Section 6: TRACK 1
A New WAY for a New Day
← Return to Seizing an Alternative | Section VI
Track 1: A New WAY for a New Day
There are many people who care about faith but are alienated from traditional institutions and doctrinal formulations. Among those who have given leadership to these people are Brian McLaren and Tripp Fuller. They will discuss both the beliefs and the potential communities among them.
Other Tracks in this Section
- Track 2: Christian Process Theology
- Track 3: Islam and Whitehead in Dialogue
- Track 4: Reclaiming Love for Paradise Here and Now
- Track 5: Reading the Bible for the Sake of the World
- Track 6: Reimagining and Mobilizing Religious Traditions in Response to the Eco-Crisis
- Track 7: The Jewish Contribution to Ecological Civilization
- Track 8: The Role of Whitehead in Indigenizing Christianity
- Track 9: Thomism and Whitehead: Partners or Opponents?
- Track 10: Islamic Response to the Global Ecological Crisis
- Track 11: Can Mormonism Contribute to Ecological Civilization?
Track Heads
Tripp Fuller
Tripp Fuller is married to an awesome lady Alecia and has a handsome young stud named Elgin Thomas (aka E.T.) and 2 little white fluffy dogs (Pebbles & Dino). He and Alecia are both graduates of Campbell University (where they met), the Divinity School of Wake Forest University and ordained ministers. He is working on his PhD in Philosophy of Religion and Theology at Claremont Graduate University. A few other things he digs are books, cigars, pipes, Shaq, guitar, pirates, fishing, the Counting Crows, and good conversations about Religion and Politics. He is perhaps best known as the host of the Homebrewed Christianity podcast, which is the most time consuming hobby he has ever had besides reading and blogging through Wolfhart Pannenberg’s 3 volume systematic theology.
Brian McLaren
Author, Speaker, Activist and Public Theologian
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an ecumenical global networker among innovative Christian leaders.
Born in 1956, he graduated from University of Maryland with degrees in English (BA, summa cum laude, 1978, and MA, in 1981). His academic interests included Medieval drama, Romantic poets, modern philosophical literature, and the novels of Dr. Walker Percy. In 2004, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree (honoris causa) from Carey Theological Seminary in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and in 2010, he received a second honorary doctorate, this one from Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal).
McLaren helped form Cedar Ridge Community Church, an innovative, nondenominational church in the Baltimore-Washington region and served as Pastor there until 2006. Brian has also been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors since the mid 1980’s, and has assisted in the development of several new churches. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings – across the US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His public speaking covers a broad range of topics including postmodern thought and culture, Biblical studies, evangelism, leadership, global mission, spiritual formation, worship, pastoral survival and burnout, inter-religious dialogue, ecology, and social justice.
He is primarily known, however, as a thinker and writer. His first book, The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in the Postmodern Matrix, (Zondervan, 1998, rev. ed. 2000) has been recognized as a primary portal into the current conversation about postmodern ministry. Other works include: Finding Faith (Zondervan, 1999), Adventures in Missing the Point (coauthored with Dr. Anthony Campolo, Zondervan, 2003), A Generous Orthodoxy (Zondervan, 2004), A New Kind of Christian (Jossey-Bass, 2001),The Story We Find Ourselves In (Jossey-Bass, 2003),The Last Word and the Word After That (Jossey-Bass, 2005),The Secret Message of Jesus (Thomas Nelson, 2006), Everything Must Change (Thomas Nelson, 2007), Finding Our Way Again (Thomas Nelson, 2008), A New Kind of Christianity (HarperOne, 2010),Naked Spirituality (HarperOne, 2011), Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Jericho Books, 2012), and his 2014 release, We Make the Road by Walking (Jericho Books, 2014).
Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and four grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife, ecology, fishing, hiking, music, art, and literature.
Postings from Seizing an Alternative
Suggested Resources
Links to Section-related books and media for pre-conference preparation include: