In college, I took a Psalms class where we learned about the structures of Psalms and how they were used in their ancient context. Throughout the course, we had to write our own psalms to express our emotions and process the events happening in our lives. It is such a cathartic practice, so I encourage my readers to try this at some point. This psalm is very personal. Not only is this a challening time globally with COVID-19, but also personally, many events have made this season difficult. …

One of my favorite researchers, authors, and speakers is Brené Brown. If you haven’t become familiar with her work, please do yourself a favor and check out her research. She has a Netflix special, multiple youtube videos, and a plethora of books to explore. Brené mainly dedicates herself to the study of whole-hearted living, courage, shame, vulnerability, etc. Something she stated in her Netflix special really resonated with me and turned out to be the inspiration for this post. …

“Nobody ever talks about this part… you know, the part where you’re no longer a caterpillar and not yet a butterfly. You don’t know who you are and you don’t know where you’re going. All you know is that every fiber of your being is calling for transformation. For disruption. For a revolution of the spirit. So surrender. Breakdown. This is not the death of you. This is the dying of who you once were. This is your rebirth, darling. And these are called, ‘growing pains.’” — Alexis Rakun

• September.
• Caterpillars.
• Tadpoles.
• Going from college to the real world.

What…

“The real scandal of the Evangelical mind is that we are not allowed to use it.” — Pete Enns

The two previous lenses of faith, Scripture and tradition, are less contested in Evangelicalism compared to the last two lenses of faith we will explore; reason and experience. Since the latter rely more on individual human analysis, they are typically held at arm’s length among more conservative Christians who will claim verses such as, “His ways are higher than our ways (referencing Isaiah 55:8–9)” or “There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end leads to destruction…

“Those who feel guilty contemplating ‘betraying’ the tradition they love by acknowledging their disapproval of elements within it should reflect on the fact that the very tradition to which they are so loyal… is in fact the evolved product of many adjustments firmly but delicately made by earlier lovers of the same tradition.” - Daniel C. Dennett

Creeds

Sacraments

Attire

Biblical Interpretation

Beliefs about Controversial Topics

All of these things have something in common… Tradition.

We’ve already been introduced to the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, how it is used to guide us out of embedded theology, and discussed the first lens through…

Ahh, the 2,000-year-old collection of writings… Beloved by many. Skepticized by many. Studied by many. It’s a jungle of content waiting to be explored.

Before I get started, I will let you know that I am going to try to keep this post as focused as possible, although if you know me at all, that’s a futile goal. The reason this post is so difficult to keep organized is that the topic of Scripture can lead us down many paths from discussing interpretation, historical accuracy, genre, application, etc. …

“In moving from embedded to deliberative theology, we become aware — perhaps for the first time — that our theological viewpoint functions as a template, not unlike those used in fields other than theology” — Stone & Duke.

The inspiration of this blog post comes largely from the work of Howard W. Stone and James O. Duke who have written a book by the title How to Think Theologically. I was first introduced to this two years ago during my sophomore year in college in a course called “Theology and Human Sexuality.” We were asked to read this book, and…

I have so much I want to write about. My journey of faith, where I was, where I’m at now, and everything in-between. I have so much I want to do, ranging from book reviews, political commentaries, and autobiographical blog posts. I do not want to be confined to one type of writing so I won’t be. The problem is that I feel I have no authority to speak on such topics because I still don’t know what I wholeheartedly believe about every issue that I would want to write about within the realm of faith. But isn’t this what…