The Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture

2007 — Community

Introduction

The Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture are designed to foster original scholarship pertaining to youth and the contemporary church. The lectures are delivered as a series at the Princeton Forums on Youth Ministry and are published annually. Lecturers include scholars who are not directly involved in the practice or study of youth ministry but who can bring the fruits of their respective disciplines to bear on ministry with the young.

With its traditional emphasis on group activities, youth ministry cries out for reflection on the meaning of Christian community. How will we create a cohesive community among the youth in our congregations? What do we do when exclusive cliques threaten the health of the youth ministry? How will we engage young people with the wider faith community and with the communities in which we live? Should we try to draw adolescent loners into the youth group? What tools can we offer young people as they engage with other faith communities or communities from other nations?

Theological reflection on community is foundational for addressing these questions faithfully. The 2007 Princeton Lectures on Youth, Church, and Culture provide such reflection. Rather than offering simple steps for building community in your youth group, these lectures use the lenses of friendship, moral formation, reconciliation, and the African Christian concept of communal salvation to shed light on the meaning of Christian community and how it relates to ministry with the young.

2007 Lectures

• Michael Battle
  • Is Anyone (Even the Devil) Irreconcilable?
  • Practicing Reconciliation in a Violent World
• Stanley Hauerwas
  • Carving Stone, or, Learning to Speak Christian
  • Why Did Jesus Have to Die?: An Attempt to Cross the Barrier of Age
• David J. Wood
  • The Recovery and the Promise of Friendship
  • The Promise of Friendship and Practice of Ministry