Thanksgiving Without the Gospel Throughout childhood, I suffered guilt and despair despite sincerity of spiritual caregivers. Church school teachers warned that only perfectly Christlike children qualify for heaven. While God also loves imperfect people, they would be lost in he... Read more
Life in the 'Fidgetal Age' In 1934 George Herbert Mead (and later with the help of Harold Blumer) created a communication theory known as symbolic interactionism. The essential idea is that people assign meaning to objects in the world and that influences how they interact.... Read more
A Reformation Yet to Come It seems somehow appropriate on this Reformation Day 2018 to reflect on the current stance of our Seventh-day Adventist Church toward the Protestant ethics of individual conscience in matters of belief and practice. Read more
Peacemaker One of the internet’s greatest gifts to me is the recurring picture of two fighting siblings in an “I Love You” shirt — a single T-shirt, worn by both parties, that almost forces the kids to hug and be close to each other. Perhaps it works as a de... Read more
How Close Are We to the Action? “Look out your window and see the sunset,” a man called and said to his estranged wife. “Enjoy it, because it’s one of the last sunsets you’ll ever see.” Read more
Dysfunctional Self-Sufficiency Recently I watched a TED Talk during which organizational consultant Yves Morieux discusses the lack of positive change in organizations. In my estimation that includes churches. He suggests the root of our issues relate to “complicatedness.” Read more
Reading Ellen White Isn't Bible Study A newly baptized Adventist phoned our home, distraught about a Bible study promoted in her church’s bulletin. She brought her Bible but discovered they were studying Ellen White’s Early Writings. Read more
Equality and Submission: Contradictory or Compatible? Christology — the study of Christ — has suffered theological conflict throughout church history. Lately some Adventists have raised questions about who Jesus is in relation to God the Father. A few on the fringe even believe Christ was derived fro... Read more
Testing Without the Stressing As I write this latest installment of my monthly column, I am embarked on preparations for my Ph.D. qualifying exams this fall. This means my brain is overloaded with random bits of information pertaining to Husserl’s phenomenology, Derrida’s crit... Read more
