Envision 08

so for 4 days i'm at Princeton University hanging out with 400 some odd folks from an incredibly diverse Christian background that care deeply about social justice and our engagement in the public square. i'm getting to sit in on incredible teaching and conversations like john perkins, ron sider, brian mclaren, shane claiborne, brenda salter-mcneil, jim wallis, vincent bacote, richard cizik, randall balmer and many, many others. (i'm fairly sure you could make an incredible panel of folks who are just here and aren't even speaking).

part of the whole idea of Envision is to bring people together from the whole scope of faith (fundamental conservative evangelicals all the way to universalist unitarians...i've already met both). there's such a diversity of politics, gender, race, denomination, and approaches to envisioning what rich justice looks like in our world.

so...i have some really good friends here (and making new ones) that i'm getting to process all of this with, BUT i really wanted to get all of your thoughts as well. so i hope that you'll check in whenever you can over the next few days and participate and respond. i'm going to try and post ideas & quotes that i hear & leave it open for discussion...

that being said...here's some of my favorite quotes so far...feel free to respond to any or all...

the church should be about the earthing of heaven... (you can google that & find all sorts of interesting articles) - Richard Cizik quoting others

when we partner for God's purposes, we win no matter who we partner with...whether muslim, or homosexual, or a different vein of Christianity, or differing morality, etc. - Richard Cizik

"Jesus didn't go around pimpin' it out that he was the son of God..." - Shane Claiborne

"just as important as "making poverty history" is making poverty personal" - Shane Claiborne

"we (Christians) don't have to agree on everything but we should be known for disagreeing well and respectfully" - Shane Claiborne

teaching Intelligent Design according to a scientific understanding actually diminishes the faith... "I prefer to live in an enchanted universe where mystery reigns rather than denigrate God to the realm of science" - Randall Balmer

"I would suggest that those who care so much about the concept of Intelligent Design should care more about the creation of that Intelligent Designer." - Randall Balmer