intersections

It's Really All About God

My dear friend, Samir Selmanovic, has just published his first book entitled, It's Really All About God (buy on Amazon) and what a way to start. This is not a review...that will be coming soon. But I will tell you that this is a radical, peaceful vision of the force for good that religion can and should be in the world, told through the intimate, personal lenses of someone who hase expereinced so much of the good and bad of religion.

There is a review at the Spectrum website by my friend, Brenton Reading. You can read that here.

The blurb I wrote for inside the front cover says this:

“Samir has written a book that reads like an extended poem; an ode to life. Where others see only the darkness and destructiveness of religion, Samir sees beauty and hope. Where others see only competition and violence, Samir sees synergy and life. And his vision is no simple syncretism; a blending of all religions into one inoffensive ‘smoothie’ of goodness and light. This book is a celebration of postmodern ‘otherness’ of the first order. It will inspire you, frustrate you, maybe even anger you. Samir will not answer all your questions or tell you exactly what to do next. But if you’ve ever felt that nagging deep in your soul that God is lurking just beneath the surface in places you have least expected, you need to read this book!”

I will write a review here after I get a chance to read it again.

Please go buy this book and read it. In the meantime, check out this short video of Samir talking about his book.

Summer Reading Group :: What Would Jesus Deconstruct?

It’s hard to believe…but, summer is here. And with summer comes time spent with great books. So, re-church is announcing a Summer Reading Group. We will be blogging through What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, by John D. Caputo. This is an enjoyable and challenge jaunt into postmodernism, Derridian deconstruction and the gospel. Caputo has a playful, sharp and ironic style that is sure to rub us the wrong way and spark some great conversation.
There are 6 chapters and we will blog one chapter a week for six weeks, starting July 13, so you have time to get the book and start reading. Our bloggers will be:

::Ryan Bell, Senior Pastor of the Hollywood Adventist Church
::Samir Selmanovic, founder of Faith House Manhattan and Pastor of City Lights
::Zane Yi, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Fordham University in New York City.

Please drop a comment at the re-church blog if you plan to read along with us. The blogs will be posted there and we invite your comments, questions, challenges and insights. This will be a much more enjoyable experience if you participate in the comments.

Please invite anyone you know that might be interested in this group and lets have some fun this summer reading together.

Beyond Evandalism DVDs available now

We had some delays in producing the DVDs from Beyond Evandalism with Peter Rollins, but they are now shipping. As proof of that see photos here and below.

Here’s how to order:

This set of 5 DVDs costs $45 + $5 shipping.
Please make checks out to: “Hollywood SDA Church” and mail to:

Hollywood Adventist Church
1711 N Van Ness Ave
Hollywood, CA  90028

The set includes 3 DVDs of Peter Rollins’ main sessions, plus 2 DVDs containing the 4 responses.

Please help us spread the word!

Theological Conversation with Jürgen Moltmann

Jürgen Moltmann is one of the most influential theologians of our time. A generation from now people will look back and refer to him the way many of us today refer to Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and others.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you're like me and are passionate about the intersection of academic theology and the life of the church, you should do whatever it takes to be at this event.

There is only room for 300 participants, so sign up today. I'm registered and I know of several others from the re-church network who will be there as well, so we'll definitely have a re-church meet up while we're there.

All the details are at the website - moltmannconversation.com

Join me at "Transforming Theology"

This Friday night, from 7-9 pm, I'll be at Claremont School of Theology for meeting entitled, "Transforming the Church." Tony Jones, of Emergent Village, will be present. Tony writes a little bit about this event on his blog, here. My friend, Trisha Famisaran is working on this initiative in her role at Claremont's Center for Process Studies.

You can learn more on their website or join the Facebook Group.

I hope you'll consider joining in the conversation. It's going to be challenging and provocative. It's an important conversation for some of us in the Adventist Church and the re-church network.

Check out the video below...

Pete Rollins speaking at the Hollywood Adventist Church

[cross posted at the Spectrum Blog]

Here's a short clip of Pete Rollins speaking at the Hollywood Adventist Church this morning for the Beyond Evandalism conference.

Beyond Evandalism starts tonight

Beyond Evandalism - the re-church gathering featuring Peter Rollins - will begin at the Hollywood Adventist Church in just a few hours. I get very excited every time I look over the list of nearly 80 people who will join us for the next day and a half.

I will be blogging the event over at the Spectrum Blog, so be sure to check in over there for updates.

And those of you who are coming, thank you so much and I'll see you soon.

I'm tele-commuting to Walla Walla tonight

...and you can join me, online.

The Walla Walla University chaplain, Paddy McCoy, has invited me to do a short interview, by Skype, at the Friday night vespers service. He sent over some really great questions about our congregation's theology and self-understanding, how we think about ministry in a post-Christian world and God's live among us. I'm really excited about this. I've only got about 8-10 min, but we do the best we can with what we have.

If you want to listen in, I understand they have a live streaming video feed of their worship service. The service starts at 8:00 pm. I will go on around 8:20 pm.

Click here after 8:00 pm and it should work. You will need QuickTime Player, or some equivalent video player. Hope you can join us.

Current reading

It's only mid-February and already I'm off track with my ambitious 2009 Reading List.

While I have completed a few of the titles on my list I've gotten "sidetracked" into a few books that weren't on my list. I knew this would happen, but I always naively underestimate the degree to which it will happen.

 

Currently I'm reading...

• Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination, by Colin Greene and Martin Robinson
• The Orthodox Heretic and other Impossible Tales, by Peter Rollins (advance proof copy from the publisher). Available March 1.
• Manuscript of a the forthcoming Pacific Press publication, The Promise of Peace, by Charles Scriven.

I need to finish Scriven's manuscript this week to submit a blurb. So far this is a very good book that I am looking forward to using in my ministry with new members.

The Orthodox Heretic is outstanding so far. This is a book of short parables followed by equally short commentaries about the parables. Some are original with Rollins. Others are his adaptations of previously existing stories. Still others are retellings of biblical stories with major plot twists designed to draw attention to neglected aspects of God and faith.

As you probably know we will be hosting Peter Rollins here in Hollywood in two weeks for a gathering we've entitled Beyond Evandalism. You can read more about that here.

I'm about one third of the way through Metavista and I need more time before I can write anything cogent about this book. So far it has revisited the philosphical ground that I've read several times before in different ways about modernity and postmodernity. However, I would say if you feel you've been playing around the edges of philosophy and want to go deeper into this issues this book can help you. If you are not familiar with the various philosophers and their key ideas you will find yourself getting lost from time to time, but it is important to wrestle with these thoughts at this level. I will say more about this book soon.

The Ordinary Radicals

To learn more about The Ordinary Radicals, click here. h/t - Kori Galvan