• Archive of "video" Category

    Jesus Revealed (a helpful new video series)

    March 28, 2012 // No Comments »

    From theological as well as artistic perspectives, there is no shortage of embarrassing Christian media out there. Given the inherently visual dimension of our present context, this is doubly bothersome. It’s why, when someone like Rob Bell comes along and produces videos like the Nooma series, which are both theologically profound and artistically compelling, it’s incredibly significant.

    A couple weeks ago, I caught wind of a new series of videos called “Jesus Revealed.” While done w/ Nooma-like quality, these aren’t the same thing. This series seeks to more directly explore the person of Jesus as he is “revealed” in specific biblical texts. These are short, narrated films (around 12-minutes) that depict Jesus as Underdog (Mt. 4:18-22), Revolutionary (Lk. 4:14-30/Jn. 2:13-20), Hero (Mt. 27:24-54), etc. You can read more about these (and the 4 additional short films) here – DVD 1, DVD 2, DVD 3. There is also a Vimeo page w/ extended clips that you can check out here. I’m embedding the extended clip for “Jesus, the Dreamer” (Mt. 5-7) below.

    These short films were created and narrated by a guy named Andy Frost.

     Regarding the vision and purpose behind the series, Andy had these things to say…

    … ‘Jesus Revealed’ is about unearthing the radical reality of Jesus’ life. I think it’s different from other resources in that it focuses solely upon the identity and the mission of Jesus and the implications it has for us today. The DVDs also use stunning dramatization footage that helps the viewer imagine they were there…

    … I am always amazed at how the Church has often turned the life changing, explosive gospel of Jesus into a boring weekly event. When I read the gospels, I am continually challenged, excited and fascinated by Jesus. I am passionate about helping others re-engage with the raw and radical Jesus we find in the gospel accounts.

    … The church in the UK has been in decline for many years, but I believe that this is changing. In the US, there are some pretty negative predictions on church attendance over the next few decades. I just really believe that if people can be given a vision of Jesus, rather than religious dogma, then they will be released to live for Him. I hope that ‘Jesus Revealed’ might just be a helpful resource in doing this.

    I think these videos would be an excellent way to spark conversation w/ anyone who had some level of interest in the person of Jesus, or even to carry those who have been Christians for some time into deeper reflection on the significance of knowing and following Jesus. Would you use these? Why or why not? If you did, how would you use them and with who? In any case, hope you’ll check them out here.

    Posted in art, bible, Jesus, video

    Hauerwas at Fuller Seminary on Mental Illness

    February 27, 2012 // 2 Comments »

    I took a 2-day trip to IN last week for a series of meetings with some Mennonite friends and to go meet the newest Tebbe!

    Whenever I drive for more than an hour by myself, I always try to think ahead about something good to listen to.  I forgot to do that this time around.  However, iTunes U came to the rescue and I stumbled upon a series of lectures that Stanley Hauerwas gave at my alma mater, Fuller Theological Seminary last year regarding his latest book, Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir

    At some point I learned that Stanley Hauerwas had gotten divorced and, as you might guess, jumped to some conclusions and perhaps even some judgments regarding how a Christian ethicist might reconcile such a decision.  As there nearly always is, there is a huge (long, complicated, heart-wrenching) back story.  In these lectures Hauerwas shares plainly and transparently about his marriage to Ann and the ins and outs of mental illness that eventually undid their marriage.  Below are some different ways that you can access these lectures.  Both the lectures and the Q&A sessions following them are well worth a listen.

    If you use iTunes, you can get the Hauerwas lectures from Fuller in 2 formats, audio or video.

    Audio is here.
    Video is here.

    If you don’t use iTunes, you can view the lectures online using the following links…

    Mental Illness, My Story - http://vimeo.com/20302340
    Q&A - http://vimeo.com/20304454

    Enduring, How to Go On - http://vimeo.com/2030549
    Q&A - http://vimeo.com/20306248

    God and the Mentally Ill - http://vimeo.com/2030819
    Q&A - http://vimeo.com/20308682

    Posted in Fuller Seminary, marriage, video

    The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Reflective Practitioners

    November 22, 2011 // 1 Comment »

    The post below (edited slightly) was offered as the 2nd in a series of 4 articles on the “Future of the Seminary” forum over at Patheos (1st article here).  If you haven’t already seen it, this video will give you a good introduction to the basis for the perspective being offered.

    Based on this perspective, we suggest that the task before us is to identify educational principles guided by a theological vision of the missio Dei as it relates to both the gospel and the Church that can give shape and substance to processes of theological formation that are able to help students develop Kingdom-oriented character and competency.

    We will explore two additional missiological principles that we believe ought to guide this vision of theological education in forthcoming posts, but here we would like to suggest that a vision of theological education that is guided and shaped by a missional vision of God, the Gospel, and the Church will be praxeological – given to the training of reflective practitioners.  While other changes are surely called for, we suggest that theological formation that is praxeological calls for elongated programs, training by missionary theologians, diversified learning environments, a high degree of attention to contextualization, and an emphasis on creating learning communities.

    Elongated Programs of Theological Formation

    Whereas many seminaries seem to be spending their energy trying to find ways to help students achieve degrees more quickly, a praxeological orientation calls for more integrated, and therefore elongated, programs. Obviously an elongated program delays the conferral of a degree, but under the vision of theological education suggested here, the idea isn’t getting a degree so that you can begin to do ministry, but beginning to do ministry so that you are rooted in the proper context for theological education and formation in the first place. If the end goal is not the conferral of a degree but actually becoming a certain kind of person, there simply are no shortcuts to be taken.

    Training by Missionary Theologians

    A praxeological orientation toward theological education will require a faculty composed not mainly of traditional academic scholars, but of missionary theologians – those whose ability to guide and shape others flows from their own praxeological formation. Again, we are not suggesting that scholarship does not have its place; we are simply saying that the right kind of scholarship will always be driven by and focused on its implications for the life and ministry of the Church. As Karl Barth has famously said,

    There would be no theology if there were no ministry specially committed to the witness of the word… If we abstract its origin in the ministry of the community, all its problems are either irrelevant or they lose their theological character… (CD 4.3.2, 879)

    Thus, we are compelled to ask whether or not those who are trained and formed by traditional PhD programs are the best candidates for the kind of mentors/teachers needed to equip those who embrace this vision of theological education.

    Diversified Learning Environments

    Learning theory suggests there are three ways we learn: the passing on of information, apprenticeship to learn certain skill-sets, and immersion. The best learning experience occurs when there is a dynamic interplay between all three. Driven by Christendom presuppositions, our current systems of theological education are designed to do the first, pass on information, but give no real attention to issues of apprenticeship or immersion experiences. A praxeological orientation to theological education will require that our seminaries create all three kinds of learning environments for their students. The issue here isn’t merely the lack of second and third environments, but the fact that that apart from them, the relevance of time spent in the first environment loses the impact it ought to have.

    Issues of Contextualization

    Ministry never occurs in a vacuum. Students don’t just need to learn what to apply to their ministry context, which under the current paradigm of theological education they may not even have; they need to learn how to apply it to their ministry context, which we are suggesting as a prerequisite. This implies not only the need for missiologically-driven advances in models of distributed learning, but calls for a greatly enhanced focus on the part of instructors and the designing of programs with regard to the application of theological learning to specific ministry contexts.*

    *Living into this sort of vision will mean that increasingly, centers of theological education will see having a ministry context as a prerequisite for admission into its programs. In addition, this value should compel centers of theological education to put significant amounts of time and resources into establishing truly meaningful relationships and partnerships with local churches and ministry organizations in which students who don’t have their own ministry context might not just do occasional internships, but root the entirely of their educational process.

    Learning Communities

    A core component of a praxeological orientation to theological education is the importance of learning in community. Whereas we wholeheartedly agree that there is a unique and important place for those regarded as experts in their field who can offer their wisdom, experience, and insight as they guide students in their formation as Kingdom leaders, there is an equally important and formative dimension to theological education that is rooted within a community of learning. In line with the realities of Kingdom ministry, which always call for a collaborative approach to tasks and problems, seminary students should increasingly develop a capacity to embody an open and discerning posture towards the insights and critiques of their peers. Flying in the face of traditional assessment criteria that are nearly exclusively predicated on one’s individual academic performance, a core component of assessing the formation of Kingdom leaders will have to do with their posture toward and interaction with others in a learning community.*

    *We suggest that where theological schools continue to offer residential options, they will do well to structure them around a more monastic model where students come to be immersed in an integrated program of sharing life, resources, learning experiences, and diversified endeavors in ministry and mission.

    At the heart of the particular suggestion is the simple observation that, “this is how Jesus did it” – calling disciples to him “that they might be with him and that he might send them out…” (Mark 3:14)

    Read the full white paper, The Missiological Future of Theological Education, here and join in the conversation below and over at thefutureoftheologicaleducation.com.

    Posted in 3DM, anabaptist, bi-vocational, christendom, church, culture, discipleship, God, gospel, Jesus, kingdom, missiology, missional, missional theology, post-christendom, spiritual formation, theological education, theology, video, western culture

    The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Introduction

    November 9, 2011 // No Comments »

    It’s been a few weeks since I posted about the groundswell of conversation that seemed to be happening around the topic of the state and future of theological education. Since then, a lot has happened.

    1) I joined Doug Paul and Mike Breen of 3DM in hosting a forum on this topic at Northern Seminary.

    2) We’ve launched a website that is hosting the white paper and video we produced as contributions to the conversation.

    3) A number of people have begin conversations in the discussion forums on that site.

    4) Dr. Craig Blomberg, Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, offered a response to the paper that is posted on the resource blog

    5) A slew of new posts, including the 1st of 4 from our perspective, have appeared in the online forum over at Patheos.

    6) And we have received a couple dozen emails from people who are asking everything from, “Can you keep me informed on how this goes forward?” to “Can you come and help lead a discussion on this in our context?” Which we are more than excited to do! (inquire here).

    I am actually quite a bit more interested in driving traffic over to thefutureoftheologicaleducation.com as a place where we can try and centralize some conversation and garner insight from as broad a population as possible, but just to generate some interest, I thought I would try and peak your interest with a few words from the introduction of the paper and the video that goes along with the initiative…

    The American Church finds itself in a precarious position. Based on current statistics, each year 2.7 million people cease to be part of a local church community and 4000 churches close their doors. Beyond this, 85 percent of all our churches are classified as stagnant and dying…

    …while we wholeheartedly agree that we are indeed in the midst of a cultural earthquake, we believe that these statistics are better read as symptoms of a deeper problem. Rather than working toward solutions aimed at helping the Church maintain or regain its position of power and privilege at the center of society, our contention is that a more faithful posture, in the midst of this cultural earthquake, is pausing to ask what God is saying and doing and how God is calling us to respond?

    The missiological crisis of Christendom not only affected the Church, but also bore corresponding implications for seminaries and indeed our systems of theological education in general. As such, we believe that a massive re-imagining of the nature, purpose, and practice of theological education is in order. Simply put, the guiding thesis of this paper is that to the extent that our current systems of theological education have been shaped by Christendom presuppositions, they have lost their missiological bearings and are wholly inadequate to prepare Kingdom leaders. Incremental changes and clever adaptations to these current systems only serve to distract from the opportunity we have before us to develop a Kingdom, and therefore missional, vision of theological education. At the heart of this vision is the conviction that the proper telos of theological education is an “accreditation” of students based not merely on the degrees they earn, but on the development and fit of their character and competency for life and leadership in the Kingdom of God.

    And here’s the video… Hope to follow up in coming weeks with other blurbs from the paper.

    Posted in 3DM, anabaptist, bi-vocational, christendom, church, culture, discipleship, God, gospel, Jesus, kingdom, leadership, missiology, missional, missional theology, Northern Seminary, post-christendom, spiritual formation, theological education, theology, video, western culture

    Beautiful Things

    September 21, 2011 // No Comments »

    I’ve been a fan of Gungor ever since I came across “God is Not a White Man” a year ago. Since then, we have incorporated a number of their songs into the services at Life on the Vine. The latest of these is “Beautiful Things.” I find it incredible.  Enjoy!

    Posted in LOV, music, video

    The Digital Story of the Nativity

    December 21, 2010 // No Comments »

    This was just too clever and well done to pass up.  Enjoy!

    Curious to see what you would have added if you were the one who made this.

    Posted in funny, Jesus, social networking, video

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