Author Archives: Richard Heyduck

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About Richard Heyduck

Pastor of Hardy Memorial Methodist Church, a Global Methodist Congregation. PhD Fuller Seminary MDiv Asbury Seminary BA Southwestern University

What the American Church Needs in 2015

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

I’m only going to mention two things here, not because I think the situation is really that simple, but because if we can get these two things right, most of the other things will fall into place. The first thing … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Local church | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Lost World of Scripture

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

Having enjoyed John Walton’s earlier work, The Lost World of Genesis One, I thought I’d check out his recent The Lost World of Scripture. Here’s the review I just posted on Amazon. This book has two main goals. The first is along … Continue reading →

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Systemic Racism?

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

A few thoughts: 1. If I as an individual identify a person or set of persons as belonging to a certain race, AND, I take my having identified them as members of that race to tell me the primary things … Continue reading →

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Textual Stability?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

As I review Nancey Murphy’s Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics, I came across this claim: “If the texts’ ability to perform a definite speech act depends on the existence of a community with shared conventions and proper … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, United Methodism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Dealing with Anger: Pessimism or Contentment?

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

In class today I showed the students Alain de Botton’s presentation of the philosophy of Seneca. I think Seneca (as interpreted by de Botton) is genuinely insightful. The richer and more successful we are, the more prone we are to … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Reading For the Sake of the Bride

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

Here in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, we’ve been encouraged to read Steve Harper’s recent book, For the Sake of the Bride. Bishop Huie is preparing us to have discussions in the various districts. I’ve just finished the … Continue reading →

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Jesus and Culture

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

Yeah, I know; given the title of this post I could write just about anything. I’m only going to touch on one aspect here. Sometimes we complain about how biblical scholars give us a Jesus who looks nothing like us, … Continue reading →

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Not Islamic?

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

In last night’s speech the President said, Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.” No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a … Continue reading →

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Books (a Friday evening rant)

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

Books enable scholars to extend their reach. A single teacher can only have so many students. When the teacher writes a book, what that teacher has to say can be passed on to many students. Book may be expensive, but … Continue reading →

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Dismantling Education?

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

I keep hearing the observation (prediction?) that higher education is being disaggregated (most recently, here). What is meant by this is that the sources of the learning that add up to any given degree/diploma/certification are not going to come from … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Higher Education | Tagged , , | Leave a comment