Book - "The Great Emergence" (Phyllis Tickle)

TITLE: The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)
AUTHOR: Phyllis Tickle
PUBLISHED: Baker Books, 2008.


This review has been posted on Amazon.com. I have entitled it as "Strong Looking Back, Weak Looking Forward." This book is especially helpful for those who wants to make sense of what is happening to the church (ie a shrinking church!) in the West right now. In fact, Church leaders will benefit from the insights in this book.

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Phyllis Tickle is a prolific writer. This latest book does not disappoint. She has an amazing ability to weave nearly 1500 years of history into one book. The title of the book is compelling and very inviting to many observers of the Christian scene nowadays. The premise is simple. If we want to look ahead, we need to look back and learn from our past. Otherwise, we risk repeating past mistakes.

Tickle brings the reader through a fascinating journey into the early centuries; from papal domination to the Protestant Reformation; from the first Schism to the next; from Reformation to Renaissance. She did not stop at religion. With skill, she harnesses amazing scientific insights from Einstein, Jung, etc; philosophy from Hegel, Marx, and others; technology like automobile, the computer, the Internet and many others, to carefully remind us that any religious institution like the Church is never immune from these factors. What I enjoy most is the way she identifies the changing nuclear family, gently comparing and contrasting the traditional grandma image in the early 20th Century to the modern working couple family structure in the late 20th Century. She shows a keen understanding of women roles in society. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about her comprehensiveness with regards to the male gender.

Throughout the book, she poses an important point: Who/What is the authority during each era? Indeed, the Great Emergence is not exactly in terms of what shape Christianity or the Church is going to become. It is actually upon what kinds of authority does the world at large recognizes during each period. While she has a very clear sense of what kinds of authority exist per historical era, this mood fizzles out in the final part of the book. In fact, I think the weakest part of the book is in Part III, the strongest in Part II. I will commend her book with regards to learning from the past (Part I and II), but will hesitate to recommend her prescriptions for the future (Part III).

Rating: 3 stars of 5.

conrade

Book - Committed (Elizabeth Gilbert)

Title: Committed - a skeptic makes peace with marriage
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Published: NY: Viking, 2010
Reviewed by: Conrade Yap

Eloquent and honest. These two words sum up the book. This book is a follow up of Gilbert's previous mega-seller, Eat, Pray, Love which chronicles the author's travels through three different cultures around the world, seeking healing from her divorce and her depression. This travelogue continues in Gilbert's second book. I must say that this book is written more like a helpless woman struggling to make sense of something she thought she does not believe in anymore: the institution of marriage. As the saying goes, once bitten twice shy. Gilbert tries to recover from her first marriage, by seeking to bury any future possibility of ever marrying again. That was not to be. The book flows eloquently like her second memoir of life; beginning with the end of her first and straddling toward the beginning of the second. This time, the journey to marriage was not via love, but enforced upon them by the Homeland Security of the United States of America.

My Comments
In the book, Gilbert pleads for readers to understand where she is coming from. She confesses that she supports same-sex marriage, even though she does not fully embrace the idea of marriage. She reluctantly admits that she needs to give love a second chance. Throughout the book, it seems like she has never really gotten out of the marriage idea altogether. While she claims that her marriage to the Brazilian-born-Australian-citizen Felipe was a case of administrative convenience in order for both of them to live in the USA, I doubt if that is the main reason. As the book progresses, it seems like she is looking for reasons to support, rather than for reasons to deny marriage. She is giving marriage a chance simply because, she has not truly gotten over the whole idea of marriage.

Gilbert is simply brilliant in her narrative of conversations with the village people in Cambodia, Thailand and Bali. Filled with both amazement of the natives' perspective of marriage, as well as her library of knowledge gleaned understanding of Western culture and history, she tries to meander through both cultures in order to reach a position palatable to herself. She meanders through history. She meanders through the role of men and women. She meanders through marriage counselors and psychologists. She even picks up a book written by a conservative Christian, and confessed that she agrees that it makes a 'compelling point' FOR marriage.

Not Exactly a Marriage Memoir, but a Toleration of Marriage
Unfortunately, I sense that Gilbert's pathway to not exactly making peace but keeping the peace. The former is more active, while the latter is more passive. Although her struggle is an active struggle to make sense of marriage, it remains a less than full struggle. It makes no extra effort toward total commitment. It plays on the level of tolerance, rather than a fully blown commitment. Note that the book 'committed' is not the same as 'full commitment.' It simply means that Gilbert is ok with marriage. Not fanatically embracing it, or enthusiastically campaigning for it. It is just accepting it, minimally, as far as being able to live with Felipe is concerned. As far as marriage is concerned, from a scale of 1 to 10 (most committed), reading the book makes me feel that Gilbert is hovering around 5.5, maybe pushing 6, in terms of her commitment to marriage. The reasons being:

• Gilbert writes that marriage is essentially a game. (267)
• She wants the intimacy without the commitment;
• She opposes the traditional motherhood role, or traditional housewife model, and seeks a 'wifeless' as well as a 'motherless' marriage. Isn't that a marriage of convenience, rather than commitment?
• She is still struggling, and at various points of the book, she still feels unsure about getting married.
• At the root of her struggles, lie her battle with what it means to be a woman. This she does from the perspective of a single woman looking into the household of marriage, like a window shopper.

I feel that her negative view of marriage in itself, is already a biased view. Perhaps she is coloured by a failed first marriage that caused her to suspect the benefits of marriage. To be fair, Gilbert bravely confesses her faults as well, chief being her unwillingness to forgive others. (128). Some of the ways she uses 'malay' may not sit well with people who are ethnic 'Malays' in South East Asia.

Having said that, COMMITTED is a good book. There are snippets of wisdom from marriage psychologists and a first person experience into the little known culture in the Far East. In fact, I think she is more an agnostic, albeit a skeptical agnostic. In summary, this book is eloquent, honest, but as far as commitment to marriage is concerned, it is only as committed as Elizabeth Gilbert's toleration scale. Only she knows what her own commitment is, even though at present, she has committed herself to marrying her lover, Felipe.

Book rating: 3.5 stars of 5.

conrade

Differences between Prayer and Benediction

Those of us who have been attending churches would have noticed that prayer happens at the beginning and throughout the Sunday Church service. Usually, at the end, before the congregation leaves, the pastor or preacher will say a final blessing called the Benediction.  However, many Christians are still not aware of the differences between prayer and benedictions. Enters Dr John Stackhouse with three helpful distinctions between prayer and benediction.

Firstly, he says that prayer is a form of 'us speaking to God' while benediction is a 'good word.' Secondly, we usually close our eyes when we pray, but when the benediction is given, it is acceptable for congregations to open their eyes and receive the blessing. His third point is somewhat muddled as he talks about praying by invoking the Trinity. Is it a difference from the perspective of the typical church-goer, or between 'prayer and benediction' per se? My reading is that while he views benediction as an explicit way to pray in the name of all the members of the Triune Godhead, in prayer, it is implicitly understood that while we pray in the name of Jesus, the rest of the members are involved, even though they are not verbally mentioned.

My thinking is, perhaps, one way to avoid the confusion in the modern words is to paraphrase the word 'benediction' into a form like, "Let us receive the word of blessing." Often, a simple instruction and advice from the pulpit will do wonders, to teach church people the meaning behind what they are doing each Sunday. I think as educators, we need to play our part to explain from time to time, the meaning of certain things we do in church. Even the singing of songs during worship has a reason, and we may need to explicitly state them.

Thanks Dr Stackhouse for bringing this up.

conrade

Book Review: "The Geography of Thought" (Richard E Nisbett)

Title: The Geography of Thought - How Asians and Westerners Think . . . and Why
Author: Richard Nisbett
Published: NY: Free Press, 2003, (263 pp)

This book is a fascinating read about the different ways that Asians and Westerners think. It all began when his student makes an observation that Westerners see the world like a 'line' while Asians see the world like a 'circle.' This sparked off a search into the background, the ecology, anthropology, philosophical and various aspects of culture that affects the Western and Asian thought. Some of the interesting questions posed are:

• Why do Asians excel in Maths and Science? Yet, why does that not translate into more Nobel prize winners in that category, compared to Westerners?
• Why is it more difficult for Asians to file lawsuits compared with their Western counterparts?
• Why do Asian infants learn more verbs than nouns compared to the Western young?
• How do all these cognitive differences affect International Relations, educational approaches, science, legal matters, perception and various cultural idiosyncrasies?
• Why do Westerners tend toward individualism compared to the community preferences of Asians?

All of these questions alone should heighten anybody's curiosity. In fact, I think there are important in order to facilitate better understanding between the West and the East. The author begins with a philosophical treatment, Aristotle for the West and Confucius on the East. Westerners find it easier to approach life with a logic mindset, while Asians are more comfortable on a dialectic angle. In other words, Asians tend to be able to handle contradictions better, for they believe that truths can be derived from the understanding of both extremes.

How They Differ?
Westerners tend to go it alone, while Asians prefer community environment.The former tends toward independence, while the latter prefers interdependence. Westerners are comfortable with insisting on one 'correct' point of view, while Asians are more comfortable with a diversity of views. The Westerner thrives in individual brilliance and creativity, while Asians work better in groups.

Asians are more relational compared to the Westerner. This is because Westerners are able to deal with objects, while Asians tend to understand objects with reference to the contexts.

My Comments
At one look, it is easy to dismiss Nisbett's view as overly simplistic. I will ask that you hear him out first. Nisbett is a Westerner, teaching in a Western institution and an ardent admirer of Eastern culture and values. This unfortunately gives him a pointed biasness toward the East. Thus, his conclusion is predictable as he contrasts Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations with Francis Fukuyama's The End of History. While the former argues for increasing irreconcilable differences as cultures 'clash,' the latter predicts a convergence of the world driven by Western influence. His third way comes out of Fukuyama's thesis that there will be a convergence, but of EASTERN culture instead.

I feel that at times, Nisbett tends to be overly optimistic about the merits of the East, and too skeptical on the West. There is a lack of critique on the downsides of East, and a surface criticism of Western ideas. It would have been better if Nisbett can engage a co-author from the East to bring some different perspective to his work on cultural psychology. That would have given the book a better representation. Instead, what we have is a geography of thought based on a particular interpretation. In fact, the repetition can become boring at some point. Fortunately, the epilogue is an intelligent and forward looking anticipation of how the future will look like. If only he has spoken more about globalization, technology, mixed marriages, immigration, and various cultural convergences happening right now.

Good book, but it has to be read with an open mind.

Ratings: 3 stars of 5.

conrade

Musings on Outreach using Technology I (Problems)

Technology has become the new distribution champion. According to an article in 'Ministry Today,' a web and print magazine based in Florida, there is a quote from Walt Wilson about reaching the 'entire world' through technology.

"We are the first generation in all of human history to hold within our hands the technology to reach every man, woman and child on the earth by 2020. Our generation has within its grasp everything that is required to fulfill the Great Commission." (Walt Wilson, founder of Global Media Outreach)

Using evidence such as the extent of WiFi in the world, and the way people can talk to one another on the Internet, the mood is upbeat and 'charismatic.' After all, this is not much of a surprise as the magazine is openly claiming it is Spirit-led. Now, I do not want to argue about charismatic. I have many friends who attend charismatic churches, and I sure thank them for helping non-charismatics to be more aware of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead. I suppose while I do not dispute the promises of technology, let me offer some food for thought about the problems that threaten to derail the promises of technology.

1) Problem #1: Uncritical Use of Technology
This is like saying, 'just because everybody is using it, it must be good.' I remember that this is how fads like the Sudoku puzzles, the Tamaguchi, robotic pets, and even 'William Hung' of American Idol fame become. Technology is something that is most associated with the 'greatest-and-the-latest' label. Walking into any electronics store, we can hear salespeople readily telling us the latest release of the cell-phones, the latest notebook computer, or the newest digital TV, camera or MP3 player, depending on what we are interested in. It is amazing how fast any 'latest-and-greatest' becomes obsolete. An executive from Intel has famously quipped what is now known as Moore's Law, something like, technology improving 2x every 2 years, or any variation that says one gets more 'oomph' for less buck in the future. In this manner, my question is, using technology as an outreach: Is it a mere fad phenomena, especially when the technology becomes the message, rather than the gospel itself? This will reduce the gospel to merely keeping up with fads, that are mostly short-term.

2) Problem #2: Digitizing the Gospel
The underlying assumption of outreach is essentially being able to transmit the Word of God (the Bible) in digital or electronic form. What does it mean to reach the world? If it means simply to send a Wifi signal to a distant people group and then consider it job done, I suppose the best organizations to reach the world are the telecommunications companies. Get a Christian foundation, set up or buy over a major satellite company, and beam the gospel down anywhere. Even the polar bears in the Arctic and the penguins in the Antarctic cannot avoid such WiFi signals. This will reduce the gospel to a digitized format, distributed easily via a Wifi transmit and receive mechanism.

3) Problem #3: Technology Replacing Personal Touch?
We have long known that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. No doubt, technology has aided the renewal of old ties. Social networking medium has been extremely helpful in connecting people up. However, nothing beats meeting each other face to face. It is one thing to highlight the benefits of technology. It is yet another to REPLACE a personal touch with a technological connection. I am not arguing against using technology. I am cautioning anyone from assuming that technology is 'THE' way to reach people. If people think that it is the 'only' way, I think we are in trouble. What happens is our Wifi is down? Does that mean people cannot share the gospel anymore? Does simply clicking a 'send' or a 'share' constitutes an evangelistic job well done? That will reduce sharing the gospel to a series of 'pick-send-and-click' keystrokes. In a hit-and-miss scenario, chances are there will be more 'miss' than 'hits.' This is especially when the Internet is flooded with information, misinformation and disinformation.

4) Problem #4: Lopsided Toward Mind
The gospel of John begins dramatically, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus become man, come into the world and dwell among us. In Jesus' times, Jesus lived out the gospel, for He is the gospel. It is the LIVED Word. In the early Church, the Word becomes shared by word of mouth. It is the SPOKEN Word.  By the Reformation in the 15th Century, with the invention of the printing press, the Word turns into the PRINTED word. By the 20th Century, the Word has become the DIGITIZED Word. With the Internet, the Word has become the DISPATCHED word. Looking at it carefully reveals the changing philosophy behind each medium of distribution. The original version has Jesus walking throughout Palestine, praying, learning, teaching, sharing and living the gospel. Jesus lived out the Word in head, heart and hands. In our modern world, technology helps in disseminating intellectual information more than anything else. That is one reason why digitized information are classified as 'Intellectual Property,' more than any other legal notation. Technology has that insidious ability to reduce the gospel to a intellectual device. The question is: Are we sharing the whole gospel (ie head, heart and hands) with technology? Chances are, such a distribution mode tends toward a lopsided mind approach. Are we moving back to a Rene Decartes' era of 'I think, therefore I am?'

5) Problem #5: Projecting Our Assumptions
I remember the saying, that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. It is an idiom that reminds people to be aware of their own vulnerabilities. At the same time, we need to learn to recognize that those with first-world luxuries, cannot assume that other worlds have easy access to first-world technologies. That will be ivory-tower thinking. Even though the Internet has become ubiquitous in many parts of the world, we cannot assume all people will be comfortable with them. We cannot assume all people use English. We cannot assume that the material we read in English, is automatically available in other languages. We cannot assume that people will be able to handle newer technologies thrown at them. In the movie 'The Gods Must Be Crazy," viewers were treated to a humourous film about an African native with a Coke bottle. It is a classic display of technology being used differently by different cultures. Assuming that the Coke bottle is from a deity above, it was initially very fascinating to the native African tribe. However, the very possession of that bottle soon ushers the tribal population to experience greed, hatred, anger and even violence. My point is, we cannot assume that without training and proper guidance, people in other lands will appreciate the gospel through technology, in the same way we do.

I will write another article on the redemption of technology, and how we can use technology wisely. Comments are welcome.

conrade

The Ethical Flip-Flop

Act I - The Invitation
Susan Elliot was happy to receive an invitation to speak at an International Conference. She submitted her CV and was duly confirmed.

Yes, she is going to the conference.

Act II - The 'Miscommunication'
Then come a 'miscommunication.' Due to her hearing impairment, her invitation was rescinded. Her invitation to speak was taken back by the organizers.

No. She is not going to the conference.

She checked again a couple of times. The officials were said to wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

No. She is definitely not going to the conference.

Anthony Mullen found out about this, and wrote an article to highlight this. Many people soon become aghast and upset over the way Miss Elliot was treated.

Act III:  comes the 'misunderstanding.'
The organizers of the conference quickly assembled a message to rescind that rescission.

Miss Elliot accepted the apology. Yes, she is finally going to the conference. See the official MOE apology, that a friend of mine received from the ministry. The speed of that reply indicates that they have received lots of brickbats and made this ready-statement for quick response. That's the power of the Internet!

Earth Day (22 Apr 2010)

Today (22 Apr 2010) is Earth Day. Check out this article which contains 25 wasteful things you can do WITHOUT. Those in Canada can look for EarthDay events here.