Ehrman and Colbert

Looks like we asked the wrong person to debate Ehrman when he came to Duke. Instead of Hays, we should have asked Colbert!

God, Family, Church

I've been contemplating what it means to be a pastor as I begin soon my new appointment at Sycamore Creek Church. I've been asking pastors what their top three nuggets of wisdom are about being a pastor. I often get something to the effect of putting one's family above the church. So the received wisdom of the day is that the priorities of a pastor should be God first, family second, and the church third. But I've been wondering how our baptism changes this prioritization. Is the church our new family? Does the church come before family? If so, what is the difference between the church and the family? Is there anything unique about the covenant between spouses? How does that covenant interact with the sacrament of baptism? Do Catholics have something over Protestants here by also calling marriage a sacrament?

Confessio - New Web Magazine for Duke Div.

One of our own, Elyse Gustafson, has helped start a new online student journal for Duke Divinity Students. Check it out!

http://confessio.org/

New Socratic Club at Southeastern

So some students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary have begun their own Socratic Club. Their first big event on April 20th includes Dr. Chapman and Dr. Portier-Young in conversation with two profs from SEBTS. You can find out more here: www.southeasternsocratic.com. This made my day!

Chris Tomlin Song substituted for the Sanctus

So on the worship-review website, I make the suggestion of substituting Chris Tomlin's song, Sing, Sing, Sing for the Sanctus in the Great Thanksgiving. I'd love some conversation on that blog. Shoot me down or give me an amen. And while you're at it, check out some of the other recent reviews by me and others.

Faith & Leadership Website

As Wilson reminded me, the launch of LE@DD's website (Leadership Education @ Duke Divinity) is now fully up and running. Here's the link: http://faithandleadership.com/. Check it out and join in the conversation below.
Peace,
Tom

How to say nothing

Tom, this is one of my main problems with "leadership training", nothing is said but buzzwords are repeated. Par example, our beloved Dean. (Since I'm getting emails I'm assuming the launch is harder than it used to be).

First off, holding things "in tension" is the biggest buzzword cop-out to have emerged from Duke, and it probably doesn't come from Duke, but boy does it piss me off. The problem with saying we need to hold things in tension is that it is like saying we need to build a house. Saying it has little to do with actually doing it. It may even be negative because people think they have done something when the lot is still empty.

Tradition and innovation mean nothing on their own and holding a tension between generalized understandings of tradition and innovation is like tying air and water together. 

Enough of my analogies. On the website, I do appreciate all of the links to Wesley's works, but hopefully this gives you a more concrete understanding of why I dislike leadership stuff. If only old Deano could be more concrete himself (another buzzword, I admit, but a far more useful one).