The Great Open Dance as PDF (2024)

Evangelical Forum Newsletter, 2004

The basic thesis of Grace Walk is that Christians should live by grace and not by legalism. Believers do this not by trying to conform to external rules (not even basic disciplines like having quiet times, reading the Bible, or attending church) but by resting in the fact that, as believers, Christ lives in them. On the surface there are parts of this approach that may sound appealing. Certainly, all true believers will heartily agree that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. One might also heartily "Amen!" McVey's denunciation of any notion of self-sufficiency when it comes to the Christian life. With careful examination and reflection, however, the reader will find that McVey has taken some major detours from the classical Biblical doctrines of salvation and sanctification. Unfortunately, McVey's theology leads in the dangerous direction of antinomianism, hardly the healing Biblical cure for legalism. Rather than offering a robust Biblical critique of the spirit of this age, Grace Walk conforms to the mold of this world by promoting a relativistic Jesus-spirituality that downplays any firm doctrinal commitments about who that Jesus is.

Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2005

This article engages the dancing and writing of the American modern dance pioneer, Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), and the phenomenology of religion and dance authored by the Dutch phenomenologist, theologian, and historian of religion, Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950), in order to argue that "dance" is a valuable resource for developing theories and methods in the study of religion that move beyond belief-centered, text-driven approaches. By setting the work of Duncan and van der Leeuw in the context of the emergence of the field of religious studies, this article not only offers conceptual tools for appreciating dance as a medium of religious experience and expression, it also plots a trajectory for the development of a theory of religion as practice and performance. Such a theory will benefit scholars eager to attend more closely to the role of bodily being in the life of "religion."

Ecclesial Futures

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2015

International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2020

"Christianity is the only mad religion; which is perhaps, the explanation for its survival—it deconstructs itself and survives by deconstructing itself.” -- Jacques Derrida WINNER 2015 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of ReligionThis book explores the persons, practices, and sociological significance of emerging Christianity. The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is a self-classified, voluntary, and largely reactive religious movement that strives to achieve social relevance and spiritual vitality by actively disassociating from its roots in Conservative, Evangelical Christianity. Using congregational surveys, in-depth interviews with leaders and participants, and ethnographic reports from nine different “Emerging Church” communities and four conference meetings, in the United States and the United Kingdom, supplemented by observation of the movement since its beginnings in the late 1990s, this book provides a social scientific analysis of this intriguing development within modern Christianity. In presenting our understanding of this movement, we focus on the motivation and religious identity of “Emerging Christians,” the structure of ritual practices within their congregations (often called “gatherings” or “communities”), and its significance as a modern religious movement. Advance Praise“As growing numbers of Americans say they are ‘nonreligious,’ observers note a comparable shift among those who are religious toward looser, more individualistic, anti-institutional, experimental expressions of faith. Marti and Ganiel have done a superb job of examining these emerging expressions, illuminating both the practices and beliefs of individuals and the innovative congregations they are forming.”--Robert Wuthnow, Gerhard R. Andlinger ‘52 Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University “In the midst of a polarized landscape, where ‘religion’ and ‘church’ signal a lack of vitality and authenticity, Emerging Churches are putting together something new out of the debris. Marti and Ganiel show us why we should pay attention. They describe the faith found here as neither shopping nor seeking, but a conversation carried on in congregations that are determinedly open and inclusive. This book provides a careful analysis of this much-discussed movement and shows why it is so well-suited to our times.”--Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life

Dialog: A Journal of Theology, 2007

Great Commission Research Journal, 2011

International Review of Mission, 2019

As the contemporary discussion on the “Emerging Church” (ECC) conversation shows, there is a shift in the understanding of Christian religion. (In its historical context, this is strongly related to Evangelism.) On closer examination, the ECC actually boils down to a transformation of Christian religion – a version of an experienced‐based, postmodern religiosity. The engine of this transformation is the clarification of the religious identity. The ECC can be described as a movement that serves as a transition for the protagonists in order to shape their individual processes of resistance as well as the processes of disentanglement in regards to their own religious orientation. Therefore, the discussion represents an “alternative space,” which is best seen in five motifs: the change of religious alignment; the significance of community; specific theological themes and strategies; dealing with different “contexts” in the conversation; and the emphasis of values, attitudes, and practic...

Open Theology

In order to take the physical and incorporeal dimension of dance seriously in the context of Christian theology, we propose that it should be the neglected Christological Perichōrēsis (as well as concepts and ideas surrounding it) rather than the Trinitarian Perichōrēsis that is historically and traditionally relevant as a source of a dialogue between Christian theology and dance. First, we propose that the guiding metaphor should be Christ as dancer, historical examples of which already exist unlike with the notion of the Trinity as dance. Then, we look at St Maximus the Confessor’s Christocentric cosmology. With the human being understood as a “microcosm” of body–soul(spirit) unity placed at the center of the entire creation, his Christocentric cosmology could be a potential source for enhancing a dialogue between Christian theology and dance, while helping us overcome the dualistic separation between the body and the spirit and consequently between nature and culture.

La Croix International, October 23, 2017, 2017