Biographical Information:
Ryan Bolger joined the Fuller faculty in 2002 and is associate
professor of church in contemporary culture in the School of Intercultural
Studies. With his research focusing on the emerging and missional church
movements, he teaches classes on contemporary culture, including postmodern and
new media cultures, exploring the implications of these cultures for Christian
witness.
With Fuller’s Senior Professor of Church Growth Eddie Gibbs, Bolger
co-authored Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Communities in
Postmodern Cultures (2005), based on research and interviews with church
leaders throughout the United States and United Kingdom.
His publications include chapters in Mass Culture (2008), Worship
That Changes Lives (2008), An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (2008), and
Evangelical, Ecumenical, and Anabaptist Missiologies in Conversation: Essays in Honor of
Wilbert R. Shenk (2006). He has also published articles in Missiology> and the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science and is a frequent conference speaker on church and culture.
For his research on pastoral leadership in the emerging church, Bolger received an award from Duke
Divinity School in 1999, and in 2005, he received an award from Yale for his
teaching on American culture and the gospel.
He is a member of the Allelon Mission to Western Culture Project and,
additionally, has been one of the founding voices in the dialogue between the
emerging church and emerging synagogue.
Courses Taught:
MC500 Church and Mission
MC520 New Religious Movements and the Growth of the Church
MC532 Evangelizing Nominal Christians
MC535 The Emerging Church in the 21st Century
MP520 Transforming Contemporary Culture
MP550 Mission in American Culture
Areas of Expertise, Research, Writing, and Teaching:
Emerging church, missional church, church growth, culture, contextualization, local theology, Jesus and mission