I see this more and more often. Faith is no longer something we share among a community of believers, but a possession in the hands of an individual who will shape it to his or her liking. Perhaps this is the religious outworking of “liquid modernity,” a culture in which structures change so quickly that…
Bill Arnold, Maxie Dunnam, and I sit down for a conversation about the significance of Christian belief.
Recently I had the privilege of speaking with Odell Horne of the North Georgia Annual Conference and Dr. Daniel Castelo of Duke Divinity School on the nature of the God we worship as Christians. The conversation was a program for the United Methodist Men in that conference. Both of these conversation partners have very keen…
This semester the Doctor of Ministry group that Dr. Justus Hunter and I lead is reading the Commonitorium, by Vincent of Lerins. Writing in the wake of a very contentious Council of Ephesus (431), Vincent famously insisted that “in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been…
Methodnerds, this one’s for you. Recently the Council of Bishops asked the Judicial Council to rule on the constitutionality of the plans that have come from the Commission on a Way Forward. (If you understand that sentence, you are a Methonerd.) My interest here is not in the rulings on specific proposals within the two…
We’ve probably all heard by now about Senator Dianne Feinstein’s remarks toward Roman Catholic judicial nominee Amy Barrett: Dogma and law are two different things. I think, whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different; in your case, Professor [Barrett], when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws…
My last post generated some strong reactions. Thanks to those of you who took the time to provide constructive feedback and keep the conversation going. Many of you told me that our unity in the UMC is not simply located in our polity but in Jesus Christ. Jesus is what unites us. I want to…
There are many people who labor under the mistaken impression that United Methodism is a non-doctrinal tradition. United Methodist identity, the argument goes, is constituted by a theological method rooted in a commitment to scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, but not in any particular claims about God, Christ, or salvation. This understanding of United Methodism…
No, I’m not talking about Millennials or Baby Boomers, though if I were it would certainly increase the number of hits on this post. I’m a member of that rather ill-defined group that we call Generation X. I recently read a post by a good friend of mine on a site called Waltbox. It wasn’t…
The Independent recently published an article regarding controversy in the UK over the genetic modification of embryos, and the government’s alleged attempts to obscure the nature and consequences of such treatments: The [UK] Government has been accused of misleading the public over the introduction of a new in vitro fertilisation (IVF) technique that some experts believe will…