Entmoots and Such...

It all started with an Entmoot.

What the heck is an Entmoot you might ask? Well, in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy series "The Lord of the Rings", one of the races identified was Ents (essentially giant talking trees - see picture on right). Rarely, the Ents would gather for a discussion on matters of great importance - an Entmoot. And strange as it might sound, three friends of mine and I gather periodically for our own "Entmoots" (no, none of us is a giant tree, but we like to amuse ourselves by thinking we are meeting for discussions on matters of great importance).

Okay, back to the point. At one of our Entmoots (perhaps a year ago or so), the topic of spirituality came up (as it often does at such gatherings). But this time, two of my friends had recently read a book which had had a profound impact on them, causing a revolution in their thinking on things theological (especially - as a starting point - the concept of a literal interpretation of the Bible...more on that in a future blog entry). The resulting discussion was intriguing, yet scary at the same time. My first reaction was some combination of questioning, bewilderment and weak attempts at rebuttal. Future Entmoots continued down the same line of conversation, although with new books and thoughts being added as the Entmoots went by.

I finally decided that if I was to sit through more of these discussions and feel equipped to engage, I needed to dig in and read some of this nonsense my friends were talking about. I started with the same book as they did initially. While the book didn't result in the same form of revolutionary thought for me as for my friends, it was interesting to me. And with the benefit of having listened to various discussions at other Entmoots, I wandered off on my own exploratory journey of theology, God, Christianity, and so on. The result was encounters with such authors as Marcus J. Borg, John Shelby Spong, Bart Ehrman, Tom Harpur and others.

The result of this exploration - or PROSPECTING (in case you were wondering about the name of this blog) - thus far has been something of a personal reformation with respect to my views of God and Christianity (more on my background in the next blog entry). I consider the journey to be at its early stages only at this point, but I have moved far enough down this path, that I decided that I needed some forum to capture my evolving thoughts - hence, this blog.

Personally, unless I write something down, I find it difficult to completely formulate my thinking in a fullsome manner. So I intend to use this blog to help me accomplish this. My current vision (for lack of a better word) for this blog is to attempt to lay out my own set of "fundamental beliefs" and to use future blog entries to address each. I also anticipate addressing "random" related topics of interest. I'm sure this blog, like my thinking, will evolve over time, but for now, this is the direction I intend to pursue.

I invite your comments and feedback. Having said that, my intent is to not allow this blog to become a home for acrimonious debate. I welcome candid, comparative thoughtful discourse on the topics at hand, but would like this blog to be a model for how to discuss what can be contentious and emotional issues.

My hopes for the blog are similar to those found in the introduction to the book "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions", by Marcus J. Borg and N. T. Wright (1):

• That the blog will be "interesting and refreshing" to Christians and non-Christians and will help both to "grapple with points of view they might otherwise have dismissed without serious thought";
• That the blog's content might help "shift logjammed debates into more fruitful possibilities"; and,
• Somewhat selfishly, that the process of writing the blog will help me to "grow in [my] understanding of the subject matter, and enable others to do so as well".

With that, let's get started!

Notes (Throughout this blog, I anticipate making reference to, borrowing concepts, or quoting from books that I have read. I will attempt to provide credit where relevant.):

1. Marcus J. Borg and N. T. Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 1999).