| | | | | | | | | | | | PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christianity has lost three important guide wires: integrity, credibility and, most pressingly, civility, said Os Guinness, co-founder of The Trinity Forum. Guinness believes that Christians must abandon political bitterness and fulfill Jesus' command to love one another. His approach to the intractable differences among world religions is to create a "political framework of rights, responsibilities and respect to which all agree."
A great-great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer and founder of the Guinness brewery, Guinness was born in China where his parents were missionaries during World War II. In childhood he witnessed the Communist takeover of China.
Guinness earned an undergraduate degree at the University of London and a doctorate in social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. He has been a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and he has published more than 20 books, including "The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It." In 1991 he co-founded The Trinity Forum, an organization that hosts forums for leaders in business and politics.
He spoke with our colleagues at Faith & Leadership.
Q: What is important about civility?
How we live with our deep differences is at stake with civility. It's the American way as described by James Madison, with no state church and no religious monopoly. The framers [of the U.S. Constitution] got religious liberty right with the First Amendment in 1791, long before they got race or women right.
However, the way the founders set the country up has been breaking down since the 1960s, or really since the Everson case in 1947. We have incessant cultural warring with, as Richard Neuhaus put it, the sacred public square on one side and the naked public square on the other. Both of the sides are well funded, both employ batteries of lawyers, both are nationally led and it's a disaster for America. What Neuhaus and others call the "civil public square" is a key to the American future; Christians should be champions of that civil public square.
Q: Is there a tension between civility and the prophetic role of the minister in the pulpit?
Misunderstandings surround the idea of civility; it's frequently mistaken for squeamishness about cultural differences, false tolerance or dinner-party etiquette. Classically, civility is a republican virtue, with a small "r," and a democratic necessity, with a small "d." It's the only way you can have a diverse society, freely but civilly, peacefully.
Read more from the interview with Os Guinness »
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| IDEAS THAT IMPACT: POLITICS & RELIGION
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A rabbi and a pastor reflect on what it takes to create fruitful conversations and collaboration between faith communities and political parties.
Read more from Arthur Gross-Schaefer & Robert Cornwall »
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Despite all our attempts to keep religion and politics apart, they do come together in the church, writes a pastor.
Read more from Laura Stern » |
Despite our desire to find a comfortable middle ground, the incarnation means there may not be a clear, easy way through the midst of cultural conflict, writes a retired United Methodist elder.
Read more from Edgar Moore »
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Preaching Ethically: Being True to the Gospel, Your Congregation, & Yourself by Ronald D. Sisk
How do clergy preach to meet the legitimate needs of their congregation and live up to standards of professionalism and personal integrity? Preaching Ethically offers guidelines for preaching in light of a range of factors that might tempt a preacher to misuse the pulpit. How do you preach about controversial issues? What do you say from the pulpit when your marriage is in trouble? What are the ethics of preaching in times of local or national crisis? How do you draw from resources found on the Internet and elsewhere without plagiarizing or misleading listeners about the source of the materials? How do you write a sermon when you know very little about a subject? Why and how do you feed a congregation a balanced sermonic diet?
To be true to ourselves and our calling, says Sisk, we must examine how the many factors that can influence our preaching come into play. The calling to preach the gospel compels us to preach in ways that keep the gospel foremost, treat the congregation fairly, and are true to our own convictions and our personal integrity.
Learn more and order the book » |
| | UPCOMING ALBAN COURSE: PREACHING ADVENT |
Preaching Advent An Alban Online Short Course October 31 - November 18, 2016
Advent, the four-Sunday season preceding Christmas, is approaching rapidly. Because you may be looking for a little help in preparing to preach Advent this year, Alban is offering a three-week online short course that will provide you with new insights into Scripture and with specific ways to engage your congregation's imagination during this sacred season.
Learn more and register » |
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