Additional information
by Brian J. Mahan (Author), Michael Warren (Author), David F. White (Author)
Youth ministry has increasingly lost touch with its origins in the way of Jesus and the social practices intrinsic to Christian discipleship, and has instead substituted layers of "Jesus talk," middle class values, fun and games, and doses of "warm fellow-feeling." Awakening Youth Discipleship articulates the history of this domestication of youth and ministry. Mahan, Warren, and White tell a story of the ways in which our society has colluded to shape a domesticated adolescence. The authors believe a Christian response to this challenge must be multilevel, addressing the problem at three levels--society, church, and individual. The authors propose reclaiming practices of discernment that both engage congregations in social awareness and involve individuals in discerning fuller vocational opportunities than those allowed by popular cultural norms.
Author Biography
Michael Warren is Professor for Religious Education and Catechetical Ministry in the Department of Theology, St. John's University, New York, and author of many books, including Youth, Gospel, Liberation (Harper Collins, 1987); Youth and the Future of the Church (Wipf & Stock, 2002); and At This Time In This Place (Trinity, 1999).
David F. White is the C. Ellis and Nancy Gribble Nelson Associate Professor of Christian Education at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Practicing Discernment with Youth (Pilgrim, 2005). Brian J. Mahan is the former director of Program in Religious Education at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and author of Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose: Vocation and the Ethics of Ambition(2002).
