Our First Live Podcast: The Future of Methodism at #ST19
The recent Spirit and Truth Conference was a great experience! The worship was amazing and we heard from powerful speakers and preachers.
Methodism Means Connectionalism
I take it for granted that the UMC will begin a formal division after the 2020 General Conference. We no longer practice a common polity, and thus we cannot hold together as an institution. As the Academic Dean of a seminary, I have lots of conversations with pastors. Most understand the reality we now face…
Book Announcement: Words that Heal
I’m excited to announce the arrival of a new book by my colleague, Dr. Joni Sancken, Associate Professor of Homiletics at United Theological Seminary. The book is called Words That Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls (Abingdon, 2019, 122 pp.). From the back of the book: Words That Heal: Preaching Hope to Wounded Souls offers students and preachers…
A Few Reflections on the 2019 General Conference
I wanted to get some distance from the General Conference before writing. It was an gut-wrenching experience, full of sadness and conflict. If you were a delegate, I can’t imagine how hard it was. I’m sorry for what you went through. Since I returned I’ve been pondering a tweet by Chris Ritter: The folks back…
Did John Wesley Affirm Total Depravity?
In short, yes. For those of you who are interested in more detail, a few days ago I tweeted the following: Reading Wesley on original sin. I’ve heard people say that JW did not affirm total depravity. He certainly did. A Wesleyan allergy to Calvinism shouldn’t cause us to see difference where it doesn’t exist.…
On the Authority of Scripture
I was recently invited to participate in a dialogue on the authority of Scripture at United Theological Seminary with friend, Rev. Dr. Mike Slaughter. We were each given fifteen minutes to talk about how we conceive of Scripture’s authority. The following is the basic text of my presentation. I’ve edited it a bit to make…
Remembering Who We Are
In 1995 Billy Abraham published a book called Waking from Doctrinal Amnesia. Its basic premise is that, within the United Methodist Church, we have forgotten who we are and what we stand for. United Methodists are not the only Christians to have forgotten these basic markers of Christian identity. Throughout mainline Protestantism, increasingly in evangelicalism,…
The Miracle of Your Salvation (Advent, Christmas, and the Miraculous, Part 3)
Yes, the Christmas story is full of miracles: the virginal conception and birth, the birth of John the Baptist, the incarnation, the angelic heralds, the attendant prophecies…. There is, however, another miracle that we don’t always talk about this time of year, though it is described beautifully in the poetry of Charles Wesley’s “Hark! The…
On the Virginal Conception and Birth of Christ (Advent, Christmas, and the Miraculous, Part 2)
There are some Christian beliefs that through the centuries the Church has left broadly open for debate. For example, there is no single canonical doctrine of atonement. Rather, Christians through the centuries have affirmed that while Christ did atone for our sins, we have a range of options for understanding this truth. We have remained…
Advent, Christmas, and the Miraculous, Part 1
This is the first of a few posts (I hope) on Advent, Christmas, and the miraculous. To get at the these topics, though, I have to lay down a basic framework for discussion. So… if you can make your way through this geeky first post, you might find it helpful in thinking about the miracles…
David F. Watson 