Project:Knowledge
Produce for Europe's churches high-quality writing and research in theology and spiritual development.
We are seeking to collaborate on research projects that deepen our knowledge of God, of the soul and of the processes of Christ-empowered spirituality.
We want to write about topics relevant to contemporary European spirituality and church life in ways that communicate beautifully.
Current
Research & Writing
Areas
Christian Psychology
If you're going to work on cars, you'd better understand how cars work. Psychology, the study of human nature, used to be a major part of training to be a pastor or priest. It makes sense. If you're going to work on people (or with them), you'd better understand how people work. But the historical division of theological studies into OT and NT, church history, systematic theology and practical theology has not allowed Europeans to gain much competence in this area. This obviously has had an effect on the models and methods used in Europe to help people grow spiritually - whether through church services or in discipleship or catechetical programs or through books and retreats. We envision a collaborative effort from theologians, social scientists and philosophers to increase our knowledge of what a human being is.
The Thought of Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was a multi-disciplinary thinker. He studied psychology and theology but became a professional philosopher at the University of Southern California. He is most known for five books which presumably deal with Christ-empowered spirituality but are founded in his vast knowledge of theology, philosophy and psychology. Though an American, he is especially relevant for Europe because his research looked into many of the same questions which motivate European thought. In addition to the work already done, for the future we have interest in the importance of philosophical realism for Christian thought and in translating more of his books into more European languages.
Habits of Highly Transformational Churches
Conceived is a broad ethnographic study of leading and average churches across Europe to determine what habits of thought and action are conducive to a pastor and his/her community which regularly produces great men and women of God. Our assumption is that these habits of thought and action are trans-contextual, that is, what works well in Sweden will, with some minor changes, also work well in Italy. Our assumption is also that these habits are not haphazard and ad hoc, that is, that there is a kind of "method" to good transformational church life that will work year in and year out.