Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church

Kenda Creasy Dean

Apr 2004 · Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

About this ebook

Every stage of life brings out certain human characteristics, and according to Kenda Creasy Dean, adolescence is particularly characterized by passion. If the church is to speak meaningfully to youth and in turn reap the many benefits that young people have to offer, then its ministry must be predicated on passion the Passion of Christ, the passion of youth, and the passionate faith that results when these two things come together.

The uniqueness of Practicing Passion lies in its relocating youth ministry in practical theology rather than in educational theory or psychological or social development. While youth ministry has routinely capitalized on the passions of adolescents, little attention has been given to the theological mooring that youth need to connect with the church and hold firm amid the growing demands of popular culture. Focusing on the theological resonance between the Passion of Christ and adolescents experience of passion, Dean develops a framework for youth ministry that draws on the historic practices of the Christian community as a curriculum of passion.

Offering a compelling new model for reaching, discipling, and empowering today s young adults, Practicing Passion is a vital resource for anyone already engaged in or preparing for youth ministry.

Ratings and reviews

This was a terrible book. It is poorly written, suggests ridiculous theology, and almost completely without scripture. The book is slathered in footnotes and is difficult to read. The language serves to show how educated the author, not to convey a point or meaning. To show you my theological disgust with the book, I'll take you write to the first page, the introduction. She talks of Abraham when he goes to sacrifice his son on the mountain to God and has this to say. "No amount of searching the text or teaching or preaching it ever quelled the rage that mounted when I read that Abraham bound Isaac to an alter, automoton-like, following the divine dictum that he present his child as a burnt offering to God..." Did you catch that? AUTOMOTON-like. Yes, like a robot. She completely and entirely misses the character of Abraham, that of a loving father called to sacrifice his ONLY son. She does not see him as a heart-broken father putting God above all else, she sees him as a robot mindlessly doing what he's told. THIS on the very first page. The book gets worse from there. As I mentioned before, there is VERY little scripture in the whole book, and the only interesting things she says all appear to be quotes of other people. All the ideas presented are implied that they are good simply because she says they are. Further on, her writing implies she is a female pastor (very un-Biblical), that she believes in macro evolution (Richard Dawkins himself admits this leaves no room for God), and that adolescents are nothing but passion-filled moths drawn to the closest flame. All in all the book says youth are passionate. There. If you know that, you don't need to read the book. Everything else just repeats that mantra over and over. If I could rate this book lower, I would.

Too much theory and hardly any practical examples. The book is called practicing passion, but don't expect the author to explain how to actually accomplish this in your youth ministry setting. This book is for people who want to think about doing youth ministry rather than actually getting their hands dirty by doing youth ministry.

About the author

Kenda Creasy Dean is associate professor of youth, church, and culture and director of the Tennent School of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is also coauthor of The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry and coeditor of Starting Right: Thinking Theologically about Youth Ministry.