Deep Church Rising: Countdown to publication

Getting excited: Deep Church Rising is published in just eight days time (17 July 2014).

Here is the blurb:

The major cultural changes in Western societies since the Reformation have created a serious challenge for the church. Modernity in particular has been inhospitable to Christian orthodoxy and many have been tempted to reject classical versions of the faith. This has led to a division within churches that Walker and Parry name "the third schism," a divide between those who believe and practice the central tenets of Christian tradition and those who do not.

The authors have adopted and adapted C. S. Lewis' phrase "deep church" to highlight the necessity of remembering our past in order to recover historic Christian orthodoxy. This book is a call to deep church, to remember our future, to make a half-turn back to premodernity; not in order to repeat or relive the past, but in order to draw on its rich yet often-forgotten resources for the here and now.

Andrew G. Walker is Emeritus Professor of Theology, Religion, and Culture at King’s College, London.
Robin A. Parry is an editor at Wipf and Stock Publishers.

And here is the table of contents:

Part I. The Third Schism: On Losing the Gospel
1. Introduction: The Third Schism and Deep Church
2. Modernity and Postmodernity: The Roots of the Third Schism

Part II. Deep Church: On Recovering the Gospel
3. Deep Roots: On Relating Scripture and Tradition
4. Deep Calls to Deep: Introduction to Chapters 5–7
5. Deep Faith: Orthodoxia as Right Believing
6. Deep Worship: Orthodoxia as Right Worship
7. Deep Living: Orthopraxia as Right Practice
8. Deep Transformation: Recovering Catechesis
9. Deep Church: A Eucharistic Community

Appendix 1: The Nicene Creed and the Filioque
Appendix 2: Deep Church and Fundamentalism


Comments

Anonymous said…
looking forward to this!

I see you are dealing with orthodoxia under the two headings of right believing and right worship (Part II nos 5 & 6)
Robin Parry said…
Anonymous

Indeed we are. The two cannot be pulled apart and are both covered by the term.
Anonymous said…
Explain.
Robin Parry said…
Ah, but that would be a spoiler. The book explains all—well, it attempts to.
Sounds great Robin; I look forward to reading it.
Micah said…
Thanks for the compelling book, Robin. Appreciate the fresh look at the importance of proper foundations informing our beliefs, worship, actions -- keeping things 'Gospel-shaped'.

Am especially feeling a hunger for a different depth of worship, myself: something with more reverential, vertical focus and not as much of a pop concert barrage, which seems a bit too horizontally focused. Sometimes I wonder if that's just me being selfish over trivial preferences and styles -- but your descriptions of the advantages of traditional, multi-sensory, liturgical worship resonate with what I've been longing for, for quite some time now, at least in balance with the other approaches.

Couple of my politically libertarian toes slightly stepped on here and there :) (would differentiate between true free-market capitalism, which neither liberals nor conservatives tend to support, and crony capitalism which arises from State distortions and corruptions in the market, etc.), but I appreciated the larger point about the dependence of rights, liberties on the meaning, the 'telos' for humanity, that can only come from the traditional Gospel, from Love. And it was fascinating to read about the subversive, counter-cultural nature of the Eucharist -- hadn't considered it in that light before!
Micah said…
Oh...and was meaning the larger point of radically reassessing our political, cultural, social biases and having them shaped by that core Gospel. Seems that just such a radical reevaluation of everything truly hanging on Love God, Love thy neighbor has personally led to a new appreciation of non-violence, non-aggression inherent in the promotion of Liberty -- a platform for the voluntary giving back in Love, the voluntary dethroning of selfish ambition, and the aspiration to be the servant of all, as Christ is the Servant of all. Not through external coercion of church or state, but through the willing heart. A Gospel-shaped liberty, if you will. Thanks again for the inspiring book.
Robin Parry said…
Thanks so much for your kind words Micah. I am encouraged. If you were able to post a short review of two or three sentences on amazon that would be much appreciated.
Micah said…
And...done :)

Oh, I also meant to check back on the Celtic Christianity and Christian Platonism books you had mentioned some time ago. Looking forward to adding to my reading list when they're out.
Robin Parry said…
Micah

I wonder if I meant Paul Tyson's "Returning to Reality" and Johan Gavin's "A Celtic Christology"

both are now out
Robin Parry said…
John Gavin, sorry
Micah said…
Ah, excellent! Guess I know what I'll being doing with my Amazon gift card I received the other day. :)
Robin Parry said…
I ought to warn you that Eriugena (the subject of Gavin's book) is fascinating, but his views of material embodiment are unhelpful. That said, he was very bright and interesting and devout

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