In Freedom in Resistance and Creative Transformation, Michael Miller addresses the concept of freedom that is central to the grammar of Christian faith and important in a wide range of religious and nonreligious settings across the globe. He confronts the fact that despite the claimed importance of freedom there continues to be interpersonal, socio-political, and religious power hierarchies that keep some people dominant and others subjugated. The book suggests that often these hierarchies are informed by Christian teachings that deny freedom to human beings on the basis of their humanity per se. Having classified humanity as fallen, we are instructed that freedom is experienced by disparaging our humanity as we actually experience it, seeing ourselves as our own worst enemies and accepting bondage to God--the bondage reflected in the character of relations with those seen as God's special representatives in the world. Miller presents a case against this understanding of the human situation, and in the process he critically engages the Old and New Testaments along with ideas of significant representatives of Christian orthodoxy. As an alternative he promotes freedom that is finite, realistically libertarian, and relational as most compatible with the character of human beings that are partially self-creating and self-determining. Contributing to this position is the view that an infinitely temporal God, by character and desire, participates in human life in a way that ensures the requisite space for authentic decision making, from which emerges genuinely novel possibilities for human life. This dynamic has implications for the continued development of the human species and the quality of life in the cosmos as a whole.
In Freedom in Resistance and Creative Transformation, Michael Miller addresses the concept of freedom that is central to the grammar of Christian faith and important in a wide range of religious and nonreligious settings across the globe. He confronts the fact that despite the claimed importance of freedom there continues to be interpersonal, socio-political, and religious power hierarchies that keep some people dominant and others subjugated. The book suggests that often these hierarchies are informed by Christian teachings that deny freedom to human beings on the basis of their humanity per se. Having classified humanity as fallen, we are instructed that freedom is experienced by disparaging our humanity as we actually experience it, seeing ourselves as our own worst enemies and accepting bondage to God--the bondage reflected in the character of relations with those seen as God's special representatives in the world. Miller presents a case against this understanding of the human situation, and in the process he critically engages the Old and New Testaments along with ideas of significant representatives of Christian orthodoxy. As an alternative he promotes freedom that is finite, realistically libertarian, and relational as most compatible with the character of human beings that are partially self-creating and self-determining. Contributing to this position is the view that an infinitely temporal God, by character and desire, participates in human life in a way that ensures the requisite space for authentic decision making, from which emerges genuinely novel possibilities for human life. This dynamic has implications for the continued development of the human species and the quality of life in the cosmos as a whole.
In As the Broken White Lines Become One, Michael Gehring recounts his spiritual journey through the landscape of late-twentieth-century southern American Christianity. This account depicts how and why he drifted away from the Roman Catholic Church, fellowshipped for a while with the Assemblies of God, sojourned for a prolonged time as an outsider to the institutional church, and eventually found a theological home within United Methodism. What follows is a spiritual journey with a lot of turns. The work is not intended to be a complete autobiography. Significant biographical details and relationships are not included as this narrative focuses on the shifting and sifting grounds of American Christian denominations. This chronicle primarily concerns the spiritual journey that led him to United Methodism and what it was like, not only to choose it, but also to inhabit it.
Compromise is necessary within society when there are competing interests at play. However, certain concessions simply delay the inevitable. When the United States lawmakers attempted to stave off conflict over the subject of slavery with the Missouri compromise, the effect was only temporary. The Seventh-day Adventist Church may be facing a similar situation over a compromise that was intended to respond to competing interests in the church regarding women’s ordination. Guided by the principles of biblical interpretation that helped to found the Seventh-day Adventist Church, veteran New York pastor, Dr. Michael G. Coleman, finds in Scripture the basis for resolving the standoff that exists within Seventh-day Adventism over women’s ordination. He proposes a biblical solution to avoid the trend that has overtaken other Protestant churches. His response is a thoughtful, biblically faithful, and user-friendly resource. He encourages administrators, pastors, and laypersons to consider the evidence prayerfully and thoughtfully.
Dr. Michael D. Wright Sr, is a native Philadelphian, and a 23-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department. He has functioned as a paramedic preceptor to many Fire Department Medics. Dr. Wright currently serves as the Director of the Philadelphia Fire Department's Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Dr. Michael D. Wright Sr is the founder. of the Christ Bible Fellowship Church of Philadelphia, located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, PA, where he serves as the Senior Pastor. He also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Kensington Christian Academy. He has earned his Master's Degree from Biblical Theological Seminary, and is also a graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia, where he earned his doctorate. Dr. Michael D. Wright Sr, has been married to his wife Lynne for 35 years, and have four children. In his spare time, he enjoys basketball, photography, music, traveling, and reading.
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