Join us again at the Rattlesnake for another riveting Theology on Tap series at 7 PM Tuesdays February 21 & 28 and March 6!
This series, “Truth, Justice, & The Way of the Cross: The Gospel in a Post-Christian Age,” will explore how, as Christians in a post-Christian society, we might preach a gospel that remains true in an age that seems prone to perpetual change and the vicissitudes of impermanence. If all truths are true, what primacy can the gospel of the risen Christ as the true Word of God have?
Lesslie Newbigin and the Gospel in a Pluralist Society
February 21, 2012
Christopher James
Christopher James is a PhD student in Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology. His academic and personal interests include church planting, spiritual formation, and missional theology. He holds an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Christian Education and Ministry from Wheaton College. He is a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and served most recently as Minister of Community Life at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. He enjoys exploring Boston with his wife Lindsay, dancing with his two-year-old daughter Ginny, and blogging at jesusdust.com.
After Lesslie Newbigin’s retirement from missionary work in India, he returned to his native England to make the startling discovery that it was now as much in need of missionary work as any foreign destination. Newbigin spent the remaining decades of his life bringing his astute mind and missionary experience to the question of what it would look like to approach Western culture as a mission field. His analysis of the postmodern West and his theological proposals led one mission historian to declare Newbigin “one of the decisive influences on the theology of mission in the twentieth century” and another to liken him to the early Church Fathers. In one of his most celebrated books, Newbigin presents the meaning of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. My presentation will focus on this text, in which Newbigin argues for understanding the Gospel as public truth for post-modern, post-Christian Western society.
Being Digital Disciples: Following Jesus Christ into the Tech and back out again
February 28, 2012
Rev’d Adam Thomas
The Rev. Adam Thomas serves as the associate rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset, MA. Ordained four years ago at age 25, Adam is one of the first members of the Millennial generation to become a priest. It is from the Millennial perspective that Adam wrote his first book, Digital Disciple, published in May 2011 by Abingdon Press. You can find him blogging online at wherethewind.com.
“Unlike the great cloud of Christian witnesses that has preceded us, we’re not simply earthbound, pavement-pounding disciples of Jesus Christ. The Tech has added a new dimension to our lives; we are physical, emotional, spiritual, and now virtual people. But I believe that God continues to move through every facet of our existence, and that makes us new kinds of followers. We are digital disciples.” So says priest, blogger, and Millennial Adam Thomas in his new book Digital Disciple, which examines the effects of technology on discipleship from the perspective of someone who has never known a world without the Internet. Join him for a conversation that explores some of the dangers and opportunities for followers of Jesus Christ, who follow our Lord into the wilds of the virtual world. No technological proficiency required to attend.
Our Not-So-Post-Christian Society: Church and State from Thomas Jefferson to Rick Santorum
March 6, 2012
Dr. Stephen Prothero
Dr Prothero, plans to turn our series on its head with a talk about “Our Not-So-Post-Christian Society: Church and State from Thomas Jefferson to Rick Santorum”.
Dr. Prothero, professor of religious studies at Boston University, is author of several books including American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-and Doesn’t, and his most recent, God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter.
Dr Prothero has commented on religion on dozens of National Public Radio programs, and on television on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, FOX, and PBS. He was also a guest on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, “The Colbert Report,” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
He was also the chief editorial consultant for the six-hour WGBH/PBS television series “God in America” (2010). A regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, he has also written for the New York Times, Slate, Salon, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. In 2010 he was invited to speak about religious literacy at the White House. Prothero received his BA from Yale in American Studies and his PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard. He lives on Cape Cod, and he tweets @sprothero
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