In our United Methodist baptismal rite, we ask those who are to be baptized, “Do you reject the spiritual forces of wickedness?” Yet most people in our tradition have only the vaguest notion of what this means. This is partly because we do not train our pastors to discern and confront the spiritual forces of…
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…
I’ve been reading Charles Taylor’s work, A Secular Age (Belknap, 2007). This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a sweeping intellectual history examining the rise of secularism in the West. This is one of those books that other people write books about, such as James K. A. Smith’s How (Not) to Be…
The Christian movement we call “fundamentalism” began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, largely in reaction to the rise of modernity and liberal theology. Its adherents came from a variety of Christian traditions, including established mainline denominations and independent churches that we would today call “non-denominational.” Proponents of this diverse anti-modernist movement joined…
The following is the text of a sermon I preached in chapel at United Theological Seminary on September 12, 2018. I don’t normally post sermons on my blog, but a few people have asked me for the text of this one. The biblical texts are Proverbs 1:20-33 and James 3:1-12. Years ago I was a…
The longer I study Christian Scripture, the more convinced I am that the Christian mind is a peculiar oddity. (I’ve written on this before, here, here, and here.) Put differently, through what Wesley called the “ordinances of God”–which include worship, prayer, the Lord’s Supper, the reading of Scripture, and fasting–our habits of mind become different…
The recent Roman Catholic sexual abuse scandal brings to mind a question I have heard many people ask over the years: If Christians believe what they claim to believe, why do all of these scandals keep taking place? The Church and Moral Failings To be perfectly clear, Roman Catholics certainly aren’t the only Christians who…
Pursuing Jesus
These are the thoughts, prayers, stories, sermons, and devotions from a simple pastor. May you be blessed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as you read...
Equipping 21st Century Sojourners
Musings and whatnot....
"For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." John 18:37
Doctrine Matters
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Reflections on Theology, History, and Culture
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A blog about The United Methodist Church
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work and prayer of a jesus follower
Who is my ideal reader? Well, ideal means non-existent. I have no notion of whom I’m writing for. Guy Davenport
'An arrow through the air'
Holiness, Sustainability, and Tending Good Soil
Following in the footsteps of John Wesley
A Biblioblog with Nijay K Gupta and Christopher W Skinner
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Comments on the New Testament and Early Christianity (and related matters)
