Andy Rowell

Category: Books

  • Review of Coffeehouse Theology by Ed Cyzewski

    Ed Cyzewski, Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life.  Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2008.  233 pp. $10.19 (paper), ISBN: 978-1600062773. 

    29-year old Ed Cyzewski explains how his theological perspective has deepened and strengthened in the process of his theological education.  Cyzewski is a teacher–wanting to put his discoveries in language college students or other people beginning to be interested in theology can understand.  He earnestly shares personal stories and contemporary examples to illustrate the theological concepts he is trying to explain.  In his famous/infamous book A New Kind of Christian, Brian McLaren provocatively presents conversations between fictional characters on a number of controversial theological topics.  Cyzewski addresses many of these questions but shows how he has resolved them in his own mind.  If you were confused by McLaren's questions, Cyzewski helps sketch how an evangelical Christian might move toward resolution.  Maybe McLaren's A New Kind of Christian and Cyzewski's Coffeehouse Theology should be given to all Christian college students–the former to get them intrigued about theology and the latter to nudge them toward further constructive reflection.  Cyzewski's book is ambitious–tackling a number of issues related to systematic theology.  Perhaps one might want to read a more distinguished theologian who addresses these issues–perhaps Lesslie Newbigin or Stan Grenz; but academic theologians rarely address so many contemporary questions in such a concise way and in language as accessible as Cyzewski's.  One of the great parts of Coffeehouse Theology is that Cyzewski recommends many other books as he moves through the book–purposefully trying to intrigue the reader to explore further. 

    One minor critique of Cyzewski's book is his regular use of the term "contextual theology" to describe his approach.  He writes, "So we need to challenge ourselves to learn about God with an awareness of context–what we can call 'contextual theology'–while at the same time making sure we value different insights from different cultures where Christians are learning about God in their own particular situations.  In brief, that's where we are headed together in this book.  Coffeehouse Theology will help us understand who we are and by including perspectives outsider of our own in the midst of our study of Scripture" (20).  What Cyzewski actually means by the term "contexual theology" is "good theology" or just plain "theology."  Cyzewski does not intend to align himself with the "contextual theologies" that typically fall under that heading.  For example, Lesslie Newbigin characterizes "contexual theology" in a negative way as "a theology that gives primary attention to the issues that people are facing at that time and place and insists that the gospel cannot be communicated except in terms of these issues" (Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, rev. ed; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995, 133-134).  Andrew Walls calls “contextualized” “appalling jargon” (Andrew F. Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996, 7, 84).  David Bosch writes, "It goes without saying that not every manifestation of contextual theology is guilty of any or all of the overreactions discussed above.  Still, they all remain a constant danger to every (legitimate!) attempt at allowing the context to determine the nature and content of theology for that context" (David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), 432, Cf. 420-432.   Darrell Guder's Missional Church uses the term "contexualization" but not "contextual theology." "The church relates constantly and dynamically both to the gospel and to its contextual reality.  It is important, then for the church to study its context carefully and to understand it.  The technical term for this continuing discipline is contextualization" (Darrell Guder, ed. The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998, 18).  Again, I do not think Cyzewski's approach has the weaknesses of the group of theologies under the heading "contextual theologies" but I do think it is unfortunate he repeatedly uses that term to describe his own approach.    

    All in all, Cyzewski's Coffeehouse Theology is a fine introduction to a number of contemporary issues in theology in language college students or other beginning theological students will understand.  I hope it will serve as the on-ramp for many into rigorous theological reflection.   

    Resources:

    Sample Chapter

    Post on Emergent Village blog: Why I wrote yet another book on contextual theology …

    Ed Cyzewski's Blog: In a Mirror Dimly.

    Ed Cyzewski's Website.

    Note:

    Ed Cyzewski is a Taylor University grad like I am. 

    See my post:

    Everything I needed to know about the church I learned at Taylor University.

  • On the use of surveys by church leaders

    I am currently in a course with Duke sociologist Mark Chaves called "The Social Organization of American Religion" and will eventually write more about the issue of engaging with statistics and survey data surrounding congregations.  But in the meantime, I have pasted my brief comments in response to the Reveal conference going on this week at Willow Creek.  I made this comment at the Leadership Journal Out of Ur blog.  Below that I have also pasted a brief list of recent books on congregations. 

    See
    Out of Ur: Live from REVEAL: Getting the Weekend Right: What does truly transformational worship look like?

    and

    Out of Ur: Live from REVEAL: Bill Hybels on Self-Centered Christians: Jumping the chasm between self-centered and Christ-centered faith.

    My take:
    I would just encourage congregations to take conclusions and implications drawn from the REVEAL data with a grain of salt. I think it is appropriate for church leaders to look at how their congregations answered the questions and then reflect: "Hmm . . . I wonder why __% of our congregation said ____" but they need to be careful about drawing prescriptions too quickly or naively trusting "key findings." Remember that correlation does not mean causation. Surveys like this do descriptive work–much of it will be things observant pastors already sensed–but the prescriptive work is another story.

    Bradley Wright's substantial critiques of the conclusions being drawn from the Reveal data still stand. 

    There is a rich literature on sociological study of congregations (Mark Chaves, Nancy Ammerman, Stephen Warner, Scott Thumma, Rodney Stark) available but "secrets" and "solutions" are rarely found there–generally their conclusions explode easy answers. There is no substitute for a wise leadership team who continues to experiment and pray and consult with the congregation on how to see the formation of better and more disciples.

    Recent books by academic sociologists of religion about congregations:

    Nancy Tatom Ammerman, Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).

    See review at  Ram A. Cnaan, Review of "Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners" Sociology of Religion, Spring, 2007. Available online.

    Tobin Belzer, Richard W. Flory, Nadia Roumani, and Brie Loskota, "Congregations That Get It: Understanding Religious Identities in the Next Generation," 103-123 in James L. Heft, ed. Passing on the Faith: Transforming Traditions for the Next Generation of Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Abrahamic Dialogues) (Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2006). 

    Jackson W. Carroll, God's Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Pulpit & Pew) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005).  Pulpit & Pew at Duke now Sustaining Pastoral Excellence.

    Mark Chaves, Congregations in America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004).  National Congregations Study.

    David A. Roozen and James R. Nieman, eds. Church, Identity, And Change: Theology And Denominational Structures In Unsettled Times (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005).

    Rodney Stark, What Americans Really Believe (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008). Results from recent Baylor survey. In one chapter, he argues megachurches are as effective as small churches. Institute for Study of Religion at Baylor University.  

    Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches (J-B Leadership Network Series) (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007). Hartford Institute of Religious Research and Leadership Network

    Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, “Changes In American Megachurches: Tracing Eight Years Of Growth And Innovation in the Nation's Largest-Attendance Congregations” in Hartford Institute for Religion Research Website  (Sept 12, 2008). Available online.

    R. Stephen Warner, A Church Of Our Own: Disestablishment And Diversity In American Religion (Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005). A collection of essays.

    Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007). Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.  

    Analyses of congregations by church leaders:

    Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, Follow Me (REVEAL) (South Barrington, Ill.: Willow Creek Resources, 2008). Reveal (Willow Creek Association).

    Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, Reveal: Where Are You? (REVEAL) (South Barrington, Ill.: Willow Creek Resources, 2007). Reveal (Willow Creek Association).

    David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007). Barna Group.

    David T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis: Groundbreaking Research Based on a National Database of over 200,000 Churches (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008). The American Church Research Project.

    Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can, Too (Nashville: B&H Books, 2007). LifeWay Research.

    Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce, Beyond the Ordinary: Ten Strengths of U.S. Congregations (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2004). The U.S. Congregational Life Study.

  • Outstanding book about college students; Book Review: I Once Was Lost by Everts and Schaupp

    Don Everts and Doug Schaupp have written a new book based on their experiences doing campus ministry with college students in Colorado and California for the last twenty years.  They describe the spiritual journeys of these students and how they have tried to help.  Anyone who works with college students or wants to understand them better, will find this book illuminating and encouraging.  See my full review below. 

    I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus

    I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp (Paperback – May 30, 2008)

    5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for those involved in Christian campus ministries, September 19, 2008

    By
    Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
    (REAL NAME)

    Don Everts and Doug Schaupp help the reader become sensitive to the typical stages college students move through when they become Christians.

    This book would be particularly helpful for those who work with college students or want to better understand college students–as it describes the pressures, thought processes, and friendship dynamics of this age group.

    It would also be helpful for those who ask the question, "Does anyone today convert to Christianity as a thinking adult?" Indeed they do. Everts and Schaupp try to find patterns in the journeys of the people they have observed moving through this process.

    They identify Trusting a Christian, Becoming Curious, Opening Up to Change, Seeking After God, Entering the Kingdom and Living in the Kingdom as key "thresholds" that people move through.

    The book is nice and concise (134 pages) and reads quickly. Everts and Schaupp are not trying to make an argument that these are the thresholds all Christians need to work through. Rather it is sociological or anthropological work–similar to the famous Kubler-Ross stages of loss (denial, anger, acceptance, etc.) or Christian Smith finding the phenomenon of "moralistic therapeutic deism" in teens.

    Everts and Schaupp essentially share their experiences and then ask if this resonates with others. This is not to denigrate their experiences–they have done a significant amount of interviews and they are in as good a position as anyone with their experience in college ministry with InterVarsity to make these kind of observations. Does their model have explanatory power? I think it does.

    If they are right that college students (and perhaps teenagers and adults as well–who knows?) that become Christians, move through these thresholds well, what are the implications for how college ministry and church ministry should change if they want to see more people become Christians? The unmissable point is that these students who have moved through these thresholds certainly did not do so because of one event or program. Someone needed to listen to them, give them advice, challenge them and encourage them. Though Everts and Schaupp sketch a process, they explode the idea that some specially designed program would be able to mass-produce followers of Jesus. This book is much more about how to do spiritual direction than how to do evangelistic programming.

    The book does not contain much formal theological language. In my quick reading, I do not remember a reference for example to the Holy Spirit or to baptism. Their goal is not to reflect theologically on conversion. Similarly they do not engage developmental psychology or other sociological research and draw parallels between that research and their conclusions. An academic researcher would want to do interviews with a representative sample of people who became Christians in college to test Everts and Schaupp's tentative conclusions.  [See update below].

    One final note, the book has in its subtitle the controversial word "postmodern"–What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus. I would simply say that this word plays almost no role in the book. It is not a book that views postmodernity positively nor one that views postmodernity negatively. The book describes students at colleges in California and Colorado in the last twenty years–that is all the authors mean by "postmodern."

    In conclusion, I would highly recommend the book as insightful, brief, hopeful and stimulating. College students will be loved better by people who read this book.

    Update:

    As far as other books that talk about conversion, see chapter five of the December 2008 release: Douglas Campbell, Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).  See especially pages 200-211 for numerous bibliographic references and a good summary of recent sociological discussion of conversion.  Much of the discussion by Campbell revolves around the insights of John Lofland and Rodney Stark.  The discussion begins with these citations. 

    John Lofland and Rodney Stark, "Becoming a World-Saver: A Theory of Conversion from a Deviant Perspective," American Sociological Review 30 (1965): 862-75; and Lofland, "Becoming a World-Saver Revisited," American Behavioral Scientist 20 (1977): 805-18 and Lorne L. Dawson, "Who Joins New Religious Movements and Why: Twenty Years of Research and What Have We Learned?" in  Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader (Blackwell Readings in Religion) ed. Lorne L. Dawson (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003), 116-30.

    According to Campbell,

    Lofland and Stark hypothesized that converts possessed three “predisposing conditions”: acutely felt tension or deprivation, a religious problem-solving perspective, and an overall self-definition as a religious seeker. Four further conditions—“situational contingencies”—depended upon a concrete encounter with a cult: a self-perceived “turning point” (near the time of the encounter), a strong affective bond with one or more cult members, reduced or eliminated extra-cult attachments, and further intensive interaction with other cult members. An individual who met these four further conditions experienced full-fledged conversion and became a “deployable agent” of the new cult (Douglas Campbell, Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 200-201. 

    I cite Campbell's work to (1) highlight his book and (2) to note that Everts and Schaupp are not alone in their interest in conversion; there are theologians like Campbell and sociologists like Lofland and Stark exploring similar questions. 

    Campbell notes that young and educated people are particularly likely to convert and that rational as well as situational factors are involved–consistent in some respects with the observations of Everts and Schaupp.

    See also 

    Christian Smith, Getting a Life: The challenge of emerging adulthood in Books & Culture, November/December 2007.  (Available online). 

    Notre Dame sociologist Smith (and attender of Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church where he along with Campbell and I attend) overviews recent sociological, anthropological, and psychological studies of young adults.