Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • What Is Really Essential in Christianity?

    On February 24, 2015, I hosted a discussion between Energion authors Elgin Hushbeck, Jr. and Alden Thompson on the topic Biblical Essentials. Here’s the YouTube:

    Today another Energion author, Dr. Allan Bevere, posted an entry on his blog titled Doctrine: The House in which the Church Lives. (Allan Bevere and Alden Thompson will be participating in a discussion of violence in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, on June 2, 2015. I’ll post more information on that later.)

    Here’s my question: Is the essentials/non-essentials paradigm a good one? If not, why? If so, what does it accomplish?

    I’m well aware that I’ve asked this question and have used this model on this blog many times before. But I’d like a bit of discussion.

    I have always thought this was a good model to help set up one’s fellowship, as in what congregation or organization should I be a part of. An individual congregation might have one set of “essentials,” while a particular Sunday School class within that congregation had another. The denomination (or other organization of which the congregation is a part) would have a broader set, while the concept “Christian” might specify something much looser.

    Having characteristics on which we gather both to learn and to serve seems valuable to me. But I see a problem when we use that same sort of paradigm as a means of inclusion or exclusion, including the attempt to determine who is “saved” and who is not. The participants in our hangout had a simple answer for that, with which I agree wholeheartedly. Since it’s not our job to determine who goes to heaven and who doesn’t (or any one of a number of other ways of specifying the “eternal in-crowd), we cannot use these essentials for that purpose.

    I do think we can use essentials to help define a label. Labels can actually be good things. Without labels I could not write a blog post. Language labels things. The problem is when we force people (or reality in general) to fit the labels rather than looking for the best label to use with reality from a particular perspective.

    What do you think?

    To help you think, here’s Dr. Herold Weiss, answering a similar question in my interview with him this past Thursday:

  • Hangouts this Week

    season of forgiveness trailerOn the Tuesday night Energion hangout I will have as my guests Energion author Renee Crosby, whose recent novel The Fringe (eucatastrophe press, an Energion imprint) is generating some discussion, and Jody Neufeld, who, of course, has been with the company from the beginning! Our second release (the first after I purchased the company) was her book Daily Devotions of Ordinary People – Extraordinary God. I may even pull out a quote from my own book Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Confessions of a Liberal Charismatic. That’s 7:00 pm central time Tuesday, March 17.

    Then on Thursday night, I will continue my study of the gospel According to John using Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on According to John. Last week I had a wonderful time interviewing Dr. Weiss, and we’ll now continue with chapter 8, The Hour is Coming and Now Is. This one is 7:00 central time Thursday, March 19.

  • Review of Creation in Scripture by Herold Weiss

    Creation in Scripture by Dr. Herold WeissHanz Gutierrez has reviewed Creation in Scripture by Herold Weiss on the Spectrum Magazine web site. Spectrum is published by the Association of Adventist Forums. Many may not realize that Dr. Weiss is Seventh-day Adventist, though he clearly differs with the officially proclaimed church view on creation. He describes his journey in another book, Finding My Way in Christianity.

    I commend Creation in Scripture (note that I’m the publisher, so that’s likely!) because it looks at multiple views of creation in scripture. Each of these viewpoints can help us understand something about God the creator.

    Here’s a YouTube of Dr. Weiss talking about God the creator and creationism:

  • YouTube Video Issue

    I have posted a number of YouTube videos recently before I noticed they made a change in how they share. You can now share as a playlist starting with the current video or embed the particular video. Since I’m including my study on the gospel of John in a playlist as well as embedding individual videos here, I want the specific video I’m referencing and not the playlist to appear. I will correct these as quickly as I can. In the meantime, some videos may be showing the wrong thing. If you see one I haven’t caught, feel free to tell me in a comment to the post. I’ll get to it ASAP.

  • According to John: Excursus #2 – Interview with Dr. Herold Weiss

    john-weiss-trailerYou can get more details on the Google+ event, and you can watch either through that link, or using the viewer below.

    I apologize for posting this so late. I will post the YouTube and some comments tomorrow. Dr. Weiss is the author of the book I’m using for this study, Meditations on According to John.

  • From My Editing Work: What is Stewardship?

    9781631991738I’m editing the manuscript for a new Topical Line Drives volume, Stewardship: God’s Way of Recreating the World, by Steve Kindle. It’s currently scheduled for the end of May, but I’m hoping we’ll get it out a bit earlier.

    Here’s a taste:

    The apostle Paul revealed to us the key to successful fundraising in his appeal to the Corinthian congregation to assist in the collection he was taking up for the Jerusalem church. His formula: 3For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, 4begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— 5and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, …

    2 Corinthians 8:3-5

    The Macedonians, in spite of their poverty, begged to give to the Jerusalem church—even beyond their means—because they first gave themselves to the Lord. Sure, it is possible to raise a lot of money using sophisticated methods based on psychological triggers and emotional appeals. These are too often resorted to as substitutes for the Macedonian way. A congregation that first “gives themselves to the Lord,” recognizes their stewardship partnership, and everything they do springs from that commitment. So let’s not encourage tithing, that’s about money. Let’s encourage seeing all we have as God’s and act accordingly.

    The book isn’t laid out yet, so I can’t give you the page this will be on. I will tell you that I had to choose between several good quotes to use here. This book also looks at stewardship much more broadly than money, including our stewardship of the world we live in.

    We’ll also be hearing from Steve Kindle tonight in his conversation with Elgin Husbheck, Jr. on the topic Lent: Season of the Resurrection.

  • Thomas Hudgins Looks at Literal in Translation

    The term “literal,” when used regarding translation, can drive translators quite mad, I think. But it is a commonly used word in the pews and the hallways of churches. “We don’t take things that literally around here,” is something I hear regularly in United Methodist churches. Which leaves the question of just how do we take it, if we bother to take it at all, quite unanswered.

    Thomas Hudgins, in his post Thinking about What’s Literal says, “This whole concept of ‘literal’ is really misleading.”

    Go read his post and discover what concept of “literal” he’s talking about and why he thinks it’s misleading.

  • Christianity and Panentheism (YouTube Video)

    My sister sent me a link to a video that I thought was helpful in some ways on this topic. Probably the most important thing here is that panentheism, process theology, and open theism are separate theological positions. Often two of these (panentheism + process & panentheism + open theism [less commonly]) may be held together, but they are not essential to one another. In the video, you’ll hear a discussion of panentheism that does not embrace process or open theism. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he refers to them as heresies. I prefer to keep the word “heresy” for a particular discussion of church canon law. I admit it can be a valid term in discussing orthodox Christianity, but it is also pejorative by nature, and even when quite correctly applied, is a discussion stopper rather than encourager.

    With those caveats, the video:

    One of the things I like, though I’m not sure I embrace, is the distinction between essence and energy. God is in the universe via his energy, but not his essence. Note, however, that one of the key elements of process theology, if combined with panentheism, is that God is impacted by what goes on in the world. This is one reason an orthodox theologian would call it heresy. A God who is impacted by things outside his control is hardly omnipotent.

  • On John 3:14-21

    In my According to John study I looked at this passage in some detail. Bob Cornwall is looking at it today in a rather good Lectionary meditation.

  • Fred Craddock Sermon in Memory

    Well, I hadn’t heard him (as I posted a bit ago), but then Dave Black put this YouTube on his blog. I had to share it.

    My pastor does take a great deal from Fred Craddock, and acknowledges him just about every Sunday.