This is Jamie McMahon's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Jamie McMahon's activity
Jamie McMahon
Recent Activity
I agree that things are changing, but I have always been careful to assume that nothing whatsoever that I post online is truly 'private' or 'confidential', and have advised others to do the same. Even if we have full control of information that we post now, imagine how much has changed in the last 10 years of the internet. We have no idea what it will look like 10 years from now.
Facebook’s maybe not so useful after all
As someone who's often asked to speak to Episcopal clergy groups about how to communicate online, I've been watching the rise of Facebook with real interest. At its best, Facebook is an incredible pastoral care tool. I've seen parishioners share a crisis online well before they or their friends ...
I recall reading an article that President Clinton took a nap every afternoon to help recharge.
You have a couch in your office, don't you? ;-)
Napping your way to success?
Saw this report this morning: "A power nap indeed works to recharge the brain, improving memory, according to findings of a study on sleep and midday napping by researchers from the University of California at Berkley. Led by study author Matthew Walker, the team of scientists compared the result...
Wow, Nick, that was really quite something. Definitely puts Advent front and center. Thanks.
Blood on the sidewalk
Last night, as I came back to the Cathedral for bible study after grabbing a bite to eat, I saw that the street in front of the Cathedral was filled with police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance. My first thought was that someone was using incense in the nave again and we’d managed to set off t...
My understanding of eastern theology would seem to imply that that fall was a universal fall in the sense that all of the created order is fallen and the incarnation redeems the whole universe. What that means in terms of the incarnation of Jesus on Earth, I could not say.
A Theology of Alien Life
There was a ton of coverage earlier this week about a conference at the Vatican recently. The focus of the conference was a discussion (debate?) around what implications there might be for the Church if life was to be discovered on an alien world. That's a distinct possibility, but the likelihood...
I cannot wait for this to be available! I see that I can get it from amazon.co.uk and am very tempted to order it now.
More on MacCulloch's new "History of Christianity"
Mark Vernon has posted a review over on the Guardian of Diarmaid MacCulloch's new work. Vernon picks up the main thrust of MacCulloch's argument and reiterates what the BBC reviews says: "As MacCulloch puts it: the sheer variety of Christianity is 'a vital lesson to learn for modern Christians wh...
OK, I have been skimming though the report and it is fascinating. Clearly a lot of work has gone in to it, and it resonates with me in many ways as an Episcopalian. The identity that it begins to describe is definitely something that I can be at one with.
However, it is interesting for me to note that out of 2,483 participants there are 317 who are 45 and under (13%) and 93 who are 35 and under (4%). The report notes that the demographics at all levels of those who participated in the process are representative of the Episcopal Church as a whole. So, it should be clear that we are not a young church...everyone knows this.
However, I was fascinated to do some searching in the body of the report and find that children are only mentioned once to say that they could not fill out the survey -- which appears to only include those 18 and older. Youth are mentioned once in the context of how confirmation has changed in many congregations. There is one brief mention of raising children in the faith in a quote. There was nothing I could find about youth development, youth ministry, or higher education ministry.
I am aware that talking about these kinds of ministries was not really the purpose of the report. However, it seems to me that if the report presents an accurate picture of where the Episcopal Church is now in terms of how its current members see its identity, we have some real questions to address as to how we can transmit this identity to a new generation, and how quickly. 64% of participants are age 55 and older, and based on current life expectancy in the US, they will not be around in 25 years' time.
I hope that this report can help us to begin the conversation!
Around One Table: Exploring Episcopal Identity
If you haven't seen this new study, and you're interested in the Episcopal Church and how we might be able to most effectively proclaim the Gospel of Jesus to the world around us, then drop what you're doing and read this: "Around One Table is an invitation into a conversation. It's a conversatio...
Well it is a good-looking website at least, and I will certainly spend some time exploring. I was interested to note that the opening video "Who We Are" is almost completely about mission activities, other than a brief mention of the BCP and sacraments in a list of things, there is almost nothing to indicate that we ever even go to church or pray. I shall keep looking...
Around One Table: Exploring Episcopal Identity
If you haven't seen this new study, and you're interested in the Episcopal Church and how we might be able to most effectively proclaim the Gospel of Jesus to the world around us, then drop what you're doing and read this: "Around One Table is an invitation into a conversation. It's a conversatio...
Something I heard recently about this whole issue has gotten me thinking. A friend posited that one of the things that is so good about the Anglican Communion is that we are able to have this debate about human sexuality openly and in the public forum. Of course, on a practical level it has caused enormous damage to all concerned. However, it is ridiculous to say that either the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox churches do not have significant internal problems to deal with regarding sexuality. Perhaps some of the reason that they are speaking so harshly about our discourse is that they are a bit jealous that we can even have this debate in the first place.
Vatican announces its support for Rowan Willams' position
Thought this was interesting given my speculation earlier this week... "The Vatican office 'supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church,' the statement said. 'It i...
I read somewhere else (T19 perhaps?) that the metrics of the text and the tune really do not match up. So it would be pretty challenging to sing. I really like your phrase 'dogma in doggerel'.
I'm as inclusive...
...as the next Anglo-Catholic Evangelical Charismatic Progressive Church Broad. So why doesn't the following, allegedly sung at the ACC meeting to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," fill me with inclusive joy? Lord of our diversity unite us all we pray welcome us to fellowship in your inclusive way Teac...
I saw something else about this book recently, and am looking forward to reading it. However, I would add the caveat that the book of Eagleton's I read in college, The Idea of Culture, was the worst kind of useless academic socio-cultural-literary babble. In fact, I read it in a comparative literature class, and the professor was using it as an example of poor critical methodology. That being said, I am very pleased to see a formal academic response to Hitchens (and Dawkins).
Terry Eagleton: Reason, Faith and Revolution
Stanley Fish, writing on his blog "God Talk" over on the New York Times website has a lovely essay discussing a new book by Terry Eagleton. The book deals with the dual roles of Faith and Science in contemporary society, and apparently takes on critics of religious thought like Christopher Hitche...
Subscribe to Jamie McMahon’s Recent Activity