Pete Ward’s Introducing Practical Theology: Mission, Ministry, and the Life of the Church presents an overall framework that practical theology is “a kind of theology that takes seriously both practice and theology.”[1] But this is offered less as a definition but more as a “rule of thumb” that shapes his inquiry process. Ward allows this…
I want to pick up from my last post and consider an implication and approach to ecclesiology that differs somewhat from what is often presented. As I continue to wrestle with questions about the purpose and function of the local church, my conviction is that one of the reasons it exists is to make the…
I spend a lot of time thinking about ecclesiology and how it relates to church practice in this post-Christian era. Beyond this, how is our praxis of church shaped by our culture rather than our praxis of culture being shaped by our ecclesiology? I keep asking myself what it means to be a faithful church…
In the preface to the 2006 edition of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Ligon Duncan has a most telling comment. Pagan ideas underlie evangelical egalitarianism, based, as it is, on ideas borrowed from cultural feminism. Egalitarianism must always lead to an eventual denial of the gospel. When the biblical distinctions of male and female are…
I have always been a fan of Christmas. More recently, I have come to realize that I love Advent almost as much. It is a season to prepare and a time to wait. It is when our hearts and minds, ears and voices can set the stage for the incredible crescendo of God’s incarnation. This…
As I started to take my hobby of bird photography more seriously, my goal became to see and identify specific birds. I have mentioned elsewhere that I do think it is wise to go for a bird walk with a specific expectation in mind or you may end up rather disappointed. This does not mean,…
Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley is a fascinating and compelling book that offers readers a glimpse into what it means and has meant to read the Bible in the ‘Black Ecclesial Tradition.’ McCaulley invites us on a journey the is thoughtful, personal, and important. The first chapter is autobiographical as he wrestled to find…
We want our pastors to be vulnerable but without any wounds.Ok, maybe wounds are allowed so long as they are healed wounds. We want healed wounds without any scars.Well, maybe scars are ok if those scars are covered and no longer show any weakness. We want weakness but no struggles.Then again, maybe we can deal…
My mom recently mentioned to me a book she had heard about and was starting to read. It was by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I had not really heard of her except the briefest of snippets I had seen on Twitter that had mentioned the title of her book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…
It is an honour to be able to share a few reflections with you today. For those of you who may not know me or no longer recognize me, I am Mat- or Matthew Ralph Lortie, grandson of Ralph MacDonald. It was a couple of years ago that I was bold enough to ask to…