Quadrilateral: Experience (Part Four)

IV. EXPERIENCE: (Much of what was written in the previous article about “Reason” could also apply to “Experience.” Reason and Experience are closely related within the human psyche. I will not repeat what we wrote about Reason that is applicable to Experience.)  Definitions of Experience: Direct observation or participation in… Continue reading

Quadrilateral: Reason (Part 3)

III) REASON: At the beginning of my second year of teaching in college, a biologist joined the faculty. We seemed to be kindred spirits, and I looked forward to having a new friend in an academic setting. However, one day early on in our acquaintance, he came to my office… Continue reading

Quadrilateral: Tradition (Part 2)

II) TRADITION: Whenever I hear the word “tradition,” I naturally think of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The overture of that musical focuses on the importance of tradition in the Jewish community. The musical centers on the struggles of one Jewish man named Tevye. Three of his daughters choose marriage partners… Continue reading

Quadrilateral: Scripture (Part 1)

[In the Sunday school class I teach, we recently discussed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a model for building one’s theology. In our post-modern world, individual Christians need a theology that is appropriate as we attempt to live in ways that are faithful to the good news of Jesus Christ as… Continue reading

Genesis 1:1-12:9 “The First Things” (Letting Go in Order to Receive) Part 17

Throughout our study of these opening chapters of Genesis we have discovered traditions with roots going back many, many years. We have also seen how some of the stories in these chapters may have been used at various junctures of Israel’s history. For example, the Adam and Eve story at… Continue reading

Genesis 12:1-9 “The First Things” (God’s Answer to Babel) Part 16

There are four primary stories in Genesis 1-11: The Story of Adam and Eve, the Story of Cain and Abel, the Story of the Flood, and the Story of the Tower of Babel. In each of these stories we see the same pattern. There is first the sin of humans;… Continue reading

Mark 8: 13-34 “Let’s Go to the Movies: ‘The Mission'”

(This sermon was preached in 1998 in the Wabash Christian Church (DoC). Unfortunately, the message in the sermon is still relevant today as the persecution, displacement, and slaughter of native peoples in Latin America continue in 2020.) The Mission is one of my favorite movies. This film is powerful and… Continue reading

Thank You, and I Love you

At some point during this pandemic my wife and I became aware of people who had contracted the Coronavirus and were in hospitals unable to have loved ones near them because of hospital policy. Some of these people, on ventilators and sicker than they had ever been in their lives,… Continue reading