tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post1593857291798053576..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Desire Street Ministries -- Darren GremPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-11066485858739876822007-09-09T20:06:00.000-06:002007-09-09T20:06:00.000-06:00At the risk of revealing my biases, Mo was a stude...At the risk of revealing my biases, Mo was a student Mercer University before Reformed T.S. He continues to stay in contact with former professors and some of them support Desire Street. Mo has been invited back to campus to speak. And students from Mercer go to teach at Desire Street Academy. I am unsure when Mo felt the impulse to help the poor, but he would have been helped along that journey by some Mercer professors who may not have agreed with his theology but supported his vision of serving the least of these. We often refer to this as the prophetic ethos at Mercer. It might help to think of Mo's response in terms of prophetic impulses within denominations. Rather than a politically liberal response to poverty, the prophets reminded the faithful of their commitment to God within the framework of the Torah, which actually moves farther back than any "conservative" political reality. In this scenario, the PCA, through its membership, is oriented in a priestly mode, which explains why more people showed up for theology seminars than poverty seminars. Both impulses are vitally important to religious life of individuals and denominations, but one impulse or the other is emphasized depending on the eye of the beholder.<BR/><BR/>Doug Thompson<BR/>Mercer UniversityDoug Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01961187271984836290noreply@blogger.com