In all our United Methodist fussing with one another, one question consistently emerges in my mind: do we think that God actually talks to us? How would we recognize divine speech if we think God does talk to us? At
Grown-Up Discipleship: Loving Enemies
John Wesley begins the concluding paragraph of his third discourse on the Sermon on the Mount in this way: “Behold Christianity in its native form; as delivered by its great Author! This is the genuine religion of Jesus Christ.” When
How Do We Think about Israel/Palestine?
The conflicts of Israel and Palestine, always simmering and recently boiling over, have entered our awareness again. Again, we confront the tensions of viewpoints and the complexities of opinion about whom to hold responsible and what to do. Academics wax
More Thoughts on How God Became King
Having finished N.T. Wright’s How God Became King (see September 27 post), a few somewhat scattered and searching thoughts. First, my conviction about the old Methodist division remains strong and grows. A reading of Wright’s book will challenge that problem and
Needed: A Good Dose of Self-Awareness
In a recent post, I took a swing at the problem of using the rhetoric of critical thinking without actually employing it ourselves in higher education. So, let me try to explain a little more of what I mean by