Every so often I find a little time to write outside of my school work and things find there way into this category.
In the third installment of factors leading to seminary, it seems good to talk about the denominations along the road and the gifts that each one gave me for the journey.
But as I started writing this entry, I realized it was waaaaaay too long. So I’ve divided it into two parts. The second half will come soon…
Another reason I eventually chose to attend seminary can be traced back to the Documentary Hypothesis. I didn’t know back then that that is what it is called. But the popular work of Richard Elliott Friedman changed my world in 2001.
I had only been back in church for about a year and was a member of a congregation that highly valued Bible study and daily Bible reading as a form of personal devotion. I was reading whatever I could get my hands on. I picked up a copy of Who Wrote the Bible? and, as it turned out, I got more than I had bargained for.
Continue reading "How Richard Elliott Friedman Re-Wrote My Bible"
Today my friend, Cyndi, sent me this little piece of satire from The Onion…
Continue reading "How to Find a Masculine Halloween Costume for Your Effeminate Son"
Now that I’ve had a break from school for a couple of months, I think it’s time to reflect on some of the things that nudged me toward the seminary in the first place. Atonement immediately springs to mind.
This year’s National Coming Out Day was marked by the National Equality March in Washington, DC. I’ve always missed the marches in the past, so this year I decided to go. What a great time!
It’s easy to forget that there are lots of LGBT folk (and lots of straight allies too!) around the country. But standing in the crowds as we began to organize before the march, it was inspiring to look around and see all the different people.
Generally when we discuss constructive theological issues, its important to establish the authorities recognized by the participants, be it Revelation, Tradition, Scripture, Reason, or Shared Experience.
In many discussions, both scripture and traditional interpretation of scripture head up the list. Once those authorities are recognized, theological arguments often fall victim to cherry picking of select verses to back up a point.
Recently while looking over a Quaker response to the Lima text (aka Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, a publication of the World Council of Churches) from the London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, I found a great paragraph in their discussion of that sort of biblical proof-texting:
Like many seminarians coming to the end of their studies, I’ve been reevaluating a lot of areas of my life. What will I study next? Where will I live? Should I move from my current apartment or stay for a year as I prepare to apply for doctoral programs? Is there a current call on my life? But among the complex issues that have been coming up again and again as of late, the topic of friendship has been at the fore.
Last week the APA released a new report regarding sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), more commonly known by some of its more common forms such as conversion therapy, reparative therapy or ex-gay ministries.
The Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation looks at a variety of published research findings from the 60’s through 2007 in an effort to evaluate the effectiveness and/or potential harm caused by the programs in question.
Continue reading "APA says conversion therapy just doesn’t work"
Last month I received an email from Joyce Meyer Ministries with a loud subject line:
Your Free Speech in Jeopardy
When I opened the message I found the "Hate Crimes Bill Update." See a PDF of the notice here.
During a lecture this past year, Anna Carter Florence of Columbia Theological Seminary told a story about the gay students at her school. Tired of being assaulted with the same handful of Bible verses over and over to "prove" that homosexuality is wrong, they were seeking out their own texts to defend themselves and their positions. In the war of words Scripture had become ammunition and the debate was nothing but a firefight of accusation and defense. I was struck by Anna’s remark:
Proof-texting is a form of violence: it is violence against one another and it is violence against the text…
