sustain:if:able kiwi

that moment you dread: updated

Last week I got that email I was dreading. “I was wondering if you had any copies of your PhD left that you got made into a smaller book size? If so could I purchase one of you?”

When I completed my PhD in 2004, I wondered if people would want copies, yet knew that it was cheaper to do a bulk run. So I offered a Graduation special, hoping that if their was sufficient interest, to do a bulk run and thus cut costs. I also took a bit of a punt and did a few extras, suspecting that requests might trickle in over the years.

They did. I sold my last extra a week ago. And then, you guessed it, I got that dreaded email, requesting a copy. So I am going to repeat the offer and see if I get enough requests to make it worth generating another run.

Update: Here’s one happy purchaser, who comments: “Go purchase its excellent and a valuable resource!”

Here’s the PhD details:

A New Way of Being Church is a world first, an indepth academic exploration of how the emerging church responds to cultural change. It asks the question; how effective is the emerging church as a postmodern expression of faith? It takes one particular church, the innovative Cityside Baptist Church in New Zealand. It surveys 48 members and discusses three months of worship innovation. It deeply engages with themes of community, creativity and culture, in dialogue with the gospel and with postmodern thinkers. It draws on interviews and visits with 13 alt.worship communities in UK.

The thesis argues that in response to contemporary cultural change, people are, in the words of French philosopher Michel de Certeau, “making do,” engaging in transformative processes to creatively subvert their surrounding context.

Three processes of “making do” were evident. Firstly, the use of a communitarian hermeneutic in which individual meaning was located within the narrative of the community. Secondly, the offering of imaginative space – both individual and communal – through practices of creative play, storytelling and creative pilgrimage. Thirdly, like a DJ, “tactics” of sampling from various cultural artefacts were used in order to renegotiate their relationship with gospel and culture.

Note: $NZ25 to cover printing costs plus P&P. (P&P approximately from NZ to USA or UK = $NZ20; From NZ to Australia = $NZ10, within NZ = $3.50). Credit card options for payment are available.

Note: This offer lasts until the 1 April 2006 and the thesis will be sent at the end of April or on receipt of payment, whichever is the latest.

Note: Usual copyright applies.

Note: This offer assumes that the purchaser recognises that a PhD is a PhD, written for a select intellectual audience. A PhD is a demanding read and it bears little resemblance to my book, the out of bounds church?

Drop me your details if interested.

Feel free to use the accompanying graphic to advertise this on your blog.
img alt=”thesis with title.jpg” src=”http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archives/images/thesis with title.jpg” width=”259″ height=”72″ border=”0″ /