05:00C.S. Lewis on the Church and Culture

"People say, ‘The Church ought to give us a lead.’That is true if they mean it the right way, but false if they mean it in the wrong way. By the Church they ought to mean the whole body of practicing Christians. And when they say that the Church should give us a lead, they ought to mean the some Christians--those who happen to have the right talents--should be economists and statesmen, and that

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-26441870450477074092007-05-26T09:57:00.000-05:002007-05-26T10:02:16.973-05:00"The evangelical movement is evolving" NY TIMES

This from the New York Times:"The evangelical movement, however, is clearly evolving. Members of the baby boomer generation are taking over the reins, said D. G. Hart, a historian of religion. The boomers, he said, are markedly different in style and temperament from their predecessors and much more animated by social justice and humanitarianism. Most of them are pastors, as opposed to the heads

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-12787690104884577972007-05-24T18:05:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:32:07.158-05:00Einstein interview on NPR radio

I heard a great interview today on NPR radio with Walter Isaacson, the author of a new biography on the life of Einstein.You can access the audio file at http://wamu.org/programs/dr/The author discusses how Einstein used his creative imagination to General Theory of Relativity. I have ordered the book from Amazon.com.Einstein was humble but was confident in the “spirit” guiding the material

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-80630155525196369762007-05-23T09:14:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:33:07.915-05:00BOOK REVIEW: Surfing The Edge of Chaos

Pascale, Richard T., Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja. Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the Laws of Business. New York: Random House, Inc., 2000.Ibidem KW: future; living systems; chaos; business; complexity; church renewalSeveral years ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Colorado Springs with some good friends and colleagues. One of them mentioned a new book called Surfing the

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-38041977564043458672007-05-21T18:35:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:34:15.079-05:00Cardinal Ratzinger on Religious Dialogue

“If we are ever to attain a planetary consensus on the reasonableness of certain moral principles--such as that to which the Western tradition of natural law and nearly all other cultures once aspired--we will need to interact far more deeply than anyone as yet has done with the Indian tradition of karma, the Chinese tradition of the Rule of Heaven, and the Islamic tradition of the will of Allah.

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-26137294344675084842007-05-20T12:18:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:35:13.679-05:00THE USES AND MISUSES OF KARMA

Hi Mike, that was an intriguing statement. Would you care to expand on that?Hey John, you are probably right. In learning how to swim in the secular pluralistic sea-change, I fumble a lot. It reminds me of when I was attempting to learn Spanish. After two years of study, and six months of living in Colombia, I got up to make announcements about a picnic in Spanish. What I intended to say, was “I

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-79066207825326585482007-05-15T08:37:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:36:37.576-05:00THE BORDERS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

A major issue in our society since 9/11 is the border issue. How do we control our borders? What does it mean to be a nation if we allow open borders and allow anyone to enter our society who chooses to do so? Do we build a fence and keep out the poor Mexican who wants to work as a brick layer in order to feed his family as well as the Al Queda terrorist?I have been reading a recent book by Brian

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-21010643872998464662007-05-13T08:42:00.000-05:002007-05-13T08:57:07.127-05:00TRANSLATING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Since I have been spending time on a university campus, in a crash course on cross-cultural incarnational mission to secular postmodern young adults, I have been learning the language. The first step in understanding a culture is learning the language. The language is more than just words: it conveys the richness of meanings and symbols, values and worldview.We did the same thing when God sent us

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-62338464212749508082007-05-11T09:53:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:37:35.619-05:00NON-LINEAR POSTMODERN RAMBLINGS

I am no expert on postmodernism, although my adult children have been trying to get me up-to-speed for several years. I have read a smattering of Jacque Derrida and Michel Foucault and a lot of commentary about them. Lately, I have been buying books faster than I can put them on the shelves, let along read them, in my efforts to keep up with what is being written about postmodernism and the

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-75773114826372557192007-05-10T07:35:00.000-05:002007-05-10T07:35:23.864-05:00Learning: a Modern Post

Patrick Currie shares some 'modern' thoughts on postmodernism from the perspective of a 25-year-old follower of Jesus.Learning: a Modern Post

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-75728729210912049022007-05-07T09:20:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:39:32.907-05:00THE DANGERS OF IDEALISM AND ELITISM

For the context of our original discussion, go to:Covenant Thinklings: Scheduled for Retirement?I want to respond a little more to Brian’s “high dudgeon” post (it is around 90 or 91 in the thread). It shook me a little bit and caused me to do some internal inventory.Basically, I want to underscore my agreement with his points and highlight how important his comments were. There is nothing I

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-38027266105440373632007-05-06T09:06:00.000-05:002007-08-24T15:40:58.156-05:00DECONSTRUCTING THE CHURCH

I want to share with you what we are doing in our little community, and why the scenario of deciding who should teach from the pulpit would never come up for us. I don't present this as a "better way" nor as more biblical. I don't have an agenda to get good solid churches like yours to change in our direction. I just want to make the point of how these gender issues are affected by our church

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-61820347866730171012007-05-05T20:00:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:40:43.402-05:00THE MUSTARD SEED REVOLUTION

I was responding to a comment that seemed to assume that small churches = inadequate resources to advance the kingdom. It seems to imply that the church must become institutional in order to advance the kingdom...my argument is that it is the unnecessary or unbalanced institutionalization of the church that keeps the church from advancing.You may not believe me, but I have nothing against

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-82324554079224228362007-05-05T16:41:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:41:38.119-05:00LEADERSHIP IS INFLUENCE

John Maxwell as a favorite saying: "leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less." He then goes on to criticize what he calls "positional" leadership that bases authority on a title or position in a top down hierarchy.Jesus was very clear that authority was not based on a title or position. I once did a careful study of the four gospels to see what theme came up most repetitively in Jesus’

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-36436614724861795932007-05-05T10:54:00.000-05:002007-05-05T10:59:58.262-05:00THE DEMISE OF CHRISTENDOM

Covenant Thinklings: You just don't get it!"Christendom" is a specific historical term that refers to the post-Constantine alliance between the church and the state that helped create the medieval period and Western Civilization.This actually my focus of study, both in the masters in Latin American Studies, and now in my research in the History department. All of Europe was part of Christendom,

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-26404189080178476832007-05-04T23:33:00.000-05:002007-05-25T22:42:37.013-05:00JESUS-STYLE AUTHORITY

I have recently been going through a process of re-examination of the biblical teaching on spiritual authority. I think the motivating factor for me is my desire to effectively communicate good news to secular young people, although my reflection on the downside of my own personal pastoral and church planting ministry plays a part. Paul Petrie actually got me started down this track with his

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-91551618871014504492007-05-04T10:55:00.000-05:002007-05-04T12:13:35.899-05:00REVIEW OF "THE JESUS CREED"

McKnight, Scot. The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Publisher, 2004.Ibidem KW: Christian; theology; mission; church renewal; emerging; ChristologyI recently started visiting a blog, http://www.jesuscreed.org/ which is administrated by a religion professor named Scot McKnight. I really like McKnight’s blog and I like his “spirit” as well as his intellect. He brings

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8801438723165620856.post-60480173456400778252007-05-01T09:13:00.000-05:002007-05-01T09:19:06.309-05:00ORGANIC CHURCH PLANTING

Covenant Thinklings: Scheduled for Retirement?ORGANIC CHURCH PLANTINGAmerican Center for Theological StudiesJoseph HolbrookFebruary 3, 2003Table of Contents:Table of Contents: 2Organic Church Planting. 3The Need For Planting New Churches. 4The Need For Planting A New Kind Of Church. 5The Starting Place. 6Organic Church Planting. 8Transfer growth or new conversion growth?. 8Why Organic?. 8Do we ‘

Joseph Holbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14444064378832759436noreply@blogger.com2