11-20-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 20, 2025
I pulled up a video of one of my former professors, Rev. Dr. Newell Williams, who went on to become President at Brite Divinity School from 2003 - 2022 (new President is Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, who preached at CCCC during my sabbatical). I had to laugh listening to his lecture as he structured it based on three questions: What is sin? What is salvation? How does one move from sin to salvation? The reason I chuckled is that thirty-five years ago, when I sat in Dr. Williams’ history classes, we would be invited to write papers on different historical figures and/or Christian movements, and he would ask us to answer three questions. You can guess what they were. 

Dr. Newell Williams is considered one of the most respected Protestant historians in the last half-century, and so I consider myself blessed that I took five or six history classes with him during my graduate years. Though I might have rolled my eyes at the prospect of answering those three questions over and over again, I now have a genuine appreciation of them. The three answers will never reveal all the nuances or uniquely odd characteristics about a historical figure or tradition, but it does create a pretty good starting place to compare and contrast. In fact, I think if individual Christians would really explore for themselves how they answer those questions, we could have some serious and helpful conversations. 

Too often, in my opinion, Christians simply repeat the go-to rhetoric of their church or tradition without really processing it or having any sort of personal connection. They might claim they uphold the statement on salvation found on their church’s website, but when it comes down to how they think and act on a daily basis, their definition is dramatically different. I only say this because we are at a time when the level of angry disagreement continues to rise and intensify. Disagreement is not a bad thing, but in the last week or so, I have entered into two separate conversations that started out pretty intense as both people were willing to go to the mat over some common and pithy Christian statements. At first, neither one of them could hear my questions I was asking, but as the temperature began to drop, both of them allowed my curiosity to begin to push them to think more deeply. I won’t speak to the specifics of those conversations, but when you begin to point out the implications of someone’s stated belief, there is often confusion and some backpedaling. Dr. Williams’ questions will not change the world, but I find them helpful as a starting place for conversation if those answering the questions are not simply pulling out a well-worn historical phrase that has never actually been processed or embraced. 

Thinking I can have all the right answers is naive, but I do believe that you, Merciful God, have invited me onto a lifelong journey of exploration and growth. As I go through the necessary work of owning my beliefs, and not simply what has been given to me by my family or my tradition, I am certain there will be some discomfort, confusion, and maybe even some internal pushback. But in the end, I am hoping to come to a fuller and more expansive understanding of you, Holy God, one that I can truly claim as a relationship with you. Amen.