application of scriptures, prayer and spiritual traditions. Therefore, churches express their spirituality through different traditions and practices based on the emphasis placed on that particular tradition. Fundamentally, in identifying these traditions Richard Foster placed them in six categories, namely, contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnation. Although, these traditions are central to our Christian faith each church has demonstrated a tendency to prefer the
Catholic Church’s view of the ecumenical movement was defined by Paul VI’s predecessors Leo XIII and Pius XI, who insisted that the Catholic Church is the only Church of Christ, therefore barring Catholics from participating in interchurch dialogue (Textbook). These sentiments forbade ecumenical dialogues with any ecclesial community outside of the Catholic Church. The papacy’s objection to Catholic involvement in the ecumenical movement began to change with the Ecclesia Catholica, an organization that
gaining momentum, Tertullian and Irenaeus were two of the individuals that brilliantly defended the faith. They saw Gnosticism through the same lens as many other Church Fathers, as nothing else but a heresy. In their time this was a real threat to the true faith that was laid out for them through the Scriptures and through the oral tradition passed down by the apostles. Like many heresies, Gnosticism started off within a Christian foundation. However, what makes it more interesting is that Gnosticism
Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away
According to David Scaer, Thomas Baima comprehensively understands the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper within the trinitarian context that includes the three divine persons: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The trinitarian communion is first communicated with the thought that Jesus is equally divine and man and then in all the sacraments. Therefore, Lutherans can declare that god and humanity are united sacraments. According to Thomas Baima, whose proposition David Scaer explores
In comparing my religious traditions with Sammie and Brandon, we found that Brandon was not reformed like Sammie and I are. So naturally, Sammie and I sort of knew where one anther was coming from (PCA). We started our discussion by using the guidelines of the syllabus questions. We shared our spiritual biography, what ways our backgrounds/traditions are similar, what ways they are different, how out diverse traditions work together for the glorification of the kingdom of God, and how understanding
of these denominations. In 1504, the first division of Christianity into branches occurred with the creation of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. They separated due to the difference in belief of whether or not the Pope was the head of the church or not. They began the divide after the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787 CE. This was an ongoing conflict that finally ended during the “Great Schism,” when Pope Leo IX excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius. In response
In recent years, journalists who write about Christianity invariably analyze the slow death of the local Church as if only depopulation has occurred since the 1950s. Pundits blame demographic shifts, popular culture, entertainment and sport, unfaithful parents, and disinterested children. Graying and dwindling congregations typically respond with moderate and insincere programs of Church growth. Analysts rarely focus on liturgical or ministerial reform. Paralleling the returning Babylonian exiles
"Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason." Stephen Gunter writes, "Perhaps no theological topic has been the focus of more debate with The United Methodist Church over the past quarter century than the 'Wesleyan Quadrilateral '" . It should be noted that John Wesley never used the term Wesleyan Quadrilateral to describe his process of theological affirmation. The Wesleyan
of the Latin word meaning "coming". Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used to refer to the Second Coming of Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from three different perspectives. "Since the time of Bernard of Clairvaux(d.1153) Christians have spoken of the three comings of Christ: in the flesh in Bethlehem, in our hearts daily, and in glory at the end of time."[1] The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient