Curtis A. Bronzan

If you need to contact me, I’ll be here, waiting for Godot:

The books on the left symbolize the completion of the coursework for my ThM, with nothing but the 8 unit thesis left to write. These books formed my final two classes, Missiological Integration with Douglas McConnell and a reading on postmodern culture with Barry Taylor.

I’ll be spending the summer doing some unofficial reading in order to present my thesis proposal in September, in order to begin writing in the fall. If all goes well, I’ll have a rough draft ready by the end of the year, which will function as a writing sample for the PhD program. But we’ll see about that.

Got Kester Brewin’s new book Other: Loving Self, God and Neighbour in a World of Fractures in the post today. Looks like the box had something of a difficult time en route from the UK, but the books inside are in good condition.

I can’t wait to get into it, but need to finish up some writing first (on Rene Girard, Jacques Derrida, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Gianni Vattimo). I’ll try to post some of that here.

I’m working through Friedrich Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer for my continued ThM research. This bit speaks specifically to my desire to propose the de(con)struction of the church, or how to theologize with a hammer, or how to circle the institution by crossing it out:

Our institutions are no longer fit for anything: everyone is unanimous about that. But the fault lies not in them but in us. Having lost all the instincts out of which institutions grow, we are losing the institutions themselves, because we are no longer fit for them. Democracy has always been the declining form of the power to organize. I have already, in Human, All Too Human, characterized modern democracy, together with its imperfect manifestations such as the ‘German Reich’, as the decaying form of the state. For institutions to exist there must exist the kind of will, instinct, imperative which is anti-liberal to the point of malice: the will to tradition, to authority, to centuries-long responsibility, to solidarity between succeeding generations backwards and forwards in infinitum… The entire West has lost those instincts out of which institutions grow, out of which the future grows: perhaps nothing goes so much against the grain of its ‘modern spirit’ as this. (104-105)

So, the first day we were here for pre-conference intensives, though the real deal started yesterday. As such, yesterday, the influx of all kinds of people with lap tops showed up and made accessing the church’s free wireless access rather difficult. But, I’ve got a little bit today… for now.

We’re definitely in the heart of southern Christian culture. Notice the overpriced menu option. And the product line, though, let’s be honest: I’ll be lugging a bunch of books home.

The large group gathering included a talk by Louie Giglio, while the seminars I attended were called Gathered and Scattered, led by the authors of the new book And, as well as a seminar with Reggie McNeal on leadership. He’s funny.

Last night, around 1:30am local time, the fire alarm went off. Which was awesome.

I was pretty confused at first, thinking my cell phone alarm had gained a few decibels. Then, Dana said, “hey man, we gotta go downstairs.”

I replied, “all of us?” (as if I could have gone back to sleep)

Upon exiting through the emergency stairwell, we found a whole bunch of people standing there afraid to go out in the rain. I turned to Beth and said, “Let’s get outta here. I’d rather be wet than claustrophobic.”

The next hour and a half were spent out in the rain waiting for the fire marshall to give permission to turn it off. Turns out the rain had tripped the system. And I got back to sleep around 3ish.

So, I’m pretty sleepy.

I’m currently in a seminar regarding building a core movement of leaders in a church.

Pray that I might continue to be blessed with free coffee.

So, after a couple days in Fort Pierce with the Rev. Dr. Dana Allin, his wife the Rev. Beth Allin, and their adorable three children, I’m en route to the Exponential Conference with the pastors Allin and an Associate Pastor who serves with them at Indian River Presbyterian Church.

Before leaving John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana a few days ago, I met a woman who asked where I was travelling.

“To a conference,” I replied.

“For work?”

“Yeah.”

“Ooh,” she replied, with a frown.

“Oh, no. I’m excited about it.”

“What kind of work are you in?”

“Uh,” I replied, not sure how to repond, “I’m a pastor.”

Her initial response was one of shock, and quite funny, but I won’t get into that now.

What followed was a wonderful conversation regarding spiritual matters. The middle aged woman with whom I had the pleasure of speaking lived literally one block away from Cassie and I, but worked all the way down at the airport. God has a serious sense of humour (and yes, the ‘u’ in rumour is because He’s British).

The woman is a member of Self Realization Fellowship, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, of whom I’m somewhat familiar. She explained, “well, Paramahansa Yogananda sought to unite Jesus’ teaching with Eastern thought.”

My response may have surprised her even more than the fact that I knew who Yogananda was: “Well, Jesus was Eastern.” Jesus did not divide life into smaller bits, but engaged it holistically. I didn’t have a chance to talk much longer with her, as I had to catch a plane.

But the irony stuck with me: I’m travelling to a conference on the other side of the continent to think about being church in my community, for people like this woman. Which is one of the things I hate about conferences.

But, we just arrived. So, let’s do this. May it be a time of Sabbath rest, Sabbath reflection, and Sabbath work.

So, I’ve been offered an ordained “pastor” position at the church where I’ve had the honor of serving since 2006. It’s been approved by the Committee on Ministry of the Los Ranchos Presbytery, though there’s two more hoops to jump through:

1) This Sunday, February 21st, I’ll be preaching at the church in all three services, after which there’ll be a congregational meeting, where they’ll vote.

2) Then, on Thursday, February 25th, I’ll go before “the floor” of the Presbytery (which is made up of all the pastors and delegated elders in the area) who will examine me, asking me any theological question they’d like. And I get to answer it! How fun.

So, if you’re in the LA area and would like to swing by – especially Thursday’s meeting – it’d be really great to have some familiar faces in the crowd.

3) Then, if I get through all that, we’re throwing an ordination service/party on Sunday, March 21st, in Los Alamitos. Put it on your calendar.

At that party you can jokingly refer to me as “pastor.” After that, it’s back to Curtis.

Calling me pastor is flat out unbiblical. Really. Check out Matthew 23.

Grades were due for the fall quarter at Fuller today, which means that after a couple busy weeks of grading 50+ final papers, I’m now able to return to some of my own research interests. I won’t begin actually writing my ThM thesis until this summer (after a required integration course in the spring), though this quarter I have the opportunity for another directed study with Barry Taylor, a professor who has significantly shaped my thinking in past courses as well as a previous directed study.

The first section of my ThM thesis will specifically examine Jesus’ action in the temple through detailed exegetical work. From there, however, I’m not exactly sure how best to proceed in arguing for a (post)modern de(con)struction of (our) temples that remain faithful to Jesus’ prophetic action.

As such, this quarter I’ll be examining the theological impact of a few different thinkers, some of whom I’m somewhat familiar with (Derrida, Vattimo, and Girard) and others of whom I’m not (Nietzsche, Rorty, and Foucault). Creating the reading list was rather difficult, especially considering T&T Clark’s recent “_____ and Theology” series as well as Baker’s Church and Postmodern Culture series. Ultimately, however, I’m excited about how it ended up – and am looking forward to conversations with Barry regarding the subject matter.