Andy Rowell

Category: Evangelism

  • Julian Hartt’s Four-sided Theological Analysis

    I have found myself over and over returning to this quote: 

    Hartt knew that the Christian church could not make gospel sense of its own life apart from the culture in which it was immersed.  In this regard he reversed his senior Yale colleague H. Richard Niebuhr.  For Hartt, Niebuhr's pure dichotomy ("Christ" over against "culture") never existed.  In its stead Hartt developed a four-sided theological analysis:church, world, kingdom, and gospel were each to be distinguished yet always to be related to one another, and the task was to recognize their mutual involvement, sorting out the contemporary living gospel whose "preachability" would shape the church and inform the world for the sake of the kingdom of God.

    McClendon is referring to Hartt's book: 

    McClendon relies heavily on Carey Theological College professor Jonathan R. Wilson's dissertation on Hartt written at Duke.

  • Resources for Theological Reflection on U2

    We are going to the U2 conference Saturday night here in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I thought I would just provide a few theological resources that I have come across regarding U2.

    Note: You can now watch the whole concert performed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calfornia on October 25, 2009 at YouTube.  (The first 2-3 minutes are slow until they walk onto the stage).  Here is the setlist.    

    Scharen's book One Step Closer

    I recommend the book

    Product Details

    One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God by Christian Scharen (April 1, 2006)

    Scharen, a blogger and twitterer, and theology professor at Luther Seminary (Ph.D. from Emory), argues that U2 is quite sophisticated theologically.  He argues that they are as explicitly Christian as they can be without alienating listeners who are not Christians.  Scharen has written a book that tries to help people make connections between what U2 is trying to say and do, and the Bible and theology.  It is well-written and accessible.  It made me want to listen to U2, read the Bible, and try to live my life in such a way that I am firmly embedded in the world while still trying to do what is right.  


    Keuss's Article "The Comedy"

    See also the review by Jeff Keuss in The Other Journal

    The Comedy of No Line on the Horizon: A Theological Reading of U2’s Latest Album

    Keuss, a theology professor at Seattle Pacific University and blogger, analyzes U2's new album. 


    U2 Academic Conference

    There is a U2 Academic Conference happening this week in Durham, NC.  People are coming from all over for it including: Keuss, Steve Taylor from New Zealand and Beth Maynard–host of U2 Sermons blog and an editor of Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog.  To some this may sound a little ridiculous–(analyzing a rock band?), but a lot of Ph.D.'s are presenting papers which makes it a legitimate "academic conference."  If you still think it is ridiculous, my bet is that you have not attended many academic conferences. At a typical academic conference, very serious thinking is done about incredibly obscure minutiae. The hope (often unstated and sometimes forgotten) is that the insights achieved will lead to wider and more significant implications.  The same probably applies to a conference on U2–to use their lyrics or popularity or art as a springboard into more substantive insights about the world.  Obviously, a group like U2 that bridges to some extent the popular / critical divide, and has a wide body of work to study, and appeals to a lot of scholars who are now in their 30's, 40's and 50's, is a fun place from which to begin exploring the world.


    After writing this post, Calhoun's review article appeared

    Where Could We Go from Here?
    The state of U2 studies.
    Scott Calhoun | posted 10/22/2009 Books & Culture

    Calhoun mentions a number of books that reflect on U2 and Christianity and has a number of interesting comments himself.  Below I list the books he mentions and what he says about them.  

    "An introduction"

    "Steve Stockman's Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2, first published in 2001 and updated in 2005, is widely considered as the best-sourced book that looks mainly at the spiritual aspects of the band members' lives and the music they have created."

    "Christian Scharen helped us understand, with One Step Closer in 2006, 'why U2 matters to those seeking God.'"

    "On my timeline of U2 studies, Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog, a collection of 25 sermons edited by Beth Maynard and Raewynne Whiteley, came surprisingly early. Yet upon closer examination, its publication in 2003 signifies that U2's work had already generated amongst fans a wealth of ideas and implications for the religious life. Since Maynard began her "U2 Sermons" blog in 2003, it has remained the best source I know of for theological insights inspired by the band and for tracking the theological reflections of others on U2 (U2sermons.blogspot.com)."

    "Robert Vagacs' Religious Nuts, Political Fanatics: U2 in Theological Perspective, is an insightful study of U2 as poets and prophets, amply informed by Vagacs' reading of Walter Brueggemann. Vagacs treats U2's songs as texts that increase in meaning and significance when read for their intertexts, poetics, and cultural rhetoric, and he studies U2 as a group of artists shaped by the art in their lives as well as by the times they live in."

    "Stephen Catanzarite's Achtung Baby: Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall, is a rich assessment of the human condition writ large. Working his way through U2's masterpiece album from 1991, Catanzarite explores how echoes of a lost divinity frustrate the acts of men and women searching for hope, love, and life in a world of broken promises and discarded sacraments."

    He also mentions as an example of the academic work being done surrounding U2:


    Crouch and Briggs Concert Reviews

    A couple of people have posted reviews of earlier shows on the tour:

    The Pinnacle of Power: What I saw at the U2 concert.

    Andy Crouch, a senior editor at Christianity Today International

    and

    U2 360: NYC 09.24.09 Review

    J.R. Briggs, a pastor and author in Pennsylvania


    Other resources: Setlists and Videos

    Here is a recent setlist.  You can find all the setlists at U2gigs.com

    Note: You can now watch the whole concert performed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calfornia on October 25, 2009 at YouTube.  (The first 2-3 minutes are slow until they walk onto the stage).  Here is the setlist.      

    U2 @ Giants Stadium – 9/23/09 – setlist

    1. Breathe
    2. Magnificent
    3. Get On Your Boots
    4. Mysterious Ways
    5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
    6. She's The One / Desire (snippet)
    7. Elevation
    8. Your Blue Room
    9. Beautiful Day / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet)
    10. No Line On The Horizon
    11. New Year's Day
    12. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
    13. The Unforgettable Fire
    14. Mofo (snippet) / City Of Blinding Lights
    15. Vertigo
    16. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
    17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
    18. MLK
    19. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
    20. One / Amazing Grace (snippet)
    21. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)

    encore:
    22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
    23. With Or Without You
    24. Moment of Surrender

    Notes: Breathe returns as the opener after missing the previous gig entirely.
    Unknown Caller misses a 360° Tour gig for only the third time.

    You can watch lots of U2 videos for free at MTV and VH1.

  • Book Review: Signs Amid the Rubble by Lesslie Newbigin

    I am a teaching assistant for Geoffrey Wainwright’s course on Lesslie Newbigin at Duke Divinity School this semester.  Here is my Amazon.com review of the first book we read in the course.

    Product Details

    Signs Amid the Rubble: The Purposes of God in Human History by Lesslie Newbigin, edited by Geoffrey Wainwright (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003).

     

    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Important Lectures by Newbigin on Eschatology and Evangelism , September 7, 2009
    By  Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
    (REAL NAME)
      

    This collection of Newbigin’s lectures demonstrate his ability to think
    theologically, logically, fairly and passionately about Christian
    engagement in the world. It is not surprising that many have found
    Newbigin to be a helpful guide through these difficult waters.

    Signs Amid the Rubble contains three sets of lectures by Lesslie
    Newbigin (1909-1998) introduced by Duke University theologian Geoffrey
    Wainwright, author of Lesslie Newbigin: A Theological Life.

    The first are a set of 4 lectures given in Bangalore, India in 1941
    when Newbigin was 32 years old called “The Kingdom of God and the Idea
    of Progress” (pp. 1-55). Newbigin criticizes the prevailing view that
    the world is becoming better and better. He points out the evidence
    against this view and then makes the case that the concept of the
    Kingdom of God is far more useful as a framework for understanding
    reality. In particular he singles out C. H. Dodd for his over-realized
    eschatology. “The eschaton, the end, enters into our present experience
    by qualifying all present action: that is its significance. But the
    point is whether it does not lose that significance unless it be also a
    fact which is really going to happen” (33-34). Indeed, Newbigin goes on
    to emphasize that in fact he believes the eschaton is “really going to
    happen”–it is not just a symbol.

    The second set of three lectures are The Henry Martyn Lectures
    delivered at the University of Cambridge in 1986 when Newbigin was 77
    years old (57-109). These have the theme of “mission then and now”
    (97). Newbigin addresses some of the most difficult questions that
    missionaries face. Will all people be saved or only some (66-75)?
    Newbigin writes, “As I find myself in D’Costa’s book classified as an
    exclusivist, I will try to say why” (72). He goes on to criticize the
    trendy terms “dialogue” and “conversation”–arguing that there is a
    legitimate place for “preaching” and action (75-77). He then looks at
    the ways missionaries have engaged culture–arguing that conversion is
    a legitimate pursuit despite the errors of colonialism (78-94).
    Christianity is something that affects “facts” of life (the important
    stuff!) and not just the “values” (one’s preferences and feelings)
    (90). Finally, in the last lecture of the Martyn lectures, Newbigin
    soars. This piece perhaps could be read by itself for its clarity on
    the question of the relationship between evangelism and social justice
    (95-109). He explains that social justice is not a substitute for
    evangelism but that it is still appropriate to love through healing and
    caring ministries while proclaiming the gospel. “Election” (103)
    reminds Christians that they are blessed by God that they might be a
    blessing to others (Genesis 12:2). Newbigin also addresses the
    relationship between the church, the kingdom of God and politics. The
    church is to be “a sign, instrument and foretaste” of the reign of God
    (103).

    The third set of addresses by Newbigin takes up just 10 pages
    (111-121) at the end of the book. They are brief remarks Newbigin made
    in 1996 (at age 87) to the The World Conference on Mission and
    Evangelism in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil in December 1996. They are
    blunt and informal remarks about the importance of evangelism. He
    criticizes the god of the free market and the lack of prioritizing of
    telling the story of Jesus. He goes on to criticize abortion on demand,
    point out the challenge of Islam, and recommend the pursuit of the
    glory of God from a heart of joy.

    I would recommend reading these addresses in reverse order. Read
    the ones from 1996 first, then the 1986 Martyn lectures, then the 1941
    Bangalore lectures. The Bangalore lectures are slightly more
    philosophical and thus slightly more difficult. The Martyn lectures
    wonderfully summarize many of the themes in Newbigin’s later works The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, and The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. The most accessible place to learn about Newbigin though is his own autobiography: Unfinished Agenda: An Updated Autobiography, which I have reviewed on Amazon.

    Christians looking for a guide on how to think about engagement
    with the world will find a trustworthy, experienced, and wise voice in
    Newbigin.