|
|
|
|
Advance Comment
Fractured Dance
"How often is compelling and
life-changing dialogue invited or engaged in Christian
communities? Far too often we evaluate, assess, and
pontificate without developing the theoretical, let alone
personal, capacity to truly hear and receive a
perspective that differs from ours. Fractured Dance
steps into the cacophony of a divisive issue with
profound sensitivity and invites us to hear nuances and
ambiguity in light of a tender and broken-hearted
hermeneutics. Michael King's reading of community,
division, and a playful engagement with meaning offers
not an end point to conflict but a waypoint toward
truthful love. What a joy that theologically Reformed
psychologist can deeply profit from a Mennonite pastor
who courageously engages a raw conflict with the playful
hopefulness of a postmodern, Gadamerian hermeneutic.
Gadamer would be thrilled. Far more, Jesus is delighted
in this compelling, life-changing dialogue."
—Dan B. Allender, President, Mars Hill Graduate
School, Seattle, Washington
"An engaging and well-written
book, Fractured Dance will provide insights to all
who have an interest in exploring creative ways of
negotiating through conflict."
—Anita Pomerantz, Communication Department
Director, University at Albany, SUNY
"The issue of homosexuality runs
like a fault-line through most Christian denominations
and the dominant society. Polemical positioning on both
sides precludes the mere possibility of dialogue, much
less nuanced stances. That is why we all need Michael
King’s Fractured Dance. Drawing on the work
of Hans-Georg Gadamer, King argues for genuine dialogue
not as a path to a mealy-mouthed compromise but to
interpersonal transformation. While showing that such
dialogue has so far proved elusive, King also holds out
hope that traditional Mennonite commitments to community,
humility, and gelassenheit (yieldedness) may yet
make it possible. Fractured Dance may provide the
beginning of the dialogue it calls for, if only it finds
the partners who accept its invitation to dance."
—Gregory A. Clark, Associate Professor of
Philosophy, North Park University and member, Reba Place
Fellowship
"This book is a resource for all
who seek to assist the church in witnessing through its
communication practices to the unity and love amidst
conflict that Jesus said was the sign of true
discipleship. Furthermore, the book exemplifies
scholarship that maintains academic integrity while
remaining accessible to the church on whose behalf it
has, at least in part, been written.
"Finally, by addressing
forthrightly yet openly the critics of Gadamerian
communication theory, Michael King demonstrates how
academic argument can incorporate both commitment and
grace. In so doing, King offers an embracing and
constructive approach to theoretical discussion that
illustrates how the Gadamerian conversational practices
he advocates throughout the book might reshape not only
the public sphere of the church, but also the
argumentation styles of intellectuals."
—Gerald J. Biesecker-Mast, Associate Professor of
Communication, Bluffton College
"Having read Fractured Dance,
my spirit yearns once again for a church that exudes
grace. My heart longs for those sacred places where both
truth and love prevail. My mind reaches to understand a
world beyond my experience, out there on the horizons of
God's universe. Behind and sometimes through the
scholarly overlay of Michael King's book, one feels the
passion of a Jeremiah who cares deeply for the welfare of
his people in the midst of a tragic era. This is a book
for all those who care deeply about the church we are now
creating. This is a book for those who need to ponder the
ways in which diverse peoples must learn to joyfully live
together. This is a book for those who are called to work
at issues of polity - ways in which we communicate within
the church. This is a book for those who will cast their
vision for the church with the pulse of hope."
—John A. Esau, Columnist, Mennonite Weekly
Review
"Just as many traditional
Mennonites have historically eschewed dancing, so have
many eschewed "risking our prejudices" for
truth larger than our own. In the context of a history of
fractures, King utilizes Gadamer to redeem the dance of
relating and growing and changing around and within our
differences. Through careful analysis of a key situation
in the Mennonite Church, he has both highlighted the
failings and provided us with hope for the dances of the
future."
—Carolyn Schrock-Shenk, Associate Professor of
Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies, Goshen College
"In a controversy like that over
homosexuality, when opinions among Mennonites often
polarize, the dispassionate analysis of Fractured
Dance is a welcome and necessary addition. Through
his use of insights from historian and philosopher
Hans-Georg Gadamer, King reminds readers of underlying
values commonly held by Mennonites which makes dialogue
possible. Even readers with little or no previous
knowledge of Gadamer can be drawn in by the specific
application of his concepts to the struggle within the
Franconia Conference over Germantown Mennonite Church's
policy toward gays and lesbians.
"As one who loves a lively debate
with dissenters far more than a tacit refusal to discuss
controversial topics, this book encourages me to continue
the dance, fractured though it may be at times!"
—Reta Halteman Finger, Assistant Professor of New
Testament, Messiah College
Fractured Dance orders:
|
|
