dwight j. friesen » Resources

emergent village 2010 theological conversation

Dwight J. Friesen — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:27:36 +0000

I am so excited about the 2010 Emergent Village Theological Conversation.

Like prior EV theological conversations, academic luminaries will enter into conversation with pastors – no notes, no papers delivered, no formality – simply a conversation about things that matter.
Past scholars include: Nancey Murphy, Dallas Willard, Stanley Hauerwas, Walter Brueggemann, Miroslav Volf, John Caputo, Richard Kearney, and most recently Jürgen Moltmann.

This year in Atlanta, November 1-3, 2010, Musa Dube, Richard Twiss and Colin Greene will enter into conversation with practitioners exploring:

Postcolonialism & the Missional Future of the Church

What is “Missional” in a postcolonial world? Can hardly wait!

Follow the event details on Facebook.

Peace, Dwight

summer class – partnering with Seattle churches

Dwight J. Friesen — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:43:03 +0000

Every summer trimester at MHGS I get to guide a group of emerging leaders through a selected readings course . . . for us “selected readings” means that faculty members are given some space to develop a course around an area of passion.

In preparation for this summer’s learning journey, I’ve been working on this class with the people behind The Parish Collective; especially Paul Sparks, Tim Sorens and Ben Katt.

Gonna call the course: “Body Of Christ: Rediscovering the Local Parish as Embodied Witness”

It will consider the church’s catholicity through focused attention on particularity. Given that the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ was a radically particular event with universal reach this course will explore the implications of the church as the Body of Christ; more specifically the course will engage six Seattle-area churches and their missional quests to live in mutually transformative relationships given the particularity of their respective locations. Leaders from each church will guide us on walking tours of their respective neighborhood, offering us a glimpse into their story of learning to become and experience Good News in their neighborhood. In some ways this selected reading class will focus on reading our churches and our neighborhoods as much as on reading books. Here’s are the written texts we’ll be reading:

Richard Flodia’s, Who’s your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of your Life.
Timothy Gorringe’s, A Theology of the Built Environment: Justice, Empowerment, Redemption.
Robert Lupton’s, Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor.
Charlene Spretnak’s, The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature and Place in a Hypermodern World.
Parker Palmer’s, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life.

Peace, dwight

“free for all” April 15-16 Durham, NC

Dwight J. Friesen — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:46:36 +0000

There is a free conference being held in Durham, NC (April 15&16, 2010) bringing people together in discussion around the themes raised in the outstanding new book by Tim Conder & Dan Rhodes, Free for All: Rediscovering the Bible In Community.

Tim Conder

Dan Rhodes

Check out the schedule . . . it promises to be an amazing opportunity to conversationally connect with thoughtful people around Scripture in community.

I will be participating in the event myself and look forward to seeing you there. Again, here is the link to the Free for All Conference.

Peace, dwight

John Franke – MHGS lecture open to public

Dwight J. Friesen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:40:40 +0000

Thursday, March 25 @ 7:00PM – Dr. John Franke will be presenting a lecture at MHGS that is open to the public, and only costs $5. The lecture will be a look a “the nature of truth,” drawing on the material in his recent (much talked about) book: Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth, and John’s presentation will be followed with conversation and Q&A.

As you may know, John has published a number of other books including:

- Barth for Armchair Theologians,

- The Character of Theology: An Introduction to Its Nature, Task, and Purpose,

- Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture),

And of course John co-authored Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context with the late Stan Grenz which has aided so many re-imagine theology.

I hope you’ll join in.

Peace, dwight

Rob Bell Coming to Seattle

Dwight J. Friesen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:23:53 +0000

Pastor and author Rob Bell will be in Seattle on Feb 13, as part of his “Drops Like Stars” book tour. Rob will be at the Moore Theater exploring the complex relationship between suffering & creativity.

You can find out more information on dates in other cites and ticket info here.

Peace, dwight

dwight’s top 10 – CDs of 2009

Dwight J. Friesen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:05:57 +0000

As a friend and I were chatting about our favorite CDs of the past year it occurred to me that I’ve never posted a music list. So even though its a bit late, this is my list looking back on 2009 . . . in no particular order.

Dwight’s top 10

Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Curse Your Branches by David Bazan
Noble Beast by Andrew Bird
Sleep Off The Hiway by Human Cargo
Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective
Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle by Bill Callahan
The BQE by Sufjan Stevens
Fantasies by Metric
Embryonic by The Flaming Lips
No Line On The Horizon by U2

Peace, dwight

What Matters Now

Dwight J. Friesen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:43:13 +0000

Seth Godin is giving away his most recent book. Titled, What Matters Now, the project dips into the wisdom of roughly 70 contributors with brief responses to the title, as they reflect on the year ahead of us all.

Peace, dwight

dwight’s top 10 – books of 2009

Dwight J. Friesen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:58:21 +0000

I realize this may be just a bit early but here is my list of 2009 titles that gave me pause to think, delight and wonder.

In no particular order:

1. Peter Rollins’ The Orthodox Heretic and other impossible Tales

2. Graham Ward’s The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens

3. John Franke’s Manifold Witness: The Plurailty of Truth

4. Samir Selmanovic’s It’s Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian

5. Peter Heltzel’s Jesus & Justice: Evangelicals, Race & American Politics

6. Otto Scharmer’s Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges

7. Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

8. Chris Hedges’ Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

9. Soong-Chan Rah’s The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

10. Merold Westphal‘s Whose Community? Which Interpretation?: Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church

Bonus Picks:

Mary Oliver’s Red Bird
Michael Gorman’s Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul’s Narrative Soteriology

2008, 2007, 2006

Peace, dwight

Pete Rollins – Seattle – Dec.10

Dwight J. Friesen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:15:47 +0000

I am excited to announce that Pete Rollins, philosopher, author, and founder of Ikon in Northern Ireland is coming to town.

A group of MHGS students are making this happen . . . I love it.

The evening event will be Thursday, Dec 10 and hosted at MHGS. I’ll post the exact time as I get the details.

peace, dwight

Off-the-Map 11/20-21

Dwight J. Friesen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:03:05 +0000

Jim Henderson and the crew over at Off-the-Map are getting will be hosting their annual learning party in Seattle. November 20-21. This year the line-up includes.

Phyllis Tickle
Author of The Great Emergence
Michael Frost
Author of Re Jesus
Todd Hunter
Author of Christianity Beyond Belief
Jim Henderson
Author of Jim and Casper Go To Church