Love: The Foundation by Rodney Weems
| Humility is a Doorway. Without humility people cannot listen long enough to hear. Without truly hearing they cannot empathize. Without empathy there will be many words, but little right action. This makes humility not just any door, but the gateway to love in action. |
Integrity?
Are we being completely true to our faith when we-- who must daily pray for grace--turn around and fail to offer grace and love to others as well?
a secular faith?
Because humans tend towards selfishness, any version of the Good News that fails to emphasize love will almost always pull us in a secular direction. It will gravitate towards individual concerns and away from communal sacrifices. It will move towards a comfortable certainty and away from a discomforting embrace of eternal mystery--toward short-term ends and away from that which is sustainable and never-ending.
Love or Wisdom?
People can debate whether the Bible is a book that is primarily about wisdom or mostly about love. Actually, it is about both. For love, when rightly defined, is its own kind of wisdom.
Control?
Unfortunately, the desire for certainty also tends to link itself to a hunger for control. Difficulties arise the moment people want to be so sure of situational outcomes that they purposely, or inadvertently, wrench control from God and transfer that control to their own hands.
People Are Saying
"How might we transform our deeply polarized society if those who count themselves as Christians . . . sought daily to become practitioners of ‘wise-love’ with everyone? Weems offers a path toward spiritual maturity that challenges complacent Christians across the theological and political spectrum. If taken seriously, it will lead to the healing we desperately need.”
—ELIZABETH W. CORRIE, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
"At a time in our national history when there is so much division, this delightful volume brings us back to first principles. The focus on the virtue at the heart of the greatest commandment is one that should ring true for all Christians. Through a serious reading of Paul’s writings on love, Weems introduces how this virtue might be lived out today. Such an introduction is a breath of fresh air.”
—DANIEL COSACCHI, Marywood University
“Rodney Weems offers a thoughtful and well-reasoned exploration of the importance of love, and how we are to live it out in a world around us, where this quality is too often lacking.” —JOHN GOODALE, Pastor of Caring Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs
“Boldly calling for a ‘new Reformation,’ Love: The Foundation seeks to address the ugly divisions and refusals to listen that characterize our culture today. In directing our attention to the biblical teaching on love (‘wise-love,’ as the book calls it), Rodney urges us to rediscover the revolutionary ethic that is the foundation of Western civilization. . . . This book will challenge your thinking, warm your heart, and call you to biblical self-examination.”
—STAN KEY, The Francis Asbury Society
At a time in our national history when there is so much division, this delightful volume brings us back to first principles.
“Rodney Weems has invited us into a way of ‘heart living.’ His writing both reveals the integrity of his character and a humility that offers the reader a gateway to transformation. Rodney’s concept of opening the Scriptures through the lens of ‘wise love’ offers the reader an opportunity to see and live in a grace-filled way that ‘builds one another up and forward.’ A timely offering in our challenging times.”
—ANTHONY R. POMPA, Vice-Chair, Episcopal Preaching Foundation
Resources
Love: The Foundation of Christian Thought and Wisdom
Resources
For tools to help groups explore the ideas in Love: The Foundation consider the videos and study guides here.
Blog
Come join the discussion as readers and the author consider issues of faith, race, and what it means to be fully human.
About
If you're looking for pat answers to life’s interpersonal challenges, skip my writing. But . . .