Tag: Tripp Fuller

Transforming Theology

Tripp Fuller, Tony Jones and a whole list of of other folks are taking off on a pretty interesting journey.

I’m playing catchup after a week off but as I’ve briefly gathered, there will be a conference in mid-March as well as several others throughout the year.

Briefly, “The mission of the Transforming Theology network is to tighten the bonds between theology and transformative action in the church and the world.”

Transforming Theology Mission ::

Our goal is an ambitious one: to create the intellectual framework for a progressive religious vision. By forming a broad alliance between the leading scholars and organizations in Christian religion today, we aim at nothing less than to “reclaim the progressive voice.” There are movements on the ground, active in various denominations and schools. Up to this point, however, what has been missing is a uniting intellectual and theoretical vision, comparable to what has emerged from the conservatives…

Beliefs orient communities; they create a sense of common cause; and frequently they motivate persons to sacrificial action. Motivating beliefs of this sort go by many names. They have been called ethical principles, rationales for action, ideologies, and worldviews. In the three Abrahamic traditions they are called “theologies”: beliefs about the world and the religious ultimate that suggest how one should live in the world. In order to guarantee that our project remains pluralistic and non-partisan, we will speak only of “theological models.” We claim that the loss of theological reflection represents a major crisis for the identity of religious communities and for their effectiveness as agents of social change, and we believe that concrete steps can be taken to reintroduce transformative reflection that leads to transformative action. We focus on Christianity, not because it is “truer” than other traditions, but because it is the tradition we know best and on which we can have the greatest influence. Thus our title: “Rekindling Theological Reflection: Transformative Thought for Progressive Action.”

The goal is not to talk about beliefs for belief’s sake. Yet religious beliefs will undeniably play a crucial role if progressive religion is again to impact the world on behalf of social change. The goal is not theory for theory’s sake. But some theoretical framing is required if progressive forces are to have the vision and the sustained commitment to move forward. In the past, progressive religion in America was able to move fluidly from theological models to transformative action, and from praxis in the world to new and richer theological models. We believe it is time to rekindle the organic interplay of religious thought and action. Renewing the justification for action will have general impact on local congregations, denominations, and a variety of progressive networks focusing on social change.

There’s a number of videos and blog posts over on the site and they’re also looking for your input.

In fact, Tripp and Tony are looking for your most pressing ‘God’ question to ask the gathered theologians in March. You can submit them via the comments section on the blog, email, youtube, etc.

And they’re even awarding the most active participants, including a travel stipend to be a special corespondent at a conference in September 09.

So, what is your most pressing ‘God question?’ Share it here and over at Transformingtheology.org.

Lingering Questions

Tripp Fuller shared a great thought today via his blog:

Listening to both parties each night has made me confident that the church really needs to quit outsourcing its vocation.

Makes a world of sense to me. Seems like the less the church does, the more the government feels it needs to step in to care for people. I can agree with much of the Democratic view of things because they see the need to step in and help the helpless. Yet, I still have to question if that’s really the government’s role. If the church really did their job, I think we’d be a lot closer to solving the world’s problems – than depending on the American Government to do so.

Kevin Hendricks and I seem to be asking some of the same questions as well and trying to decide how someone who claims to be a follower of Christ also claim to put country first. Seems backwards to me.

Tripp also shares several questions raised by Warren Carter (who is on the Homebrewed Christianity podcast last week – with part 2 to be posted this week):

Here are Carter’s questions:

What does it mean to be…..

  • rich Christians in an age of hunger?
  • well fed Christians in an age of poverty?
  • vacation-homed Christians in an age of homelessness?
  • overclothed Christians in an age of nakedness?
  • highly entertained Christians in an age of militaristic violence?
  • Sermon-on-the-Mount-shaped Christians in our age of empire?

Finally, thought this was an interesting contradiction in Sara Palin’s speech last night…

First she rips on Obama because “Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?”

Then she applauds John McCain because “To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless … the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God.”

Got answers? The world is listening.

related ::
tripp fuller :: preaching the sermon on the mount and some more substantive lingering questions
barack obama’s acceptance speech
sara palin’s RNC convention speech
kevin hendricks :: country first
SSL :: question for today

McCain :: Nations don’t invade other nations

However, it is acceptable to invade another nation if…

  • The said leader has a funny looking mustache
  • The leader has a very tall statue of himself within the said nation
  • The residents of the said nation follow a false religion

HT to Tripp Fuller for the video links.