I was watching one of only a few Religious YouTube channels I peruse--- Gospel Simplicity. In this one, the creator was communicating about what he liked about the Catholic church. It should be noted that the creator is not Roman Catholic. He is actually Anglican. He likes to bring together dialogue between Roman Catholics, Protestants, …
Continue reading Challenge of “Being Nice” in Religious Conversations
Okay, maybe you see this, or maybe you don't... but my FB friends often put up things like: ---"I am not a supporter of <a particular political figure>, but...." and then goes into a long spiel fawning over that same political figure. The praise is so lacking in balance or reflection that it is all …
Patriarch Timothy I lived from around 740AD to 823AD. For a little over half of his life he served as Patriarch of the Church of the East (780 - 823). Supposedly, in 782 he had a discussion of religion with Caliph Al-Mahdi (reigning 775-785). In some ways this appears to be the earliest (or at …
Continue reading 782AD 1st Millennium Missions History. Interfaith Dialogue
I have talked about it before... but maybe I can pull some of my disparate thoughts together here. I will give a few quick examples. Undermined Butch Hartman, the creator of the cartoon, "The Fairly Odd Parents" among others, decided to create his own brand and channel for children's media. As a Christian of a …
Continue reading The Challenge and Value of Unintended Audiences (Part One)
Many years ago, before I went into Missions... I worked at a manufacturing firm as a mechanical engineer. I had a friend who was JW (a member of the Jehovah's Witness faith). He had tried to convert me--- he was a Pioneer, which meant that he was supposed to commit a certain number of hours …
Continue reading It is Never JUST CAKE. An Inter-religious Reflection
I am going to be talking about sympathizing with people who are going through religious or moral crises that I cannot fully relate to. There are many other parallels that relate to gender, race, nationality, and more. These others are important... perhaps more important. But I am teaching a class in inter-religious dialogue right now …
Continue reading Sympathizing With Religious People To Whom You Can’t (Fully) Relate
One of my students, from Myanmar, was talking to a nurse (the mother of his friend) about Christianity. She also lived in Myanmar and was a devout Buddhist. My student asked her what she liked about Christianity and what she did not. As far as what she did not, the main thing was how many …
Continue reading Is There Value in Pastoral Theology for Inter-religious Dialogue?
This is a sermon I did in church recently. However, it is tied to the mission work that Celia and I do, so I think it is not inappropriate to share it here. I was asked to speak on “Listening Well.” It is interesting because that is the main thing we teach in the Philippines. …
Continue reading Listening Well (Reflections on James 1:19-)
I was starting to develop a list of rules of IRD by applying Grounded Theory Analysis to several other lists developed by others. I completed the first step (Open Coding) and got a ways into the Axial Coding. However, I sort of lost steam at that point and so I came up with a list …
Continue reading My (Tentative) Rules of Interreligious Dialogue
I have been teaching Inter-religious Dialogue (IRD) for several years now. While teaching it, I teach several different list of "rules" associated with IRD. However, the one I tend to focus on is the 7 Rules compiled by Max Warren. But as I have been thinking about it, it occurred to me that I should …
Continue reading My Rules of Interreligious Dialogue Project