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Is Tolerance a Christian Virtue? Part Three: Finding a Viable Alternative to Absolutism and Relativism Michael Jinkins “Religious ethics has often tended to brand as immoral and prompted of the devil all codes different from one absolute code regarded as given for all time.” — Sterling P. Lamprecht Among the anxieties aggravated by […]
Is tolerance a Christian virtue? Part Two: A Brief Tour of Tolerance Michael Jinkins “The taste for toleration has deep roots, but it is not necessarily from one’s ancestors that one acquires it.” — Theodore Zeldin This week, let’s go on a brief* tour of toleration. To get our tour started we will […]
Is Tolerance a Christian Virtue? Part One: A Theological Starting Point Michael Jinkins In response to my request for sermon ideas this past summer, several members of the congregation asked if I would address the issues of moral absolutism and relativism. It occurred to me that preaching on these subjects might not be the […]
The Most Depressing Lecture I Ever Heard Michael Jinkins The day started to come unstrung long before I got to the lecture. This was 1987. Debbie and the kids and I had only been in Aberdeen, Scotland, for a couple of months. The word got around the faculty of divinity at the university […]
A Gulf Wants Spanning Luke 16:19-30 Larry was one of the people I most admired in my first congregation. He and his wife, Cindy, sort of adopted Debbie and me into their family, and in time became the Godparents of our children. Back then Larry was an executive for IBM. He was one of […]
The Vow Michael Jinkins He was already talking when he got out of the cab and met me at the trunk. It seemed as though I was catching him in mid-conversation though I was the only person around. He took my bag, loaded it, never pausing for a breath in his stream of words. […]
The Consolation of Philosophy Michael Jinkins Epictetus has been my astringent companion for more than twenty years. And a bracing friend he is. The purest spirit among all the Stoic philosophers, Epictetus tells the truth as he sees it — and always without any varnish. This former slave (his name means “Acquired”), a […]
July 12, 2019 Faith and Business The church historically, though unintentionally, has demonstrated a knack for depreciating the vocations of the laity. Well, perhaps not all vocations of the laity. The church has routinely blessed vocations like the helping professions, medicine, and education, especially if they are in the not-for-profit realm. But the church […]
July 5, 2019 Humanity 101 Michael Jinkins If there’s a class somewhere that teaches us what it means to be human, the centerpiece of the curriculum surely is the study of gratitude. Learning to be thankful is basic to being a person. It’s “Humanity 101.” Thankfulness is the natural impulse of the healthy heart. […]
“God Is in the Clouds” Michael Jinkins The fields of Central Texas range over softly rolling topography. Crops of wheat, sorghum and cotton take their turns maturing under skies of blue that blaze white hot from May to late September. My daily walks as a young pastor took me past fields that stretched to […]