A Tangent: Wild at Heart and Captivating

As we wait to begin the new book for the Dead Theologians Society, I offer a tangent.

Some women at the church recently studied the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. I've read Eldredge's Wild at Heart, as have many men at New Life, and have just been watching the DVD series.

Initially, I found Wild at Heart to be thought-provoking and challenging. A little overloaded with manly-man stuff at times but worthwhile. If nothing else, it motivated many men to "Do something!" and not be satisfied with a mundane life. But the more I've thought about Wild at Heart and impressions I've gotten of the companion volume, Captivating, the more I think the Eldredges have missed the mark in several areas.

An article in Christianity Today, What Women (Don't) Want, challenges some of the suppositions in Captivating. I found myself nodding throughout, but I'd be curious to hear thoughts on either Captivating or Wild at Heart. Have these works rung true to you? Do you think they square with a real biblical model for men and women?

Next book: The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The next book we will be studying in the Dead Theologians Society is C.S. Lewis' The Weight of Glory, starting Thursday, April 12th and 7pm in the Cafe at NL Lakeview.

Your input needed

Busyness has me a couple chapters behind in the blog posts, but DTS marches on. We are wrapping up Bonhoeffer's Life Together this evening and will soon be moving on to another book. If you've been involved in DTS or are considering joining us for the next work, please let me know which of these books holds the most interest for you.

In alphabetical order:

The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy Sayers

Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton

The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis

We will be starting the next work in April. I will post details before the month is over.

Bonhoeffer's life

If you want a better idea of Bonhoeffer’s life and times, check out PBS’s Bonhoeffer timeline. You'll see Life Together in there in 1938.

I look forward to watching a movie with you about Bonhoeffer's life. There are a couple of good ones. Bonhoeffer, is a documentary. The other, Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace is a drama. Let me know if you've seen either.

Schedule update

FEB 22 This week we'll been breaking off into pairs rather than meeting as a whole to have some one-on-one fellowship. We will regroup next week.

MAR 1 Chapter Three: The Day Alone, pg. 76-89

MAR 8 Chapter Four: Ministry, pg. 90-109

MAR 15 Chapter Five: Confession and Communion, pg. 110-end

TBA Dinner & a (Bonhoeffer) movie

Chapter One: Community

Bonhoeffer cuts to the heart in this first chapter. He addresses disillusionment in Christian community and identifies the major cause--our own mistaken ideas about Christian community. Written in 1938, Bonhoeffer was writing during tumultuous times in Nazi Germany. His urgency is clear. He essentially says, Here's what Christian community isn't. Here's what it is. Now get about the work of the Kingdom.

Everyone seemed to have gleaned several gems and challenging statements from this reading. Rather than sum up the discussion inadequately, I'll just share a handful of these and let you mull them over.

"It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus lived in the midst of his enemies...So, the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes." pg. 17

"Communal life is again being recognized by Christians today as the grace that it is, as the extraordinary, the 'roses and lilies' of the Christian life." pg. 21

"Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this." pg. 21

"The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us." pg. 26

"Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God's sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it." pg. 27

"For Jesus Christ alone is our unity. 'He is our peace.' Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another." pg. 39

I could go on and on. This is a serious underlining/highlighting book and pushes me out of my comfort zone Sumo-style. How about you?

DTS Movie News!

If you haven't already heard, C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters is coming to the big screen in 2008. See the Variety article.

Field trip anyone?