Two eulogies.

I read an article cheekily labeled an obituary in World Magazine last week announcing the death of the emerging/emergent church titled "Farewell Emerging Church, 1989-2010". Interesting note on this, the author (Anthony Bradley) is giving a lecture of Christianity and social justice at the American Enterprise Institute tomorrow night; he taught a class on the emerging church while at Covenant Theological Seminary. However, I was not aware of another controversy about dying movements in church history, this time in the African-American churches.

Eddie Glaude, Jr., a professor at Princeton University, published an essay at the Huffington Post titled "The Black Church is Dead", which has caused quite a controversy in the African-American Christian community. Glaude has gotten some criticism for being an elitist, who is primarily a philosopher of religion with no sociology credentials, and who is not himself involved in the African-American Church scene. I don't know enough about this to comment, but you can read more about the background of the whole debate here.

On a side note: T4G audio is now online for download (previously was only in video) here. I'm hoping to put Ligon Duncan's talk on justification in the Church Fathers on my iPod soon.

Reading Updates:

• Got a free copy of Thabiti's new book The Gospel for Muslims at college lunch yesterday; started reading it and it has some helpful tips. I will try to post some highlights in the coming days.
• Finished reading Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions by Catherine Bell; definitely one of the most boring books I've read all year. Not sure how excited someone can get about ritual studies.
• I'm thinking about reading up on Central Asian history this summer; if you've got any recommendations, send them along!