Imaginatively Missional
Whether one thinks of western culture as secular (Bruce 1996, 2002; see Stark 1999), ultramodern (Netland 2001; see Grenz 1996; Oden 2001), or postmodern (Oden 1990), it has long been thought of as post- Christian. Increasingly, western Christianity is unable to answer the questions confronting the western mind. Lesslie Newbigin (1987) asked the provocative and still relevant question, "Can …
Continue reading "Missiological Reflections on Celtic Christianity"
The religious leaders of the Celts did not escape the notice of early Christians. Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150-215 AD) identified the Druids of Gaul and the philosophers of the Celts in terms of that special group of religious leaders who were bringing light to their nations.59 The disciple of Irenaeus, Hippolytus (ca. 170-236), noted that the …
Continue reading "Saint Patrick and the Early Christian Encounter with Druids"
In the early 1990s, evangelicals from a variety of countries began to approach the subject of new religious movements in different ways. This included those from Australia, Denmark, the UK and the US. Three elements could be found in their understanding of various groups, and the way they interacted with them. First, they conceptualized these …
Continue reading "Perspectives on Post-Christendom Spiritualities"
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805 1844) founded the religion that became known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on April 6, 1830, in the area of western New York referred to as the Burned-Over District, from the fires of revivalist enthusiasm that had swept through the region in the previous decades. Following …
Continue reading "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
We Christians are one of many "sacred tribes" of peoples throughout the world. I define a sacred tribe as a tribe or group of people whose self-professed primary identity both as individuals and as a group center on meanings, beliefs, and practices derived from their perception of the Divine. I am relieved to use 'sacred tribe' …
Continue reading "The X-Tribe: Some Christian Tribal Markings"
Literally, the Buddhism of Tibet, but more widely defined beyond the cultural-religious ethnicity of Tibetans. Tibetan Buddhism is spread through Tibet, Nepal, India (diasporan Tibetans, and Ladhakh), Bhutan, the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, and the Russian provinces of Buryatia, Tuva, and Kalmykia. Since the diaspora of the Tibetans …
Nearly fifty years ago Richard Carrington wrote: There is a terrible finality about the word extinction. The death of individuals, even of our own species, we have learnt to accept, comforting ourselves with the thought that our immortality lies, if not in heaven, at least in the vigor that we can pass on to future …
New religious movements, New Age, Neo-Pagan, and minor non-Christian spiritual movements are a global phenomenon, and for over one hundred years have been the focus of evangelical critique and apologetic. In June 1980 the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization sponsored the "Consultation on World Evangelization" in Pattaya, Thailand. The purpose was to develop strategies for …
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