Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Home
About
My Book
Archives
More
- Theology
- Culture
- Politics
- Sermons
- Bible
- Devotions
- Daily Office
- Podcast

Home
Progressive Christian
Why you should read my dad’s blog

Why you should read my dad’s blog

Last updated on: June 18, 2017 at 11:49 am by Morgan Guyton

Why you should read my dad’s blog 2017-06-18T11:49:10-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My dad, me, my sister Julia, my aunt Jeannie, my uncle Kees, my cousin Fiona, and our lifelong friend Katie Mae Wilson

I dedicated my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us to my dad because he’s the smartest man I know and he taught me how to think. He’s the best conversation partner I’ve had over the years even though I was a complete jerk to him for about a decade of smarmy young adulthood. I wanted to share a few links from my dad’s blog because I really want to see his platform grow. It’s got a weird quirky name Searching for GSOT (the Grand Scheme of Things) because my dad’s a cross between a late 19th century pragmatist and a mid 20th century existentialist. But he’s got some brilliant things to say just like other late 19th century pragmatists and mid 20th century existentialists do.

Philosophically, my dad finds himself in battle against the logical positivism of the scientific world where he has spent his career as a medical researcher and against the fundamentalism of the Southern Baptist world where he has spent most of his adult life as a Sunday school teacher. This leads him to establish five basic rules for philosophy:
1) Every sentence is first person.
2) The overarching viewpoint is not allowed.
3) Unless something makes a difference in somebody’s disposition to act, then it makes no difference.
4) Break these rules.
5) Return to the rules.

One of my favorite series of posts was a series of reflections he did recently on what it was like to be a white boy growing up in Mississippi amidst the racial upheaval of the sixties. In Neighbors and Family, he reflects on his relationship with Katie Mae Wilson, his grandfather’s black housekeeper whose daughter Elsie became a college professor. In Ole Miss and James Meredith, he talks about his time at the University of Mississippi and the role of the Methodist campus ministry there improving race relations after the integration of the campus. In Reflections on Race, he ties it all together. What I respect the most in each of these posts is his transparent honesty about where he fell short as a white man in his interactions with black people.

He also did a fascinating blog series on his grandmother’s time as a Methodist missionary in China. My great-grandmother Kate had been engaged to my great-grandpa Billy. They somehow managed to keep the engagement going through 5 years of separation despite a prank that Billy’s cousin played. He mailed Kate a clipping of the gossip column of the Ole Miss newspaper that he had secretly planted in which he said that Billy had been flirting with another woman. Kate sent a furious letter to Billy breaking off the engagement, but they were able to figure out within a couple of months that the prank had occurred. The original plan had been that Billy would join Kate in the mission field after he finished medical school, but Billy’s father badgered him into returning to Mississippi where he established an ophthalmology practice in Oxford. Kate forgave Billy’s dad for sabotaging her life dream, but she never joined him on Sunday afternoons when he would drive to visit them.

Another biographical sketch my dad went through was the story of my grandmother’s parents, Luther and Clara Weigle. Luther was the dean of Yale Divinity School. He wrote a book called The Pupil and the Teacher that was foundational for the early twentieth century Sunday school movement. My dad looks in depth at a lesson from The Pupil and the Teacher entitled “The Will.” It contains a fascinating reflection on feelings in an era when cold rationality was idealized:

A person who lacks feeling, even were his or her will strong enough without it, lacks the highest maturity. The ideal of the stoics is as untrue as it is unlovely. They sought to look at the world of things and people calmly, dispassionately and impersonally. Feeling, they thought, but clouds the vision and brings turmoil to the soul. A person ought to be purely rational, with a mind that Huxley called a perfect “logic machine.” And so one might well be, if living alone, the only person in a world of matter, with only the problem of comprehending impersonal forces, and only the aim of managing them. But our world is not such. We live with other persons. Life’s real problems are social; its true values are those of personal relationship. Even a God who was absolutely alone would have nothing to live for. We need feeling, therefore. It is the link that binds one person to another, the fire that warms an otherwise dead and cheerless world. Without it, one might understand things, but could never live with and for persons.

There’s a whole lot of rich beauty on this blog. It’s way more thoughtful than many of the reactionary things that I write. Plus, my dad has it all organized according to an index, a 20th century concept which is really quite useful. You might have to think a bit so be prepared for that, but I think it will be beneficial to you both spiritually and intellectually. Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Thanks for being my favorite genius.

Check out my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us!

Help us reach our goal of 100 monthly patrons for our campus ministry NOLA Wesley!

Previous Post

June 16, 2017

No, Alcoholism and Homosexuality are Not Analogous

Next Post

June 19, 2017 My bishop whoops when she preaches

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the longest prophecy in the Bible given to an individual?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph’s Dream John’s Revelation Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Daniel’s 70 Weeks