by George Kimmich Beach [bio] September, 1991 G.K. Chesterton once said that he toyed with the idea of writing a novel in which a group would undertake an expedition of exploration. They would sail for many months, the voyagers seeking hitherto unknown territory to be declared a colony for Great Britain. Finally land would be sighted, and they would head for the shore and would plant the Union Jack and the flag of St. George, […]
Themes
10 posts
Based on newly processed home movies by James Luther Adams, never shown before, of Germany’s most prominent Christian leaders of the 1930s. A film about the church and the Nazis. James Luther Adams, professor emeritus of Christian ethics, and George Huntston Williams, professor emeritus of church history, recount their personal remembrances of these influential leaders and discuss the dynamics of that turbulent period. No Authority but from God (28 minutes). Personal reflections of both pro-Nazi and […]
Peter Iver Kaufman: IF MEMORY SERVES “David doesn’t email,” Kim Beach emailed me. I had hoped to offer David Parke a partnership: he would respond to the Dialog prompt about JLA, and I would append my getting to know him through David’s admiration many years ago. That won’t be possible–at least the first part–but i suspect the Dialog series has room for a revised second part. If memory serves, Kim and I were waiting for […]
James Luther Adams—Luther to his family, JLA to his colleagues and students, Jim to his friends—profoundly influenced countless others. How and why this was so can best be known by what they say about him—his stories, his intellectual probes and moral passions. Here’s the first in an occasional series—statements by those who may or may not have known him personally– on his importance to them. We look forward to more installments in the series. […]
This is one of two responses to Professor Jared Aaron Farley’s 2019 James Luther Adams Forum on Religion and Society, presented at the University of New Mexico. —GKB Response to the James Luther Adams Forum Lecture The Rev. Angela Herrera, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque November 10, 2019 University of New Mexico Thank you so much to Dr. Farley for his thoughtful presentation. I’m honored to be invited as a respondent this […]
James Luther Adams noted that “the quality of Jesus’ words was matched only by the quality of his life. Indeed, if he had not possessed his power with words, we would not now know about the power of his life.” The Gospels of the New Testament are the primary source of what we know of Jesus’ life and words. My personal commentary on the Gospel of Mark, The Seminal Gospel: Forty Days with Mark, was […]
The Trump regime has brought us to the brink of disastrous war. Facing this crisis, will we as a religious community give witness to peace? The following address is as timely and challenging today as it was when first presented by John Howard Yoder in 1984. The text is transcribed from Yoder’s James Luther Adams Lecture at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, in Columbus, Ohio. Yoder (1927-1997), held professorships at the University […]
The liberal Christian outlook is directed to a Power that is living, that is active in love seeking concrete manifestation, and that finds decisive response in the living posture and gesture of Jesus of Nazareth.” — James Luther Adams I have asked myself, what do I make of the story of Jesus? What does it mean, and what does he mean to me? Seeking answers, not only about Jesus but about myself, I set out […]
Who was James Luther Adams and why is he important for those who care about the fate of liberalism—liberal religion and liberal democracy alike—in this age of anxiety? For an answer there is no better place to begin than Adams’s own dialogues at a gathering of the Collegium Association, at Craigville, Massachusetts, in 1986. We have selected the text of “A Time to Speak: Conversations at Collegium” to inaugurate an ongoing series of conversations on […]
Rosemary Radford Reuther Pacific School of Religion Response by Zayn Kassam, Claremont School of Theology Presented at Claremont School of Theology, Claremont CA, April 20, 2006 Read Rosemary Radford Reuther Forum Lecture with Response.