Faith Working by Love
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The Theology of General Conference’s passing of the Three Rs
Author’s note: Like the Social Principles, this blog is meant to be a starting point for conversation. I invite you to read and listen with an open mind to how the Holy Spirit may be speaking through me, and I will also seek to listen for the Holy Spirit in your respectful response. Yesterday, I…
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End-of-Life Ethics in the proposed new Social Principles
In 2023, I completed a master’s thesis titled, “Is This How Human Life Should End?: A Methodist Examination of Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Through this year-long research project, completed through the Th.M. program at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, I considered the history and growing popularity of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in the United States and…
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Creation 4: Faith and Science
The Social Principles affirm the value of science and encourage dialogue between scientific and theological communities. However, the proposed revised principles overly simplify this affirmation. On a positive note, the revised social principles call for ethical standards in scientific research and affirm traditional wisdom within indigenous communities.
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Creation 3: Creation Justice
What does it mean to seek justice? Thomas Aquinas defined justice as a cardinal virtue that renders to each person what is due to them, or what they have a right to receive. God’s justice, then, honors the dignity of all beings–a foundational principle of the UMRSP and one that is extended not only to…
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Creation 2: Sustainable Policies and Practices
This post covers the following sections of “Community of All Creation” in the proposed revised UMC Social Principles: Stewardship of Creation “The goodness of God’s creation, and the value given to every part of it, call people to respect, protect, and care for the creation and all interrelated aspects of it.” This statement brings together…
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Creation 1: Creation in Peril
The United Methodist Social Principles detail human culpability in global warming and climate change. But humans are not only part of the problem. We also ought to be part of the solution.
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Creation: An Introduction
Since the original Social Principles in 1972, the first section to follow the Preamble has always been “The Natural World.” If the church is to consider social principles, it only makes sense to begin with creation—the primary resource humans must protect and care for in order to survive. The Revised Social Principles maintain this primary…
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Foundational Principles of the UMRSP
The Social Principles have always included a preamble, outlining foundational theological principles upon which the rest of the SP are constructed. This Preamble has remained mostly unchanged since 1972. The proposed revised Social Principles (RSP) nearly double the Preamble’s length, both adding content and further clarifying existing content. The Preamble to the RSP lays out…
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History of the Social Principles
In 2022, the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church turned 50 years old. Yet for most of that time, they have been primarily known (if they are known at all) as the battleground of ideological disagreements among the people called Methodists. While most laity and clergy in the United Methodist Church know the Social…
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Let’s Do Social Ethics!
What’s this site all about? Project Overview Last year I was talking with a Catholic ethicist who wanted to know more about social teaching in the United Methodist Church. As I gave him the background of the Social Principles and shared that our denomination would be considering a substantial revision in 2024, he asked me…
Faith working by love 