Tuesday, May 04, 2004

off-the-map

book manuscript sent to emergent. it has consumed a lot of my energy for the last 3 months. thanx to all the readers and editors and interested people who made the journey more human.

i woke up this morning and felt off the map. like i crossed a border. the book has had weekly deadlines and huge time pressures. 1 may has consumed me. it has now gone past 1 may. i’m off the map. places with no maps excite me. i like it. i am feeling very free.

Posted by steve at 09:09 AM

Saturday, April 24, 2004

postcards on the emergent

I am in the process of placing my book draft – my take on the practices, theology and mission angles of the emergent church – before various respected practioners, listening to their feedback from where they sit.

Some of the comments are gratifying;
great project;
flattered that you want me to reflect on the precious nuggets you have dug from many earths;
spot on … an amazing resource…

Posted by steve at 04:45 PM

Thursday, April 01, 2004

do you want many or few?

I am in the final stages of preparing my book manuscript for emergentYS. Provisional title – e~mergent postcards: a postmodern missiology. It is a followup to my PhD research on the emerging church. It is a to book, not a from book, an attempt to name some new mission contours, to link Scripture with emergent practices.

One of the things I dream of doing with the book is give some sense of writing in community. I want to ask a range of people to provide “comments” – short paragraphs alongside my thoughts – to disagree, to provide an example, to add a prayer or a ritual- and thus broaden perspectives. Just like a blog.

I am wanting to include voices like a new Christian, women church planters, wiser older heads, alongside the usual names that one needs to lift one’s book from obscurity to whatever.

The publisher and I are talking about having
a) 2 “commenters” that run through the entire book plus 4-6 other regular cycling commenters ie 6-8 commenters in total
b) 2 “commenters” that run through the entire book plus new and different voices in every chapter ie 20 commenters in total.

Would you rather have a few repeated voices for the sake of continuity, or more voices at the risk of not knowing who they are?

Posted by steve at 09:51 AM