You are invited to be a part of Bishop Lowry’s 2015 Brown Bag Book Study – the first of what Bishop Lowry hopes to become a long-running annual learning series. These studies are designed for everyone – laity, clergy, students, seasoned citizens, etc. – and Bishop Lowry would like any and every one who can to make plans to come and join in the learning and discussion. The 2015 sessions will be from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Thursdays beginning January 8, and will meet at Lou’s Place on the Texas Wesleyan University campus (see below for the complete schedule).
The focus of the 2015 Brown Bag study is on Don Thorsen’s book Calvin versus Wesley: Bringing Belief in Line with Practice. To give you a glimpse into the subject matter, here is a brief snippet from Calvin versus Wesley:
The theology "de jour" originates with John Calvin, with an emphasis on “the elect” and "sovereign will of God.” So much Calvinism saturates our air that Christians may not know there is another way of thinking about their faith, one well represented by Wesley. But no matter what people think, many act in ways that promise to change the world by offering grace and hope but also by helping to provide food and shelter to hurting people. In other words, they believe like Calvinists but they live like Wesleyans. [Both Calvin and Wesley] wrote about major tenets of the church: who God is and what God's will is for us; the place of Scripture; the atonement of Christ; the role of human responsibility; the work of God’s grace, the relation of the church and world; and how these beliefs can connect to how people practice their faith. But Calvin and Wesley were different, and following their prescriptions will lead us down different paths.”
Video Teachings
For more insights into this book, check out the two Ministry Matters blog posts dedicated to this well-written book – one by Donald Thorsen himself and the other by Bishop William Willimon.