The Faith & Leadership project of Duke Divinity School has posted a video and transcript of an interview with Phyllis in which she talks about her latest thinking on Emergence and the role of denominations in the future.

Q: What will mainline denominations need to do to survive and thrive?

PT: If one were going to put one adjective to the Great Emergence, and thereby one adjective to emergence Christianity, one would say “deinstitutionalized.”I’m Episcopalian, and I hear with the same sorrow as my fellow Anglicans that we’re shutting parishes every month now in the United States in the Episcopal Church. That’s alarming.It’s not just that Christianity is changing. It’s the whole culture. Have you looked lately at the number of Rotary Clubs that aren’t anymore or the number of Kiwanis Clubs that aren’t anymore? American Legion? VFWs?Institutionalization is being leveled. One of the characteristics of emergence thinking is there’s a flattening out.

via Phyllis Tickle: Like an anthill | Faith & Leadership.

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Jana Riess

Jana Riess

I’ll admit, I don’t know many Mormons.  In fact, Jana is one of the few that I know.  I like her and consider her a good friend.

One of the things that I like most about her is that she always keeps her good-natured smile when answering one of my questions about Mormonism, questions that are usually laced with incredulity.  For all of my (supposed) openness, I don’t tend to be that open or understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  To me, it seems secretive and odd, and its founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., smacks to me of a half-crazed charlatan.

Jana, however, is neither half-crazed nor a charlatan.  She’s thoughtful and literate, and she’s an adult convert to LDS, so she went in with her eyes open.

Thus, when she talks about Mormonism, I listen.

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CollegeHumor.com Takes on the New Testament

August 29, 2010

It’s no Life of Brian, but it did cause me to laugh out loud at one point (you can try to guess).  Here’s a taste: God: Hey Jews. Jews: Hey. God: So listen guys, I’m thinking we go in a different direction with this whole religion. Jews: What? God: You know, do a non-gritty reboot. [...]

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Are You a “Hipster Christian”?

August 23, 2010

Well, supposedly I am, being that Brett McCracken devotes chapter seven, in the heart of his book, Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide to the emerging church movement.  “The emerging church,” we are told by McCracken, “undergirds much of what hipster Christianity is all about these days.”  And, cribbing a quote from my chapter [...]

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Meaningful Deaths

August 20, 2010

That seems to be the sweet spot of Jon Krakauer’s writing.  Driving to and from Dallas in the past week, I listened to two of Krakauer’s books, Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. The first is the author’s firsthand account of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster in which eight climbers died in one day, [...]

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Almost Christian: Going Viral for Jesus

August 19, 2010

I’m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean’s new book, Almost Christian, a theological follow up to Christian Smith’s Soul Searching. I hope you’ll join me. Find all the posts here. In chapter 7, “Going Viral for Jesus: The Art of Testimony,” Kenda begins by tackling three of the questions that I heard voiced after Soul Searching [...]

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Ponderings on a Faith Journey: A Legal Analysis of the Recent Prop 8 Decision

August 18, 2010

Bob Cornwall, a consistently thoughtful, progressive voice, has a guest post from an attorney in his congregation regarding the recent Prop 8 ruling, now being considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  I highly recommend that you read it, especially if you’re so caught up in the religious/moral aspects of same sex marriage that [...]

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Snooki, You Sicken Me

August 16, 2010

I’m no prude.  I’ll watch just about anything, and laugh out loud, from the homoerotic comedy of Tosh.0 to gruesome war movies to, well, as I said, just about anything.  So I was shocked at my reaction to my first viewing of Jersey Shore, the wildly popular and culturally ubiquitous MTV series populated by such [...]

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Almost Christian: Parents Matter Most

August 15, 2010

I’m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean’s new book, a theological follow up to Christian Smith’s Soul Searching. I hope you’ll join me. Find all the posts here. Kenda begins Part Three, “Cultivating Consequential Faith” of Almost Christian, with chapter six, “Parents Matter Most: The Art of Translation.”  Here, Kenda takes a bit of a turn, [...]

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What Is the “Gospel” Response to the Prop 8 Ruling?

August 13, 2010

That’s the question that Christianity Today asked a variety of evangelical leaders and thinkers.  Since not one of them affirmed the recent ruling by Judge Vaughn Walker, and since their email asking my opinion must have gone into my spam folder, I figured I’d weigh in here.  Here’s my answer to their question: Both our [...]

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