Author: David Ellis

Last week, we explored the Christian concept of grace as part of the New Covenant, applicable to all people. Today, we’ll examine how non-Christians might be aware of God’s grace and how it manifests in various cultures and religions. We’ve discussed the concept of grace often here in this class, and we have often noted…

Dr. Weaver has commented that despite the limits of human understanding of grace, the concept itself seems to have been known throughout the ages by all religions and cultures. He asked me to look into that, so I took Claude AI’s help to find out what the Bible and other world faiths and beliefs have…

Last week, I presented a conversation I’d had with ChatGPT on the subject of Grace and Salvation. Jason commented on the importance of carefully crafting the questions or “prompts” you give to ChatGPT and similar AI “models”. The quality of the response you get is directly related to the quality of your prompt. Remember the…

In Dr. Weaver’s long recovery from illness, I’ve found myself talking from the class podium rather more than I might like (and, I would bet, far more often than you might like!), and I’ve been using AI to help me in that task. I have never hidden that from you, but since I’m about to…

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have Grace, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not…

David: Our fundamental goal in recent weeks has been to understand the grand concept of Grace. Last week I affirmed that Grace was both synonymous with and a part of agape Love, and I asked whether, when we dissect agape Love into its constituent parts—as grace, mercy, forgiveness, etc.—there a danger that we fail to…

David: “In the beginning, was the Word,” as we all well know. Last week, Michael proposed that the Word is God’s Grace. John’s opening passage of the New Testament makes clear that the Word is God and, argues Michael, since both Father and Son are part of the Trinity, the Word is also Jesus Christ….

I said last week that grace and judgment are fundamental religious concepts with deep theological significance and that they play a crucial role in shaping moral and ethical perspectives across the five major faiths—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Last week we discussed grace as a global concept. Today, it’s judgment day. In religious contexts,…

Grace and judgment are fundamental religious concepts with deep theological significance. They play a crucial role in shaping moral and ethical perspectives across the five major faiths—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. In this first of two talks, I discuss grace. Judgment will follow next week. (You have been warned! 😉 ) Global Views of…