Lexington Theological Seminary

This article explores different ways that preachers and congregations have used the sermon-dialogue-sermon process to address social issues in their churches and engage their local community. I begin with a brief review of the homiletic theory behind the emergence of dialogical preaching, including the ways I have integrated this theory into my own method of the sermon-dialogue-sermon (SDS) process. I then explain the work I have performed training preachers and congregations in the SDS method. This article then focuses on the Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moon, a pastor in Kentucky who undertook the SDS process with her congregation, North Middletown Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Middletown, Kentucky. Their work allows for a longitudinal case study of the ways in which the SDS process can assist a congregation in engaging and strengthening democratic practices through deliberation and community outreach. The article concludes with a reflection on the implications of this process for a congregation’s engagement with social issues as well as recommendations for further research and analysis.

A MEMS-based microphone array was previously constructed to collect and measure pressure fluctuations due to turbulence under flat plate turbulent boundary layers with high spatial resolution (≈1.3 mm). Data were collected from this array at Mach numbers up to 0.6 and Reynold's numbers up to 107 per meter in three flow facilities, at NASA Ames, the Univ. of Toronto, and Spirit Aerosystems. The measured pressure fluctuations are being processed to identify the turbulence characteristics of the data. Comparisons of the single point power spectral density to previously existing models, such as those of Chase and Goody, as well as wave speed estimates derived from the phase slope, suggest that turbulent characteristics are significantly present in the measured data. In a variety of different cases, the data will be compared to the Corcos model for cross spectral density in streamwise, spanwise, and intermediate directions to further confirm the data's validity and to quantitatively investigate the validity of the separable model used in Corcos's expression.

This paper examines the theme of relational theology in the Blade Runner science fiction franchise by exploring the symbolism of eyes and sight in the films. Using the work of ecofeminist theologian Sallie McFague, we explore the contrast between the arrogant, detached eye of surveillance (what we call the “gods’ eye view”) which interprets the other-than-human world as instrumental object, and the possibility of the loving eye of awareness and attention (the “God’s eye view”) which views the other-than-human world as an equal subject with intrinsic value. How the films wrestle with what is “real” and how the other-than-human is regarded has implications for our present time as we face enormous upheavals due to climate disruption and migration and the accompanying justice issues therein. We make the case that the films are extended metaphors that provide a window on our own dystopian present which present us with choices as to how we will see the world and respond to the ecological and humanitarian crises already upon us.

Abstract This Forum explores what the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) has been learning about formation in online contexts through the Educational Models and Practices project. Deborah Gin's opening essay briefly enumerates operating assumptions, several widespread misconceptions, and emerging recommended practices. G. Brooke Lester proposes a definition of formation as transformation towards community, which is grounded in constructivist learning theory. He then reflects on the possibilities for this kind of community through online learning environments. Barbara Blodgett's contribution draws on “transactional distance theory” to analyze how a variety of pedagogical techniques (both online and face to face) can work to either exacerbate or minimize the distance between learners, which is an important contributor to formation and community. The Forum originated as panel presentations at the November 2017 Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion conferences.

This chapter examines the ethical import of the exercises of reading and writing. It proposes that Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is engaged in practices that form relationships and cares, rather than being focused on formulating codes and doctrines. It is more of a love letter than a treatise on love. Paul’s call for prophetic teaching, which cultivates new life, is different from exercises of informational pedagogy. Paul’s pedagogy seeks to re-educate and transform through social experiments that are situationally adaptive. Likewise, philosophical theology can offer resources for the ecological crisis can engage in a bottom-up process of exercises that shape responsive and sustainable ways of life.

This chapter argues for the relevance of a wisdom approach to philosophical theology for the ecological crisis. This approach—drawing upon the work of Foucault, Hadot, and Latour—frames exercises of reading and writing within the context of a way of life. These intellectual exercises play a role in webs of life and are potential sites for change. On this account, philosophical theology is not simply concerned with knowledge, information, or the formulation of doctrine, but is centered on practices of care embedded in political and ecological structures. The introduction illustrates the contemporary relevance of these practices by placing them in dialogue with political ecology and political theology.

John Wyclif (d. 1384), Thomas Netter (d. 1430) and Jean Gerson (d. 1429) had a good deal in common. They were all theologians, and thus ‘masters of the sacred page’ by trade. They all recognised the absolute authority of Scripture in matters of the Catholic faith over and against any pretensions of canon law. What separated them, therefore, was not the recognition of authority as such, but rather the correct application of that authority. Wyclif exercised his rights as a university master to dissent from ecclesiastical determinations that ran contrary to the truth as revealed in Scripture. Netter and Gerson set out to curb this sort of magisterial excess which they believed would inevitably lead to the destruction of all proper norms of authority within the Church. Rather than being a simple tale of heresy and orthodoxy, therefore, this late medieval conflict turned on the question of professional expertise, rights and responsibilities.

(1987). HISTORICAL METHODS AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Religious Education: Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 375-389.