With St. Patrick’s Day coming up next week, we a presented with a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the history of Ireland and the Irish people.

There are a number of striking issues that come to mind, when I think about the Church and Ireland.  For instance:

• The lives and work of saints like Patrick and Brendan.
• Celtic Christianity and its distinction from Roman Christianity.
• Celtic Monasticism.
• Irish Immigration to the United States.
• The deep conflict between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
• And more…

So, we want to know what interests you most (of the above issues or others) about Irish Christianity, and what books have you read in reflecting on these issues?

Please use the comments below to discuss.  Note: We do get hit with a good deal of spam, so we have to moderate your comments.  We ask your patience, as we try to get your comments moderated as quickly as possible.

One of the things we like most about books is the opportunity they create for conversation.  While most of the books we review are brand new and our reviews serve primarily to inform people of these books (which is not particularly conducive to conversation), we thought we would throw a discussion question into the mix every Friday to get people thinking and talking about what they’re reading.

As most long-time readers of The Englewood Review will recognize, we have a deep appreciation for the works of Wendell Berry.  So, our first discussion question is:

What is your favorite Wendell Berry book? And why?  Do you find yourself reading more of his fiction, his essays or his poetry?

Please use the comments below to discuss.  Note: We do get hit with a good deal of spam, so we have to moderate your comments.  We ask your patience, as we try to get your comments moderated as quickly as possible.

Michael Silverblatt of KCRW’s Bookworm talks with Barbara Kingsolver about her recent novel The Lacuna (Harper, Nov. 2009).

We are offering a completely free eBook version of ERB editor Chris Smith’s new book, Growing Deeper in Our Church Communities: 50 Ideas For Connection in a Disconnected Age!  This book aims to offer practical solutions that by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit may help move us away from the disconnectedness that often overshadows our lives, as churches and individuals.

We’d love any help you can give in spreading the word about this new ebook – online, but especially with others in your churches.  You can use the Facebook/Twitter links to the left, or the “Share This” button at the bottom of this post!  Thanks!

A brief preview is included below, but you will have to click this button to download the full eBook (PDF format – 10MB):

[ As a PDF, this eBook should be readable on your Kindle.  We'd love for anyone to leave a comment noting whether it works on their Kindle!]

Growing Deeper In Our Church Communities – Chris Smith

[ Editor's note: This week saw the 100th anniversary of the birth of missiologist and theologian Lesslie Newbigin.  Our friend, Andy Rowell has written a wonderfully engaging tribute on his blog, and gave us permission to reprint it here... Thanks, Andy! ]

Ten Things You Probably Did Not Know about Lesslie Newbigin
in Honor of the Centennial of his Birth

by Andy Rowell
8 December 2009

10.  Newbigin means “new building” according to the first page of his autobiography.

9.  Though only three years apart in age, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Feb 4, 1906 – Apr 9, 1945) and Lesslie Newbigin (Dec 8, 1909 – Jan 30, 1998) never did to my knowledge meet one another though the 27 year old Bonhoeffer was in London pastoring a German congregation from 1933-1935 while the 24 year old Newbigin was training for the ministry in Cambridge.  Both were very involved in ecumenical affairs and international relationships but Bonhoeffer was active in the 1930’s with the World Alliance, Life and Work, and Faith and Order; and Newbigin was primarily involved in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s in the International Missionary Council, World Council of Churches, and Faith and Order.  Though both were highly effective in the international sphere, both ended their lives more optimistic about the local church and somewhat disappointed in the theological compromises of the large ecumenical organizations.

8. Newbigin was sent out as a missionary by Presbyterians (the Church of Scotland) to India in 1936 but in 1947 the Presbyterians, Methodists and Anglicans in that part of India joined together and became The Church of South India.  He was elected a bishop.  That is how a Presbyterian–they do not have bishops–became a Bishop.

(more…)

FREE FILM SHOWING / DISCUSSION
Friday December 11
Englewood Christian Church
Indianapolis

THE TREACHERY OF TECHNOLOGY: A Portrait of Jacques Ellul
by Jan van Boeckel
Sub-titled in English

CLICK HERE for the Facebook e-vite…

6PM – Light soup dinner ($2/person donation requested)
7PM – Film Screening
8PM – Discussion of the film

Jacques Ellul is one of the thinkers who has been most influential on our theology here at Englewood. Come view and discuss this essential documentary with us.

Description of the movie:

J. Ellul, The Technological Society, Intro:

“The term technique, as I use it, does not mean machines, technology, or this or that procedure for attaining an end. In our technological society, technique is the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity. Its characteristics are new; the technique of the present has no common measure with that of the past.” (p. xxv)

In 1950, Ellul finished his manuscript La Technique ou l’enjeu du siecle (The Technological Society), his seminal analysis of the way technology shapes every aspect of society. As contemporary thinker, he was strongly influenced by Kierkegaard, Marx and Barth. After a live, in which he wrote close to fifty books, Ellul died in the summer of 1994, at the age of 82.

The team of ReRun Produkties visited Ellul in 1990. During five subsequent days, long interview sessions were held with him in his old mansion in Pessac. The Betrayal by Technology is one of the very few existing filmed recordings of Jacques Ellul speaking.

1992, 54 minutes

The audio recordings of  all three THROUGH THE CONSUMING FIRE conference speakers are now available on cd. The cd’s are $5 ea (basically just the cost of materials and time for copying, etc.), but if you buy all three We’ll throw in a bonus cd with MP3 recordings of most of the workshops.

Main Speakers:
- Will Samson — Community and Contentment
- Kelly Johnson — St. Francis, Stewardship and Filthy Lucre?
- Shane Claiborne — Creativity in Resisting Consumerism

Unfortunately, Kelly Johnson’s talk was a little lower quality because our computer crashed during it and we lost our soundboard recording and had to use a recording made in the audience. (Thanks, Mykel).

If you want a set of the recordings, here is a link to pay for them $15 + $3.95 S/H (If you’re here in Indy, I think PAYPAL will allow you the choice to pick them up and save the S/H fee…)
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9807594

Order Individual CD’s:

• Will Samson – $5 + S/H
• Kelly Johnson – $5 + S/H
• Shane Claiborne – $5 + S/H

Video: Skye Jethani talks about his recent book
The Divine Commodity:
Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity.
Hardback: Zondervan, 2009.
Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ]

Michael Silverblatt of KCRW’s Bookworm talks with E.L. Doctorow about his new novel Homer and Langley (Random House 2009).

Slavoj Zizek gives a talk at the Harvard Book store related to his recent book The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? (a conversation with John Milbank).

Part 1/8:

Part 2/8:

Click here for Parts 3-8