Jigsaw Pieces and Fries To Go

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 16 August 2008 10:39:03

I kind of understand an ickle more about the adventure I'm going on....sort of. The source of my placing another piece of the jigsaw has been "After McDonaldization" by John Drane . I've been reading this and it's prequal "The McDonaldization of the Church" by the same author as my procrastination tools this week.

Both books take the "where are we now?" and "where should we be going?" type approach to looking at "the church" and can be broadly placed within the body of work that can be labelled "progressive evangelical" and possibly emerging/emergent - (I still don't really get the difference between the types of E). They take a specific mix of Interactionist / Social Action flavoured Sociology and mix it with gospel centered theology in order to reflect on what's going (wr)on(g) with the church in the UK at the beginning of the millenium and how we might start getting effective in mission. The approach he was taking was one which meant the books are highly readable, but leave you feeling a bit like you've eaten a Mc-a-D's. That is you end up filled but not satisfied. What I mean by that is Drane makes you think, and ask yourself questions and gives you the substance to feel like you've been filled with something substantial but doesn't give you alot of answers and so, in turn, leaves you unsatisfied. The reason for this is what the books are essentially urging us, (Christians), to do is become creative, reflective practioners who don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Now, this is where I turn away from the book review and explain where Drane fits into my current adventure and how the books have helped me fill in that piece of the jigsaw. Last December I had this "thing" going on with God, and so started surfing around to see where might be the right place to apply to try and study.Surfing around, and using the literature I had available there were two places which seemed to offer what I wanted and neither were going to be right for a single mum, living on a shoestring in England (one being Fuller in the US and the other being Regents in Canada). So I dived into bookshelf to see if I could get any inspiration, from any of the books I'd used in my MA dis, about who I could informally approach to see if they'd supervise me. The result of this process was I came up with John Drane as somebody who might be give me some advice. So Google being my friend I found his home page and sent off an e-mail.

His reply came back, giving me both encouragement and a name at a UK uni to approach. This was the point I realised that maybe I wasn't nuts and perhaps I could go for this. So anyway, I approached the name I'd been given and so started the chain of discussions and forms which led to the adventure becoming reality. Note, trying to do things by the book I also threw out my proposal to a few other uni's to see if anybody was interested in supervising, only one other came back with any enthusiasm. At the time I couldn't understand why those who were showing interest were being so positive, but having read "After McDonaldization" it makes a little more sense.

Drane's final chapter relates to doing theology, particularly practical theology. In it he argues that practical theology should involve us: "Doing the business" (i.e. looking at "what is the real question?"), as a result of and through interplay with four inter-related types of reflection - looking at "my reading: what do others say?", "my tradition: scripture and history", "my life experience: how does it impact on me personally?" and "my passions: what really excites me?". My adventure / research fits this model of practical theology perfectly. Therefore, it is clear that the interest in my proposal was dependent upon what understanding of "practical theology" people had. It is also clear, through Dranes writings why I have struggled so much with the funding process; traditional academic models and approaches don't favour this type of thing.

So the upshot of all this. I may, as suspected, to a certain extent blagged my way in by hitting a zeightgeist and it is unsurprising I have been so unsuccessful in succeeding with the "traditional" sources of funding. Also if, as the title of the book suggests, what I am doing is what practical theology will / should look like "After McDonaldization", (i.e. in the current age) and if, as it seems, I'm not mad in thinking this type of theology relates to mission activity then I actually feel much happier about the adventure.