Happy Birthday Pub Theology!
Pub Theology has turned 1 year old! As I look back over the year, I’ve seen how it has been an integral part of my spiritual life at Journey.
Last week, Ed brought up that the word “conversation” (or “convo”) has been used more frequently these days in our public lexicon. It could be a new trend where the mutual sharing of ideas and viewpoints has become more valued than the regular way of heated debate or dry lecture where a particular position is argued. But I think that Pub Theology has been a true conversation of friends who want to gain useful perspectives and viewpoints of God in our everyday lives.
For me, I enjoy the fact that this weekly gathering of people joins together to discuss without an agenda. Pub Theology is not a book study per se, but we do use a book and have chapter readings for the week to serve as a launchpad for our conversation. But more times than not, we end up talking about anything and everything to do with faith and God. People will sometimes bring up an issue where faith has intersected with something they’ve faced that week. Or sometimes people will bring up an article or world event that totally gets the wheels turning (and occasionally shoots the wheels off).
I’m an armchair theologian. At pub theology, I don’t feel pressured to deliver a sunday-school answer or come to the table with all of my thoughts and opinions about faith fully prepared and mapped out. For as long as I have had a faith of God in the way of Jesus, my theology has been in a constant state of flux. I don’t have any desire to go to seminary and I’m quite comfortable to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. However, I do appreciate the good company, the tasty beverages, and the engaging, accessible conversations at Pub Theology.
-John
We are taking a break on Oct 23rd, but join us on Oct 30th as we start up the next book:
Mark Scandrette – Soul Graffiti
Books we’ve looked at over our first year:
Stanley Grenz – Created for Community
Peter Rollins – How (Not) to Speak About God
Tony Jones – The Sacred Way
Scot McKight – A Community Called Atonement
Last week, Ed brought up that the word “conversation” (or “convo”) has been used more frequently these days in our public lexicon. It could be a new trend where the mutual sharing of ideas and viewpoints has become more valued than the regular way of heated debate or dry lecture where a particular position is argued. But I think that Pub Theology has been a true conversation of friends who want to gain useful perspectives and viewpoints of God in our everyday lives.
For me, I enjoy the fact that this weekly gathering of people joins together to discuss without an agenda. Pub Theology is not a book study per se, but we do use a book and have chapter readings for the week to serve as a launchpad for our conversation. But more times than not, we end up talking about anything and everything to do with faith and God. People will sometimes bring up an issue where faith has intersected with something they’ve faced that week. Or sometimes people will bring up an article or world event that totally gets the wheels turning (and occasionally shoots the wheels off).
I’m an armchair theologian. At pub theology, I don’t feel pressured to deliver a sunday-school answer or come to the table with all of my thoughts and opinions about faith fully prepared and mapped out. For as long as I have had a faith of God in the way of Jesus, my theology has been in a constant state of flux. I don’t have any desire to go to seminary and I’m quite comfortable to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. However, I do appreciate the good company, the tasty beverages, and the engaging, accessible conversations at Pub Theology.
-John
We are taking a break on Oct 23rd, but join us on Oct 30th as we start up the next book:Mark Scandrette – Soul Graffiti
Books we’ve looked at over our first year:
Stanley Grenz – Created for Community
Peter Rollins – How (Not) to Speak About God
Tony Jones – The Sacred Way
Scot McKight – A Community Called Atonement
posted by BU at 1:10 PM
1 Comments:
i miss (pub)lic theology!! you guys are great.
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