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Welcome! At Signs and Wonders we sift through the World Wide Web looking for evidence of emerging religious futures. Our mission is to provide our readers -- religious futurists, ministers, and just plain spiritual people -- with a guided tour of the web, stopping wherever we see the future of faith unfolding before our eyes. We update this site every three days or so, so come back again and join us on our next trip. If you want to comment on anything you read here or discuss religious futures in general, come over to our forum. |
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March 14, 2000 [futures] -- Anatomy of the "Next Big Thing" by Cody Clark at 7:08 AM (EST)  In his book called "The Tipping Point", author Malcolm Gladwell examines the emergence of fads and trends by drawing analogies from epidemiology. He claims that most fads and trends grow like viruses in a population -- leisurely until they hit what he calls a "tipping point" after which it grows exponentialy and eventually dies out just as fast. You can read a review of the book here in the New York Times Book Review (free registration required). Futurists like to picture the issues life cycle as a smooth curve, with each emerging trend or idea moving continuously from the fringe media to the top of the five o'clock news. If Gladwell's thesis bears out in review, we futurists might want to see what if anything "The Tipping Point" could do to inform the way we track issues. [political] -- Christian Anarchy by Cody Clark at 6:55 AM (EST) An idea from the fringe. An interview and review in Shoot The Messenger concerns a book by Australian author Dave Andrews entitled "Christi-anarchy". While stripping Christianity of its religiosity in favor of spirituality is not a new idea, Andrews is advocating that Christians leave the organized Christian churches altogether and follow the actual teachings of Jesus in the gospel. Understandably, the book is quite controversial. Says the reviewer, "This is a truly offensive book - and the writer should be commended." Christian Anarchy is a meme that bears watching. In the light of the well established "spiritual but not religious" phenomenon, it might catch on. |
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