Extra-Curricular Activities 06.01.13

James Arcadi - The LA Theologian

"A hint of Kentucky drawl lingers on Fred Sanders's welcome
of participants to a first-of-its-kind theology conference. Many attendees had
recently braved the cold for national theology conferences in the Midwest. But
this conference was different, and not just for the weather; the title of the
conference includes a city: the Los Angeles Theology Conference."

[Image Credit: Flickr davecito, via Christianity Today]

Brian LePort - The ethics of giving away your spare change

"the primary virtue of giving away that spare change had
little to do with financial charity and everything to do with honoring human
dignity."

Joshua Brockway - Anabaptists are hip!

"it is clear that we do have something to offer the wider church as it lives into the crumbling of imperial Christianity- more often called Post-Christendom... Now centuries later, after derision and flat out persecution, these Anabaptist traditions are hip!"

Andrew Wilson - Tom Wright Skewers the New Marcionism

"from the call of Abraham onwards, what God is committing himself to do is to act to bring about the restoration of the world, but to act through deeply flawed human beings, who constantly need to be reminded that they’re deeply flawed. That then produces all kinds of (to our mind) ambiguities."

Roger Olson - What Is “Theology” and Who Does It? Part 1
(Part 2, Part 3)

"My own faith family (broadly defined) rejected my thirst for theology and my calling to become a theologian. Nobody in it had ever done that without 'losing the faith.' Seminary was routinely called 'cemetery'"

Philip Ryken - How to Discourage Artists in the Church

"We need a general rediscovery of the arts in the context of the church. This is badly needed because the arts are the leading edge of culture."

BBC News - 'World's oldest Torah' scroll found in Italy

"It was previously thought the scroll was no more that a few hundred years old. However, after carbon dating tests, the university has said the text may have been written more than 850 years ago."

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Extra-Curricular Activities is a weekly roundup of stories on biblical interpretation, theology, and issues where faith and culture meet. We found each story interesting, thought-provoking, challenging, or useful in some way – but we don't necessarily agree with or endorse every point in every story. 

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