Five Smooth Stones
My colleague Tony Lorenzen recently wrote a blog post on James Luther Adams' "Five Smooth Stones." As a refresher, even though I know many of you can rattle them off the top of your head, James Luther Adams was a Unitarian and UU theologian and professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School. He wrote an essay on the five smooth stones of religious liberalism. The "smooth stones" metaphor comes from the story of David & Goliath, wherein David used 5 smooth stones in his slingshot and killed the mighty Goliath. JLA's Smooth Stones are: "Religious liberalism depends on the principle that 'revelation' is continuous." "All relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not on coercion." "Religious liberalism affirms the moral obligation to direct one's effort toward the establishment of a just and loving community. It is this which makes the role of the prophet ce...