Speaker:  John Morehead, M.A. Christian Theology, Salt Lake Seminary

Topic:  Are We Ready for This?  Critical Reflection on Mormon-Evangelical Dialogue and Its Critic

John handed to each of us a three page handout (front and back) on his subject, outlined with these main categories:  introduction, perspective of workshop, importance of dialogue, definitions of dialogue, types of inter-religious dialogue, the “dialogue decalogue” of Richard Swidler, challenges to Christian dialogue with New Religious Movements, need for an interdisciplinary perspective for analysis: The Missional Helix, missions and interreligious dialogue, and conclusions.

Here were some points of interest to me.  Just a few quick things.

John Stott’s definition of dialogue – “Dialogue is a conversion in which each party is serious in his approach both to the subject and to the other person, and desires to listen and learn as well as to speak and instruct.” (Actually, I would be one that prefers D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ stance over Stott in ecumenicism.)

John would call Mormonism, a New Religious Movement, rather than cult.  He states that cult is a “perjorative label”, sort of like calling a homosexual a faggot. 

He also reiterated that there is a place for apologetics, but he shies away from the “heresy-rationalist” paradigm.

His selected biography carries about 30 entries by David Bosch, George Chryssides, Douglas Cowan, Lorne Dawson, Diana Eck, David Hesselgrave, Irving Hexham, Paul Hierbert, Philip Jenkins, Philip Johnson, Charles Kraft, Gerald McDermott, Robert Millet, Terry Muck, Bob Robinson, John Saliba, John Stackhouse, Leonard Swidler, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Amos Yong, etc.

John has written an unpublished article, “Reflections on the Divide in LDS Evangelism:  Why I Practice an Incarnational Missions Strategy.”

My critique:  John needs to exegete more Scripture to convince me of his major tenets for “inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue.”