The methods change but the message doesn’t, or the message changes but the

message doesnt or the methods change and that changes the message

?

Have a look at what Shane Hipps has to say about it,

I have been reading and following the Catholic priest; George V. Coyne lately. His thoughts and ideas on God are very similar to those of Irenaeus. I propose in another blog post, that this is a Christianity which was lost to the dominant type A and B theologies. Read more about this here.

Coyne says the following:

“Religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly.”

He proposes to describe God’s relationship with the universe as that of a parent with a child, with God nurturing, preserving and enriching its individual character.

“God should be seen more as a parent or as one who speaks encouraging and sustaining words.”

He stresses that the theory of Intelligent Design diminishes God into “an engineer who designs systems rather than a lover.”

“God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world which reflects that freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and greater complexity,” he said. “God lets the world be what it will be in

its continuous evolution. He does not intervene, but rather allows, participates, loves.”

Richard Dawkins has a great talk with coyne which is posted on youtube. I recommend watching seven parts of this youtube series.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0ZMfkSNxc
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjjDDhE8R5k
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyyySnUqCug
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eEmnhmAwPM
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl1xmkVOyRw
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwDTBW8oxug
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qPHIS3n7Lw

The book of Job is the oldest book of Scripture and it asks one of the oldest questions, ‘Is there hope?’ ‘Is there hope for a tree cut down?

…Yes. At the mere scent of water it will bud and grow green shoots.’

From the album : hope for a tree cut down.

Beautiful, free and recommended as this years christmas music!

Check out the website here

Download it for free here

If you are familiar with the Emerging Church crowd, this is a must see.

Emerging Church theology compared to Irenaeus “lost Christianity”

In my thesis with the title; ”the dream of a perfect church – Emerging Church”, I compare Emerging Church theology, with the theology of Irenaeus and, the Christianity which has its roots in Asia Minor and Antioch.

The most significant exponent of the theology of the northeastern Mediterranean was Ireneus. Antioch is where Christianity first comes after Jerusalem. In other words it is the oldest Christianity we can trace back to the present day. I shall call this theology for Type C theology as explained below.

A part of my conclusion is that the church again is reminded about this “lost Christianity,” through Methodist writers like Geoffrey Wainwright, Justo González and Runyon. Other writers like Robert Farrar Capon, N.T Wright and Dallas Willard, and as I point out in my paper, many of the Emerging Church Leaders and personalities like; Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Rob Bell.

“We need to appreciate why there is a rise of fundamentalist thinking afoot. A postmodern world offers people a dizzying array of choice and many believers simply can not deal with this and say, ‘tell me what to believe.’ Psychically immature people will in times of crisis surrender their critical thinking and move to a very rigid ‘orthodoxy.’ They can not accept that faith grows and evolves. Faith indeed should give us a minimum of security but it must also countenance risk. Fundamentalism of any stripe seeks security but real faith seeks truth –and as Jesus showed, that can be dangerous.

Ted Schmidt analyzed the social and cultural changes which have  produced a climate of fear in society and the church.