By: Debbie Owen on September 18, 2024
As we prepare for our trip to Washington DC next week, and in the midst of great turmoil and upheaval in the US and around the world, questions of race and gender couldn’t be more timely. Dreaming in Black and White – Brett Fuller This week we read two books by Brett Fuller. Let’s look…
By: Elysse Burns on September 18, 2024
The following summaries highlight the pivotal points of authors Brett Fuller and Jim Wallis. In each text, the authors encourage readers to rethink the status quo and strive for something bigger: racial reconciliation, women in spiritual leadership, and prophetic politics. They challenge us to engage. Jim Wallis said it well, “We are the ones we…
By: Kari on September 17, 2024
Politics, women in leadership, and America’s racism are three topics I choose not to discuss with certain family members. Ironically, these are also three topics of the books for this week’s assignment. Below are the main ideas in these books and questions I would like to ask the authors. God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets…
By: Graham English on September 17, 2024
The two authors represented in this post, come from very different backgrounds. Brett Fuller has served as a Senior pastor in his church for 30 years and he has served as an advisor to Republican president, George Bush. Jim Wallis is a theologian and political activist and has served as a spiritual advisor to Democratic…
By: Glyn Barrett on September 17, 2024
Each of the books today addresses some of the most challenging issues in contemporary society, namely, race, gender, and political faith. The first book, Dreaming in Black and White[1] by Brett Fuller, examines the complexities of race and faith in the context of personal transformation and leadership. The second, High Ceilings, Women in Leadership,[2] by…
By: Ryan Thorson on September 16, 2024
Both Fuller and Wallis’ books were helpful primers for our week together in DC and I am looking forward to learning from them both together as cohorts! Fuller seeks to add perspective in his book High Ceilings and his own insights into a long history of scholarship and debate around the biblical role of women in leadership.…
By: Jeff Styer on September 16, 2024
Brett Fuller’s Dreaming in Black and White[1] In his book Bishop Brett Fuller shares how racism impacted his own family and how their response helped them to rise above the feelings of anger associated with it. Fuller shares how racism is systemically built into our nations systems. Fuller makes a call for reconciliation and how…
By: Diane Tuttle on September 16, 2024
This post will discuss two authors whose works challenge readers to think and act in ways that seem contrary to conventional politics. Brett E. Fuller is a Christian pastor, author, who also serves as chaplain for the Washington Football Team. High Ceilings: Women In Leadership, offers a different perspective regarding where and how women are…
By: Adam Cheney on September 16, 2024
I loved the inspectional readings for this week. I found myself agreeing with both authors time and time again and look forward to our advance to hear their lectures in person. I will certainly be diving back into these books to read them completely. This blog will overview this week’s readings and posit some questions…
By: Noel Liemam on September 15, 2024
Basically, How to Win For this particular reading or blogpost assignment, I have picked the book by Sun Tsu, “The Art of War.” It is claimed to have been written around the 5th Century BCE by a Chinese military strategist by the name Sun Tsu, and it said that the original text was written on…
By: Jennifer Eckert on September 15, 2024
This week’s assignment brings continued thoughts about power and dominance over those who are disenfranchised following my recent blog on John Wesley’s book, Thoughts Upon Slavery. Authors Jim Wallis and Brett Fuller bring meaningful and unique viewpoints that combine Biblical and historical reflections with contemporary ideas on leadership and justice. Jim Wallis, who wrote God’s…
By: Ryan Thorson on September 13, 2024
When asked to choose a book about leadership that has been in print for at least 300 years, it was interesting to search and not find anything that was explicitly stated as a leadership book. It got me thinking about how, in the Christian tradition that I’m familiar with, there was much more emphasis placed…
By: Chad Warren on September 12, 2024
In his introduction to Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, C.S. Lewis recommended reading old books. He contended, “ Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And…
By: Daren Jaime on September 12, 2024
It has been said, history has a way of repeating itself. Who would ever imagine that a book published three hundred years ago could still find relevance today? Oh, I forgot-we are in Seminary….. Let me clear this up, what book other than the Bible??….. An argument can be made that books having long…
By: Julie O'Hara on September 12, 2024
I recall seeing Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God mentioned by Ruth Haley Barton, Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen and others. If leadership really is influence, then Brother Lawrence was a great leader, having influenced so many of these important authors on the topic of spiritual formation. I admit to struggling in the…
By: Elysse Burns on September 12, 2024
History has long provided innumerable examples of leaders, some virtuous and others despotic. Whether upright or cruel, the recorded life stories of history’s leaders offer insight into the past, wisdom for the present, and a cautionary voice for the future (as history often repeats itself). The biography Agricola was written in AD 98 by the Roman…
By: Kari on September 12, 2024
October 31, 2017, marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation is said to have started when Martin Luther posted his famous 95 Theses in 1517.[1] I celebrated this milestone with my house church in Islamic Africa. It was an inspiring day as we reflected on the Reformers’ sacrifices. It was not lost…
By: Joel Zantingh on September 12, 2024
I work to inspire and equip followers of Jesus to embrace peace and reconciliation, but these important end goals can never be reduced to the absence of conflict — one must learn peacemaking and peace building as part of the non-violent path to resolving division, or avoiding war whenever possible, which is not always feasible.…
By: Graham English on September 12, 2024
How does one grow in Christlikeness in a world that makes it difficult for someone to do so? The Rule of St. Benedict was written by Benedict of Nursia, to help monks live in a monastic community as they sought to grow in Christlikeness together. Benedict became a monk at age 20, after being exposed…
By: Diane Tuttle on September 12, 2024
The Rule of Benedict dates back, approximately to the mid-600s AD. Today, it remains a constitution of sorts that men agree to follow when entering a Benedictine monastery. Although Benedict called the book, “a little rule for beginners,” it prescribed every aspect of the daily life for the community.[1] Benedict believed that by following the…
