#wesley hill

[thatquestion]

“I’ve come to think that part of celibacy for me is not simply giving up a sexual relationship, but it’s also giving up this idea that I have the right to an extremely intimate non-sexual relationship. . . . When you choose a life of sexual abstinence. . . you’re not just choosing not to go to bed with someone, but you’re also choosing a kind of emotional chastity. You’re choosing a life that is surrendering not just physical intimacy, but you’re even surrendering a certain amount of emotional intimacy—or at least you’re surrendering the idea that someone owes you that or that God owes you that.”

— Wesley Hill, in “Episode 47: Spiritual Friendships,” Hole in My Heart Ministries (interview by Laurie Krieg)

[sidebeeashley]

Revoice — Promoting LGBT Flourishing in Historic Christian Traditions

“Supporting, encouraging, and empowering gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can experience the life-giving character of the historic Christian tradition.”

***The first ever Side B focused conference!    

[bobonbooks]

Review: Easter

Easter (Fullness of Time Series), Wesley Hill. IVP Formatio (ISBN: 9781514000366) 2025. Summary: Explores the history and significance of Easter, not only as a day but as a season of celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. “He is risen!” “He is risen indeed” This call and response captures the incredible news of Easter, that the crucified One lives, that death is defeated, and in Him, we…

Review: Easter

[unaspalabrasmas]

Unnecessary Gifts | The Point Magazine

Christians who forgo marriage and parenthood are counting on finding their fulfillment in another world. But what if I can have it both ways

not entirely sure what i think of this one.

[echoraft]

Dear Dr. Bromiley, Please excuse me and please try to understand that I cannot and will not answer the questions these people put. To do so in the time requested would in any case be impossible for me. The claims of work in my last semester as an academic teacher (preparation of lectures and seminars, doctoral dissertations, etc.) are too great. But even if I had the time and strength I would not enter into a discussion of the questions proposed. Such a discussion would have to rest on the primary presupposition that those who ask the questions have read, learned, and pondered the many things I have already said and written about these matters. They have obviously not done this, but have ignored the many hundreds of pages in the Church Dogmatics where they might at least have found out—not necessarily under the headings of history, universalism, etc. —where I really stand and do not stand. From that point they could have gone on to pose further questions. I sincerely respect the seriousness with which a man like [G.C.] Berkouwer studies me and then makes his criticisms. I can then answer him in detail. But I cannot respect the questions of these people from Christianity Today, for they do not focus on the reasons for my statements but on certain foolishly drawn deductions from them. Their questions are thus superficial. The decisive point, however, is this. The second presupposition of a fruitful discussion between them and me would have to be that we are able to talk on a common plane. But these people have already had their so-called orthodoxy for a long time. They are closed to anything else, they will cling to it at all costs, and they can adopt toward me only the role of prosecuting attorneys, trying to establish whether what I represent agrees or disagrees with their orthodoxy, in which I for my part have no interest! None of their questions leaves me with the impression that they want to seek with me the truth that is greater than us all. They take the stance of those who happily possess it already and who hope to enhance their happiness by succeeding in proving to themselves and the world that I do not share this happiness. Indeed they have long since decided and publicly proclaimed that I am a heretic, possibly (van Til) the worst heretic of all time. So be it! But they should not expect me to take the trouble to give them the satisfaction of offering explanations which they will simply use to confirm the judgment they have already passed on me. Dear Dr. Bromiley, you will no doubt remember what I said in the preface to Church Dogmatics IV/2 in the words of an eighteenth-century poem on those who eat up men. The continuation of the poem is as follows: “… for there is no true love where one man eats another.” These fundamentalists want to eat me up. They have not yet come to a “better mind and attitude” as I once hoped. I can thus give them neither an angry nor a gentle answer but instead no answer at all. With friendly greetings, Yours, KARL BARTH P.S. I ask you to convey what I have said in a suitable manner to the people at Christianity Today

Karl Barth to Geoffrey Bromiley, June 1, 1961 - via Wesley Hill

[churchleadergazette]

The Easter Sunday Prank by Wesley Hill

[caption id="attachment_421639" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Image processed by CodeCarvings Piczard ### FREE Community Edition ### on 2018-03-29 15:39:44Z | http://piczard.com | http://codecarvings.com[/caption]

This Holy Week, hundreds of frazzled preachers around the world have undoubtedly heaved a sigh of relief. Instead of having to fret over what illustration to use on Easter Sunday morning to capture their listeners’ attention, they can simply seize the opportunity the calendar has handed them.

This year, Easter falls on April Fools’ Day, which means that countless sermons will be able to employ some version of the following introduction: “On Easter Sunday, we Christians celebrate the fact that a dead Man came back to life. This might seem like the ultimate prank—dead people just don’t climb out of their graves, period—but this year, it turns out, God’s April Fools’ joke is actually true!” (More adventurous preachers might even try reviving the old “fish hook” theory of the atonement. According to that ancient model, in the ultimate April Fools’-style prank, God dupes Satan by enticing him to kill Jesus—only thereby to ensnare the devil and win a victory at his expense.)

Were I to occupy a pulpit this year, I too would happily take advantage of this fortuitous convergence of holidays. But I’m not sure the real divine April Fools’ prank is quite what many preachers will say it is.

The Scandal of the Cross

It’s true, of course, that Jesus’ resurrection came as a shock to his first followers. And one of them, famously, did, in fact, view it as a hoax. “Doubting Thomas,” as he’s usually called, was like me when I was a child. Every April 1, I determined that this would be the year I’d avoid being taken in by the jokes my family and friends were sure to be peddling. Thomas, likewise, having had his hopes shattered by Jesus’ crucifixion, promised himself he wouldn’t be hoodwinked by any ghost stories about a resuscitated corpse.

Even so, I think it’s telling that when the apostle Paul tries to pinpoint the real “foolishness” of Christian faith, he doesn’t locate it in the events of Easter Sunday—as if the idea of resurrection were inherently unbelievable. Rather he finds it in the scandal of what happened on Good Friday: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:22–23, NRSV, emphasis added). For Paul, it seems, if God played an April Fools’ joke on humanity, the joke was more in the crucifixion than it was in the empty tomb.

Click here to read more. Source: Christianity Today

[blackchristiannation]

The Easter Sunday Prank by Wesley Hill

[caption id="attachment_421639" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Image processed by CodeCarvings Piczard ### FREE Community Edition ### on 2018-03-29 15:39:44Z | http://piczard.com | http://codecarvings.com[/caption]

This Holy Week, hundreds of frazzled preachers around the world have undoubtedly heaved a sigh of relief. Instead of having to fret over what illustration to use on Easter Sunday morning to capture their listeners’ attention, they can simply seize the opportunity the calendar has handed them.

This year, Easter falls on April Fools’ Day, which means that countless sermons will be able to employ some version of the following introduction: “On Easter Sunday, we Christians celebrate the fact that a dead Man came back to life. This might seem like the ultimate prank—dead people just don’t climb out of their graves, period—but this year, it turns out, God’s April Fools’ joke is actually true!” (More adventurous preachers might even try reviving the old “fish hook” theory of the atonement. According to that ancient model, in the ultimate April Fools’-style prank, God dupes Satan by enticing him to kill Jesus—only thereby to ensnare the devil and win a victory at his expense.)

Were I to occupy a pulpit this year, I too would happily take advantage of this fortuitous convergence of holidays. But I’m not sure the real divine April Fools’ prank is quite what many preachers will say it is.

The Scandal of the Cross

It’s true, of course, that Jesus’ resurrection came as a shock to his first followers. And one of them, famously, did, in fact, view it as a hoax. “Doubting Thomas,” as he’s usually called, was like me when I was a child. Every April 1, I determined that this would be the year I’d avoid being taken in by the jokes my family and friends were sure to be peddling. Thomas, likewise, having had his hopes shattered by Jesus’ crucifixion, promised himself he wouldn’t be hoodwinked by any ghost stories about a resuscitated corpse.

Even so, I think it’s telling that when the apostle Paul tries to pinpoint the real “foolishness” of Christian faith, he doesn’t locate it in the events of Easter Sunday—as if the idea of resurrection were inherently unbelievable. Rather he finds it in the scandal of what happened on Good Friday: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:22–23, NRSV, emphasis added). For Paul, it seems, if God played an April Fools’ joke on humanity, the joke was more in the crucifixion than it was in the empty tomb.

Click here to read more. Source: Christianity Today

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