Barnabas File

Last year I was part of a discussion around the book Educating Clergy: Teaching Practices and Pastoral Imagination  prepared by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.   This in-depth study addressed the formation of clergy from the standpoint of the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Protestant (including Evangelical) traditions.   The book raises some challenging questions, but since it was written in 2006 based on field research in the years before, its picture of theological education is already dated in many ways. One of the issues addressed which is still relevant and has become even more critical in recent years is diversity. The authors comment, “The increasing diversity of students in programs of clergy education has significantly challenged the ethos and mission of seminary education during the past forty years.” (p. 54) This diversity includes the greater involvement of women (both as students and faculty), historically marginalized (ethnically...

Like you, I sometimes don’t know when to say “No.”  As a result my calendar for September has been pretty packed.  All of the scheduled activities have been good things, but they have required a lot of my time and attention. The thing that has suffered most is my regular posting of blogs. There some things that can be done in small blocks of time that become available in one’s daily schedule.  For me, blogging is not one of those.  Whether it appears so or not, blogging is a creative exercise for me and I like the time I spend writing to be as open-ended and unstructured as possible.  I have lacked some of those big blocks of time recently, so my blogging this month has been erratic. I have learned several things from this “dry spell.” First, I not only enjoy writing but it is almost a spiritual discipline like contemplative prayer.  To practice both one must be intentional, open, and unhurried.  Both provide a sense of refreshment and b...

Until recent years, Dwight D. Eisenhower was not held in high regard as a President of the United States.   Sandwiched between the colorful Harry S. Truman and the charismatic John F. Kennedy, “Ike” was often dismissed as an affable grandfather who spent more time playing golf than governing.   In "Ike's Bluff" , historian  Evan Thomas pursues the revisionist view of the Eisenhower administration disclosing that a lot more was going on under the surface than the public realized. Those who did not live during the fifties cannot really grasp the fear and paranoia that were part of that era.  While the economy was booming as WWII veterans established their families, found good jobs, and bought homes in suburbia, the world lived under the threat of nuclear warfare and possible annihilation.  Americans feared the Soviets and demagogues (such as Joseph McCarthy) fed this fear with the idea that there were Communists in every government agency.  At the same...

When I was a college student, I heard someone say, “The church is always one generation away from extinction.”  As I remember this was intended to encourage us to be evangelistic in sharing our faith.  The idea is that God has no grandchildren, only children who have personally chosen to follow God.  If new children or believers are not birthed in each generation, then there will not be a “people of God.” The challenge came to mind as I have read (and contributed to) some recent blogs related to reaching millennials for the church.  These discussions cover the spectrum: how do we engage young adults in the church, what is negotiable and what is not in the tenets of our faith, what type of worship attracts millennials, and does a church’s stance on social issues impact the involvement of this coveted group? Although most see this discussion in a positive light, I have heard some comments that run along this theme:  “Why should we adapt in order to reac...

This past week, our local newspaper posted a question on Facebook related to defunding Obamacare.  On Saturday, they printed some of the responses.  This one (unedited) got my attention: “I don’t use any government ‘services’ anyway.  I found this wonderful thing I call self-responsibility.  I highly suggest it.” How remarkable!  Here is a person who does not drive on streets and highways paid for by tax dollars, will let his house burn to the ground rather than call the government-run fire department, and would not call the tax-paid police force if he were the victim of crime.  Probably did not attend the “government schools,” either.   Must be a very lonely and difficult life. Sarcasm aside, the reality is that surviving in any society without both helping others and depending upon others would be very difficult if not impossible.  By living in a nation state, we enter into a social contract with our fellow citizens and share...