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William J. Abraham (1947–2021)

Auteur de The Logic of Evangelism

34+ oeuvres 947 utilisateurs 2 critiques

A propos de l'auteur

William J. Abraham is Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Œuvres de William J. Abraham

The Logic of Evangelism (1989) 223 exemplaires
Wesley for Armchair Theologians (2005) 150 exemplaires
Canonical Theism: A Proposal for Theology and the Church (2008) — Directeur de publication; Contributeur — 74 exemplaires
The Logic of Renewal (2003) 52 exemplaires
Key United Methodist Beliefs (1826) 33 exemplaires
The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (2009) — Directeur de publication; Contributeur — 13 exemplaires
The Art of Evangelism (1993) 6 exemplaires
Analytic Theology: A Bibliography (2012) 6 exemplaires
The Rationality of Religious Belief: Essays in Honour of Basil Mitchell (1987) — Directeur de publication — 6 exemplaires
The Bible: Beyond the Impasse (2012) 6 exemplaires

Oeuvres associées

God and the Philosophers: The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason (1994) — Contributeur — 266 exemplaires
The Community of the Word: Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology (2005) — Contributeur — 125 exemplaires
The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology (2007) — Contributeur — 110 exemplaires
The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology (2007) — Contributeur — 68 exemplaires
Analytic Theology: New Essays in the Philosophy of Theology (2009) — Contributeur — 49 exemplaires
The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology (2009) — Contributeur — 41 exemplaires
The Oxford Handbook of Evangelical Theology (2010) — Contributeur — 38 exemplaires
The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley (2009) — Contributeur — 37 exemplaires

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I'll discuss the book first, and then give my personal reactions as an ex-Methodist.

This is an extraordinary book. It has 120 pages of text, and I learned more than I have from books two or three times as long. In addition, it has a bibliography and index. I will definitely keep this series in mind when I want to learn about a topic. Abraham is (in my experience), a much more traditional and devout person than many other Methodists, or indeed members of mainline churches. I will leave aside the issue of whether or not Methodism is a mainline church, but Abraham addresses this.

Abraham's hope is for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to energize Methodists and their church, rather than stricter biblical interpretations or focus on service. Service, a very important part of the faith, and would be based upon the pouring out of grace, rather a mission statement like a secular service organization. He has confidence that the church will continue.

I was raised in the Methodist church, and at eighteen, having learned very little about Christianity in general, and virtually nothing about Methodism, I left. In my exit interview, I asked the minister what it meant to be a Methodist. There was an embarassed silence until I took pity on him and changed the subject. I am now an atheist. In my opinion, the purpose of a religion is a relationship with its deity; if one wants to do good works, there are plenty of secular organizations, and one avoids the expense of a church building.

Abraham discusses Albert Outler (1908-89), who was one of the most important thinkers in modern Methodism. (I never of heard of him, of course.) Outler believed theological diversity, which he saw as a strength. This may be fine for adults, but children are the rocks through many intellectual glass houses. People seem to have difficulty understanding that children start out near zero; it means nothing to tell them that a subject has been discussed for 150 years. They weren't there for it. If a church is going to have theological diversity, what is it going to teach it's children? -- nothing, in my experience. I read in one book that the adult Methodists never worried too much about the kids. They often left the church in early adulthood, but then they got married, had children, and returned. That's no longer happening with most -- like me, many stay away. I suspect that many churches shy away from discussing what the adults believe: too much potential for conflict. A Methodist friend of mine loves the traditional liturgy, but is also proud of how much of it he doesn't believe. He may enjoy tripping down memory lane, but it means nothing to anyone who hasn't had similar experiences.

The main point I want to make in this review however, is not the failings of the Methodist Church as I see it, but the excellence of the book!
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
PuddinTame | Aug 15, 2019 |
I found this a very hard book to rate; I liked it better upon a second reading. This is a book intended more for informed Methodists than outsiders, as it alludes to a number of people and things that may not be recognizable to most. Fortunately, there is Google.

This book is in the time-honored format of a dialogue among various parties of the United Methodist Church: The Traditionalist, The Evangelist, the Reconciler, the Pietist, and the Progressive; these are not defined, but presumably involved United Methodists know what he means. I don't usually like this format because instead of presenting all sides of the issue, usually most of the characters are straw men, but I think that Abraham has done a good job of using it here. What one might see as a problem is that the author, necessarily perhaps, gives the various parties personalities. My initial impression was that he didn't like Traditionalists, because the character was rather abrasive, but in the end that faction has the most to say and probably, within the book, “wins.”

In this rendering, Traditionalist and Evangelist, portrayed as much more mellow, are united in thinking that a schism is desirable. Traditionalist wants Progressive to pack up and leave without the properties they are using if they are unwilling to abide by the decisions of the General Conference; Evangelist thinks that it is unrealistic to think that Progressive will, and wants an amicable schism (if possible) with a fair division of property. Progressive thinks that LGBTQIA rights are so important that they need to break the rules. Pietist has come over to Progressive's point of view on LGBTQIA rights, and together with Reconciler wants the church to agree to disagree and let individual congregations make their own decisions on the issues. (Please, somebody clever, think of a better, more pronounceable acronym than LGBTQIA!)

Evangelist and Traditionalist think that the agree-to-disagree option will simply strengthened Progressive's position, and that the Progressives will continue the fight; Progressive agrees that they will. Traditionalist also argues that gay rights are merely the presenting issue, and that there is more at stake than that. Abraham ends with the conservatives considering the possibility of reuniting with other sects that have split off from the Methodists, such as the Salvation Army.

There is another possibility not included here. In Focus, Lovett Weems suggests that the Church create Continental Conferences which would make policy and procedural decisions, while the General Conference would make other decisions, but what would be the exact working split? Would this simply become a slow-motion schism, albeit one much simpler to effect? Would this allow the North American bishops to vote to allow LGBTQIA rights? That would in no way satisfy the conservative North American Methodists.

There is a possible demographic solution. The United Methodists are rapidly losing members, but I understand that most of the losses are among the Progressives. Depending on the exact figures, the conservatives might be able to outlast their opponents, but of course this would be a very long term solution. This is briefly acknowledged in the book, but the Progressive argues that they can turn this around with more young people looking for spirituality rather than formal religion, and they can attract this group. According to David Kinnaman's UnChristian, many young people, even among Christians, are sympathetic to the plight of LGBTQIAs, so the demographics may be unclear. Perhaps a third group will emerge, traditional except in its views about sexuality, which will defeat the conservatives hope to solve the problem by schism.

I think that there are a couple of issues that Abraham has alluded to only very briefly that need to be considered. The author has chosen only to discuss the principles, not the enormous logistical and quite likely legal issues. Suppose that choosing sides in the schism takes place on a congregational basis; if a congregation is close to evenly split, do they try to divide the assets so that both leave with money for a building; does one side buy the other out even if the split is pretty definitive? Presumably most of the Church outside of North America would go with the conservative side of the schism, do they have any claim on assets, most of which are in North America?

What if the conservatives vote for schism, and the progressives refuse to cooperate? They would be well able to tie-up the conservatives in court for a long and expensive process. Or they might embarrass them by showing up at various conferences in their rainbow vestments and claiming to be the voices of love and unity, demonstrate outside or force the conservatives to have them bodily thrown out.

Supposedly, “crisis” in Chinese is represented by combining the characters for “danger” and “opportunity”; the Methodists have a lot to consider in going forward.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
PuddinTame | Dec 15, 2014 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
34
Aussi par
12
Membres
947
Popularité
#27,152
Évaluation
½ 3.7
Critiques
2
ISBN
66
Langues
1

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