A Primer On Innovation Theology

What does innovation have in common with theology? More than you might think. Both are ways people attempt to make sense. Both have to do with value and knowledge creation. Both have much to say about change and how we respond to it (or not). And both affect human culture and physical realities with implications for generations to come. A Primer on Innovation Theology explores the territory where innovating and theology intersect. At this intersection, the Primer pours a theological foundation for innovators who aim to create new value for the common good, realize sustainable more than acquisitive value, and pursue generous and just relationships more than merely transactional ones. Adapted from the larger, original volume Innovation Theology: A Biblical Inquiry and Exploration, A Primer is intended for lay audiences, especially innovators, intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs, and investors who are theologically curious about their own roles and responsibilities. Change is unrelenting. How we choose to respond can insolate, insulate, or innovate. If we choose to innovate, our aim is to create new value for others. The success and failure of these aims may reveal whether we are innovating where the plumb lines of God may be more important than the bottom lines of our efforts, in other words, in the company of God.

What does innovation have in common with theology? More than you might think. Both are ways people attempt to make sense. Both have to do with value and knowledge creation. Both have much to say about change and how we respond to it (or not). And both affect human culture and physical realities with implications for generations to come. A Primer on Innovation Theology explores the territory where innovating and theology intersect. At this intersection, the Primer pours a theological foundation for innovators who aim to create new value for the common good, realize sustainable more than acquisitive value, and pursue generous and just relationships more than merely transactional ones. Adapted from the larger, original volume Innovation Theology: A Biblical Inquiry and Exploration, A Primer is intended for lay audiences, especially innovators, intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs, and investors who are theologically curious about their own roles and responsibilities. Change is unrelenting. How we choose to respond can insolate, insulate, or innovate. If we choose to innovate, our aim is to create new value for others. The success and failure of these aims may reveal whether we are innovating where the plumb lines of God may be more important than the bottom lines of our efforts, in other words, in the company of God.

Innovation Theology: A Biblical Inquiry and Exploration invites seminary leaders to explore an uncharted territory--theology for innovating. This unexplored terrain of practical and applied theology holds gems of substantive and practical wisdom for innovating in the marketplace, society, and church. Innovation Theology brings theological perspectives to the challenges of innovating and promises to transform how we make sense of change and where (and why) we choose to innovate. Innovation Theology makes the case that God continues to create and continues to invite us, through change, to co-create new value for others (i.e., innovate). Innovation Theology explores where discovery, invention, and value creation intersect (or not) with the intentions of God. Not to be confused with workplace spirituality, business ethics, or critiques of technology, theology for innovating can encourage scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to aim their innovating toward the common good, not just in response to the invisible hand of the market. Innovation Theology invites us to make meaning before money, aim for plumb lines before bottom lines, and reattach extrinsic to intrinsic value. The one for whom all things are possible is interested, invested, and engaged in innovating. Are we innovating with him, or not?

A comprehensive collection of resources showing students of theology how to prepare and write creative research-oriented material The Craft of Innovative Theology: Argument and Process delivers a thorough examination of the method of producing and writing creative theological theses and projects, explaining to students how to write elegant, innovative research-oriented articles. Through a collection of papers written by distinguished scholars, the text exhibits numerous examples of well-executed creative writing on topics as varied as theodicy and evolution, and artificial intelligence and baptism. Each article includes an introduction by the editor that serves to guide the student through the material and elucidates what makes the work stand out as exceptional. The articles are also annotated to assist with the appreciation of the methodology and style used by the author. The Craft of Innovative Theology assists theology students in improving their research writing to a point where they’ll be ready for a Masters’ thesis or PhD dissertation, and is an excellent resource for a research methods course in a graduate program. The works incorporated by the editors include: A thorough introduction to God and the Incarnation, including knowing God through religious pluralism An exploration of God and church, including racial stigma and the southern Baptist public discourse in the twentieth century, and the appropriateness of baptizing artificial intelligence A discussion of God and the world, including where humanity has come from and where we’re going, and the challenges posed by biological evolution to Christian theology A treatment of God and ethics, including sin and the faces of responsibility Perfect for students of postgraduate theology and research methods courses, The Craft of Innovative Theology: Argument and Process will also earn a place in the libraries of students in courses that prepare them to write a Masters’ thesis in theology or to begin shaping their PhD dissertation topic.

This book offers a practical theology of innovation. It provides rich insights mixed with stories of change in establishing young adult formation, nurturing reconciliation, planting community gardens and rural cafes. Built for Change demonstrates that collaborative change is both practical and possible. Innovation is not the mysterious pursuit of what is new and hip by a heroic leader. Rather, innovation grows out of a set of collaborative, practical actions shaped by the Biblical story and Christian traditions of innovation. Innovation requires six strengths: being a servant, gardener, builder, resource manager, fool and parent. This makes innovation a team project, emerging as each discerns their strengths, defines their limits and grows as a differently gifted group. Innovation, therefore offers an invitation to spiritual practices that are deep and wide, inward and outward. It emerges from our followership of Jesus the innovator.

The surge of theological education in the Majority World has highlighted the inadequacy of Western methods of learning for the task at hand. This book presents innovations in research and documentation that demonstrate how we may better prepare theological leadership through means that are contextually relevant and locally meaningful.

"This book offers an approach to Christian ethics. It does so first by organizing Christian ethics around the virtue of practical wisdom and suggesting what the guiding vision of a Christian practical wisdom should be. Second, it provides an account of practical wisdom that integrates literature drawn from the fields of philosophy, psychology, evolutionary theory, and the neurosciences. Reconceptualizing Christian ethics in this way can help us address-but not resolve once and for all-in a faithful way the challenges of our divided age"--

In this new paperback edition of the classic bestseller, you'll be taken on a hilarious, fast-paced ride through the history of ideas. Author Scott Berkun will show you how to transcend the false stories that many business experts, scientists, and much of pop culture foolishly use to guide their thinking about how ideas change the world. With four new chapters on putting the ideas in the book to work, updated references and over 50 corrections and improvements, now is the time to get past the myths, and change the world. You'll have fun while you learn: Where ideas come from The true history of history Why most people don't like ideas How great managers make ideas thrive The importance of problem finding The simple plan (new for paperback) Since its initial publication, this classic bestseller has been discussed on NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and at Yale University, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Google, Amazon.com, and other major media, corporations, and universities around the world. It has changed the way thousands of leaders and creators understand the world. Now in an updated and expanded paperback edition, it's a fantastic time to explore or rediscover this powerful view of the world of ideas. "Sets us free to try and change the world."--Guy Kawasaki, Author of Art of The Start "Small, simple, powerful: an innovative book about innovation."--Don Norman, author of Design of Everyday Things "Insightful, inspiring, evocative, and just plain fun to read. It's totally great."--John Seely Brown, Former Director, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) "Methodically and entertainingly dismantling the cliches that surround the process of innovation."--Scott Rosenberg, author of Dreaming in Code; cofounder of Salon.com "Will inspire you to come up with breakthrough ideas of your own."--Alan Cooper, Father of Visual Basic and author of The Inmates are Running the Asylum "Brimming with insights and historical examples, Berkun's book not only debunks widely held myths about innovation, it also points the ways toward making your new ideas stick."--Tom Kelley, GM, IDEO; author of The Ten Faces of Innovation