Memes, Ministry, and Meaningful Connections

So Andy and I just got back from this wild week in Berlin where we taught 25 folks about Bonhoeffer right there in his actual house - like, we're sitting in his bedroom, walking the same streets, the whole deal. And wow, this trip was different from the others because everyone kept asking the question that used to make me roll my eyes: "Is this our Bonhoeffer moment?" But after spending time with clergy who are dealing with ICE raids in their neighborhoods and congregations split over whether you can even mention certain realities from the pulpit, I'm not giggling at the Protestant saint thing anymore. We delved into the concrete messiness of what it meant for Niemöller and his congregation actually to resist, not just talk about it, and how Bonhoeffer's vision of a religionless Christianity might help us think through what happens when the entire Christian infrastructure starts to crumble. Plus, we got into some heavy stuff about whether the ethical gifts Christianity gave to Western civilization - you know, humanism, universalism, caring about the weak - can actually survive without the ritualistic and institutional foundations, or if we're just headed for some new form of authoritarianism. Oh, and somehow we ended up talking about Moltmann raw-dogging flights and the theological significance of Instagram memes, because that's apparently where we are now.

You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube

Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture, and younger generations.

Previous Visits with Andy Root

• Incarnation as Resistance
• Life Together in Turmoil & Bonhoeffer’s Experiment in Community
• Resonance in an Accelerated Age
• Secular Mysticism & Identity Politics
• the Church after Innovation
• Churches and the Crisis of Decline
• Acceleration, Resonance, & the Counting Crows
• Ministry in a Secular Age
• Christopraxis with Andy Root
• Faith Formation in a Secular Age
• the Promise of Despair

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