(RNS) — Paige Patterson, the embattled president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s largest seminary, was asked to step down after an outpouring of criticism for his comments on women, including advice he gave to a woman to stay with her abusive husband and new reports he asked another woman not to report a rape. The departure represents the most dramatic example of the #MeToo movement pervading the top reaches of the Southern Baptist Convention. The board of trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, met for 13 hours Tuesday (May 22) before issuing a statement thanking Patterson for his contributions and service to the school, after voting to make him president emeritus with compensation. Last month a tape from the year 2000 surfaced in which Patterson said he never counsels divorce for abused women and then recounted an incident in which he told an abused woman to pray beside her bed at night and be “submissive in every way that you … [Read more...]
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Book Reviews 10 hours ago
Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice
Gregory C. Ellison II Westminster John Knox Press, 160 pages Reviewed by Angela Williams “Baby, I don’t know how to change the world, but I can change the three feet around me.” These words from Gregory Ellison’s Aunt Dotty inspire the root of a new movement for justice: “Fearless Dialogues.” Weaving poetry, prose and theory, Ellison introduces a powerful new approach to having difficult conversations with people from all walks of life. Such a “fearless dialogue” does not mean a conversation without fear. Instead fear + less is defined as… continue reading... -
Outlook Features 1 day ago
Over- or under-function? — a constant challenge
In a previous Outlook article, I noted several key points about Murray Bowen’s family systems theory: It’s based on cellular biology, not psychology. Bowen said his “cornerstone concept” was “differentiation of self.” He explained that he arrived at his theory by comparing how humans mature by comparing it to how cells “differentiate.” For Bowen, the terms “highly differentiated” and “highly mature” are synonymous Bowen describes 12 “core capacities” of persons who are “highly differentiated/highly mature.” One of those capacities is to live a reasonably balanced life — a life with… continue reading... -
Outpost Blog 1 day ago
The other side of the Table
Guest Outpost blog by Jordan B. Davis I remember it so clearly: standing at the table I once slept under during a lock-in, as I looked out at the faces of Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders. The retired pastor who baptized me at the age of 10 years old smiled back at me. I could feel the warm embrace of those who once held me close upon receiving the news that a dear friend and youth member had died in a car accident, the same tragedy that eventually… continue reading...
Parties in Stamford case had tried to expedite process in order to get a ruling on the merits of the case January 1, 1995 Uncategorized59 views The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission -- in sidestepping the question of exactly how deeply a session should be required to probe into the private life of a gay elder who has acknowledged being in a committed, life-long relationship but has declined to say whether he is sexually active -- has put the question off but has not put it to rest.- Ministering with the Earth January 1, 1998 Book Reviews69 views By Mary Elizabeth MooreChalice. 1998. 226 pp. Pb. $19.99. ISBN 0-8272-2323-4 Ministering with the Earth is a quiltwork, both the on-the-ground activity and Moore's book about so ministering. Moore, professor of theology and Christian education at Claremont School of Theology, is fond of the metaphor, suitably pastoral and feminist.
- Remembered Voice: Reclaiming the Legacy of 'Neo-Orthodoxy' January 1, 1998 Book Reviews66 views By Douglas John HallWJKP. 1998. 145 pp. Pb. $18. ISBN 0-664-25772-0 It was in this order. I first read Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. Riveting. Next came The Courage to Be. Gripping. Then I went back and read the first volume of the Systematic Theology. Things began to make sense. Next came Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality. Positive.
PC(USA), A Corporation: Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask April 25, 2018 Outlook Reporting5 comments Confused, confused, confused.
So many say they are confused by the octopus-like discussions involving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) corporate structure. (Others just shake their heads and walk away.)
The issue will come up again at the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting in Cincinnati April 25-27. Discussions are ongoing, which means that what’s on the table may change between now and when the assembly convenes in June in St. Louis: these proposals may morph.
Dear readers, we cannot tell you where to align yourselves in this dispute. We can, however, attempt to offer a primer of some of the te...
Vision before structure: Presbyterian Mission Agency Board scrutinizes recommendations from other groups April 25, 2018 Outlook Reporting4 comments CINCINNATI – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board is considering asking the 2018 General Assembly to take the next two years to vet both the details and the vision of recommendations from the Way Forward Commission and the All Agency Review Committee, so that “a more comprehensive and sustainable recommendation can be brought to the 2020 General Assembly.”
That language is contained in a proposed set of comments (P.002 Governance Task Force WFC AARC comment) to the assembly that the bo...
Presbyterian leaders clarify what’s at stake in debates over restructuring April 9, 2018 Outlook Reporting3 comments LOUISVILLE – While no blazing agreement was reached, participants in an April 8-9 conversation regarding the corporate structure of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have agreed on some next steps and clarified their sticking points and places of disagreement.
It’s possible that holding this meeting and airing the differences may lower the tension as two competing proposals regarding a reconfiguration of the PC(USA), A Corporation – which is the corporate identity for the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) and the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) -- head towards the General Assembly that will meet in St. Lou...
Paige Patterson removed as head of Southern Baptist seminary in #MeToo shake-up
Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice
Gregory C. Ellison II Westminster John Knox Press, 160 pages Reviewed by Angela Williams “Baby, I don’t know how to change the world, but I can change the three feet around me.” These words from Gregory Ellison’s Aunt Dotty inspire the root of a new movement for justice: “Fearless Dialogues.” Weaving poetry, prose and theory, Ellison introduces a powerful new approach to having difficult conversations with people from all walks of life. Such a “fearless dialogue” does not mean a conversation without fear. Instead fear + less is defined as a compound word that names the fears that come with having difficult dialogues in hopes of lessening the impact of those fears. Approaching unlikely partners from this place of humility creates space for radical relational change. More intriguing than a basic facilitator’s guide, this book invites the reader to join the dialogue and creates a full-body experience with each turn of the page. This blend of art and science seeks to overcome the … [Read more...]
Teaching children to be caring
The women’s group at a church in Michigan discussed how to teach their children to be more caring. One proud mother shared: “My 4-year-old son is caring. Recently an elderly gentlemen neighbor lost his wife. My son went over and climbed up in his lap and just sat there.” His mother later asked him what he said to the neighbor. The lad answered, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.” … [Read more...]
Hurricane Harvey
Pastor Sonja wrote in her letter to the congregation in Kingsville, Texas, following Hurricane Harvey that Kingsville escaped the heavy destruction while so many cities along the open the coast were hit hard. She quoted Mark who told the story of Jesus sleeping in the fishing boat when the storm came up. This pastor said, “I always want Jesus in my boat in a storm.” … [Read more...]
Chappell Ellison
“To ease my brother’s pain, even for a mere five minutes, would be my greatest achievement.” – Designer Chappell Ellison on creating objects for people like her brother who suffer with obsessive compulsive disorder (in Design Observer) … [Read more...]
Rachel weeping (20 years ago)
20 years ago — April 27, 1998 “She was remembered by her students as a teacher ‘who always looked out for us.’ At around 12:42 p.m. on March 24, Shannon Wright of Jonesboro, Arkansas, threw herself in front of 12-year-old Emma Pittman to shield the young girl’s body from a sniper’s bullet.” Two male students, a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old lay in ambush for students and teachers at Westside Middle School after luring them into the schoolyard with a phony fire alarm. In the aftermath of the carnage, a news commentator asked Americans to wake up to the “fact that we live in a culture that glorifies violence.” A great deal of that violence is directed to females. “Of the five dead and 10 wounded, all but one were female. … Rachel weeps for her children (see Matthew 2:18). In schoolyards in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Paducah, Kentucky; Pearl, Mississippi – 11 bloodstained playgrounds since 1993 – Rachel weeps for the young boys who have turned their rage into revenge.” She weeps for her … [Read more...]
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