Some time ago, Fr Michael Bennett, a missionary priest of the St Patrick’s Missionary Society (Kiltegan, Wicklow) now serving in South Africa, wrote a series of guest posts on this blog about the Irish Catholic Church. Now, Fr Bennett reflects on a post on this blog about a talk given by Dr Peter Rollins at [...]
Are there any Christians in Religionless Christianity?
In the West, where ‘institutionalised’ forms of Christianity seem more tired, creaky and discredited by the day, some people involved with ‘emergence Christianity’ or the ‘emerging church’ are advocating a ‘religionless’ approach to Christianity. The term ‘religionless Christianity’ is associated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler during the [...]
Emerging Women? Is the Emerging Church Dominated by White Men?
During the question and response time at a seminar last week by Dr Peter Rollins (a philosopher whose ideas have been associated with the emerging church movement), a member of the audience asked: where are all the women? About 30 people had turned up to listen to Rollins, and there were only three women among [...]
Brian McLaren Book Review: What Else is New about A New Kind of Christianity?
Back in March, I noted the intensity of the debate that had been provoked by Brian McLaren’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith. Now that I’ve had a chance to read the book, I’m struck by how so many of the book reviews that I read before [...]
Peter Rollins Seminar: The Uprising of Christ
Dr Peter Rollins, a Research Associate with Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics) returned to Belfast today for a seminar on ‘The Uprising of Christ: The Resurrection as Insurrection.’ Rollins is currently based on the east coast of the US. Rollins is fresh off his Insurrection Tour of US and Canadian [...]
Peter Rollins Seminar on ‘The Uprising of Christ: Resurrection as Insurrection,’ May 4, 2010
Peter Rollins will be back in Belfast following the largely US-orientated Insurrection Tour with a seminar, ‘The Uprising of Christ: Resurrection as Insurrection,’ at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (The Irish School of Ecumenics, 683 Antrim Road) on Tuesday 4 May 2010 from noon-1 pm. Expect Rollins to expand and clarify some of the ideas [...]
John Carroll Book Review: The Existential Jesus
I have a both a scholarly and a personal interest in emergence Christianity. It’s no secret that among those involved with emergence Christianity, criticism of church institutions is quite fashionable these days. There are some within emergence Christianity who think that the churches have entirely missed the point about Jesus and his life on Earth. [...]
Brian McLaren: A New Kind of Christianity?
Two weeks ago at the Re-Emergence conference in Belfast, Phyllis Tickle said that in the past 18 months, she had detected ‘emergence’ Christians beginning to distance themselves ever farther from the evangelical roots from which so many of them had come. The controversy brewing in the US over Brian McLaren’s new book, A New Kind [...]
Samir Selmanovic Book Review: It’s Really All About God – Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian & The Re-Emergence Conference, Belfast
Samir Selmanovic is conducting a workshop at the upcoming ‘Re-Emergence: Christianity and the Event of God’ conference, set for March 16-18, 2010 in Belfast. If his recent book, It’s Really all about God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian (Jossey Bass, 2009) is anything to go by, Selmanovic will be looking to push the [...]
Matthew Engelke Book Review: A Problem of Presence – Beyond Scripture in an African Church. What Do the Masowe Apostles and Post-Modern Christians have in Common?
What can Christians in the West learn from the Masowe Apostles? Much can be gleaned from a remarkably insightful book, Dr Matthew Engelke’s A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Church (University of California Press, 2007). Not long ago on this blog, I reviewed Dr Isabel Mukonyora’s book about the Masowe Apostles, an [...]
About me

Welcome to Building a Church Without Walls, a website for people who are excited about how Christianity is developing in the 21st Century. I am a Lecturer and Coordinator of the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Studies Programme at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics).
Please note this is my personal site. All views are my own and are not representative of TCD.
My Posts On Slugger O’Toole
Church Without Walls Calendar
- What can the Churches Learn from Zimbabwe’s Masowe Apostles?: Isabel Mukonyora Book Review, Wandering a Gendered Wilderness February 3, 2010
- Jay Bakker: Book Review of Fall to Grace – Can Churches Find Enough Grace for Gay Marriage? February 15, 2011
- Fr Brian D’Arcy and his Critics: How Should Christians Talk about each Other? January 10, 2011
- Heresies and How to Avoid Them?: Thoughts on Ikon, Heretics and a Plea to Listen to Them February 5, 2011
- Fr Brian D’Arcy: Vatican Now Monitoring Outspoken Voice for the Faithful in Ireland April 27, 2012
- Pádraig Ó Tuama on Changing Attitude Ireland’s Welcome Leaflet: How Can the Churches Welcome LGBT People? May 18, 2012
- Harold Good on Johnston McMaster’s Overcoming Violence May 13, 2012
- Alberto Salazar’s 14 Minutes: Book Review – The Miracle of Everyday Faith? May 9, 2012
- An Assembly in the Irish Catholic Church: Any Closer? May 8, 2012
- I’m ‘In Conversation’ at Fitzroy Presbyterian, Sunday 6 May, 7 pm May 4, 2012
- Martin: By not being afraid to love them enough to offer t...
- Monty: There is much could be commented on here, but let ...
- rodney neill: just bought this book and look foward to reading i...
- Eric Conway: I did'nt see the letter they published Martin. My...
- Gladys Ganiel: Thanks, Slicer ... to be fair to Salazar, I don't...
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