January 21, 2020
Below I summarize the point of Searching for the Pattern: My Journey in Interpreting the Bible.h Growing up in Churches of Christ, I embraced and practiced a hermeneutic that sought an implicit blueprint for the work and worship of the church in Acts and the Epistles. Through a filter of generic/specific distinctions, coordinate associations, the […]
2 Comments |
Books, Hermeneutics, Theodrama, Theology | Tagged: Churches of Christ, Hermeneutics, Patternism, Theological hermeneutics |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
April 19, 2009
Patternism does not entail division as long as it does not subvert grace and it graciously treats another believer with mercy. Rather, it is the attitudes, agendas and acidity of the people involved that generate division. Patternism itself is not to blame and neither is “restorationism’s” search for a pattern. When people are treated with gracious humility, patternism can be […]
17 Comments |
Stone-Campbell | Tagged: Alexander Campbell, David Lipscomb, Division, E. G. Sewell, Ecclesiology, Grace, Patternism, Perfectionism, Stone-Campbell, Unity, Woodland Christian Church |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
April 17, 2009
If the life and ministry of Jesus is our pattern, then we all fall woefully short. Consequently, whether it is conforming our character to the image of Jesus or embodying the ministry of Jesus through the church, we all–individuals and congregations–need divine mercy since we all fall woefully short of the image of God in Jesus. […]
15 Comments |
Hermeneutics, Theology | Tagged: Antinomianism, Faith, Grace, Legalism, Libertinism, Patternism, Perfectionism, Salvation, Sanctification, Soteriology', Transformation |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
March 13, 2009
This is quite daring, I must admit. Or, it might be rather idiotic. But in my quest to place my published writings on this webpage, I now turn to the 1970s. It is rather chilling and sometimes quite illuminating to actually read what I wrote thirty years ago (wow! I really am that old). It […]
6 Comments |
Personal, Theology | Tagged: Apostleship, Authority, Baptism, Bible-2 Thessalonians, Bible-Corinthians, Bible-Galatians, Bible-Romans, Calvinism, Creation, Divorce, Faith, Gender, Homosexuality, Justification, Marriage, Original Guilt, Original Sin, Patternism, Paul, Sanctification, Scripture, Speaking in Tongues, Spiritual Gifts, Tongues, Total Depravity, Women |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 14, 2009
If the life and ministry of Jesus is our pattern, then we all fall woefully short in every way. Moral Patternism. We rarely have a difficult time hearing that we are imperfect in terms of morality since we are well aware that we fail to image the character of Jesus in so many ways–internally and […]
5 Comments |
Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Baptism, David Lipscomb, Faith, Grace, James A. Harding, Moral Law, Patternism, Perfectionism, Positive Law, Stone-Campbell, Tennessee Tradition |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 12, 2009
Jesus is the logos (word) of God; he is our pattern, the speech of God. His life is the word of God. He embodies all that God desires. Disciples of Jesus follow Jesus. They follow him into the water, and are thereby baptized. They follow him into the wilderness, and thus seek solitude with God […]
16 Comments |
Hermeneutics, Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Christology, Churches of Christ, Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, Jesus, Ministry of Jesus, Patternism |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 9, 2009
Patternism and a healthy theology of grace are not mutually exclusive. A previous post noted that Alexander Campbell did not make his particular understanding of the apostolic pattern a test of fellowship. The “ancient order” was not a soteriological category for him. Rather, it was a matter of communal sanctification, a matter of growth, development and […]
13 Comments |
Hermeneutics, Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: CEI, Churches of Christ, Grace, Hermeneutics, J. D. Thomas, K. C. Moser, Legalism, Noninstsitutional, Patternism, R. C. Bell, Restorationism, Stone-Campbell, Tennessee Tradition, Texas Tradition |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 6, 2009
It is not legalism to seek patterns or to live by patterns. It is legalism to use those patterns in such a way that they undermine salvation by grace through faith. That is my summary of what I thought was the sentiment of Cecil May, Jr.’s concluding comments in his February 3, 2009 Freed-Hardeman Lectureship […]
27 Comments |
Hermeneutics, Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Alexander Campbell, Ancient Order, Christian Baptist, Churches of Christ, Fellowship, Grace, J. D. Thomas, Noninstitutional, Patternism, Restoration, Restorationism, We Be Brethren |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 5, 2009
Cecil May, Jr.–Dean of the V. P. Black College of Biblical Studies at Faulkner University–is a kind, loving Christian gentlemen in the best sense of that term. He was the first to ever interview me for an academic position just weeks before Sheila died as he was about to become President of Magnolia Bible College. […]
27 Comments |
Stone-Campbell, Theology | Tagged: Cecil May, Churches of Christ, Faith, G. C. Brewer, Grace, Hermeneutics, Humility, Jr., Legalism, Patternism |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks