One Account of a Baptist Way of Following Jesus
One summer Friday afternoon in 1978 a teenage boy named David Gushee wandered uninvited into a Southern Baptist church in Tysons Corner, Virginia. I had never attended worship at that church but my then-girlfriend attended there with her family — though they were out of town. I was on my own, a total stranger to […]
On Relationality in Reformed Christian Faith
Dr. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson writes with such clarity, humility, and tenderness about his adopted Reformed tradition that in reading the post I thought, for a second, maybe this is the way to follow Jesus. After all, conversion – taking up a different Christian expression – has emerged as a leitmotiv in these Respectful Conversations. Quite a […]
“Let the Children Come Unto Me”
Dear Wesley, I’m so glad you mentioned children, saying, “When I sit with my two grandchildren on my lap, my Reformed theology gets undone. The last thing in the world I want them to hear about is total depravity. Rather, I want them to begin knowing how much they are loved, and that in their […]
Covenantal Relationships In An Individualistic & Multiracial Society
Dr. Granberg-Michaelson’s reflection on what it means to follow Jesus from the Reformed tradition challenges me to reimagine what it means to be in “covenant” with God. On the one hand, I appreciate his articulation of how the Reformed tradition emphasizes the communal nature of covenant with God; in a world that is so focused […]
Walking the Way Into Faith
There is so much to love about Dr. Granberg-Michaelson’s posting on the Reformed Tradition. First and foremost, I think he really exemplifies the spirit of Harold Heie’s project on Respectful Conversation, laying out with great humility the strengths and weaknesses of his tradition, with a real openness in his tone. One can hear he is […]
A Restorationist Reflects on a Reformed Perspective
Growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana allowed me to come in contact with people of many different religious persuasions. While my father was raised as a Latter-day Saint, my mother was brought up in the Methodist church, but neither she nor her parents were very active or involved in the local church. Even before she […]
Doesn’t Grace Compel Us to Traverse the Reformed Path of Following Jesus?
When a Lutheran like me dialogues with a Reformed theologian like Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, at least to this Lutheran it feels like a conversation among kin. In no other part of Christendom do Lutherans find the celebration of God’s grace more strongly and compellingly articulated than among the heirs of Calvin. How wonderful to live […]
Following Jesus is “More Than ‘Jesus and Me'”
I’ll come to my real topic in a moment, but permit me to start with an observation about how our conversation has carried us from the end of 2021 into the beginning of 2022. For I found it fascinating to read Wes Granberg-Michaelson’s reflection just a month after Randall Balmer’s. Neither man was born into […]
Within a hair’s breadth
The title “From Guilt to Grace to Gratitude” that Wesley Granberg-Michaelson uses is one I could almost borrow to talk about the Wesleyan tradition, although there are some subtle differences (John Wesley once said he came within a “hair’s breadth” of Calvinism). I will follow the headings Dr. Granberg-Michaelson uses to bring out those differences. […]
A Man Better Than His Tradition’s Noisiest Voices
I have never really seen the appeal of at least the main versions of Reformed Christianity that I have encountered in the US, though I have great respect for many Christians who were raised in this tradition, and seem to like them better in the Netherlands than here! The hypercognitive confessionalism of some Reformed Christians […]
Collaborating with Grace, the Gift from Beyond
It’s interesting to note that Wesley Granberg-Michaelson joins the significant number of “Respectful Conversation” partners reporting having made some sort of journey beyond or at least through evangelicalism as part of embracing their current tradition. I’d count myself among such. Though I was born into the Mennonite church and raised by Anabaptist-Mennonite parents, whether what […]
Almost Persuaded
Wes Granberg-Michaelson has presented a compelling, even winsome, case for Reformed (Calvinist) Christianity, a tradition that once shaped my theological perspective. He speaks of the emphasis on community (for infant baptism especially), the importance of confessions, the sovereignty of God, ecumenism, and the Reformed tradition’s reckoning with sin. Mr. Granberg-Michaelson, a distinguished Reformed leader himself, […]
From Guilt to Grace to Gratitude
The Reformed Tradition Wesley Granberg-Michaelson From Guilt to Grace to Gratitude I adopted the Reformed tradition and wasn’t raised as a “child of the covenant,” nor baptized as an infant, and never heard of the Heidelberg Catechism as a young person in church. It became my choice, or as some Reformed theologians might say, it […]
Response to Anglican/Episcopal Comments
I’ve often said that a scholar can receive no greater compliment than to have others interact seriously with his ideas. I thank all of you for your thoughtful comments, and although I won’t be able to respond to every point (due to limitations on space and your patience), I shall try to address at least […]
When the Canterbury Trail Leads to Kampala
I once met a retired Ugandan Anglican Bishop by the name of Christopher Ssenyonjo. Bishop Ssenyonjo was (and remains) an outspoken advocate of LGBTQI equality in Ugandan civil society and in the Church of Uganda. He founded Integrity Uganda, an organization that advocates for the full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians in Anglican church life. Bishop […]
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