Wanting to give honor to whom honor is due. Russ Gunsalus and his team have lined up a great team of thinkers in Indianapolis to talk about the nature of Wesleyan higher education, with not only Wesleyan speakers but also representatives of conservative Methodism, Free Methodism, and even the Nazarenes. :-)
1. First off tonight, our own Steve Lennox gave a presentation on which he has reflected for years, namely, his sense that the distinctive nature of Wesleyan higher education comes from the fact that it treats education as a "sanctifying context." It is a context of reconciliation and restoration, effected through community, placed within the broader narrative of God's redemptive work on humanity and the creation. Shockingly, Wesleyan schools should aim at "forming saints" in the broadest sense possible!
2. Responding was no less than the delightful William Abraham. Two things stuck out to me in his response. The first is his sense that the Wesleyan tradition, along with other traditions like the Pentecostals, really fits within a third house, in addition to the more catholic on the one side and high Protestant on the other. He finds the glue for the third house in the words of Irenaeus, "where the Spirit is, there is the Church."
He also suggested that we have no business calling ourselves, "Wesleyan" if we haven't read Wesley's standard sermons. Fair enough. Although I don't think Wesley is a trump card for what Wesleyans must believe, I completely agree that we should know Wesley. Aaron Perry put it this way in response to my earlier post: "I like what Eddie Fox said of the Methodist movement. He said that we don't follow Wesley, but we follow Jesus in the company of the Wesleys."
Showing posts with label William Abraham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Abraham. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Billy Abraham on campus...
We had Billy Abraham on campus at IWU today, speaking on John Wesley and the task of education. Many on the campus also read his new Aldersgate and Athens, particularly those in the honors college.
He's a spunky Irish Methodist who teaches at SMU (Perkins School of Theology). He was also a speaker at the Wesleyan Theological Society this year up against Richard Hays. Little known fact is that he went to Asbury before he did his doctorate at Oxford. Jerry Walls used his philosophy of religion textbook back when I was at Asbury.
I haven't built a label for him yet. He clearly doesn't like Barth. He definitely doesn't like Liberation Theology. He respects Plantinga but is clearly not a follower. He is more philosopher than theologian, I would say.
In any case, my two favorite concepts from him are:
1. Don't do any more dissertations on John Wesley. It's all been done. I agree that the level of Wesleyolatry that sometimes goes on out there is bizarre, IMO.
2. The Nicene Creed should be brought within the canon (by which he means the list of things to read as divinely appointed means of grace).
He's a spunky Irish Methodist who teaches at SMU (Perkins School of Theology). He was also a speaker at the Wesleyan Theological Society this year up against Richard Hays. Little known fact is that he went to Asbury before he did his doctorate at Oxford. Jerry Walls used his philosophy of religion textbook back when I was at Asbury.
I haven't built a label for him yet. He clearly doesn't like Barth. He definitely doesn't like Liberation Theology. He respects Plantinga but is clearly not a follower. He is more philosopher than theologian, I would say.
In any case, my two favorite concepts from him are:
1. Don't do any more dissertations on John Wesley. It's all been done. I agree that the level of Wesleyolatry that sometimes goes on out there is bizarre, IMO.
2. The Nicene Creed should be brought within the canon (by which he means the list of things to read as divinely appointed means of grace).
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