Saturday, April 27, 2013

Good News for General Assembly

Those of us who have been concerned, in recent days, about the desire of some to move the Church of the Nazarene away from our historical Wesleyan identity and toward a position on the Scriptures that would be more consistent with fundamentalism can breathe a sigh of relief . . . at least for the time being.

"The Report of the Scripture Study Committee to the Twenty-Eighth General Assembly" has been made public.  In it, the Committee recommends rejecting a proposed resolution that would alter the Nazarene Article of Faith on Scripture in such a way as to affirm "complete inerrancy."  Such a position would be quite different from Articles in the historical Wesleyan/Methodist/Anglican tradition.  On the other hand, the position would be much more in line with modern fundamentalist statements about the Bible.  -  Thankfully, the Committee has proposed that we retain our current Article of Faith.  Further, they have presented a helpful evaluation of the strengths of our current Article of Faith.

I said that we "can breathe a sigh of relief . . . at least for the time being," because this is only a report and recommendation of this Committee.  It is a Committee charged with studying this situation, and, thus, the delegates of the General Assembly should give it the weight it is due.  Nevertheless, it is up to the General Assembly, not simply this Committee, to make the final decision.  So, it is possible for the Assembly to reject this Committee's recommendation.  -  However, the fact that the Committee has given such strong arguments for retaining our current position is a very good sign.

The Report can be read, here.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Anglican Roots of Wesleyanism

Here is a brief video of Dr. Melvin Dieter of The Wesleyan Church, who also taught at Asbury, as he talks about the Anglican roots of Wesleyanism.


Why Wesleyan?

Here is a video of Ben Witherington discussing why he is a Wesleyan Christian.  Dr. Witherington teaches New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, where I did my doctoral work.  He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.

The video is a part of the "Seven Minute Seminary" series of videos through Asbury's Seedbed program.



More information about Dr. Witherignton can be found here. 

Monday, April 1, 2013

Wesleyan Theological Society Video

Here is a video by my friend, Brent Peterson, featuring highlights from the recent meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society in Seattle, WA.

I have been a member of the WTS since 1989, although I was not able to make this year's meeting.  I presented my paper, "Authentic Christian Worship: Discovering Wesley's Criteria" at the 2009 meeting of the Society.  That paper was published under the title, “Authentic Christian Worship:  Relevance of Wesley’s Criteria.” in the Wesleyan Theological Journal 45.2.  (Fall, 2010.)  (The full paper, for those interested, can be view, here.)

I would encourage Wesleyan Christians who are theologically minded to consider the WTS.  More information can be found on their website, here.  -  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the video!




*** NOTE ****  -  I have been informed that the original link will soon be broken.  Here is the updated link.