Wednesday, May 05, 2010

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.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

This could be interesting! I'll be glad to help out if I can.

Weekend Fisher said...

That would be great. There are some things that I just don't get, that maybe make more sense from where you sit.

I'm hoping this turns into an actual resource, of sorts.

Take care & God bless
Anne

Craig said...

I look forward to this series. I've written pieces before that looks at possibilities of synthesizing orthodox positions on various topics, but a series that shows all sides of various controversies would be most helpful.

Weekend Fisher said...

Wouldn't it? Wish me luck. :)

I've got the first one nearly done, but the approach I've ended up taking may need its own explanation first ...

Take care & God bless
Anne