Friday, October 30, 2015

Whose Community? Which Story? (WO) (Campmeeting 2015)

Today is the final episode we recorded at Campmeeting this summer.  It sounds a little different because we recorded at the bottom of half ledge after spending about ninety minutes rock climbing.  There are occasionally people passing by and background noise, as well as a few guests.  Don't worry, though, the mic picked us up loud and clear.

This time we focused on a major issue in contemporary Adventism--the vote about Women's Ordination at the 2015 General Conference.  While this is the main topic, our thematic focus is the question of "who decides which story to tell about our community?"  In turn, what does that story mean?  And, how is that decided?  These questions of community narrative and identity have much larger resonances than a single vote about how to include women in our community and impact on how we view our own relationships to the community in light of various stories being told.  The discussion is by no means finished within Adventism.

Thanks for listening and enjoy!

Whose Community? Which Story?

Friday, October 23, 2015

Community Stories (Campmeeting 2015)

In this session, recorded on the Thursday of Campmeeting, we explore the difficulty and necessity of telling community stories--stories about who we are together.  This begins with a brief summary of Derrida's discussion of hospitality and the competing needs for clear boundaries and for open boundaries.  This is the difficulty of telling our stories and sharing them with others, without become bound to them in unhealthy ways.  Of course, the discussion is much more interesting than this brief synopsis.  And yet again, we have a few guests sitting in on the recording.  Please join us.

Thank you for listening.

Community Stories

In other news, Dale and I are putting together a new blog project.  In the aftermath of the 2015 San Antonio General Conference, our Adventist world church has committed to an in-depth study of hermeneutics (basically rules and methods of interpreting the Bible).  Our interpretations of the Bible profoundly impact our picture of God and the way we live as Christians.  Our plan is to provide a series of concise summaries of relevant Adventist materials for those who may not be so inclined to academic studies.  Stay tuned for more information.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Community Discussion (Campmeeting 2015 Bonus)

Hey everybody.  I had the privilege of speaking in Comox Valley this weekend about loving our neighbours.  Unfortunately, in my focus on preparation, I forgot about posting another podcast.  Then Monday came, and I realized there were far more interesting things happening, at least in Canada.  So, I'm saving that podcast for this Friday.  In it, we talk about the conflict at the heart of community between telling a coherent narrative of our lives and identities and opening that narrative to change.

In the meantime, here's a recording I've been saving from the first of our Campmeeting podcasts.  After we finished recording the podcast, Community Questions, we spent time talking with some friends about various issues we had raised.  It's a little more raw than our regular discussions, but still quite interesting, I think.  Certainly not everyone in the world thinks like Dale or I, so you might appreciate hearing some different voices.

Enjoy!

Community Questions (Bonus)

Friday, October 9, 2015

Labels, Identity and Community (Campmeeting 2015)

On Wednesday at Campmeeting, we spent some time exploring one of the questions I've (David) been thinking about: What does it mean to say I am Adventist?  For some, this is seen as a hostile statement by which I separate myself from other people, particularly Christians.  But does it have to be so?  Who decides what the name "Adventist" means?  Can I provide meaning for it?  Or does it belong to "Adventists"?  Or does it belong to those I interact with?  Or is it something bigger than any of us?  Of course, this moves into a larger discussion of the stakes, risks and value of claiming identity with a particular group through the use of labels--in particular the recent case of Rachel Dolezal.

Our apologies for the background noise.  There seemed to be a lot of people coming and going when we were recording.

Again, thanks for listening and enjoy!

What Do Labels Mean?

Friday, October 2, 2015

Belonging Without Belonging (Campmeeting 2015)

This is our Tuesday podcast from Hope Campmeeting.  After our opening discussion, we turned to one of the questions Dale raised: Why is it that we can belong to a community for years and yet lack any real relationships with the people in that community?

We explore this through Homi Babha's idea of the unhomely--the ways in which we avoid the hard reality of encountering people who tell different stories than us, varying conceptions of community and society, and through Donnie's questions about privilege--about the ways in which we fail to attend to the specifics of our belonging in a particular group of people.

Thanks again for listening and enjoy!

Belong Without Belonging