A Convergent Model of Renewal: Remixing the Quaker Tradition in a Participatory Culture

A Convergent Model of Renewal addresses a perceived crisis for faith traditions. How do we continue to value tradition while allowing for innovative and contextual expressions of faith to emerge? How do we foster deeper participation and decentralization of power rather than entrenched institutionalism? Drawing on insights from contemporary philosophy, contextual theology, and participatory culture, C. Wess Daniels calls for a revitalization of faith traditions. In A Convergent Model of Renewal he proposes a model that holds together both tradition and innovation in ways that foster participatory change. This convergent model of renewal is then applied to two case studies based in the Quaker tradition: one from the early part of the tradition and the second from an innovative community today. The model, however, is capable of being implemented and adapted by communities with various faith backgrounds.

Author: C. Wess Daniels earned a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. His areas of interest are church renewal, missiology, participatory culture, contextual theology, and the Quaker tradition. He was the released minister (pastor) at Camas Friends Church, a Quaker meeting in Camas, WA from 2009 to 2015. In 2015, Wess became the William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College.  Wess has travelled and taught widely among Friends, including courses at George Fox Seminary and Earlham School of Religion. He served as a co-editor for the publication Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices, a book that brought together Young Adult Friends from seventeen countries and the many branches of Friends.

ISBN: 9781498201193

Publisher: Wipf & Stock

2014

8/15/16 JBB