Book Description
Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture presents a biblical, Christian worldview for the emergent church—people who are not at home in the traditional church or in the secular world. As exiles of both, they must create their own worldview that integrates their Christian beliefs with the contemporary world. Exiles seeks to integrate all aspects of life and decision-making and to develop the characteristics of a Christian life lived intentionally within emerging (postmodern) culture. It presents a plea for a dynamic, life-affirming, robust Christian faith that can be lived successfully in the post-Christian world of twenty-first century Western society. This book will present a Christian lifestyle that can be lived in non-religious categories and be attractive to not-yet Christians.
Such a worldview takes ecology and politics seriously. It offers a positive response to the workplace, the arts, feminism, mystery and worship. Exiles seeks to develop a framework that will allow Christians to live boldly and courageously in a world that no longer values the culture of the church, but does greatly value many of the things the Bible speaks positively about. This book suggests that there us more to being a Christian than meets the eye. It explores the secret, unseen nooks and crannies in the life of a Christian and suggests that faith is about more than church attendance and belief in God. Written in a conversational, easy-to-read style, Exiles is aimed at church leaders, pastors and laypersons and seeks to address complex issues in a simple manner. It includes helpful photographs and diagrams.
Customer Reviews:
you are not alone!.......2007-08-27
If you sometimes feel like the desire and passion to live like Jesus puts you in unusual places doing His work and you wonder if this is "authentic", this is the read for you. I do church every Sunday, but I do more church outside of church (hiking trails, gay bars and events and business networking events) and, not only am I not alone, I am in a group of exiles who worldwide are trying to follow what Jesus would be doing were He here. He is not here in the flesh and expects us to carry on. I am an exile and I felt encouraged and unified by reading this book.
Great ideals...but exiles hurt, too........2007-08-16
I read this book after being involved in an emerging church full of exiles. There's so much I recognise and agree with in this book, which I think accurately portrays the feelings, reasoning, and practical implications of those who are rejecting the current church.
My one criticism of this book is that it seemed to be so angry - not just passionate - and very hard-line. The arguments and experiences need to be heard, but you can't continue to build a church on your anger toward what you define yourself against. I think Mike's disdain for pastoral care of the hurting also assumes that exiles are happy to go from a painful, abusive church to throwing themselves into mission in a victorious, confident experiment, where my experience is that a lot of us want a rest and need to deal with our issues before we inflict our woundedness all over others. I'm not saying we should be the perfect, healed, whole Christian...I'm just aware of how bitter and angry an exile can become.
A rebirth of the Christian movement.......2007-07-26
I have been a Christian for over 50 years. But for many years I have felt like an outcast by the leadership of the Christian community. I got great comfort from reading this book and connecting with the fact that there are millions of people around the world who are returning to true message of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself was an "exile" and went to the masses with His message, instead of employing the "come to us" philosphy of the modern day church. Michael Frost does an outstanding job of telling you where the modern church is going wrong and helps you to find the pathway to the missional movement.
Imagination.......2007-07-11
This book has taken me close to a month to read. It's not that it's a difficult read or deep on theology. It was just a slow read for some reason. That was the only negative for me (that and a few pages Piper's hedonism). This is one of the best books on the church I have ever read. The middle part of the book (Dangerous Promises & Dangerous Criticisms) was by far worth the price of the book. For anyone thinking of gathering collectively as a community, this is a book that would be beyond helpful. And I think every pastor still in a "gathered/organized" church should read this before they attend another Sunday service. It's not heavy on theological talk but it's basically the theology of the church as exiles in a culture foreign to God's kingdom. I'll say this . . . it's the only thing that has gotten me inspired, imagining, and dreaming again about our future in gathering as a community.
typical Church bashing.......2007-05-24
In reading this book I found cheap ideas and cliche church bashing. If you liked A New Kind of Christian then you would like this. The only redeeming quality for me was that he tried to add leftist politics into the mix. Although I'm not leftwing politically, I do appreciate the attempt to bring some balance, even if it is to the opposite extreeme, somewhere in the middle is where we should be. But it does make for some good discussion. But I honestly felt like I wasted my money by buying this.
Customer Reviews:
excellent.......2007-06-18
I really liked it. I liked the separation between the main exposition of the ideas and the examples of gatherins/liturgies he does in the book.
Deep and profound!.......2007-06-12
Pete Rollins is a great friend from my time of living in N. Ireland and is one of my heroes in emerging church theology and philosophy. He has a way of bringing heady intellectual information down to a manageable level, in a way the common person can understand. The first part is the meat and the second part is putting the meat on the bones. He is extremely deep, profound and intuitive. I have read part of a pre-published copy and know of his teachings from other venues. This book is going to set a new benchmark for emerging church theology. Some people will be frightened and run away yelling "heretic." But, if you allow the words to sink in, an epiphany will come and you won't mind being called a heretic. Read this book - it will enliven your life. Thank you, Pete! Congratulations on your first book. Looking forward to more in the future.
Finally a book that runs from the sin of anti-intellectualism.......2007-04-14
This book is one of the best I have read in a while. Rollins understands, unlike many believers in his time that "Love must be the first word on our lips and also the last, and we must seek to incarnate that sacred word in the world." It is from this view that Rollins writes a theological text that, unlike many others in his day, runs away from the sin of anti-intellectualism of the modern church.
How (Not ) to Speak of God.......2007-04-11
How (Not) to Speak of God
This is the best book I have read to put the emergent church movement in relation to the historic tradition of the Christian church.
- Ron VerLee
Learn the lessons of history or repeat it.......2007-02-09
Boy, I hate to point out a negative here, but to say that fundamentalism is a way of holding a belief and not about content is historically ill informed. Fundamentalism began as a reaction against denominational seminaries adopting theological views that were viewed as against scripture in their content. Here are a few of those issues. You tell me if you think they are content or ways of holding it:
Jesus was not born of a virgin.
Many of the miracles of Jesus were fictional.
Jesus did not necesarily raise from the dead.
Most of the more outrageous Old Testament stories were not to be taken as historically accurate.
I could go on. Has he not read what really happened historically to create that movement??? Big mistake, or real dishonest! Even now Rollins goes about building what they reacted against. Rollins says he will not be undermining Chrisitan content, but he is opening the door for those who will. In fact, for him to make the following statement about life after death makes me wonder if he really cares about truth or his post modern posture. "Death is a term that refers to the end of all experience. Regardless of what, if anything, happens after this event,..."page 47
He strives to make his own point at the expense of Christian truth.
Fundamentalism, even today, in it's popularly decried "no fun, too much dam, and not enough mental" caricature is really primarily about content and only secondarily about how they hold their views. It was born in a fight and Rollins wants to take us back into the fight. Evangelicalism is the answer as to content and holding it rightly, but Rollins really does not believe in answers.
Book Description
A feisty, entertaining, and educational conversation about the shape of the church of the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Great resource for information on the Emergent Church.......2007-05-22
I have greatly enjoyed this book. The conversation format provokes thought and adds a level of depth and clarity that is rarely experienced (especially in books concerning the Emergent Church). Moreover, the different authors approach the topic from different views, which allows the read to see different sides of the issue and make a decision for him/herself. If you are curious as to what the key issues are for this topic/discussion, this is the book for you!
A needful, if confused and quite unfinished, conversation.......2007-04-11
Andy Crouch. Skeptical of postmodernism, Arminian, (but curiously) open to the New Perspective of Paul & Law, seeks recovery of baptism and eucharist as the enduring means of grace. "Postmodernism is encroaching consumer culture which we must overcome via service and sacraments".
Michael Horton. Reformed, dismissive of postmodernism as a determinant of Christian thinking, critical of 'low-church' theology, believes that justification by faith is Scripture's key question. "Postmodernism is the next bad thing in secular modernism which we must resist with truth and tradition".
Brian McLaren. Emergent, path-finder for a storied, multi-layered, 'refreshed' Gospel centered in Christ. "Postmodernism is the new world in which we must embody and communicate God's message."
Frederica Mathewes-Green. Eastern Orthodox, practical, down-to-earth in a mystical kind of way, offers a relational kind of atonement theology. Postmodernism is irrelevant to our role as God's healers and questioners."
Erwin Raphael McManus. Metropolitan, multi-cultural, urban jungle orientation, pitching an all-out-for-Jesus, never-give-up, all-it-can-be church. "Postmodernism is a radical God-starved jungle we must love and serve!"
The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives - a book examining different views on the relation between church, world, gospel and discipleship, in no particular order.
After a good introduction from Leonard Sweet (which some say was worth the price of the book alone - I'd agree, if the price was lowered...), Crouch and Horton locked horns from the start with McLaren on the issue of what postmodernity/ism is and much space was spent clearing the misunderstandings surrounding the word (McLaren even claimed Crouch was paying 'rhetorical hardball'). Crouch virtually ties postmodernism to consumer culture and Horton can't seem to take his eyes off postmodernism's negatives (labelling it 'most-modernism' given the impossibility of there truly being a radical break with the supposed modern past).
Crouch is non-Reformed evangelicalism at its 'safest' i.e. neither too liberal to earn Horton's wrath or too stiff to have his books shunned by pro-emerging folk. McLaren, as one might expect, took the postmodernism challenge best to both Horton and Crouch with his creatively worded 'yes-but' subversive poking at their (largely traditional) strongholds.
It's clear, though, that - unless Crouch and Horton don't mind rethinking their ingrained definitions (let alone value-judgments) of postmodernism - a lot of work still needs to be done to even get pomo emergent and 'modern' conservative evangelicals on the same page. To really 'connect' with people like McLaren, McManus, etc., folks like Horton/Crouch have to empathise far beyond what their present suspicions and arms'-length repudiation of postmodernity are allowing them. Criticism and the use of what's "tried and true", undoubtedly the favorite tool of theologians, isn't going to be very helpful here.
Naturally, Horton isn't pleased at the slightest shift away from established Reformed doctrine. He continuously red-flags (what he sees to be) false dichotomies and liberal theology by the others (especially McLaren and McManus). Horton's write-up, IMO, embodies precisely what many are frustrated about in the church : People are exploring new directions, asking new questions, even seeking new experiences but not only are the responses by conservatives not very different from decades ago, it seems like one could reprimanded for not thinking traditionally(!).
If you've not read McLaren before, his essay should be a good first blush with his thinking (although maybe 'questioning' could be a better word). Via questions and reflections, McLaren came to (tentatively, I'm sure) conclude that the Gospel is narrative-formed, multi-layered, cumulative, performative, catalytic i.e. so much more than what tradition and churches have extolled it to be (hence, the annoyance many have with church). Typically emergent, McLaren counsels a spirit of inquiry, continuous seeking, asking, trial-and-error and rethinking as a way of proclaiming a Christ-centered Gospel in ever-changing situations.
In the midst of the Horton vs. McLaren encounters, Mathewes-Green and McManus were more or less cheer-leaders, questioners and one-line provocateurs (especially the former).
Interestingly enough, I found Mathewes-Green's write-up to be the most relaxing and inspirational. Hers was a good break, done in a subversive Q&A format, from the standard 'pop-academic cum evangelical' style of the first three. I'll never forget her line which went, "What might real rebellion look like? Standing outside an abortion clinic on a cold Saturday morning wearing really uncool sneakers and an uncool cardigan, praying."
McManus' essay read more like an inspirational for church growth and ministry and less a theological for-or-against towards postmodernity. Nevertheless, it's clear he's on the left of McLaren with statements like, "In modern times, Scripture have been demeaned into God's comprehensive encyclopedia...we have moved from a missiological hermeneutic to a theological hermeneutic and have lost the power of the Scriptures in the transition."
When all is said, though, this is a book whose gist I find hard to "grasp" and say I've truly understood. The novel format - where comments and questions from the co-authors are inserted within a presenter's essay - was both boon, as it depicted a 'real' conversation, and bane, as it was distracting. Tip: IGNORE the addendums until you've finished reading each section on its own.
Read Crouch and Horton for the best in time-tested theology and if you want some material for a largely cerebral "Intro to Postmodernism" lecture. Read McLaren and you could be quietly inspired to do something new, although you could have more questions than answers. Read Mathewes-Green and you'll want to pray. Read McManus and you feel like jump-starting the next urban crusade.
With such a spectrum of slants and priorities, this book is both a mindtrip and a minefield for learning - you'll learn a lot, but you may not be sure where to step next: Welcome to the new church/world(?)
Decent introduction of topic.......2007-01-10
The book gives five different perspectives, from five different authors, on how the church should respond to an increasing post-modern culture. It is in a sense a modern day discussion of H. Richard Niebuhr's classic text Christ and Culture. The five perspectives are introduced by Leonard Sweet with a four quadrant matrix. The matrix represents the church's response to cultural change on two axes, change in method/form/style and change in message/content/substance. The four quadrants are then described with the following four phrases: preserving message/preserving methods, preserving message/evolving methods, evolving message/preserving methods, and evolving message/evolving methods. The five perspectives then deal with each of the four options (with two taking up the first option of preserving message and preserving methods.
List strengths of book.
The main strength of the book is that it covers the topic very well, with good dialogue going back and forth between the five authors. The topics are discussed with great thoughtfulness and insight. I especially liked the use of the matrix mentioned above, in the introduction by Sweet.
List weaknesses of book.
While the book was very interesting to read it shared little practical advice for the church to actually engage the culture. The book would certainly have been strengthened with examples of theory that was shared by each author. Additionally, I found the chapter by Erwin McManus to be the weakest of the five perspectives, it seem almost incoherent at times.
Dialogue on Christ & Culture.......2006-08-17
Here are six individuals, actually five participants and one moderator/editor who tackle between themselves the topic of what does Christ do in changing, emerging cultures.
As reviewers have pointed out, salient to this dialogue is the method exhibited of each of five providing essay, then other four comment as it seems at will. The essayist than at the end responds to this sprinkled comments.
Of course, one of my confession would lean towards Horton, who certainly wins the day with his comments seeking return to text and history, rather than inventiveness and questioning always from our cultural arrogance stance.
Useful to see contrasts. Too much of McLaren. Would like to seen more "orthodox" participants in line of Horton.
A little annoying, but mostly interesting..........2006-07-07
Two comments have already been made, but I would like to reiterate. The light gray, italicized, 6 pt font used for interjections by other authors during an essay is hard to read. McLaren talks way too much, especially when he says the same thing over and over and takes EVERYTHING personally. He thinks his point of view is the only one worth having, and seems rather arrogant in his intellect.
Having said the few negatives, it is overall a good read. I would love to hear a more detailed view of what each author truly believes church should be like (which I know most of them have been published and anyone could read what they've written elsewhere). It also seems that the only real discrepancies are in their view of what "postmodernism" really is. As far as the actual workings of church, they could probably find a lot of common ground. But, they give very little actual advice on what church should be like.
Overall, it is an interesting book full of interesting ideas about the current culture. Leonard Sweet's introduction must be read to truly understand the rest of the book, but it gets a little too flowery at times.
Book Description
With places at nursery school promised for every child above the age of four, this book raises the stakes by looking at the quality of what is provided, and how that compares to what should be provided.
Beyond Quality In Early Childhood Education and Care challenges received wisdom and the tendency to reduce philosophical issues of value to purely technical issues of measurement and management. In its place, it offers alternative ways of understanding early childhood, early childhood institutions and pedagogical work. The book places issues of early childhood into a global context and relates them to writers from many fields. Drawing on work with aboriginal peoples in Canada, on the experience of Reggio-Emilia in Italy and on a project in Stockholm inspired by Reggio, the book considers the implications of these alternative ways of understanding, for practice and a reconceptualization of early childhood education and care.
Customer Reviews:
A must for early childhood educators!.......2000-06-15
Dahlberg, Moss and Pence have written this scholarly book to call attention to a crisis of thought in early childhood education. The book is meant to provoke critical thinking of all we know about early childhood education and to rally concerned citizens--parents, educators, policitians and community--to critical discussion.
This book explores early childhood philosophies, constructivist thinking, and cites early childhood "experiments" such as Reggio Emilia and the Stockholm Project. It challenges and inspires on a global level.
I read this book first as a graduate school text, then again as a refresher for my own views on early childhood education. It will be read again and again!
Book Description
Through transparent personal stories and incisive insight, author and pastor Tim Conder encourages church leaders to embrace the changes necessary to transition their congregations toward effectiveness and authenticity in the emerging culture.
Customer Reviews:
extremely thoughtful and sensitive approach.......2006-02-26
i've read a great deal of postmodern ministry/emerging church subject matter, which conder is dealing with.
but three things strike me as unique about this work:
1. it's extremely sensitive to and supportive of existing church models and approaches. that's wonderfully refreshing, and it lends an enormous amount of credibility to his content.
he recognizes that the emerging church didn't drop out of the sky without preceding context or help. he recognizes that the emerging church owes a debt to and can benefit from 'modern' churches. he sees the relationship between the modern church and emerging church as synergistic rather than antagonistic. that's inspiring.
2. he understands that the emerging church is far more about theology than style. in an age when church practice is determined more by pragmatic concerns than theological underpinnings, it's extremely reassuring to know someone is saying this with clarity.
3. he's actually engaged in this transition on a day to day basis. he's writing not only from a theoretical perspective, but also from a practical one. again, that gives his words a gread deal of credibility.
bottom line, if this is the kind of person who is responsible for giving direction and leadership to the emerging church, we're in pretty darn good shape.
Book Description
With this powerful book, Edmund O'Sullivan aims to radically alter the role of education in building a sustainable future. He addresses the reform of eduction in completely new terms. Where most contemporary "reforms" are about how to make education less expensive, O'Sullivan focuses on how to make it more relevant--personally and globally--in the next millennium.
Customer Reviews:
Should be required reading for every educator & policy maker.......1999-10-15
This is a beautiful book. Beautiful in its clarity, depth, and vision, and for the wonderful hope it inspires.
While I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, I deeply believe that Tranformative Learning should be made required reading for every University President, Minister of Education, and Professor on Earth.
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After Postmodernism: Education, Politics And Identity (Knowledge, Identity and School Life : 3)
Richard Smith
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- Why can't I give this zero....
- Postmodern gibberish
- B is for Bite Size
- Semantics
- C is for Clueless
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A Is for Abductive
Dr. Leonard Sweet ,
Brian D. McLaren , and
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Similar Items:
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Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives
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Out of the Question...Into the Mystery: Getting Lost in the GodLife Relationship
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Emerging Church, The
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A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN
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Carpe Mañana
ASIN: 0310243564 |
Book Description
A playful, witty, but substantive "postmodern ministry for dummies-type" book that fills the huge and getting huger hunger for something in one volume that introduces basic concepts and vernacular of "postmodern ministry."
Customer Reviews:
Why can't I give this zero...........2007-04-22
If this is the intellectual might behind the emerging church movement, then it doesn't stand a chance...
Postmodern gibberish.......2006-09-06
Len Sweet usually writes more with more passion and intelligence that he evidences in this book. Snipets of insight into an eclectic alphabetized list of topics result in a whole lot of next to nothing.
BUT Sweet et al still have a few fascinating things to say -- just not many.
B is for Bite Size.......2005-12-01
This book gives the reader a number of bite size morsels about what to expect in the Emergent "conversation." Unfortunately, that's it! It is merely a very brief survey of a few aspects that the editors have chosen to bring forward. There is no detailed explanations, no arguments, just straight-forward, "this is the way postmodern culture is and this is the way the Emerging Church should be" paragraphs.
Don't be fooled though, some of these concepts are much more thought out than you might think. On the other hand, as a previous reviewer stated, some are not. If you are looking for a description of the Emerging Church, I don't think this is the book you want. But, if you're looking for a few paragraphs about different things they find important, you might want to check this one out.
Semantics.......2005-08-03
If you have a hard time conversing with a younger generation or are frusterated because you can't talk to someone involved with the emerging church. READ THIS BOOK. It will help one better understand the conversation and the words they use. The fact remaines, many words that the emerging people don't want to use is because it brings up all sorts of baggage, so try this book, than go back and talk to your emergent friend. You will undetstand each other much better.
C is for Clueless.......2005-07-02
My initial reaction to this book, when a friend (laughingly) sent it my direction, was unprintable. But -- slightly redacted -- it went like this:
*****
WHO ARE THESE MORONS?
Have the editors at Zondervan lost their minds? Did they have minds to begin with?
*****
I cannot find a single redeeming feature to this tragicomical book. The authors are earnest, but they are completely clueless about the philosophical concepts they are trying to summarize and employ. They might, with equal hope of success, have attempted to explicate quantum field theory. (Hmm, let's see, Fock space -- well, have you seen "Meet the Fockers" ...?)
In the space of an Amazon review it is impossible to do more than point out a few typical errors. Here are three classes of mistakes.
First, the authors put their foot in it when they try to deal with terms from logic (p. 31). If they were merely making up some new technical terms, we might deplore their decision to redefine words that already have established meanings and let it go at that. "Deductive method" as they define it has nothing to do with deduction; ditto for the other terms. But no; they intend to pin the third category on the American logician Charles Sanders Peirce. And they seem to think as Stygius comments in another review on this site, that "abduction" here means "kidnaping":
*****
Abductive reasoning (a seismic little phrase coined by the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce) has powerful implications for preaching -- and all communication, really. To go abductive, get rid of your inductive/deductive outlines and make your sermons pointless! In other words, don't build your sermons around analysis (the A-word of modernity), but instead, build them around an abductive experience, one that takes people out of their current world of assumptions and issues, of boredom and anxiety. ... Rather than leading your hearers along in an orderly, step-by-step, predictable, reasoned argument, like a lawyer before a jury -- proving and moving on, proving and moving on -- seize them by their lapels, like a friend in crisis. Grab them by the scruff of the neck (their imagination) and throw them into something they never expected. (pp. 31-32)
*****
Warning: Do not try this on people with trained minds unless you want your cognitive hand broken. The only good thing I can find to say about this passage is that the authors are doing their level best to practice what they preach. There isn't any sign of reasoned argument here. There isn't even any sign of grammar. (Or did they really mean to indicate, as a puckish part of me wants to believe, that the friend in crisis is the one doing the seizing?)
But there are some incongruous trappings of scholarship. A footnote refers the reader to K. T. Fann's sober little monograph Peirce's Theory of Abduction. I defy anyone to find a trace of this kind of silliness in Fann's book -- or in Peirce. (See his collected papers, section 5.189.) You will, I grant, find much nonsense (though more subtly presented) in Julia Kristeva's work, which they incomprehensibly bundle into the same footnote. I doubt if the authors have even read Kristeva. But unless we begin questioning their honesty we cannot possibly believe that they've read any serious amount of Peirce, the fellow who was so enraged by fuzzy thinking that he fulminated that "nothing can clear it up but a severe course of logic." Amen.
Imagination is a wonderful thing, and properly disciplined it can be a great tool. C. S. Lewis comes to mind here. But it should be used in conjunction with reason, not as a substitute for it.
Second, the authors make ridiculous claims about the current state of scholarship. "It is hard to find scholarship that is not destabilizing assumptions about rationality and challenging intellectual categories inherited from the Enlightenment," they crow on pp. 20-21. A footnote directs us to another po-mo chic tract but not to the supposed void in traditional scholarship. Actually, the problem is that the authors aren't reading anything outside of a pathetic little circle of their po-mo friends. Otherwise they would surely have encountered something by Doug Geivett or Doug Groothuis or William Lane Craig or Bill Vallicella or Peter Kreeft or Dallas Willard or Charles Taliaferro or Paul Copan or Stephen Parrish or Stephen T. Davis or J. P. Moreland or John Warwick Montgomery or John Gerstner or R. C. Sproul or N. T. Wright or ... okay, you get the picture. And I'm just listing people who would probably be comfortable describing themselves as (broadly) Evangelical Christians. In the main currents of secular analytic philosophy, "scholarship" that is "destabilizing assumptions about rationality" is nearly non-existent. Pick up a recent issue of Mind or Journal of Philosophy or British Journal for the Philosophy of Science and see for yourself.
Third, the authors fuddle and fuzzify major theological categories in the manner of old-fashioned theological modernism. "Easter," Sweet tells us on p. 12, "is all about dying into the new," and he goes on to identify "the new" with "postmodern culture" which "thrums with possibility." Odd. I thought Easter was about the resurrection of God incarnate. Can we at least find room to mention that little point?
Readers who think I have simply picked soft targets are welcome to leaf through the sample pages made available here on the Amazon site and see for themselves. I won't even recommend pages. Start anywhere.
Brian McLaren writes in his preface that this book has given the authors "a chance to lodge in key words some of our best thinking so far" regarding postmodern ministry (p. 13). The scary thing is, I almost believe him.
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Postmodernism and Organizations
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ASIN: 080398880X |
Book Description
"It carries with it the singular benefit of an enormously clear and accessible representation of the meaning of postmodernism, and an equally clear and convincing account of why postmodern theory is less compelling than postmodernists suppose. As an edited collection, it is one of the most intelligible accounts of what a postmodern perspective on organizations might require. This is a book that those who feel alienated in the face of the kinds of theoretical impulse suggested by Nicholas Fox might turn to with profit." --Health and Social Care "Postmodernism and Organizations is a lively symposium. . . . The book takes us into the heart of the current debates embroiling organizational theorists, such as those on deconstruction, gender, pluralism, and so on." --Journal of General Management Postmodernism's impact has been widely felt throughout the social sciences and humanities. Postmodernism and Organizations is the first book that specifically addresses the implications of postmodernist/poststructuralist thinking for organizations and organizational analysis. This important, groundbreaking volume not only provides a comprehensive introduction to the topic, but also examines a range of organizational themes--deconstruction, desire, difference, pluralism, and relativism--from a postmodernist perspective. Contributors take a critical look at postmodernist organizational theory, covering both its positive and negative aspects. Essential reading for those who monitor the newest developments in organization and management theory, Postmodernism and Organizations addresses contemporary issues which can't be ignored. Excellent for scholars of organizational behavior, sociology of organizations, and organizational psychology.
Book Description
Based on nearly a decade of scholarship, this is a highly focused book on the implications of postmodernism for the construction and assessment of theory and practice in educational administration. Current ideas of practice are deconstructed, from the notions of sound research to the use of national standards in the preparation of educational leaders along with ways of examining and resolving the theory-practice gap. Part One of the book contains chapters dealing with the rise of postmodernism and describes its broad-based dissent from a century of thought in the field, including a penetrating examination of whether the concept of a field itself is viable. Part Two of the book explores the many ramifications of postmodernism to practice, beginning with ideas concerning educational research. These chapters tackle the tough issues of the efficacy of the Interstate Leaders Licensure Standards (ISLLC) and the national exam as examples of job deskilling and deprofessionalization in the guise of raising standards of preparation of future educational leaders. Other chapters deal with deconstructing the popular managerial ideas contained in Stephen Covey's works and dispute Joe Murphy's call for a new center of gravity in the field as reinforcing the status quo. Finally, the book tackles the issue of the theory-practice gap and indicates that new and progressive theories which anticipate problems of practice are what is required to deal with this persistent issue. The book contains many helpful exhibits in understanding the issues concerning theory and practice, as well as a glossary of terms most commonly found in postmodern discourse. This book is designed for college and university programs engaged in the preparation of educational leaders for elementary/secondary schools and college administrative positions.
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