I grew up among ethnic pietistic Baptists who tended to emphasize the emotional and personal aspects of religion over against the liturgical, Traditional, and ecumenical. It was a simple faith that retains enough charm so as not to be off-putting, though I can only take it in small doses nowadays. While conservative in its theological orientation it was not fundamentalist, but there was enough of an influence from the popular fundamentalist milieu and networks so as to leave me with an ability to recognize the language and mentality when I came across it.

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You can read a review of Galindo’s new book, Perspectives on Congregational Leadership at the Resource Center website. While there, visit other spots on the website for updates on resources for you and your congregation. Especially if your church is not a member of the Resource Center, explore the website for information on the huge benefits of membership.

For more information visit the Baptist Theological Seminary website.

An Episcopalian priest played golf regularly with the local Baptist minister and two of his members. The priest kept inviting the Baptists to visit one of his services until they were embarrassed at not having gone. So they committed to being good neighbors and picked a date to visit, but arrived late to the service.

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Here’s a second opportunity for all you bibliophiles to get a free book for your summer reading. Our contest prize is Sacred Schisms: How Religions Divide, by James R. and Sarah M. Lewis (Cambridge 2009). The book claims to be the “first book-length study or religious schisms as a general phenomenon.”

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Compared to other denominations and faith traditions, Baptists can be rather antinomian. Like many things religious, that can be a blessing and a curse. Dealing with other denominations on matters related to theological education and academic administration can leave me feeling caught in a bureaucratic twilight zone of Kafkian proportions. Faith traditions often have their own internal logic that makes little sense to outsiders. Seeking understanding from insiders inevitable yields mumbled talk about “tradition” followed by a coda of a shrugged shoulder that communicates a helpless “What can you do?” At those moments I prefer my free church roots that will as likely yield a response of “Yeah, sure, we can do that. Why not?” as a “We’ve never done it that way before.”

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The final entry for ”Brain Week” is a video of a 2007 roundtable discussion on the topic of “Mind, Brain, and Spirituality: Toward a Biology of the Soul” featuring Martin Bergmann, Siri Hustvedt, Jaak Panksepp, David Pincus, and theolgianThandeka.

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Today is the feast day of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) who has one of the best quotes on respecting parents: “For however much we may repay them, yet we can never be to them what they as parents have been to us.”

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There was a large ecumenical gathering in Rome two weeks ago to pray for Christian Unity and to attempt to thaw out the ecumenical “big chill” that has grown as a result of recent Vatican statements. I found the following article about the event very hopeful.

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So the time is finally here. The season most of our folks long for and the children actually pine for is here but are we as a church ready to fulfill those longings? Recently I sat in a team meeting where the focus wasn’t on planning for the Advent season but it did come up. My sense was that as a church we really weren’t ready for this moment.  By that I mean we were not ready to educate our congregation about the meaning of the season.

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