postmodernbible

GlobeTheoLib - Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism - Globethics.net 2.0 (via @ekklesia_co_uk)

A good resource for those of us involved in theological research and reporting...

Online theological resources for education and ecumenical dialogue

The Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism (GlobeTheoLib) is a multi-lingual global digital library on theology and ecumenism that offers access to more than 200,000 texts, documents and other academic resources.

GlobeTheoLib is in Beta. That means that you might try out new features that are still in development, or even run into technical issues from time to time. To signal issues that you think need addressing, please use the contact form.

Register now for free

GlobeTheoLib aims to:

• use new digital models of information exchange to create greater visibility for theological knowledge and insights from churches of the global South;
• make use of information and communication technologies to counter imbalances in global theological education systems;
• respond to the needs of theological colleges, faculties and institutes for quality resources for theological education and research;
• overcome barriers to accessing existing digital content;
• support and enable well-equipped participation in the teaching of Christian theology, the generation of ecumenical and intercultural perspectives, and the formation of a new generation of ecumenical leaders.

GlobeTheoLib has a special focus on intercultural theology and ecumenism, including contextual theologies, world mission and missiology, gender and theology, interreligious dialogue, theological education, and World Christianity.

GlobeTheoLib is a project of Globethics.net and the World Council of Churches, with other international partners.

For individual registered participants, such as theological researchers, educators and students, GlobeTheoLib offers free-of-charge access to:

• journals, magazines, books, training material, dissertations and news documents on theology and ecumenism, with a focus on full  text documents
• licensed content such as journals, reference works, and e-books

Registered participants may also submit their own documents and publications to GlobeTheoLib.

Participants have access to other online libraries of Globethics.net, such as the Global Digital Library on Ethics, as well as the networking facilities and online workgroups of Globethics.net.

 

via globethics.net

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/globetheolib-global-digital-library-on-theolo

The danger of headline/picture clash! Even professionals get it wrong! #dailyfail

I was rather amazed to see the front page of Monday's Daily Mail.  I mean it makes perfect sense...as long as you don't take the wrong picture with the wrong headline!  At least Her Majesty looks to have seen the funny side!

Pete

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/the-danger-of-headlinepicture-clash-even-prof

Some Friday hilarity... #digidisciple #codec (h/t @revjoannecox @bigdaddywhale and @dave42w

Saw these either in my twitter stream or emails...thought I'd pass on some smiles...

Louis_CK_Everything_is_amazing_right_now_and_nobody_is_happy.flv Watch on Posterous

Hope they made you smile!

Pete

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/some-friday-hilarity-digidisciple-codec-ht-re

Get a Grip #Durham Tues 8th Nov 2011 with David Wilkinson, Dave Burke, Richard Briggs, @krishk, @johnschaplain, @pmphillips #bigbible http://www.biblefresh.com/get-a-grip

Here are some details of an exciting event to be hosted at St John's College.  An outworking of the Biblefresh agenda...

LOOKS FAB!

 

DurhamProg1.pdf Download this file

Cost is £10 per person including a resource pack!

 

For more details and to book go here

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/get-a-grip-durham-thurs-8th-nov-2011-with-dav

Count ur blessings, Pete! #digidisciple #codec #bigbible #missional

Most of my life I seem to be running around like a headless chicken.

I am completely mad.

The diary is a mess and shows the ever present impossibility of the overlap between trying to be entrepreneurial about engagement with the university, act as a research director for CODEC, manage the various projects which CODEC embraces, fulfil, in some way or other, the role of Faith and Order Secretary for the Methodist Church, as well as teach, supervise, mentor, develop and have a hand in lots of other things. 

It's said that it's (yes, both apostrophes needed) the in-thing to have a portfolio career. I think I'd like to introduce the filing cabinet career!

But if I was asked to give any of it up, I'd have to say no thanks! I'm not sure what I'd give up since they all have a kind of crossover pollination which enhances all the others and which allows me to flick between different aspects of the jobs and allow different conversations in different places to spark off new ideas and engagements.

Some of the highlights of my past week which have added to my joys amidst all the round of family life (Em went to Derby! Argh!), normal chores (meetings, admin) and emails and twitterings:

1. Theological conversations on twitter - of varying depth and seriousness!
2. Meeting the Director of the Lindisfarne Gospels Project here in Durham and having an idea affirmed and challenged and given more doors to push on
3. Biblefresh Exec meeting ending in a meal with Krish Kandiah and Phil Prior and...lots and lots of lovely people
4. Meetings with Simon Kingston at SPCK and hearing how SPCK are developing; joining together some links between SPCK and BigBible/CODEC; and Peter Kerridge and Kevin Bennett the team at Premier to look further at the preparations for the #CNMAC11 Conference
5. Lunch with Anna and Toby from Methodism's West Wing Comms Dept
6. Research Consultation with Tom McLeish (Pro-VC Research at Durham) and lots of colleagues from WSC and Cranmer and St Johns exploring some exciting new possibilities for research and engagement!
7. Having the amazing Vicky Beeching come to stay at St John's to discuss some future possibilities!
8. Lunch with Michael Volland and Vicky in Flat White in Durham - exploring missional theology, pioneering, the digital age, and everything else under sun.
9. The intellectual buzz around dinner with my family, Vicky and my CODEC colleague Kate Bruce discussing CODEC, cyborgisation, organic Christianity, knowledge, preaching and ending with Sam giving us a cello recital and Edd playing his bassoon and me pretending to play my sax. What a night!
10. Going to see Jane Eyre on Saturday with the family (Theresa and Em loved it, the boys hated it!)
11. Having the inestimable Heidi Campbell (Associate Professor Texas A&M University) to stay over for the night and discussing yet more digital stuff and the social shaping of technology and being corrected about cyborgisation and creation and Eden and exploring new possibilities - you have read her stuff havent you?
12. Superb supervision with Rich Wyld who's doing a PhD in the Dept and who I'm co-supervising - exploring hermeneutics and the performance of the scriptures in our daily life and wisdom and virtuous readings. Amazing project - amazing mind - enjoyed even more by Robert Song's insightful comments and guidance.
13. Lunch with Steve Taylor (@emergentkiwi) down at Flat White (again!) talking missional stuff and the possible development of an academic missional network which seeks to engage academically with missional thinking...watch this space.

We are told in Scripture to count our blessings. I am counting mine. I need to count them more often.

Not many people have the opportunity to spend time with such an amazing list of people or to have the variety and wonder that there is in my job.

A filing cabinet career is a pain in many ways - too much, too random, too hectic, too tiring. So it is critical for me to actually appreciate some of the wonder and the wonderful people who God throws in my direction or rather at whom he throws me!

I need to appreciate this good stuff more and to allow it to sink deeply into my soul.

Remind me of that next time I moan, please!

Pete

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/count-ur-blessings-pete-digidisciple-codec-bi

Humanity 2.0 - Professor Steve Fuller - Interesting Lecture in relation to the anthropology of the digital age

This event at the RSA on 6th October looks amazing! I'm trying to get a ticket for it since it is already fully booked but in any case it is being live audio streamed. Might just sit at home in the warmth with a nice drink and soak in the fun!

How will we ascribe status to human life in a ‘post-human’ world? Should we take post-humanism seriously? If so, how do we define and value our humanity in the face of a future that will only otherwise confer advantage on the few?

As we re-engineer the human body, and even human genome, are we attempting to realize dreams that hitherto have been largely pursued as social-engineering projects or are we doing something new?

From traders and dreamers to technogeeks and philosophers, whose ideologies run the gamut from collectivism to libertarianism, a large constituency is already engaged with our enhanced future. This constituency may radically reconfigure the global political space.

The RSA gathers a high-profile panel of speakers to explore the hidden agendas behind our values and attitudes toward the place of ‘the human’ in today’s societies, and debate what must now be a key issue for the 21st century.

Speakers: Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick and author of Humanity 2:0 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); Rachel Armstrong, Senior TED Fellow and Co-Director of AVATAR (Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research) in Architecture & Synthetic Biology at The School of Architecture & Construction, University of Greenwich; and China Miéville, Perdido Street Station and Between Equal Rights.

Chair: Dr Andy Miah, Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies in the Faculty of Business & Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland.

via rsahumanity.eventbrite.com

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/humanity-20-professor-steve-fuller-interestin

Research Methods for the study of religion - via Professor Gordon Lynch at the University of Kent

From Gordon Lynch at the University of Kent

We are pleased to announce that a new research training resource, primarily aimed at postgraduate students, has now gone live.

'Research Methods for the Study of Religion' is an on-line resource, covering a wide range of key topics in this field, from research design, and the politics and ethics of research, to issues in the use of various quantitative and qualitative methods.

Developed from the experience of an intensive training workshop for doctoral students run in conjunction with the UK AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society programme, the content on the site includes discussion papers, exercises, bibliographies, discussion questions and links to other relevant on-line material. We hope that the site will meet the need both of individual researchers looking for resources on particularly methodological issues, and lecturers wanting source material to use in teaching methods courses.

The site can be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/religionmethods/index.html

My comment: Looks fab

via kent.ac.uk

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/research-methods-for-the-study-of-religion-vi

Angela Shier-Jones has died. #methodist #theologian #extraordinaire

Angela with a halo?

Here is the picture which Angie took of herself towards the end her time this summer in the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. The blogpost linked to this was typical Angie - seeing God in all things. Seeing not the horror of cancer, but the healing power of God's love. This is the Angie we all knew. An Angie who was angry and passionate and just. An Angie who picked me up from the station only a few weeks ago and chatted over theology while we walked back to their manse  who enthused over a service about the Bible and discussed the Heretics Corner she was developing in the local churches. An Angie who encouraged and shared and empowered others before putting herself and her own considerable intellect first.Angie has a halo! So appropriate in many ways but so wrong for her family, for Methodist theology, for those who were her friends.

 

Angela Shier Jones was a contemporary Methodist theologian of incredible importance.  

 

She had published a number of works exploring the polity and practice of the Church with some considerable focus on fresh expressions and contemporary ecclesiology.  

She was passionate about seeing British Methodism embrace more closely its cousin across the pond, the United Methodist Church, and worked to foster those international ties.

 

 

Angela's blog, The Kneeler, was often written as a conversation between her and God - sometimes used for an outpouring of her frustration with the Methodist Church which she knew could do better. But an outpouring not of bitterness or invective but of love and concern. Like Jesus crying over Jerusalem, so Angie cried over the Church she was called to serve. I hope that someone somewhere can do something to distil the knowledge that is there.

She was an internationally renowned theologian, but most importantly a normal circuit minister - one of Mr Wesley's Helpers.

 

 

Her passion was to see people extend their theology - to express their love of God, to see God's love shared with the world.  She used arts, creativity, movies, technology, publishing and writing to do all she could to empower the ordinary people in and out of the pews.

Having said all that, Angela described herself thus: 

Angela Shier-Jones

New Malden, London, United Kingdom

 

One of Mr Wesley's Helpers in the London District of the British Methodist Church. All the opinions expressed in this blog are my own and there is no guarantee that Mr Wesley (or the British Methodist Church) would necessarily approve.

 

Angela has been fighting cancer for ages now...sadly she passed away at 0510 this morning.

She will be sadly missed.

I'll let Angela herself close off this blogpost with a quote from her other blog, Suffering Grace, which explored her own feelings after being diagnosed with incurable cancer.

Life and Death are gifts from God, and the knowledge of both are means of grace. Just because we dont like death, doesn't make it wrong or evil! It is not a mistake, a flaw, or a failure to die.
Death is NOT a sign of God's displeasure. Neither did it result from any human wrong doing. It is not a punishment for any real or imagined sin either now or in some distant mythical past.
Death is a part of God's gift of 'being' - whether we like it or not! 
Life and death are inseparable - without life there is no death, but without death there is no life! 

This is at the heart of the Good News.
Without incarnation there is no crucifixion, without crucifixion there is no resurrection.

The sad truth is that those who dont know they are dying, probably dont know that they are alive either.

 

 

Until we meet again, Angie, you will be sadly missed.

 

Lots of love,

Pete

 

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/angela-shier-jones-has-died-methodist-theolog

Pop, soda or Coke? [map] - via Holy Kaw!

I remember when we lived in Accrington when I was a kid. We used to have pop delivered - it was stuff like Dandelion and Burdock and Raspberryade and Cream Soda. I thought pop was never used in the Uk anymore but I just asked my kids what pop is and they said it was horrible American fizzy stuff. Although one of them rather scarily suggested it was a drug!

How the times change!

Download full size (85 KB)

Alan McConchie decided to get the skinny on who says “pop” and who says “soda” once and for all to so that when in Rome, one is well understood and doesn’t end up sucking on a sweet tea or something, though it would appear that there’s a certain segment of the Alabama population where you might just want to stick with your preferred term instead of talking like the locals.

Though the population surveyed is only that which responded to the website, it’s still the most information compiled on this crucial issue to date.

Full story at The Great Pop vs. Soda Controvery via Boing Boing.

Linguistics fun.

via holykaw.alltop.com

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/pop-soda-or-coke-map-via-holy-kaw

Way we were: 1996-2011 internet usage stats and infographic.

Great piece here from InternetEvangelismDay

Some of the stats are just unbelievable - like 1996 average American uses the internet for 30 mins a month, in 2011 its 27 hours per month. In fact, I wonder whether this is conservative!

Pete

The way we were: 1996-2011 internet usage

What a difference 15 years makes! On the (US-centric) infographic below, one startling leap is the time people now spent on the Internet each week.

Back in the day, and younger users will find this hard to believe, you had to physically dial-in to an ISP phone number to connect to the web, with a piece of kit called a modem. (These were separate plug-in items costing $200/£150.) It took ages, and didn’t even always connect the first time. And it blocked your home phone line from other use, for as long as you were online! (Dial-up is alive and well in many outlying areas of the West – if this is you, try OnSpeed.)

You could also buy, for the same amount in real terms as a mid-range laptop, machines called ‘typewriters’. The only one my granddaughter has ever seen was in a museum, and had to be explained to her.

USA had a head start for internet usage and growth, because local phone calls were free. The rest of us were paying a significant amount per minute, such that it was easy to spend 2-3 figure sums on web access per week!

Today with the ‘always-on’ web, you can see an average use of nearly four hours a day!

Created by: Online University

via internetevangelismday.com

http://pmphillips.posterous.com/way-we-were-1996-2011-internet-usage-stats-an