Sanctity Without Starch Summary

The Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, and Martin Luther have been three very important figures in the Christian church. Each went through a unique personal experience that changed the course of their lives. Those experiences were important to them and they should be important to anyone of the Christian faith. In this research paper I will explore these experiences and how they do and do not relate to each other.

Though McGrath did do a very good job at giving us insight on the historical background of the topics and also educated us in a very easy, elementary level on the theology, he lacked personal touch. In this I’m talking about some personal stories or experiences from his life that has helped him engage these theological terms and ideas. It was very “theological” in its approach, however the simple addition of some personal

In Mark Jarman 's poem, "If I Were Paul," the speaker displays many changes in tone and diction to illustrate the crux of his ideology. The first three stanzas are completely exalting in their nature. The speaker uses three distinct categories to do this: creation of a being, virtue of an idea, and discovery of an object, and each of the first stanzas are devoted to one of these topics. Each of these subsets are purposefully selected to create a tone of artistry and fascination in the beginning stanzas of the poem. Eventually, the speaker changes tone to display the hypocrisy in the modern church. To a superficial reader, the speaker is rebuking a congregation, but further analysis reveals the speaker is attempting to write as a contemporary Paul of Tarsus, pointing out inconsistencies in the modern Christian faith.

Roman Payne, a well known American writer realizes that in order for one's life to excel one must surrender their lives to make it greater than it ever was before. In a similar way Edward Taylor felt that the same was true for your holy beliefs. In “Huswifery”, Edward Taylor conveys how Christians must surrender themselves to God to be transformed by the teachings of his holy word which is seen through the yarn, the process, and the final product. Taylor demonstrates a willingness to offer his whole being to God because he desires to be wrapped in the robe of God’s glory.

Jonathan Edward’s Personal Narrative shows a drastic shift in religious, social relationships, from the church and sacred texts informing you about how you should act to be virtuous, to the ordinary person and traveling preacher having the religious authority that the church previously had. This shows in the lines, “I made a solemn dedication of myself to God,” and, “That my sins appear to me so great.”

Throughout the assignment, I have explored key themes that I connected with and considered how they relate to my spiritual and religious growth, both personally and professionally. Perhaps the themes that I connected with from Mackay’s book were not the most obvious, however, they allowed me to experience reflection on my journey of Christian Life. The personal reflection required for this assignment has in itself provided an opportunity for my spiritual growth as I was challenged to recall and deal with previous issues I had, up to this time, intentionally

Prior to John’s assurance of faith, Bohler spoke harsh to Wesley telling him his last of faith was truly no faith. Bohler encouraged Wesley to do a great deal of critical thinking. Wesley “took careful notes on the Moravian organization,” However, over time he began to question some of their practices. John knotted that he found errors in several of their practices. These faults included, “the neglect of fasting, the magnification of their church and their leader, a tendency toward levity, a spirit of secrecy, the use of cunning, guile, or dissimulation” thus, resulting in John feeing they were “falling short of the apostolic Christianity he had been exposed to.” This lead to Wesley to once again think critically about this theology and belief

Wesley met the filioque controversy head on by stating with certainty that the Holy Spirit is the essence of the Christ and of course God. With this perception, Wesley makes an easy transition from the loving sacrifice of Jesus moving into the prevenient grace which stirs within each person due to the presence of the Holy Spirit. I found it interesting that Wesley categorizes the gifts of the Spirit into extraordinary and ordinary. Then again, it can simply be a continuance of his loathsome sentiment toward ecstatic worship. The tongues bestowed upon the early church were extraordinary yet finite

In Culpepper and Koester’s writing I’ve learned a great deal about the Gospel of John from all perspectives. I’ve learned everything from what makes John unique, the Gospel of John as literature, and some theological insight on the Gospel of John. In this particular paper though I want to focus on three key questions asked and deliver well thought out ideas and answers. Also in this paper the reader will learn what the similarities and differences John has from the Synoptic Gospels, what difference would it make to Christian belief today if the Gospel of John was never written, and what my favorite gospel is and why?

The gospel is the preeminently a report about the work of Christ on our behalf, that is why and how the gospel is salvation by grace. The gospel is news because it is about a salvation accomplish for us, it is news that creates a life of love, but the life of love is not itself the gospel. In fact, the gospel has to equal an opposite enemy, the gospel is ever crucified between its two errors, religion and irreligion; the theological terms are the legalism and autonomism. In other terms, another way to describe them could be moralism and relativism (on pragmatism). According to Keller, these two error constantly seek to corrupt the message and steal away from us the power of the gospel. Moreover, the gospel is the good news that God has accomplish

The principle element of John Wesley’s theology is the supernatural working of God’s grace. As developed by Collins, for Wesley the Christian life was a journey made only possible by the working of God’s grace (Collins, 2007). Through the entire work of God and man, God’s nature of grace is evident. Wesley describes the movement of God’s grace in and through man in what he describes as the Via Salutis or the Way of Salvation. Furthermore, the Via Salutis address several facets of grace that Wesley identifies, including; prevenient grace, convincing grace, saving grace, assurance, sanctifying grace and glorifying grace (Collins, 2007).

I was both inspired and challenged by this past week’s readings. Inspired as to the humanness of our condition and yet, God’s persistent loving response to us. Then in as such, challenged by our lack of response to God. Maddox fine tunes Wesley’s approach to God’s accumulative, yet, fluid ‘types’ of grace towards humanity, while Heitzenratzer covers Wesley’s birthing of Methodist doctrine, discipline and practice within a modern lexicon and ‘good ole’ Outler continues to share Wesley’s meticulous day to day faith conundrums and conversions.

The second specific insight I read was Paul makes it clear to the Galatians that the gospel of grace rules out the use of mere rules or some code of conducts as a means of self-justification. That the purpose of Galatians was to call the churches back to the true gospel that Paul had preached and from which some them had recently departed.

He continues speaking with live animated words. Honing in that Paul is writing to the churches he planted, which are torn between the mosaic law and salvation found in Christ’s atonement. He gives a biblical description of the reason for the law, the meaning of being bound in chains of self-righteous religion, and the focal point, the doctrine of faith and works are not the legitimate use of the gospel, but faith alone. The speaker delivers a relative perspective, John Wesley who is an example of a person who trusted in his own righteousness. John associated himself with holy clubs who honored faith and works, the culmination of these organization and his own personal commitment to the gospels led to his true conversion. A slave through his belief, freedom came through the gospels which produced faith. Enabling spiritual adoption possible only through the merit of Christ, not by

In the second paragraph, Mahaney talks about why the cross should define our lives. He talks about how Paul encourages Timothy to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified the main thing. Paul wants Timothy to guard that idea with his life. The author then relates to Paul’s amazement of God’s mercy and grace. He gives a brief overview of his difficult, drug immersed past, and reflects upon how God has changed his life since then.