Category Archives: Theology

How God Became King

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Richard Heyduck

We’ve been doing a study of NT Wright’s book, How God Became King. It’s been a very slow study, sometimes make less than a page of progress in our hour of discussion. There’s been lots of repetition. I’ve spent time … Continue reading →

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Thinking about “Once Saved Always Saved” as a Wesleyan

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Richard Heyduck

In our culture Baptists may be the loudest proclaimers of the teaching, but it’s rooted in the Calvinist/Augustinian teaching of the “Perseverance of the Saints.” If salvation is ONLY a matter of what God does, if God’s grace is irresistible, … Continue reading →

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Firebrand Theology Seminar

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Richard Heyduck

I don’t get the opportunity these days to do much deep consideration of theology, so when I learned that the Firebrand Theology Seminar would focus on the work of Billy Abraham this summer it was too good to pass up. … Continue reading →

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GMC Catechism Class

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Richard Heyduck

Since our congregation has recently transitioned to the Global Methodist Church, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the basic doctrine of the denomination. The class uses the GMC Catechism which is based on the Nicene … Continue reading →

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Positive and Negative in United Methodism

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

Since reading Alasdair MacIntyre’s Whose Justice? Which Rationality? thirty-something years ago, I’ve found great value in the definition of a tradition that he he offers there (p. 12). A tradition is an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental … Continue reading →

Posted in Alasdair MacIntyre, Discipline, Diversity, Doctrine, Ecclesiology, Theology, Tradition, United Methodism | Leave a comment

The Absolute Basics of the Wesleyan Way

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

The United Methodist Church is, after years of inner dissension, at the beginning of formally breaking up. In some places (like my own Texas Annual Conference), the monetary cost of disaffiliation is low. At the other extreme conferences like Baltimore … Continue reading →

Posted in Doctrine, Ecclesiology, John Wesley, Theology, Uncategorized, United Methodism | Leave a comment

An Illustration of Why Latin Can Be Useful

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Richard Heyduck

Christian theology has often affirmed Si comprehendis, non est Deus. In English one might translate it as “If you understand it, it’s not God.” This statement gets at the basic idea of apophaticism: God is beyond us, not just quantitatively … Continue reading →

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Review: 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

Gregg R. Allison’s 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith is a helpful survey of basic Christian theological teachings. Though Allison is a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary, he writes for a broad evangelical audience. The first thing I … Continue reading →

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The “Angry, Offended” God

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

I ran across this quotation on Twitter the other day: “God, apart from Christ, is an angry, offended Sovereign. Unless we behold God in and through Christ, the only Mediator–the terrors of His Majesty would overwhelm us. Because of our … Continue reading →

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Atheism in the Church

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

The Christian church in America has enough of a problem with practical atheism, the phenomenon of saying we believe in God while living as if there is no God. We also have a problem with clergy who have invested piles of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Current events, Theology | Tagged , | 1 Comment