God is one. Life is one. Trying to live a meaningful one.
Das prognostiziert jedenfalls eine der am wenigsten christlichen Institutionen des Landes: Das schwedische Fernsehen SVT. /// At least that's the prediction of one of the country's least Christian institutions: Swedish television SVT.
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Anstelle des üblichen Weihnachtskitsch gebe ich heute - passend zur literarischen Reise, auf der ich mich befinde - lieber ein Porträt des Autors, Soziologen, Historikers, Philosophen und Theologen, der meiner Meinung nach besser als jede andere Person beschrieben hat, was die Fleischwerdung des Himmels im Westen des 20. Jahrhunderts konkret bedeutet.
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Instead of the usual Christmas kitsch with aspic and gravy, and in keeping with the literary journey I'm on, I'd rather give you a portrait of the author, sociologist, historian, philosopher and theologian who, in my opinion, has described better than anyone else what the incarnation of heaven actually means in the West of the 20th century.
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Die ersten Etappen dieser Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Denkens mögen ein wenig schroff gewesen sein. Doch nun wird’s turbulent. Horst-Eberhard Richters "Der Gotteskomplex" rührt ordentlich im unterbewussten Eingemachten.
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The first stages of this journey to the centre of thought may have been a little bumpy. But now it gets turbulent. Horst-Eberhard Richter's "The God Complex" really stirs up the subconscious.
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Durch den Umzug ins Ausland, den Gründungsaktivismus neuer Gemeinden, die Arbeit mit internationalen Gemeinschaften habe ich viel gelernt. Mehr, als ich mir je hätte vorstellen können. Doch ich kam auch an meine Grenzen, immer wieder. An eine dieser Grenzen stieß ich besonders häufig: Die meines Denkens. Es dauerte, das einzusehen und führte dann zu einer literarische Wanderung auf historisch-steinigen Wegen. Auf der nächsten Etappe traf ich Samuel P. Huntington.
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Moving abroad, the activism of starting new churches and working with international communities has taught me a lot. More than I ever imagined. But it has also pushed me to my limits, again and again. One of these limits I reached particularly often: that of my thinking. It took time to realise this, and then it led to a literary walk along historically stony paths. On the next stage I...
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The last blog entry was about the expedition I have embarked on to uncover subconscious thought patterns. It takes me away from social media and into the world of good books. This entry is from the first part of this journey.
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Der vergangene Blogeintrag handelte von der Expedition, auf die ich mich begeben habe, um unterbewusste Denkmuster zu entlarven. Sie führt mich weg von sozialen Medien in die Welt der guten Bücher. Dieser Eintrag ist von der ersten Reisetappe.
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You might think that there would be no room for resignation and sadness at Christmas. As if we had to decorate ourselves with shiny joy like a shopping center at Christmas. Is this a culture that free churches maintain throughout the rest of the year - always peace, joy, cheerfulness? If that is the case, we will lose the younger generations. Here's a suggestion for how congregations can become islands...
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Christian dialogue with those who think differently serves our own strength, maturity and credibility. Above all, however, it prevents the extinction of the European church. “I agree with atheists on a lot, basically almost everything, except that God doesn’t exist,” says Czech priest Tomáš Halík. I found this statement so beneficial that I keep picking […]
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It feels gloomy, despite the approaching spring. No matter who you talk to, there is always this uncertain something in the room, a latent restlessness, as if we had just discovered a sleeping monster that might just be waking up. Yesterday we were still firmly convinced that monsters didn’t exist at all, because after all, […]
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Somehow I feel the need to remind ourselves again how insignificant and irrelevant theology is in the ruts of today’s everyday life. So uninteresting that most don’t even get as far as the second sentence here, because you switch off right away with “theology”. On the other hand, anyone who has made it to this […]
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Painting by Paul Gauguin: The Devil Speaks (1894). If non-Germans ask me outside Germany about Hitler and the extermination of the Jews, I can take it as a personal honor: They obviously feel safe enough to discuss this dark chapter of German history with me (others prefer to avoid the topic in the presence of […]
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Over the past year it has become increasingly challenging for me to observe how evangelicals are way too busy with their own little church activities while being perfectly equipped to help the world tackling the climate crisis. This lecture, taught at Communitas virtual Europe conference in 2021, is an attempt of connecting classical free church […]
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Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci: Caricature of a man (1495) So there it is, the first part of the new, big IPCC report on the state of the climate. Published a few days ago, the remaining parts of the report will follow in the next few months. With it comes a new, interactive world atlas […]
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Before my annual missiology lectures begin next week, I don’t just have to update my lessons and presentations this week. I also need to sort my thoughts on what happened last week, and my blog is a great place to do so. On Thursdays, when I usually work for ALT* a maximum of four people […]
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It was the German lawyer, politician and revolutionary Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker who came up with a quote that can be pretty disturbing. He emigrated to the USA – twice. He fought diligently for the improvement of the political systems of Prussia but he also ran into some frustration. It was after his second journey […]
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I’m very proud to announce that we’re having a second round of Thinklings this year, starting today. This is our guiding topic: How do we give order, meaning, and resilience to Christ-communities under what are likely to be increasingly stressful circumstances? How shall the church maintain the integrity of our witness to the living God […]
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Finally! We managed to build sinless societies, surprisingly without the need of any redeemer. Sin is gone! Even churches don’t like to talk about it anymore. Today, however, I was asked about “the definition of sin” and I thought: Hm…, there is no quick answer to it. Maybe it’s time for a sinful blog post. […]
(de/en [page 2]) Jahrelang trieb ich mich in diversen OP-Sälen herum, wohnte Gefälligkeiten wie Schädelöffnungen oder Amputationen bei. Obwohl ich wusste, wie die Luft eines OPs verteilt und gefiltert werden muss, um den Saal so sicher und keimfrei wie möglich zu halten, trugen alle im OP ein Ding im Gesicht, das uns alle gleichmachte: Einen […]
(en) Every year or so we do a theology retreat named “Thinklings” where about 10 theologians and church planters present their reflections on an issue, an opportunity, or a hot potato they have run into. This year’s Thinklings was held virtually for obvious reasons, but I need to tell you, we had a blast. Unfortunately […]
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(se) Under Coronatiderna började vi inte bara spela in videopoddar, nu gör vi det också varje vecka. Här kommer del två till fyra – inklusive påskpodden. Avsnitt 2: Avsnitt 3: Avsnitt 4:
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From a missiological point of view the time has come for the Wesern church to be a much more convincing witness. In the West, Christians are losing increasingly more ground. We simply could deny that fact, we also could mourn it, or we can see it as an opportunity. Personally I’m regarding it as an […]
GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG The student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle is one of the greatest Greek philosophers. But allowing him to become a main theologian was a huge mistake. It’s the cause of many problems and soon it could even end in death. My first approaches to girls happened during […]
GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG No, I’m not talking about the band. I’m talking about our present state of development, our way of life, our condition, shape. A dirty cunning lad, this Status Quo. He tells us the tale of eternal growth, new opportunities, valuable increases in sales or breasts. He promises updates […]
GERMAN TRANSLATION HERE / ZUR DEUTSCHEN ÜBERSETZUNG Christians are called to be “in this world” yet “not of this world”. That is what Jesus prayed the fateful night before his execution. And yet, Christians have been tempted by some mysterious forces to be more “of this world,” but not really “in this world.” One of […]
In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The third and last plenary talk tackles some implications of talk one and two: What if the church would really move to reflect the God of the Future? (Speaker: Marcus Fritsch, Gothenburg)
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In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The second out of three plenary talks presents God as the one who constantly challenges us to look into the future by using our imagination – as opposed to constantly looking into the past what many churches usually do. (Speaker: Marcus […]
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In March 2019 the first European Future Church Symposium ever took place in Amsterdam. The first out of three plenary talks gives an overview of current changes in the world and what this means for the future of the church. (Speaker: Marcus Fritsch, Gothenburg)
Read out allKelli Gotthardt, California: Why the church continues to silence victims and a small step forward.
Read out allOle Fritsch, Sweden: We are free to eat what we want. But are we supposed to?
Read out allJon Ritner, Hollywood: Three summers ago I moved from Brussels to Hollywood, CA where i am part of a community that gets to tell the story of Jesus to the city that tells stories to the world. Ironically in the city of great stories, there is seemingly less interest than ever in the Jesus Story. […]
Read out allThe socalled “Gospel” involves much more than only individual salvation. It can even change entire continents for the better. Let’s be bold again and spice up the contemporary political lameness with some heavenly hope in truly threatening times.
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