"Being the Church in the Midst of Empire" Now Available for Purchase!

"Being the Church in the Midst of Empire: Trinitarian Reflections," ed. by Karen L. Bloomquist, is now available for purchase from Lutheran University Press! [Note: This book came out of the Lutheran World Federation seminar, "Confessing and Living Faith in the Triune God: Being the Church in the Midst of Empire," in which I was invited to participate this past June and which I further blogged about here and here.]

A book launching event was held on Friday evening, November 18, at First Lutheran Church in San Diego, where several of the authors were in town to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. Bishop Murray Finck, bishop of the Pacifica Synod, and several area Lutheran clergy joined us for the book launching event, which began with a dinner that was identical to one served earlier in the day to the homeless by First Lutheran (click here to learn about their ministry to the homeless and underserved). After dinner, each author was asked to share a word about what we had written and then we joined in conversation with the pastors about the realities of "being the church in the midst of empire" with regard to their ministry settings. It was a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Karen Bloomquist and Pastor Wilk Miller for organizing a fine event to launch this book!

Vatican joins historic talks to end 950-year rift with Orthodox church

Thanks to Bob Abrams for notifying me of this important story, which incidentally appeared in the New York Times on the day I was en route to the American Academy of Religion and various pre-meetings in San Diego--surprisingly, no one at the meeting mentioned this!!

Click here for the English text of the Ravenna document.