Disappointing Stories 2 (Campmeeting 2014)

Continuing our discussion of disappointment, this week we explore what happens after disappointment--the significance of the choices we make in response to overwhelming events, in response to the experience of being lost.  We talk about Rwanda, religious polarization in our society, music, heaven and what this has to do with God, faith and love.

Next week, we open the discussion further as we spend time discussing various stories that audience members share.

Enjoy!

Disappointing Stories 2

Foundational Stories 3 (Campmeeting 2014)

This is the final piece of the discussion.  We finally got an audience mic, so this discussion features a number of voices other than our own.  They make some great contributions.  Among other things, we explore the difference between the Greek "Being" and the Hebrew "walking"--in terms of how God relates to humanity; the need for personal involvement; and the relationship between our evangelism and our picture of God.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  We're planning to present a new series at Campmeeting 2016, featuring more great discussion and shared exploration.  In the meantime, enjoy!

Foundational Stories 3

PS: There won't be a podcast next week because it will be Christmas.  In the new year, we'll continue with the next presentation.

Community Stories (Campmeeting 2015)

In this session, recorded on the Thursday of Campmeeting, we explore the difficulty and necessity of telling community stories--stories about who we are together.  This begins with a brief summary of Derrida's discussion of hospitality and the competing needs for clear boundaries and for open boundaries.  This is the difficulty of telling our stories and sharing them with others, without become bound to them in unhealthy ways.  Of course, the discussion is much more interesting than this brief synopsis.  And yet again, we have a few guests sitting in on the recording.  Please join us.

Thank you for listening.

Community Stories

In other news, Dale and I are putting together a new blog project.  In the aftermath of the 2015 San Antonio General Conference, our Adventist world church has committed to an in-depth study of hermeneutics (basically rules and methods of interpreting the Bible).  Our interpretations of the Bible profoundly impact our picture of God and the way we live as Christians.  Our plan is to provide a series of concise summaries of relevant Adventist materials for those who may not be so inclined to academic studies.  Stay tuned for more information.

Labels, Identity and Community (Campmeeting 2015)

On Wednesday at Campmeeting, we spent some time exploring one of the questions I've (David) been thinking about: What does it mean to say I am Adventist?  For some, this is seen as a hostile statement by which I separate myself from other people, particularly Christians.  But does it have to be so?  Who decides what the name "Adventist" means?  Can I provide meaning for it?  Or does it belong to "Adventists"?  Or does it belong to those I interact with?  Or is it something bigger than any of us?  Of course, this moves into a larger discussion of the stakes, risks and value of claiming identity with a particular group through the use of labels--in particular the recent case of Rachel Dolezal.

Our apologies for the background noise.  There seemed to be a lot of people coming and going when we were recording.

Again, thanks for listening and enjoy!

What Do Labels Mean?

Belonging Without Belonging (Campmeeting 2015)

This is our Tuesday podcast from Hope Campmeeting.  After our opening discussion, we turned to one of the questions Dale raised: Why is it that we can belong to a community for years and yet lack any real relationships with the people in that community?

We explore this through Homi Babha's idea of the unhomely--the ways in which we avoid the hard reality of encountering people who tell different stories than us, varying conceptions of community and society, and through Donnie's questions about privilege--about the ways in which we fail to attend to the specifics of our belonging in a particular group of people.

Thanks again for listening and enjoy!

Belong Without Belonging

Community Questions (Campmeeting 2015)

It's been a long time since Dale and I have recorded together, but we finally sat down at Hope Campmeeting this year to explore some ideas we both been thinking about.  Our central focus is community--what is it?  how do we build it?  what are barriers to community (particularly within Adventism)?  More specifically, we focused on the connections between boundaries, identity and stories and how our conception of those can help or hinder deep and meaningful relationships.

For each of us, this discussion sprang out of significant personal experiences in the past year or so.  We start by talking about those experiences and the questions raised.  That discussion leads into a rather wide-ranging consideration of various themes and struggles in living together and relating to those with different stories.

As the week went on, we dove directly into specific questions raised in this opening discussion and got to share the experience with some friends who came along for the ride.  I will be posting those as I get time, over the next few weeks.  Thanks for listening and enjoy.

Community Questions (CM2015)

Spectrum Review Part 4: The Difficult Paradox of Interfaith Relations

This week is our last discussion about the Spectrum Conference.  In it, we talk about the last set of presentations: Ryan Bell's discussion of the limitations of interfaith work (which turns into a complex analysis of the value of defending a particular (form of) community without undermining the very basis of its existence), and a panel discussion of lessons learned in interfaith work.  The discussion ranges across a number of topics including pacifism, community values, openness and respect for difference.

Enjoy!

Spectrum Review Part 4

Next week, we'll post part 5 which is a collection of stories from and reflections on our experience travelling to Tennessee.

The Third Way Conference Report Part 2

Welcome to the second part of our report on The Third Way Conference!  In this discussion we go over the second and third presentations, including our favourite part of the conference--the presentation of William Johnsson on his experiences building real connections with people of other faiths, and how that has informed his life.  It was an intensely personal presentation of his experiences that demanded a response on the part of the audience, and, well, here's ours.

Spectrum Conference Report Part 2

Look forward next week to a discussion of what we learned about ourselves by travelling to the States, as well as a bit of what we learnt about the States, which was equally fascinating (at least to us).