whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: Imagining The Normative Task of Practical Theology
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2015/04/imagining-normative-task-of-practical.html
Friday, April 17, 2015. Imagining The Normative Task of Practical Theology. What is "the normative"? In practical theology, as it is broadly described (especially by Richard Osmer. There are four tasks which relate to one another in something like a hermeneutical circle. The four tasks can be approached differently at different times in different orders by different theologians, but what basically constitute the work of the practical theologian are the tasks of. 1) Description - "what is the situation?
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: Is "Maturity" A Useful Category?
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2015/07/is-maturity-useful-category.html
Saturday, July 25, 2015. Is "Maturity" A Useful Category? This has been a busy summer for me! Just to fill you in, I've been working three jobs: a job at the mailroom at Princeton Seminary, at the Princeton Institute for Youth Ministry. And for Hopewell Presbyterian Church (I'm sorta their "Summer Pastor," doing pastoral care and preaching for the Summer while their Pastor is on sabbatical). I'm also doing some writing. not on the blog, obviously. My good friend, Dr. Erin Raffety. Yeah It's been busy.
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: Reflections on the Cross
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-makes-temptation-of-power-so.html
Tuesday, January 10, 2012. Reflections on the Cross. What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life." -Henri Nouwen. But what is Paul really up to? He saying that the cross is the power. Of God. the cross? Isn't the cross, in a concrete sense, a symbol of weakness? As CS Lewis said,. To cha...
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: The Bible is Not a Sword
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-bible-is-not-sword.html
Monday, April 20, 2015. The Bible is Not a Sword. I've been to more than one church or youth group that referred to the bible as a sword. I visited one church where, as part of its liturgy (though I am sure this church would scarcely identify itself with the word "liturgy"), the Pastor would hold up a bible and say "sword up! Pronouncing sword like "word" with an "s") and the congregation would pull out their bibles and says "ready to defend! Let's be clear. The bible is not a "sword". If we miss the iro...
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: 5 Youth Ministry Books You Haven't Read Yet...
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2015/08/5-youth-ministry-books-you-havent-read.html
Saturday, August 08, 2015. 5 Youth Ministry Books You Haven't Read Yet. I think most people who are close to the Youth Ministry world would know about books like Sustainable Youth Ministry. By Mark DeVries, Practicing Passion. By Kenda Creasy Dean, and Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry. By Andrew Root. not to mention the various works of folks like Mark Oestreicher, Doug Fields, and Duffy Robbins. I hear a lot about these folks and these books (and rightfully so! 5 The Adolescent Journey. When I saw t...
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: Favorite Quotes
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/p/favorite-quotes.html
When religion, church, and faith are considered only from the standpoint of their expediency and usefulness for society, they are bound to vanish as soon as the purposes of society can be served by other means." Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Play. Those who try to defend religion by establishing its external usefulness and necessity turn out to be its worst enemies in the long run." Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Play. Promise: it opens up a qualitatively new. Future, which negates all the negatives of pres...
whateverisgood.blogspot.com
Wes Ellis: The Entrepreneurial Pastor
http://whateverisgood.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-entrepreneurial-pastor.html
Monday, June 22, 2015. In a society that overvalues progress, development, and personal achievement, the spiritual life becomes quite easily performance oriented: ‘On what level am I now, and how do I move to the next one? Pastors in America have this innate temptation to think like entrepreneurs, like CEO's even. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, if entrepreneurship implies creativity and forward thinking, then it's gotta be a good thing! Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Judgem...
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT