Controversies in the church: series introduction

Every once in awhile I start a series that I know I'm not quite capable of doing justice, but that hardly lets me off the hook of trying. I wish a book, booklet, or field guide existed that did a good job of explaining various controversies in the church, while doing justice to both sides -- or all sides, as the case may be. I've seen a few things that were in the neighborhood -- catalogs of differences or lists of which groups stand where on various things. But they either made no real effort to explain, or made an effort to explain only the side of the group running the publishing house.

For some controversies that divide the church, I can see both sides. For other controversies, I have no earthly idea what is behind certain views. So as I go along in this series, I'd like to invite other people to comment with either more perspective on their point of view or mentioning that they've responded on their own blog. Anyone who tells me of a response on their own blog -- and the post constructively explains without being condescending or polemic -- will get a link.

My hope is that, at the end of this series, we'll have an on-line resource for anyone who wants to hear both sides of the story, to better understand their brothers and sisters in Christ. I should be plain that I'm not expecting to resolve any controversies at this point; if we can simply understand them, it will be a step in the right direction.