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Our Purpose at Respectful Conversation

The purpose of the Respectful Conversation Project is to provide those who aspire to “follow Jesus” with examples of how to show love and respect to those who disagree with them about contentious issues. This purpose flows from the teachings of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount that followers of Jesus ought to LOVE others, even those who consider you to be an enemy.

Providing a safe and welcoming space for talking respectfully about disagreements is a deep expression of love as taught by Jesus

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Second New Book Published

I have just published a book, titled Following Jesus: Perspectives From Twelve Christian Traditions, that creates a coherent synthesis of the electronic conversation (eCircle) reported on below under the title “Twelve Month Electronic Conversation Starting on August 1, 2021.”

Click here to see a summary of the book as well as a live link to an Amazon page that one can use to order a copy.

Exemplifying Mutual Understanding, Mutual Trust and Mutual Learning

The root problem when public discourse is motivated by fear is that the conversation partners (CPs) never arrive at mutual understanding, mutual trust, and learning from each other, all three of which should characterize conversations about contentious issues regarding which the CPs have strong disagreements. Since we all believe we have good reasons for the positions we take regarding a contentious issue, the problem with not seeking mutual understanding because of fear is that the CPs never come to an…

Subscribing to be Notified of New Musings

To eliminate the inconvenience of readers having to periodically check the top of my website to see if I have posted a new Musing, my Web Manager, Dan Hefferan, is creating a procedural change that will automatically inform interested readers that a new posting (a new Musing) now appears at the top of my Home Page.

If you wish to subscribe to this new service, please submit your email in the form below, and then check your email to confirm your subscription. Then, when a new musing has been posted to Respectful Conversation, you’ll receive a copy of it in your email!

Twelve Month Electronic Conversation starting on August 1, 2021

Following Jesus: Perspectives from Diverse Christian Traditions

Moderator: Harold Heie

Twelve Month Agenda

Leading Question for the first of the month (Directed to the conversation partner for the tradition being featured for the month)

What are the various views of those who worship in your tradition as to what it means to “follow Jesus” and what is the primary view?

Leading Question for the 15th of the month postings (Directed to the other eleven conversation partners)

What major agreements and disagreements do you have with the views expressed in the posting of the conversation partner who submitted the first of the month posting as to what it means to “follow Jesus,” and what have you learned from that posting that has the potential to enrich, or possibly provide a corrective, to the primary view of those who worship in your tradition as to what it means to “follow Jesus?”

Leading Question for the final day of the month posting (Directed to the conversation partner being featured for the month)

As you review the eleven 15th of the month postings from the other conversation partners, what were the main things you learned from other traditions that will be helpful to those who worship in your tradition as they seek to faithfully follow Jesus into the future

Readers of this website can participate in this conversation by submitting a comment (Reply) at the bottom of any posting (see the “Comment Policy” below).