More about Emergent Christianity

The speaker, Phylis, Tickle, covered a lot of territory. I tried to put down phrases that were pertinent to me. One of her themes in church history is: "Who has the authority." This is a question that the church always struggled with and the answer has caused schisms. It is the struggle right now because of the gay question. She did not say that but definitely alluded to this. She thinks there is a cycle of five hundred years and every five hundred years something significant happens that changes the direction of the church. She went back into Jewish History and came up with different events every five hundred years. I did not follow this since I don't know enough Jewish history. Like most historians she saw the continuance of Jewish-christian history.

The Reformation started with the translation of the Bible. I think this is very accepted now. It would not have happened until the printing press was invented.

Emergence is born with Michael Faraday in 1842. I have to look him up and learn more. He is a biologist. She also talked a lot about women and their getting the vote and going to work. They become very important in the church since there are so many of them

Another theme that is very central to emergence is What does it mean to be human. this question is still being answered. this is all wrapped up in DNA, Einstein, and the idea that philosophy and psychology are now important to religion.

She ends by talking a lot about the Holy Spirit and how in the twenty first Century the Holy Spirit is going to be Central to religion. I have a list of books she handed out to read. I think the most important for me to read soon is "The World is Flat."