Sorry about the site being a bit messed-up the past few days.  I've been insanely busy for the past week and a half, and probably won't "surface" until Saturday.  I'm still carrying around all sorts of impressions, questions, and even a few convictions as a result of the Ancient Evangelical Future conference I attended the week before last.  Please be patient with me -- I WILL eventually get some posts up, and am looking forward to dialoging with everyone again.

Blessings,

Chris

[revised]

Hey everyone - Just a quick post to let you know that I just finished uploading posts from the final day of the AEF Conference which concluded Saturday (12/10).  Over the next several days, I'll also be posting some of my own reflections, reactions, and thoughts regarding this year's inaugural AEF conference.

Stay tuned.  And thanks for stopping by.

The final panel discussion for the anaugural conference of the AEF Call included (L-R): Frederica Mathewes-Green, Howard Snyder, Lauren Winner, Aaron Flores, Brian McLaren, Hans Boersma.

The panel was guided through a final round of reflecting on all six sections of the Call.  I wish that more of the panel discussion had been like this one -- not that discussion in response to each speaker's presentation wasn't helpful -- it's just that this round (and emphasis) seemed especially relevant and  productive.  Highlight's included Brian's thoughts on the importance of teaching the biblical "narrative" rather than a set of propositional truths taken from the scriptures:

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Brian went on then, to talk about how the biblical narrative greatly needs to be reflected in our hymnody and our musical expressions of worship:

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Howard Snyder seemed to agree:

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And then, Brian shared some summary thoughts regarding what evangelicals need to change as they move into an ancient evangelical future:   

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On an aside -- Brian mentioned this week that instead of referring to the biblical narrative as a "metanarrative", he's increasingly prefers to use the term "redeeming narrative" -- i.e. not the narrative that overrides all others, but rather the narrative that redeems the value and worth from all other narratives.

 

Adding to Brian's thoughts, Lauren Winner pointed out that spirituality isn't something we "practice", but rather something that's already going on and which we choose (or refuse) to enter:   

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Though I personally appreciated the deep and thoughtful contributions from panel members -- especially Brian McLaren, Frederica Mathewes-Green, and Howard Snyder -- Aaron Flores brought an interesting and divergent opinion on much of what had been shared: 

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I'd really enjoy hearing your thoughts in response to any of what has been shared above.

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This fifth and final panel consisted of (L-R): Howard Snyder, Lauren Winner, Claude F. Mariotti, May May Latt, Hans Boersma.

Discussion was lively and thoughtful, much of which centered on ideas of supercessionism (i.e. embracing the heresy of Marcion that dismisses the enduring value of the Old Testament in our theology and practice) that were introduced by Lauren. "What continuity, therefore, should exist between biblical Judaism and Christianity?" To what degree, therefore, should an Ancient Evangelical Future embrace ancient Judaism? According to Lauren, some scholars have even recently asserted that the distinction between Judaism and Christianity were not fully in place until as late as the 4th century.

You might detect a bit of angst in Lauren's comments as she proposes a more intentionally Jewish reading of Old Testament texts, despite our Christology (pay particular attention to the rationale she gives):

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The keynote speaker for this morning's session (and the final session of  the AEF Conference) was Lauren F. Winner. She spoke on "The Call and Recovering our Hebrew Roots", and chose to focus on two specific aspects of this fascinating topic: Sabbath keeping, and bereavement.

Personally, I found myself enjoying Lauren's comments during the panel discussion that followed her talk, than I did the talk itself.

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This fourth panel included (L-R): Howard Snyder, Martin Marty, Charlie E. Hambrick-Stowe, Hans Boersma.

Discussion tonight tended to center on a return to confession, the possible need to embrace alternative understandings of the Trinity, and whether or not our embrace of the Vincentian Canon requires churches to embrace an episcopal style of ecclesiology and church authority (the later being characterized by a spirited exchange between Marty and Synder on one side ("free" church diversity) and Boersma on the other (episcopal model).

It might be noted that attendence was noticeably down for tonight's panel discussion, as was the number of questions being fielded from conference attendees. Why? That may be difficult to discern. Perhaps it was the extremely full schedule the conference had laid out, or maybe folks had other commitments they needed to keep. I'm not sure.

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Martin E. Marty was tonight's keynote speaker. His topic: "The Call [to an Ancient Evangelical Future] and the Future of Evangelicalism."  Marty's approach in his presentation was to respond section-by-section to the actual assertions and ideas of the AEF Call. Very helpful.

Here's a short, thought-provoking clip of Marty's thoughts on capitalism and other economic systems in the world:

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Well... do you agree? disagree? both? neither?

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Of particular interest to me was Marty's support for catechesis -- BUT...only if it is "relational" in nature rather than "propositional" (which is most commonly the case). He pointed out that it was Father O'Malley who made the case for connecting catechesis and experience, or "else they don't know anything."  And perhaps most importantly, will it be said in connection to those children who are going through catechism that their parents are modeling these truths to them.

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This third panel discussion included (L-R): Howard Snyder, Aaron Flores, Robert J. Price, Hans Boersma.

Somewhat against Aaron's notion of encouraging "transculturalism", here's a clip of Howard Snyder sharing his thoughts on the value of "unity and diversity" coexisting within the Church, with the example of the primitive church in mind:

Snyder_panel_3.wmv

As the tension related to this particular dialog unfolded, the perspective of Brian McLaren was especially helpful:

McLaren_panel_3.wmv

The discussion eventually turned to the (often unrecognized) problem of racism within the Church, and how those in power unknowingly perpetuate it.

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This afternoon's keynote speaker was Aaron Flores, who spoke on "The Call and the Multi-Cultural Ministry: "Lost in Multicultural Translation."   He spent considerable time talking through "why the Evangelical prophetic voice has been faint on issues of race."

Aaron went on to explain the growing difference between "multiculturalism" and "transculturalism", along with an ever-present emphasis on "cultural nationalism" here in the United States.  He called us to become transcultural evangelicals, in part, so that we can effectively meet our culture where they are at; and in part, so that we will lay down our places of power and privilege so that instead of inviting people to sit down with us as "our" table, we can all find a "new" table to sit at together.  Here's a clip of Aaron's final thoughts:

Aaron_Flores_3.wmv

Is he right?  Do we need a new table to sit down together at?

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It's lunch time here, so I'm available to Skype (voice chat) for the next hour-and-a-half if you'd like.  Again, my Skype name: desertpastor