Monday, November 07, 2005

A WEEK WITH D. STEPHEN LONG- day 1

In order to take a holy rest from the intense conversations of last week, I've decided to crawl back into my inner monastic cell and take a breath and spend a "week with..."

To those I promised parts 3 and 4 of scripture- Scott, Lenny, Craig, and others.... I'm working on it. I just haven't had the energy after the last week to put into coherent thoughts. But hopefully this week will produce some fruit.

HOWEVER

I am proud to present A WEEK WITH D. STEPHEN LONG. I came across Steve Long via Steve Manskar of Accountable Discipleship. We were having a conversation after worship one Sunday about Radical Orthodoxy and Steve said to me, "well have you read Stepen Long's stuff? He teaches over at Garrett and is one of the leading new methodist theologians."

Well, he was right. I picked up Divine Economy and even though I haven't yet finished it, it is great!!! I've also since then read quite a few of his articles all of which I enjoyed.

Stephen Long is assistant professor of theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and codirector of the Center for Ethics and Values. His newest book out is John Wesley's Moral Theology: The Quest For God And Goodness (which i am currently making my way through).

I hope you enjoy this week's WEEK WITH series and I hope it generates good discussion.
On the last day of this series (day 7) i will actually have an interview that i had a chance to conduct with Steve.

6 comments:

Mark Youngman said...

Yahoooo! thanks for bringing to light one of the most exciting young methodist theologians. I've been anticipating Long's regular presence in mainline theological discussions for several years.

Long introduced me to Hauerwas, Yoder and others among my favorite theologians. I look forward to the week. Jenny probably hopes you asked about his sideburns in your interview.

Peace Bro,
Mark

Thunder Jones said...

I've had a chance to meet him as well as read Divine Economy and am impressed as well. I think that the turn away from modernity that he embraces in DE as a proper economic model is much more helpful than the socialist vs. capitalist rhetoric that we are forced to listen to in current political discussions.

I've also got his The Goodness of God on my shelf to read, but haven't had/made the time for it yet.

Rock on.

Eric Lee said...

My friend Josh Gubser is going to be studying under Long starting next year to work on his PhD there. He's pretty excited.

And props to Pastor John for his blurb on the back of Long's Wesley book :P

Peace,

Eric

net said...

Is that where Steve Long ended up?! His old students from Duke University's Ethics Class (taught by Stanley Hauerwas) knew he was something special! He'd take on ol' Stanley in a heartbeat! It's great to hear that he is finally getting the recognition he's due!
Way to go, Steve!

Jonathan Marlowe said...

I look forward to your week with D. Stephen Long. One of his best books (but all-too-often over-looked) is Living the Discipline: United Methodist Theological Reflections on War, Civilization, and Holiness. Joel, if you're reading this, it is another book on the relation of pacifism and the creeds.

Lenny Anderson said...

so this is going to be one "Long" week!