As you probably know, this year marks the 400 year anniversary of the King James Bible. As a way of marking this illustrious milestone, David Lyle Jeffrey has assembled a very fine group of scholars in the book, The King James Bible and the World It Made. Sometimes edited volumes can be hit and miss,…

I’m becoming more and more concerned about the divisiveness that I see within the Body of Christ.  In the recent edition of Keeping in Touch, a publication for United alums, I have an article about how we are attempting to address this issue and promote Christian unity at United. If you’d like to see it, you…

I went to a great event today at Hyde Park Community UMC in Cincinnati. The topic was “‘Special Needs’ Training for the Church.” The focus was on people with Autism and Down syndrome. There was so much information it would be impossible to summarize. It did start off with some provocative questions, though: Do churches…

My friend Jamie Clark-Soles, who teaches at Perkins School of Theology, has written a very nice piece in the Huffington Post related to our engagement with our neighbors, both on a personal and national level. If you’re interested, you can check out the article here.

Recently I had the privilege of giving the convocation address at United Theological Seminary. I called the address “Reading for Renewal.” It was about reading the Bible in ways that contribute to the renewal of the church. If you’d like to take a look at it, it’s posted on the United website here. Enjoy!

I’ve been reading John Webster’s Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch.Very interesting stuff. On p. 43 he makes a claim that was particularly striking and insightful: “All other Christian doctrines are applications or corollaries of the one doctrine, the doctrine of the Trinity, in which the doctrine of the church, no less than the doctrine of…

United Theological Seminary has just launched a new website dedicated to church renewal. This site is intended to be a resource for all who are interested in the Holy Spirit’s work in renewal within our churches today. Is has contains blogs, info on new books on renewal, dates and info on upcoming renewal conferences, and…

My friend and colleague at United Jason Vickers has just come out with a new book, Minding the Good Ground: A Theology for Church Renewal, published by Baylor University Press. It’s short, sweet, and to the point.  It comes out of five years of teaching our introductory level course, “Foundations for Church Renewal,” as well…

“Would to God that all the party names and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world were forgot, and that we might all agree to sit down together, as humble, loving disciples, at the feet of our common Master, to hear His word, to imbibe His Spirit, and to transcribe His life…

I returned yesterday from the West Ohio Annual Conference. It was good to see old friends and to make new ones, and to be about the business of holy conferencing. I know many people would say that annual conferences do not always embody the ideal of holy conferencing, but, at least in West Ohio, I…