Recommended Resources

I've been enjoying the blogs at Beliefnet - http://www.beliefnet.... - such as Crunchy Con - http://www.beliefnet.... - by Rod Dreher, talking about being a Conservative Christian, getting beyond just the traditional Conservative issues and activities, to be a more authentic Christian;
God's Politics - http://www.beliefnet.... - named for Jim Wallis' bestselling book, with him, Diana Butler Bass, Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren, et. al.;
and the new Preachers & Teachers Series rocks - http://www.beliefnet.... - with little YouTube-like 1-2 minute videos on every subject imaginable with every mind imaginable, from The Dalai Lama to Stormie Omartian!
Also, I Love Letters to Christians in the USA - http://www.brianmclar... - that Brian McLaren brings back from his travels abroad, and I thoroughly enjoy the daily dose of Christianity Today - http://www.christiani... - which is very often super-surprising stuff, especially that which comes out of the Christian Vision Project - http://christianvisio...
Enjoy!

Pax,

-D

More on intentional Christian community, new urbanism, and "new monasticism":

Sidewalks in the Kingdom
I have a copy of the book. Haven't read it yet, but if anyone's interested in borrowing it, let me know.

NewMonasticism.org
Rutba House is located in Raleigh/Durham, NC. I'd be interested in doing a road trip up there sometime, if others are interested as well.

I am madly interested in this subject; could I borrow that book, Steve? I promise to give it back promptly - i'm a quick reader!

I love the idea of the road trip - count me in!

More on intentional Christian community, new urbanism, and "new monasticism":

Sidewalks in the Kingdom
I have a copy of the book. Haven't read it yet, but if anyone's interested in borrowing it, let me know.

NewMonasticism.org
Rutba House is located in Raleigh/Durham, NC. I'd be interested in doing a road trip up there sometime, if others are interested as well.

I only had a couple of minutes to look at the web site, but the Rutba House does sound interesting. I'd be up for a trip as well.

count me in.

I did a little more reading on the Rutba House website Rutba House Speaker Info.

A very cool alternative option to the road trip is pooling our resources together and bringing one of their speakers down to instruct and hang out with us. From the sound of it, they could use the money to support what they're doing there. They only ask a donation, and prefer to be put up in a home rather than a hotel. I personally love the idea of getting to have great dialogue time with someone from that community.

Thoughts?

I did a little more reading on the Rutba House website Rutba House Speaker Info.

A very cool alternative option to the road trip is pooling our resources together and bringing one of their speakers down to instruct and hang out with us. From the sound of it, they could use the money to support what they're doing there. They only ask a donation, and prefer to be put up in a home rather than a hotel. I personally love the idea of getting to have great dialogue time with someone from that community.

Thoughts?

I could do either option...that might be a great way to hear more about what they are about. If we choose the above, I can help hosting by showing them the city and what things are cooking in Charlotte...They can stay at my place but I hope they don't mind I don't have much furniture yet.

Hey Magenta,

In response to your request here are some helpful resources on Jewish Background studies.

The one book that did the most to transform the way I thought about Jesus is Jesus by David Flusser.

The articles in Jesus' Last Week are absolutely helpful in undertstanding Jesus' impact and message during his Passion Week and why we must rethink all our assumptions about how we read the Gospels. (It's geared toward scholars - unfortunately. You may have to hunt for it in a seminary library...I'd like to get my hands on it, if you know what seminary might have it; So far it is way out of my price range).

Of course, all the resources/articles offered by the Jerusalem Perspective website, whose contributors belong the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research (founded by Israeli and American experts on first century Judaism). The Jerusalem School believes the vorlage of the Synoptics is Hebrew. (Not surprisingly, they are also really the only philologists/linguists/researchers in the New Testament studies world who are actually fluent in Hebrew...most New Testament scholars have a very poor control of Hebrew-Aramaic-Greek translation issues).

Other books:

Traditions of the Bible by James Kugel - to get an introduction to how Jews at the time of Christ viewed and approached Scripture.

Pirke Avot - The wisdom of the fathers, collected sayings from the time of Jesus and before (Jesus would have been very familiar with many of these sayings circulating in his world).

Thank you, Eric!

I see now one reason this stuff isn't widely known; it's kind of cost prohibitive. I wish there were a seminary library locally that had some of these books to look at; my only bet would be Reformed, personally - I don't think any of the other locals would be that progressive (my perspective; no offense intended).

I'm thinking the best i'll be able to do is pay for the Jerusalem Perspective site, so I can access their articles. Looks like there'll be a lot to be gained there.

Thanks again - I would love to put together a discussion event on the "What did Jesus really say?" topic at some point, if anyone else in the group is game. Maybe that would be a way to kick off an ongoing discussion group on the historical context of Jesus; I really think there would be a lot of interest once people found out about it.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

This place is FILLED with something for everyone. There are hundreds of works that are in the public domain including "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence, "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, "Confessions" by St. Augustine, and much more.

For all the Pod people there are even Audio Books.

The best part is that it is all FREE.

My list of resources on the reshaping of church in our time:

Houses That Change The World by Wolfgang Simson

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole

Revolution by George Barna

House To House: Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century Church by Larry Kreider

When The Church Leaves The Building by David Frederickson

These are my book "to do" list; i've heard great insights from these folks on the various podcasts i've been listening to on the subject, which I also highly recommend:

The God Journey with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings; Imagine a "Car Talk" about Jesus!

Stories From The Revolution by Tim Pynes; interviews with some of the voices from the movement all over the world

The Revolution is HERE!!!