Glocal Christianity

Parramatta Council dumps Seasons Greetings signs

Well, it seems western Sydney has been bitten by the Christmas backlash bug. Local papers report that Merry Christmas banners are back in place after Parramatta Council decided to dump Seasons Greetings signs.

Councillor Michael McDermott said, "Our community is fed up with this erosion of the true meaning and essence of Christmas through this ridiculous pre-emptive surrender of the real Christmas on the basis it may offend someone"

So far there's no rhetoric of a "war on Christmas" thank God, just some fructration over over-zealous political correctness. Given the space Parramatta gave to Deepavali I think fairs fair.

Making the Headlines

Is religion about war -- or peace Obama or Osama, who is more representative of authentic religion? This article looks at Francis of Assisi and the Crucades

Heated debate again over 'War on Christmas' claims What's your thoughts? Is political correctness stiffling Christmas? Is a secular Christmas religiously neutral?

U.N. chief: Climate change deal reached But how real is the deal? Greenpeace has retorted, "Don't believe the hype, there is nothing fair, ambitious or legally binding about this deal ... The job of world leaders is not done. Today they shamefully failed to save us all from the effects of catastrophic climate change."

Hard Act To Follow

New Zealand church, St Matthew in the City have launched a controversial billboard campaign this Christmas in an attempt to demolish some stereotypes and stimulate conversation.

Well, they seem to have succeeded in the latter if the online Atheist chatter is anything to go by. But so far the conversation mostly consists of Atheists engaging in mutual head scratching, rather than any increase in Christian-Atheist dialogue.

Teen gang-raped as onlookers laughed

No doubt you've heard the news by now, of the teenage girl who was gang-raped outside a school dance as onlookers laughed, took photos and joined in.

What I find most disturbing about incidents like this is the behaviour of the onlookers. That none of the witnesses called police, that some even laughed, suggests an appalling lack of any sense of community with, or personal responsibility for, this young, vulnerable human. Have we become so conditioned to watching life vicariously that we've become tourists in our own land?

Saving the world ... one purchase at a time

Jesus said: by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Or was that, if you wear the right gear?

Drug Dealing for Jesus: Mexico's Evangelical Narcos

This would seem to be the epitomy of a transformationless gospel: evangelical drug dealers. I kid you not. After recent conversations on war and peace I am thinking of doing a series around the topic of cheap grace. Instances of where conversion is claimed but the need for life conversion is denied in some way, shape or form.  

Has the West no Honour?

In his article, Reasons for honour in a godless society, Malcolm Knox writes:

We live in a pluralistic Australia and a pluralistic globe, in which honour-and-shame communities co-exist with the pragmatic children of the Enlightenment. We see them as barbaric, for the weight they place on honour. They see us as corrupt, with our misplaced faith in a secular, individual, relativistic idea of personal integrity.

The Western world may believe it has shed the ancient codes of honour. But the Western world is not the Western world anymore. Cultures of honour and shame are marching through our doors every day, with all that they bring, and are our partners on the international stage. We dismiss or mock them at our peril. We have only one way forward - and that is backwards, into our own collective and individual histories, when we, too, were governed by codes of honour rather than the rule of law.

Although I laugh at Australia being a godless society, and would caution rationalists to read the research before launching into such rhetoric, I agree that the West is increasing global and honour and shame communities now exist within it. We do need to see that this too is post-modernity.

The Postmodern Conversation is Over

While no doubt it will take the church many years yet to realize it, the postmodern conversation is over.

At least in terms of popular discourse.

Think, when was the last time you heard a non-Christian use the term? Posmodernity has been ebbing as a conversation topic for years. The paradigm shift was a 90s phenomenon, we're well past the tipping point now, what's here is here. 

So, isn't its time to stop talking about missional / emerging as a response to "postmodernity"? That just soooo dates us.

Scientific Mythologies

One of the books I have been reading in recent weeks is Scientific Mythologies by James A. Herrick. His premise: that science and science fiction mutually influence each other far more than most of us realise and that together they are shaping a powerful new mythology, a mythology that shapes our dreams for humanity, a mythology that feeds into the search of many for a new spirituality.

As an avid science fiction fan and long term student of new religious movements I know exactly where he is coming from and am enjoying the book and its insights, particularly his emphasis on story. The book could have been better. I wish Herrick had moved beyond observation. I wish Herrick had explored how we might, as Christians, more fruitfully engage and develop a positive apologetic response. And on that score you may want to read this critique by James F McGrath over at Amazon. But overall I would recommend it.

But before you read more on what others have to say, you just might want to hear from Herrick himself. I see today that Christianity Today have just launched an article by him, entitled Sci-Fi’s Brave New World. And there's a related article, The Men Behind The Myths, that you may find interesting too.

Bible Fight - The Video Game

This is a screenshot from an online video game called Bible Fight. But after having a turn I was wondering if a more appropriate name for would have been "The Blaspheme Challenge". I came across it though A Little Leaven who was also less than impressed, not least with how some Christians blithely endorse it. What do you think? Harmless game? Or the death of a thousand cuts?

Second Conference on Emergent Order and Society - Call for Papers

Gus diZerega, the pagan author who has co-written "Beyond the Burning Times" with missional  apologist Phil Johnson, advises that the Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation is seeking papers exploring the theme “ORDERS AND BORDERS” for for its Second Conference on Emergent Order and Society. The papers will be published in our new, open source online journal, Studies in Emergent Order. See Gus for the full rundown. I am anticipating this may interest some emerging church authors. Note that the topic is far, far broader than the emerging church conversation though.

Religion vs Sport

The Bulletin cited some interesting statistics in its "Papal visit special" back in January.

In an article entitled, "The Pope's Big Pray Out," the attendance estimates for the upcoming World Youth Day in Sydney were compared to the attendance statistics for the Sydney Olympics as follows:

	WYD '08 (est)	Olympics '00
Final event	500,000 (Papal mass)	114,714 (Closing ceremony)
Participating nations	175	199
Volunteers	8,000	46,967
Journalists	3,000-5,000	16,033

In reference to the Papal mass on July 20 it was noted, "they will be part of the biggest crowd at a single event that this nation has witnessed."   

All of this begs the question, what should be the response of the rest of the church in Australia?  Are we going to acknowledge its happening for starters? I note Guy Sebastian is gonna be there - maybe Today Tonight will run another Hillsong conspiracy theory story to get the ball rolling?

Shamania Festival

Speaking of alternate gatherings, came across this today.

Now, here's the discernment test for my emerging friends, how many alternative spirituality references can you pick out?

Alternative Festivals

If you've been reading this blog long enough you're no doubt aware that I am part of a group that cut its missional teeth engaging with spirituality seekers in alternative festivals. 

But what are these festivals like? Having advocated alternative festivals as opportunities for "third place" mission on many occasions,  I thought, hmmm, maybe it is about time I tried to give you a wee glimpse of what I am actually talking about. It's not quite the same as the coffee shop and pub based mission that you normally hear about in emerging church conversations about "third places". No, its is a bit different, as you'll soon see. So, here is a selection of vids from various festivals around Australia.

Alternate Festivals in Australia

Winter Magic Festival Katoomba 2007

Confest (see also the Fire Twirling)

Rainbow Serpent Festival 2007

Mardi Grass Nimbin

Under the Blue Moon, Sydney

Unfortunately I don't have any vids of the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney or the Psychic fair at Mingara, but I do have one of an equivalent exhibition in the US that you can view here.

Now, some of these are wilder and some are more commercial, some are more party focussed and some are more community focussed. But they all provide space where people can explore new things and converse over spiritual issues. Should Christians not be part of the conversation?

Transforming Secular Space?

Isn't there something inherrantly contradictory about listing 'transforming secular space' as a core practice of a postmodern Christian communities?

In their book 'Emerging Churches: Creating Community in Postmodern Cultures', Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger identify 'transforming secular' space as one of the three core practices of Emerging Churches along with a further six derivitive practices.

But I just back up a bit everytime I hear this.

As I mentioned in my previous post on third places, one of the core features of post-modernity is a breakdown of the dichotomy between sacred and secular. This breakdown is not something that Emerging Churches are introducing to the culture, it is something that defines the culture before they have even entered it. Something that they should be finding is already there.

To put it bluntly, there is no such thing as virginal secular space within post-modernity. To the extent the context is purely secular it is not post-modern. To the extent that it is post-modern it is not purely secular. We may find secularlized SACRED spaces and sacrilized SECULAR spaces but either way we should be discovering that the dichotomy has already been undermined. If we are not finding it already there, and are under the impression that it is we who are  doing the deconstruction, I tend to think that says more about a lack of discernment than anything too profound about our efforts.

For me this is nowhere more obvious that the Emerging Church appropriation of tools like the Enneagram (as if it were a purely secular tool) and the prevailing apathy towards new religious movements (as if NRMs don't have any relavance to the surge in irreligious spirituality). One who recognised that secular spaces have already been transformed by alternate spiritualities would also recognize that there is a significant overlap between the occult tools and psychological tools in the post-modern milieu and that new religious movements and irreligious spiritualities are mutually feeding and reinforcing one another in late capitalist consumer society. The transformation has already happened and people have moved on. We are playing catch up here folks.

The challenge facing us is not the spiritual transformation of secular spaces, it is the Christian material-spiritual transformation of post-Christian sacred-secular spaces.