Tribal Church

Carol Howard Merritt surveys the religious landscape

Who do you say that I am?

Community and the creation of digital idenities

Dec 31, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

I often wonder what Jesus was getting at when he asked his disciple, “Who do you say that I am?” Was Jesus testing the waters, trying to figure out if the people and his friends understood the nature of his divinity? Was he trying to figure out if his rabble rousing was about to get him killed? Was he concerned with how his identity was formed by the community? Or was he simply wondering what people thought about him?

The most popular Tribal Church posts

Top 12 in 2012

Dec 28, 2012

Here are the 12 Tribal Church posts people read the most this year.

Born of God

Dec 24, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

I’m not always enamored with our traditional, staged pictures of the nativity—with Mary on her knees in adoration. 

Sandy Hook and public theology

How do we rethink our theology in light of the horror?

Dec 21, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

One week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school, there seem to be so many failures in the ways that our theology is playing out in the public sphere. And while quick responses, blog posts, sound bytes and tweets are important in this moment, as they emerge from varying political and evangelistic agendas they also expose some of Christianity's devastating aspects.

Preaching lessons at a fundamentalist Bible school

Dec 08, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

There is a particular authority that comes from privilege. When a white man steps into the place where he belongs, he has an internal power with which he was born. He is entitled. Like royalty, he sits on the throne naturally, because that place is caught in his blood. But an entirely different power emerges from women who have been told that they are not allowed to speak in church—and suddenly rise behind the pulpit. Something flares up from deep inside of them, and when they have a safe space, the words can come out of them with force and fury.

Building a platform part four

Marketing your book and speaking at conferences

Nov 29, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

Remember that authors are responsible for marketing. Whether you’re on a small press or a big press, if you want people to read your book, then you’ll have to sell it. Unfortunately, even as deeply spiritual people, we are not above marketing. So how do you do it? Here are a few suggestions.

Building a platform part three

What are the nitty-gritty steps involved with developing content and publishing our writing?

Nov 28, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

You are probably way more fascinating than Elizabeth Gilbert, but before you write that best seller that has Julia Roberts itching to play your role, know that the way to get published is to… well… get published. 

Building a platform part two

What are the big ideas we should keep in mind while building?

Nov 27, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

Lately I've been getting a lot of questions about how to get published, how to build a platform, how to become a speaker. So, I'm dedicating this week to some of the questions that people ask me. Yesterday, I looked at why a platform is important. Today, I want to talk about the the big ideas. All of this, of course, is just how I do it. There are many others who will give you different advice.

Building a platform

What does a platform have to do with publishing?

Nov 26, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

So you have this book bursting within you. You really, really want to get published. You start lingering at the bookstore tables at major conferences in order to talk to people in publishing about how to do it and they say, “It’s all about the platform.”

Avoiding the trappings of power

As progressive Christians become more relevant, can we learn from the religious right?

Nov 19, 2012 by Carol Howard Merritt

On many accounts, it would be good to learn from the religious right and their demise. What happened? Why did they fall into irrelevancy? Can we avoid the same problems? How?