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* A spiritual person, and a Christian. Ever since I read the story of Jesus as a teenager, his teaching and example have been my personal inspiration and role model. * A student of all things spiritual: for my doctorate, I studied Gnosticism – which equipped me better than I ever imagined for understanding the spiritual search of today’s people. * A researcher and reflective practitioner on what it means to be Christian in our fast-changing culture. * A lover and husband to Olive Fleming Drane. We fell in love as teenagers and have been together ever since. We’re both interested in creative spirituality, and work together professionally, as well as having our own individual career paths. Since we share the same life story, you can discover a lot of other things about me from Olive's book: Clowns, Storytellers, Disciples (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 2004). * Part of the 'establishment': I’ve been active on the national church scene in Britain, and internationally, for most of my adult life, and right now I’m co-chair of the Mission Theological Advisory Group (jointly sponsored by the Mission & Public Policy Committee of the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England and by the Global Mission Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland). * Adventurous in mission: in recent years I have met with lots of top church leaders and spent a weekend with HM Queen Elizabeth II, but I can also be found meeting with spiritual searchers in psychic fairs and mind, body, spirit festivals – or in emerging churches. * A traveler: I spend a lot of time speaking at conferences and seminars, meeting people around the world, listening to their stories, looking to see where God is at work in the world. * An optimist: I really do believe the world could be better, and that it will be, if we all make a spiritual connection. * A writer: I’ve written scores of books for both children and adults, all of them on spiritual and Christian themes. At the last count, they had been translated into more than 60 languages, with more being added all the time. Finally - and since almost everyone I meet seems to ask me about it - why did I resign from what I thought was going to be my dream job for life, teaching practical theology at Aberdeen University in Scotland? It's not an easy question to answer. One factor was my impatience with the lack of transparency that seems to be endemic to all institutions (including the church!). But the main one was that, despite the popularity of my courses among the students, I was wasting too much nervous energy dealing with a colleague who seemed to have no real interest in the subjects that I am passionate about and who actively undermined my credibility within the institution. I decided to take to heart those Gospel injunctions about shaking the dust off one's shoes in the face of rejection, and offering my services to theological educators and church leaders who would share my vision. In the event, there have turned out to be rather a lot of them, from a wide variety of theological and ecclesiastical traditions, and I've probably never been busier than I am now, with requests from all over the world to teach, lead seminars and workshops, edit journals, and of course continue to write the sort of books that are both intellectually well founded and also useful to practitioners in ministry. Deciding to give up on an ancient Scottish university (especially one that had nurtured my spirituality when I was myself a young student) was a painful process that I would not like to repeat. On the positive side, though, I've since met many people around the world who have helped to restore my confidence (and trust in human nature) by affirming the value of my work in ways that traditional Scottish theological educators were unable to do. In addition, it's freed me up to do more work in partnership with Olive, which has been a big bonus. Maybe that really is my dream job! | |||||
| ___________________________________________________________________________________________ As well as The McDonaldization of the Church, my other writings include: * ‘What does maturity in the emerging church look like?' in Steven Croft (ed), Mission-shaped Questions: defining issues for today’s church (London: Church House Publishing, 2008) * ‘Alpha and Evangelism in Modern and Post-Modern Settings’, in Andrew Brookes (ed), The Alpha Phenomenon: theology, praxis and challenges for mission and church today (London:CTBI 2007), 370-384 * [With Olive Fleming Drane] 'Worship and Preaching', in Janet Wootton (ed), This is our Story: Free Church Women’s Ministry (Peterborough: Epworth Press 2007), 50-67 * 'From Creeds to Burgers: religious control, spiritual search, and the future of the world', in James R Beckford and John Walliss (eds), Theorising Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate 2006), 120-131. An abbreviated version of the same article is in George Ritzer, McDonaldization: the Reader (2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press 2006), 196-202. * Celebrity Culture (Edinburgh: Rutherford House 2006) * Do Christians know how to be Spiritual? The Rise of New Spirituality and the Mission of the Church (London: Darton Longman & Todd 2005). * ‘Contemporary culture and the reinvention of sacramental spirituality’, in Geoffrey Rowell & Christine Hall (eds), The Gestures of God: explorations in sacramentality (London: Continuum 2004), 37-55 * [With Olive Fleming Drane], Family Fortunes: Faith-full Caring for Today’s Families (London: Darton Longman & Todd 2004) * Cultural Change and Biblical Faith (Carlisle: Paternoster Press 2000) * [With Ross Clifford & Philip Johnson], Beyond Prediction: the Tarot and your Spirituality (Oxford: Lion 2001) And, of course, the best-selling books on the Bible: * Introducing the Old Testament, 2nd edition (Oxford: Lion 2000, and in the USA from Fortress Press) * Introducing the New Testament, 2nd edition (Oxford: Lion 1999, and in the USA from Fortress Press) * Introducing the Bible, 3rd edition with CD-ROM (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 2005) _________________________________________________________________________________________ The long-awaited sequel to The McDonaldization of the Church will be the lead title for Darton Longman & Todd's list in spring 2008, and will also be published in the USA by Baker Academic. Chapters on culture, community, mission, ministry, and theology, with a 'grand theory of everything' pulling together lots of different loose threads from some of my other recent writings. Even if I say it myself, I think it's a pretty good book. It will certainly offer plenty to think about, as well as giving some people plenty to argue about. But that's life, I guess, especially in the church! | |||||
| Based in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK Email:divineworkshops@johndrane.com Copyright © 2008 | |||||
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