Whirlpools - Networks with an Epicentre
Shaping our Christian minds to shape Christian minds
For too long we seem to have allowed 'Christian' thought to develop on it's own in parallel to 'Secular' thought, somehow assuming that the categories through which society sees itself are completely value neutral, and that Christianity effectively has little to add apart from personal pietism. So we find that Economics, Sociology and Psychology have 'been allowed' to develop at their own pace with Christians buying into or buying out of their systems to a greater or lesser extent.
What we haven't done well enough (in probably the last 250 years) is to ask the serious questions about how the Christian faith - God's message of hope for His Creation - must have a direct influence not just on the individuals in society but also on the systems in society.
We want to start a new venture. Nothing big and grand, but we want to get a few committed Christian thinkers together to meet several times over a number of years to start asking serious questions about how their belief in the Trinitarian God of scripture affects their area of expertise.
We're looking for people who are undertaking post-graduate study, or who are engaged professionally in these different areas. We're not looking for hundreds of people, just a few. We're looking for the right people, people with the commitment and people with the questioning mind to start thinking right outside the box.
The idea of a Whirlpool is an active group of people buzzing around a fixed centre. The centre is Jesus, His word and an older more experienced Christian from each of these specialist fields. The buzz is us as we start to think, read, pray and write about our discipline in a way the generation before us have often not managed! But instead of these whirlpools sucking inwards, these will be pushing outwoards, helping you to help the next generation of young Christian graduates heading towards your profession. The idea is to gather groups of emerging experts around existing
experts in their field, to meet together as a group twice a year over
3-4 years to learn and question and push the boundaries so that we can
together develop 'outside the box' thinking applied from scripture
directly to our place of expertise, and from this base to make
available new ideas for those coming behind us.
Does this make sense - maybe not entirely! Perhaps that's becasue this is something completely new. Do you want to be involved? Well get in touch with tim@ifeseurope.org
It's not just about learning together but about becoming able to pass on what we learn.
The categories I want to see whirlpools developing in include:
Politics
Psychology
Sociology
Media Engagement
Media Production
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Management