User:Colin MacLaurin/Respect

Respect
People whose books I have read, who I have read about, or who I have met or contacted (OK, in only a few cases) who deserve my respect!

Note. Of course, I do not necessarily accept every aspect of every one of these people. But that's not the point. After all, "people are human".


 * Jesus Christ for (as I believe) saving us from separation from God both now and eternally. I believe that Jesus is the clearest image we have of God's love.
 * Brother Yun, a Chinese believer, for the fire and simplicity of his faith as described in his bestselling book The Heavenly Man, and for his passion for sharing the gospel.
 * John Eldredge for his controversial book Wild at Heart, which addresses the concept of masculinity.
 * Philip Yancey for reclaiming words like grace, for his commitment to God despite the human-ness of the church and his own pain, and his open-mindedness.
 * Martin Luther King, incredibly gifted orator and civil rights activist, for his victory through non-violent means.

Theologians

 * John Stott, a theologian who have been called a "father" to evangelicals, and for his mature and open minded attitude.
 * Clark Pinnock, a theologian with a hint of rebelliousness, whose theological pilgrimage is similar to my own in many ways. One of my lecturers did his masters(?) degree on him, which is where my interest came from. He has been very positive about the Adventists Richard Rice, Alden Thompson, and also Le Roy Edwin Froom. I would describe him as being on the progressive end of "evangelical".
 * N.T. Wright for his openness to fresh perspectives and to remain faithful to the Bible.

Seventh-day Adventists

 * Alden Thompson for his uplifting, fresh, free-thinking and yet mature and loyal approach to Seventh-day Adventist theology.
 * Jon Paulien for faithful biblical, Christ-centered interpretation of Revelation which is not based on the latest sensational news report. He's pretty moderate within the church.
 * George R. Knight for very readable Adventist church history
 * Julius Nam for progressing beyond labels, inviting discussion, and his own progressive ideas
 * Ellen G. White, an inspiring Christian woman who unfortunately has been taken to extremes by both friend and foe.

To read more about...
I look forward to finding out more about:
 * Hudson Taylor for being a culturally-aware missionary ahead of his time who brought Jesus, not imperialism!
 * Rob Bell for sharing sincere, authentic Christianity which is relevant and meaningful to people today.
 * Richard Rice, Adventist who invented the term "open theism" and is one of its leading proponents.
 * John Sanders, who almost got kicked out of the Evangelical Theological Society! Wrote with Rice, Pinnock and others.