By: Garfield Harvey on March 22, 2017
In my last semester of full academic work and the last blog posting for the semester, it seems appropriate for another controversial interpretation of sexuality. Frankly, it’s ingenious of Dr. Jason Clark to have the cohort read about the secular age and then back to back readings on how the church interprets human sexuality. Homosexuality…
By: Mary Walker on March 22, 2017
Max De Pree says that the art of leadership is “liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.” The leader is the “‘servant’ of his followers in that he removes the obstacles that prevent them for doing their jobs. In short, the true leader enables his…
By: Rose Anding on March 22, 2017
Introduction The book Love Is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community by Andrew Marin exhibits the meaning of the Gospel’s real teaching. The book quotes Billy Graham, “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love,” to highlight its controlling idea that being loving…
By: Jim Sabella on March 22, 2017
De Pree, Max. Leadership Is an Art. New York: Currency, 2004. Summary Though leadership is not a new topic, leadership is a more recent research topic within academic circles. One outcome of research on leadership, and in fact one that has often held up leadership research as an academic discipline, is the inability to produce a…
By: Pablo Morales on March 17, 2017
Agender, androgynous, cisgender, genderqueer, intersex, transgender, bi-gender, male, female. These are the gender identities included in a recent issue from National Geographic entitled The Gender Revolution. In 2015, Frontline produced a documentary entitled Growing up Trans, which explored the lives of five families with transgender children, revealing the hormonal treatments available for children who desire…
By: Kevin Norwood on March 17, 2017
In 2011, Adrian Thatcher, now an Honorary Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, UK, and Honorary Fellow in Medical Humanities in the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, UK., wrote his book God, Sex and Gender: An Introduction.[1] He explored a subject that has always been a…
By: Geoff Lee on March 17, 2017
In this very interesting book, Douthat traces Christianity in America from its post-war golden years through its gradual decline over the following decades to the present day. He starts by highlighting four key figures that embodied this golden age: the intellectual Reinhold Niebuhr, the evangelical Billy Graham, the Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen, and the African-America…
By: Kristin Hamilton on March 17, 2017
My normal practice, when posting about the books we read for our DMin program, is to first read the reviews and articles about the book and the author. This week that may have been a bad choice. Before ever opening Bad Religion: How we became a nation of heretics, I was…well…I guess I’ll just say…
By: Jason Kennedy on March 16, 2017
Adrian Thatcher’s very thorough work, God, Sex and Gender: An Introduction dives into the 21st century world to offer a look at the sexual ethics we have and tries to bring a theological and historical understanding to the world of sexuality. The author tackles this difficult subject with three main ideas: – To introduce students…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on March 16, 2017
“This is the real story of religion in America. For all its piety and fervor, today’s United States needs to be recognized for what it really is: not a Christian country, but a nation of heretics...”[1] Growing up as a young girl, I have seen a lot of fairy tales. Each fairy tale had strife,…
By: Chip Stapleton on March 16, 2017
In his book Bad Religion New York Times Columnist Ross Douthat describes how, America has always inhabited a strange paradox of being formally secular, but also relying on religion – more heavily than almost any other Western world – to provide a moral framework for its citizens (Douthat, Kindle location 118), something has changed, however in our…
By: Phil Goldsberry on March 16, 2017
Introduction The Jackson 5 (of Michael Jackson fame) had a song in the 1970’s that said: “ABC, it’s as easy as 1-2-3, As simple as do re mi, ABC, 1-2-3, Baby you and me”. Oh, how times have changed. Now, it is not as simple as ABC or 1-2-3 or who gets to be “baby”…
By: Garfield Harvey on March 16, 2017
Two years into my doctoral program and the inescapable relational conversation is staring me in the face. Thatcher’s book God, Sex, and Gender dives into the sensitive sex talk, much similar to the one you will be engaging shortly. Yes, my cohort finally gets a chance to share our conviction on sexuality with clear, theological…
By: Aaron Cole on March 16, 2017
Summary: God, Sex, and Gender An Introduction by Adrian Thatcher is just that that on the subject, an introduction. The author introduces the issues, the ideas, and the connection between the three. Thatcher does a good job in clearly and in plain vernacular express the secular and the sacred positions as well as the historical…
By: Lynda Gittens on March 16, 2017
BAD RELIGION by Ross Douthat Douthat shared his views on the American Christianity, i.e. Contemporary and Liberal. He shares how Christians integrated within the political arena, and it was a negative impact. Can a Politician force their Christian views and values on the country they lead? Douthat addressed the history of Christians and their…
By: Rose Anding on March 16, 2017
Introduction Adrian Thatcher’s book, God, Sex and Gender: An Introduction, is an engaging account by a highly respected theologian. The author is well known for his works related to human sexuality and theology[1] and has become an important voice on these themes.[2] The book is written with the aim of comprehensively introducing readers to the…
By: Aaron Peterson on March 16, 2017
True story: After church a few years ago I eavesdropped in on a conversation a few Hub pre-teens were having about homosexuality. The youngest in the circle, my 9-year old son exclaimed, “Of course there is gay marriage in the Bible! It says in Genesis that God created Adam and Yves.” I laughed so hard…
By: Stu Cocanougher on March 16, 2017
I need to confess something. When given a choice, I would rather eat ice cream than eat broccoli. Yes, I understand fully that broccoli is low calorie, packed with vitamins, and also has fiber. But ice cream tastes really good. I know that I am not alone. Think about this, when was the last time…
By: Claire Appiah on March 16, 2017
Adrian Thatcher—God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction This book is a great educational resource in which Adrian Thatcher provides readers with complex, comprehensive, and compelling arguments surrounding the theological implications of sex and gender as they have been understood and controverted throughout ancient times and the history of the church. I think the overall value…
By: Jim Sabella on March 16, 2017
Douthat, Ross Gregory. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. New York: Free Press, 2013. Summary I think that there are few who would argue that Christianity in the USA looks different than it did just one generation ago. Many would argue that Christianity in America has lost its cultural influence altogether; church…
