Features
Innovation in L.A. Mosaic as a multiniche church: Mosaic as a multiniche church
Scholars and church growth experts have been paying attention to Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, the subject of Gerardo Marti’s book A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church. Marti, professor of sociology at Davidson College in North Carolina, wrote the book after being a participant-observer at Mosaic, a multiethnic church which features innovative, artistic worship. We talked to him about the church and his analysis.
Step aside: The 'former pastor' problem
When I speak in churches across the country, I often hear “former pastor” stories, or stories about struggles that involve a former pastor. What is this “former pastor problem”? Simply put, it refers to pastors who hang around after they are no longer employed by a congregation—and meddle.
Women’s work: Feminist theology for a new generation
War-weary
Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds churns up an emulsion of suspense and horror that engulfs you with the gray relentlessness of a low-grade fever. This is not the kind of thrilling, soaring adventure Spielberg created in Jaws or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; it’s a cheerless piece of visceral manipulation.
Fear factor
Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds churns up an emulsion of suspense and horror that engulfs you with the gray relentlessness of a low-grade fever. This is not the kind of thrilling, soaring adventure Spielberg created in Jaws or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; it’s a cheerless piece of visceral manipulation.
Voices
Barbara Brown Taylor
Virtues and imposters: Reliable witnesses
I write this near the end of a doctor of ministry class at Columbia Seminary, where 16 pastors are exploring virtues for preaching. We are exploring virtues instead of skills because most of us recognize that scholarly exegesis, narrative flair and good eye contact have gotten us about as far as they will. Sure as we are that the people who listen to us appreciate our exercise of these skills (they complain bitterly when we do not), we know that skills alone are not enough.
Books
Multiethnic mix
The key to building a congregation of people from diverse ethnic backgrounds is to appeal to them in ways that trump their differences.
Back to school
A politics of hope
On the Road to Armageddon
Reconstructing Pastoral Theology
Life After Death
Departments
Repenting: Public laws and public actions
Positive influence: The gospel of reward fills a mainline vaccum
Virtues and imposters: Reliable witnesses
Taking risks: In memory of Theodore Gill, Century editor
News
Activists set for justice nominee fight: Sandra Day O'Connor announces retirement
Presbyterians and Catholic bishops act on sex abuse policies: Shifting concern from the accused to the accusers
Iliff seminary regains standing in UMC: School makes diversity reforms
NCC letter to Bush criticizes Iraq policy: President should consider moderate religious perspectives
Pope, WCC leader reaffirm unity quest: Both to ignore strains caused by Dominus Iesus
Ugandan bishop named to high Anglican post: Archbishop of York John Sentamu
Palestinian inquiry says deposed patriarch not tied to land deal: No evidence to incriminate Irineos I
Briefly noted
On gays, American Baptists keep 'paradox' Maintaining an open stance: Maintaining an open stance
Century Marks
Malcolm Gladwell, author of the popular book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, was born in Canada to an English father and a Jamaican mother. He did not look black until he let his hair grow out Afro-style. With the Afro he started getting “stopped and frisked on the streets of America for no other reason than looking like a black American.” This experience of racial profiling was the inspiration for his most recent book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which delves into the psychology of the “unconscious mental processes we all use to size up a person or a situation with just a few telling details” (Black Issues Book Review, July-August).