Rev. Heather Sims writes about resolving questions when matters of faith don’t seem to line up. She explains the difference between contradiction, paradox and mystery.
Her “Letters to my son” series are letters to her young adult son about theology, particulary about differences between Wesleyan and Calvinist understandings of salvation.
It might be tempting to dismiss this as a purely academic argument; some parents might think she’s fortunate to to have a son whose questions are “just” theological instead of about the things many young adults struggle with.
That would be a mistake, though. One of our great failures as a church is failing to understand that our theological understanding is the foundation of all of our belief and practice. How we understand God, and our relationship to God, shapes our approach to self-worth, identity, money, values, how we treat others—all aspects of life.