Tag: Formation
Discipline in Formation
My Introduction to Ministry Studies professor told us a few weeks ago that if we plan on practicing any spiritual discipline in our later life, we had better get going. “If you don’t find time for... Read More
Shared Spiritual Inheritance and Mutual Transformation
State of Formation fellow-contributor, Brad Bannon, has posed this question to which my post responds, at least in part: Do religious persons “own” their forms of prayer and practice? Granted, ada... Read More
Is Pluralist Scripture Possible?
Spending a year reading the Bible to seven year-olds in a Unitarian Universalist church, I learned to walk a very fine line - between narrating stories and sharing Scripture. Even as a non-Christian,... Read More
Integration, In-Formation, Incarnation
Despite the resistance to seminary I described in my previous post, I have moaned on many occasions, “I wish I could just go to school full-time.” I am meandering my way through seminary, ... Read More
Grateful for the Process of Formation
Guess what. You won’t be doing anything with bootstraps you don’t have. Hubert H. Humphrey said, “The worst thing a man can think is that he made it on his own.” For instance... Read More
Riding a New Circuit: A Wesleyan Imperative for Interfaith Cooperation
“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?” –John Wesley Although I do not consider myself a lifelong United Methodist, the church has been very formative in my life. Only now that ... Read More
The Best (and Worst?) Ripostes to the New Atheism
Books & Culture: A Christian Review recently extended me the privilege of reviewing replies to the New Atheism, including one co-authored by Intelligent Design guru, Philip Johnson. Although it in... Read More
The Way Out is Through
It’s a weekend morning in late November and I’m sitting in a cozy living room with other graduate students, sipping away at my hazelnut coffee and picking at a cold cinnamon bun. All of us are fur... Read More