The “Progressive”Christianity Option
A month or two ago in response to some earlier Christmas greetings I received a message from a retired Uniting Church minister which included the words, “I would like to know more about your work in ‘Progressive Christianity’ “.
With some hesitation, because I was not sure of his religious orientation, I duly sent my friend a couple of books, one of which was Hunt and Smith, “Why Weren’t We Told”. This is the title I usually recommend for Australian newcomers to “progressive” Christianity .
Some time later I was pleasantly surprised to receive a further greeting:
Dear Rodney,
I appreciate your kind gift. It was the right book at the right time!
On retirement I shed the cloak of “orthodoxy” and became much more “progressive” in my thinking (and writing). So there was little I would disagree with. In fact, I have even gone further in some of my perceptions and understandings.
So the context of the book came as a reassurance that I was not alone!
Thank you for this. It surprises me that I should have come to similar conclusions.
With best wishes…
G……..
The moral of this story is that there may well be any others out there having a comparable experience. If you, as a viewer of this site, have your own story along these lines we would be pleased to hear from you. If you would prefer to remain anonymous send an e-mail to psinglis@westnet.com.au .
Of course it would be good if our ministers could become aware of the progressive option before they enter ministry rather after they leave it. This is the rationale behind our UC Forum bursaries. That is to provide payment of fees in full or part – up to a value of $5,000 for students aspiring to attend (in the first instance) Trinity Theological College Queensland courses. Enquiries may be made to ucbursaries@bigpond.com .
Posted by Rodney Eivers
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