Category Archives: Religion

Discussions of faith and practice

My Thoughts on ‘Star Trek’ (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Earl Barnett

My Thoughts on ‘Star Trek’ (Part 1 of 2) Ok, I will start by joining the millions of other bloggers and say that this movie is amazing. Star Trek transcended my expectations in almost every way. It is worth spending … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Christianity, Church History, Emergence, Evangelicalism, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

A ‘Pedigree Collapse’ Within Modern Theological Education?

Posted on September 27, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Theological education, both academic and pastoral, are in a state of crisis.  Theological education is specializing itself out of ideas, and in doing so confines its ability to comprehend and explain the content it hopes to teach.  Though, for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Phiolosophizing, Random Bloggings, Religion, School, Theology, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Stanley Hauerwas: Theology, Medicine and the Christian Community

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Listen to the Podcast here. While shopping for apartments down in Decatur, GA (getting ready to leave for Candler School of Theology) I gave a listen to an Emergent Podcast from the 2003 Conference down in Atlanta, GA. The podcast … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Random Bloggings, Religion, Stanley Hauerwas, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Evangelical Manifesto: My Thoughts

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Earl Barnett

An Evangelical Manifesto: My Thoughts You can read my initial synopsis and comments to the Evangelical Manifesto here. I’ve been holding off on writing my thoughts for a few days because in these situations I tend to be reactionary and … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Church History, Emergence, Evangelical Manifesto, Historical Theology, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

What’s Wrong with Autonomous Churches?

Posted on April 30, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Why? After having spent almost 10 years participating in the American movement called conservative evangelicalism I have witnessed many well-intentioned people bring much disgrace to the name of Jesus. These disgraces have come through harmful theology, oppressive practices, conservative cultural … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Church History, Church Living, Emerging Church, Pagan Christianity, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Pagan Christianity: ch 6

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Chapter 6: Sunday Morning Costumes “So what’s the big deal about ‘dressing up’ for church?… First, it reflects the false division between the secular and the sacred…. Second, wearing attractive, flashy clothes on Sunday morning screams out an embarrassing message: … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Christianity, Church Living, Emergence, Emerging Church, Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Does Evangelism HAVE to mean converting the unconverted?: Part 1

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Evangelism is destroying the Church. Our constant focus on bringing those outside our communities inside, with little focus on genuinely making disciples has left our Churches a ‘mile wide, but merely an inch deep’ (to borrow an overused cliche). I … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Church History, Emergence, Emerging Church, Historical Theology, Kirk Cameron, Random Bloggings, Ray Comfort, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Pagan Christianity ch. 5

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Chapter 5- The Pastor: Obstacle To Ever-Member Functioning “… the present-day pastor was born out of a single-bishop rule first spawned by Ignatius and Cyprian. The bishop evolved into a local presbyter. In the Middle Ages, the presbyter grew into … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Christianity, Church History, Emergence, Emerging Church, Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Am I a Deist?

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Earl Barnett

I’ve been called many things by my conservative friends since I began my exploration of the concepts of pluralism and their interaction with the Christian faith. Most of which I’ve disregarded as conservative angst from individuals who have bought into … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Emergence, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Linguistic Determinism and Charismatic Worship

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Earl Barnett

During Church I often find myself analizing my Amercian, conservative, evangelical, pseudo-’mega church’s worship style. I spend time questioning mostly ‘why’ and ‘how’ they do worship hoping to understand their theology behind the manner they do things. I see their … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Church Living, Emergence, Emerging Church, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Preach?

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Earl Barnett

This post comes as a response to accusations that I wanted to address clearly and directly. So, why preach? As much as I’m getting sick of making lists, I’ll do so for the sake of simplicity for readers. 1) Preaching … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Christianity, Church Living, Doug Pagitt, Emergence, Emerging Church, Random Bloggings, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Harry Emerson Fosdick’s ‘Shall the Fundamentalists Win?’

Posted on March 27, 2008 by Earl Barnett

From his sermon, ‘Shall the Fundamentalists Win?‘: “If a man is a genuine liberal, his primary protest is not against holding [conservative] opinions, although he may well protest against their being considered the fundamentals of Christianity. This is a free … Continue reading →

Posted in Brian McLaren, Christianity, Church History, Emergence, Emerging Church, Harrold Emerson Fosdick, Historical Theology, N.T. Wright, Religion, Stephen Chalke, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The things we say…

Posted on March 26, 2008 by Earl Barnett

A mentor handed me Piper’s new book ‘The Future of Justification‘ today and said to me… ‘Earl, justification doesn’t have a future. It’s a term that Luther made up to fit his need, and it worked for then. But now, … Continue reading →

Posted in Church History, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Rudolph Bultmann on Demytholization

Posted on March 24, 2008 by Earl Barnett

This is an excerpt of Rudolph Bultmann’s “The New Testament and Mythology” taken from The Christian Theology Reader (2nd Ed.) pgs 71- 72: “The cosmology of the New Testament is essentially mythical in character. The world is viewed as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Alister McGrath, Books, Christianity, Church History, Historical Theology, Religion, Rudolph Bultmann, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Theology by Public Poll

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Earl Barnett

Do many of us, as American-Protestant-Christians, operate from the assumption that God does not reveal ‘truth’ beyond our ability to comprehend it? I’ve met a lot of Christians who seem to operate from the perspective that any new theology or … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Christianity, Church History, Church Living, Emergence, Emerging Church, Random Bloggings, Religion, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment