Some Mideast Churches Vote to Ordain Women
Read the full story on The Christian Post. This is an interesting development, especially considering the region involved.
On Haiti
When I heard that there had been an earthquake in Haiti, my immediate thought was “Oh no!” I haven’t really known what to write about it. I can analyze it theologically, but that won’t change the body count and my odds of getting it right don’t seem all that good. I think I will just…
David Ker – Gay Africa
David Ker has taken on the world at ThinkChristian.net, or so it probably seems to him. The comments provide some additional links and some vigorous comment.
Why both Bock and Borg are on my Ready-Reading Shelf
I have been wanting to respond further to the excellent discussion over at Reclaiming the Mind, to which I linked a couple of days ago, but I’m not really an academic, and Karl Barth notwithstanding, I’m not really a theologian either. (I now am close to 100 comments behind on keeping up with the thread…
I Get Mail from UM Communications
I’m yielding to temptation and including an “I get quoted” story, because I’d like to call attention to the article in question. Today when I went to Bible study at my church, First UMC of Pensacola, my pastor handed me a large envelope. Since I wasn’t expecting anything I was a bit surprised. Inside there…
How Not to Make Your Point
In his post next time, don’t invite the baptists, Bruce Alderman provides a link to a very unfortunate case in which a Lutheran pastor is put down by a local Baptist church because she is a woman. Let me note here that I am personally acquainted with Baptists who oppose women in pastoral ministry and…
Of Apportionments and Stewardship
Bishop Willimon has a post about pastoral leadership and stewardship, with the particular aspect of stewardship being apportionments. I like the framing that goes on in our church, as apportionments are called “fair-share giving.” I know that sounds better, but I still call them apportionments. I think the general finding is unexceptional. Pastoral leadership has…
Ben Witherington on Women in Ministry
Ben Witherington is taking on Biblical arguments against women in ministry in an article titles Why Arguments against Women in Ministry Aren’t Biblical. (HT: Dr. Platypus.) I personally find his first and second arguments quite good, while I tend to be less convinced by his arguments regarding the specific texts. It seems to me that…
Lord Save Us From Your Followers – The Movie
I think there are two major errors we can make as Christians: We can fail to have a message, and we can fail to be the message. If I follow the stereotypes I would say that liberals tend to fail in the first, and conservatives in the second. But I’m afraid we all tend to…
Living Romans 12
Alan Knox has reposted a series on how the church can live Romans 12:9-21 along with some current thoughts. He points out that Romans 1-11 are theological, but starting with Romans 12, Paul begins to speak about how the church can live out the theology of the first chapters. This all reminded me of one…