31 July 2024 | In addition to the formal, voted doctrines, Adventism harbors and perpetuates a wide range of beliefs and fears about threats to the church and its members. Of the eight major sources of anxiety, six come from beyond the church community, and two come from within Adventist popular thought. External threats included […]
25 July 2024 | Recently the American state of Louisiana legislated that all its public school classrooms must display the Ten Commandments. Aside from United States Constitutional concerns about the independence of religion from government, and the obvious Judeo-Christian bias it engenders, this legislation begs several content-related questions, the answers to which should inform the […]
17 July 2024 | When I was studying for my MA, my professors explained our Adventist perfectionist leanings from the historical-theological perspective, as a tenet of Wesleyan holiness movements that were very influential in 19th-century America, and influenced our pioneers. However potent that explanation might be for the genesis of perfectionism, it doesn’t explain the […]
10 July 2024 | Among the hundreds of published works by Ellen White, her writings on parts of the Bible are probably the best known and most beloved by those devoted to her work. Although she often wrote about biblical narratives, expositions, and religious materials in periodical articles and special-purpose manuscripts, she is most recognized […]
4 July 2024 | There is a cardinal rule for Adventist pastors: never mention politics. Ever. This presents a difficulty: political matters and religion heavily overlap. It was true in New Testament times, and it is still true today. The Bible is our source for Christian ethics. To woo voters, some matters of Christian ethics […]
26 June 2024 | We humans have always sought to explain our place on this earth and within the cosmos. We look for explanations of how and why we exist, attempting to create reason and stability. The ongoing evolution of societies is relatively easy to document, but even over each of our short lifetimes we […]
19 June 2024 | The monarchy of Saul, Israel’s first king, is generally regarded as a failure. For the most part we, as adults, maintain the same impressions of Saul and Samuel that we had as children. It is time we take a more nuanced approach to an assessment of Saul’s reign and Samuel’s role […]
12 June 2024 | “On the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the Lord, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped until the nation took […]
5 June 2024 | In the increasingly polarized world we inhabit, freedom is often carelessly portrayed as individual agency or the right to “do whatever you want.” Philosopher and Jewish scholar Abraham Joshua Heschel famously argued that “the opposite of freedom is not determinism, but hardness of heart.” In this seminar, Jody Washburn will explore […]
22 May 2024 | Since the 2022 Dobbs ruling removed federal protection for abortion access, the US has been reeling with the fallout. The change has shaken healthcare, as well as law and politics. How should Adventists respond? What is “present truth” for a world which is always more complicated than our political slogans let […]
16 May 2024 | Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism, suggested that our thoughts become words, become actions, become habits, shape our character, and become our destiny. On this ATSS journey, we will explore tools that help us harness our thoughts, hack our brain to increase efficiency, productivity, creativity, and possibly spirituality. We will do […]
8 May 2024 | Misused and Underused: Revelation’s Untapped Potential Teacher: Sigve K. Tonstad is Research Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Loma Linda University. He has worked as a physician and pastor and since 2007 as a faculty member at the School of Religion at Loma Linda University. His books in […]