Parableman

I want to announce that I've signed a book contract with Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, to publish a revised and expanded version of my dissertation. My current plan is to send them the manuscript by the end of April, followed by a review process and then revisions to be due by the end of June or early July, which they say will allow them to have it in print by December. The title (for now, although it might change) is A Realist Metaphysics of Race: A Context-Sensitive, Short-Term Retentionist, Long-Term Revisionist Account.

General Overview: There are three main metaphysical positions on race. Anti-realists deny that there are races. Natural-kind positions find sub-groups of homo sapiens with scientific importance and call them races. Social-kind views consider races to exist because of contingent social practices. I argue for a view closest to the third camp, with a few wrinkles. Three distinctives of my approach are:

(a) I self-consciously argue as an analytic metaphysician, taking this to be a work of applied metaphysics in the same sense that looking at questions regarding abortion, just war theory, or the ethics of lying count as applied ethics, and its relation to theoretical metaphysics (what is most commonly called metaphysics among analytic philosophers) is analogous to how applied ethics relates to ethical theory (e.g. utilitarian, deontological, virtue, natural law, or other theoretical approaches, which was what ethics was largely restricted to until the applied ethics revolution of the late 20th century). Part of my aim is to remove the bias against seeing this sort of subject as part of what metaphysicians should be doing.

(b) I argue that race is highly context-sensitive, in more ways than most race theorists mean when they speak of themselves as holding views they call contextualist.

(c) My overall conclusion by the end is that we should not abandon race-talk, race-theorizing, or race-classification, at least not in the short-term. We need to be able to speak of such social realities to address real racial problems. However, we ought to find ways to challenge some of the social forces that work to make racial groups racialized and to form the social realities that surround race, some of which are not the way we should want them to be.

Here is the chapter breakdown:

1. Natural Kinds and the Analogy of Species:

There's a debate in the philosophy of biology about whether species are natural kinds. This chapter looks closely at that debate to argue that it is meaningful to speak of natural kinds, although species are not natural kinds in the strong sense that Aristotle might have taken them to be.

2. Natural Kinds and Race

I look at three conceptions of race as what I call minimalist natural kinds, two from philosophers and one from biologists. Al three views have potential to pick out groups useful for categorizing people according to scientific purposes but all three have problems if we want to identify the groups they point to as the same groups that we ordinarily call races.

3. Classic Anti-Realism

I argue in this chapter against certain of the traditional anti-realist arguments (especially Naomi Zack and Kwame Anthony Appiah), especially emphasizing ordinary use (as opposed to the language of experts) and changes is race-language.

4. Glasgow's Revisionism

Joshua Glasgow develops an anti-realism that takes the groups we call races to exist as social constructions, but he doesn't think those groups should be called races. I resist his arguments and argue that some of his evidence actually support a social kind view like the one I end up adopting.

5. Social-Construction and Biological Constructionism

The contingency of the racial categories, the fact that arbitrary socially-determined facts determine the structure of racial classification, and the instability of racial categories are all good evidence that races are social constructions. I conclude that races are social kinds that take their basis in biologically-identified traits, but the selection of which biological traits we use to identify races are biologically-arbitrary.

6. Races and the Metaphysics of Objects and Groups

My view is that races exist as socially-constructed entities but that they might just as well have existed without being races. Social facts don't bring races into existence but rather make existing groups into races. This chapter looks to contemporary metaphysics to see arguments that nihilists and coincident-entity theorists might make against my view. I argue against those conceptions, but even if those views were correct, much of what I say would still follow.

7. Race and Context-Sensitivity

This chapter argues for context-sensitivity in racial constructions, with fluidity from one context to another even for the same person. Different factors might be relevant in different settings to change which racial labels might apply.This context-sensitivity is much more diverse in terms of ways of being context-sensitive than I find in most of the philosophy of race literature. The particular ways this works will support my eventual revisionism in the next chapter.

8. The Ethics of the Metaphysics of Race

Here I argue that we should use existing racial categories to identify problems within the social constructions of race, rather than seeking to eliminate the categories in any direct way, but we should also make efforts to change the conditions that generate those problematic elements, so we can retain only the unproblematic aspects, and some elements of racial identity-formation can be good.

9. Implicit Bias and the Argument for Elimination

Recent work in psychology and cognitive science shows that our patterns of forming race-judgments rely on a more general pattern in child development that leads to implicit racial bias of an invisible but harmful sort, even among people who are explicitly anti-racist in their reflective views. I argue that there is evidence in the psychology and cognitive science literature that shows that we need to retain our racial categories to address existing implicit bias, but there is also evidence that we should rethink how we speak of racial issues with small children, to reduce the perpetuation of implicit bias in further generations, and this result fits well with (and gives further details to flesh out) the conclusion of the previous chapter.

The introduction and outline for this sermon series is here. This is the current, ongoing sermon series. I will add files as they become available to me.

1. Matthew 26:1-16 She has done a beautiful thing (Jeremy Jackson) 1-8-12
2. Matthew 26:17-29 I will keep the Passover (John Hartung) 1-15-12
3. Matthew 26:30-46 Your will be done (Nathaniel Jackson) 1-29-12
4. Matthew 26:47-56 That the Scriptures ... be fulfilled (Jeremy Jackson)  2-5-12
5. Matthew 26:57-68 He has uttered blasphemy (Stefan Matzal) 2-12-12
6. Matthew 26:69-75 Peter ... went out and wept bitterly (Stefan Matzal) 2-19-12
7. Matthew 27:1-10 Thirty pieces ... the price of him (Jeremy Jackson) 2-26-12
8. Matthew 27:11-26 His blood be on us and our children (Nathaniel Jackson) 3-4-12
9. Matthew 27:27-44 He saved others; he cannot ... himself (Stefan Matzal) 3-11-12
10. Matthew 27:45-56 My God ... why have you forsaken me? (Jeremy Jackson) 3-18-12
11. Matthew 27:57-66 They went and made the tomb secure (Nathaniel Jackson) 3-25-12
12. Matthew 28:1-10 He is not here for he has risen (Stefan Matzal) 4-1-12
13. Matthew 28:11-20 I am with you always (Jeremy Jackson) 4-8-12 (Easter Sunday)

Doug Weeks preached on Matthew 27:50-28:20 in the 1981 Matthew series.
Bill Finch preached on Matthew 26 in 1982. See this topical series.
These chapters were previously covered in 1985.
They were also again covered in 1998.

For more sermons, see here.

This is worth next to nothing. I'm not generally very good at predictions (although I did correctly predict who would be the final Cylon, nine months in advance). But here's my suspicion of what will happen in the GOP primary for the 2012 race for U.S. president.

Currently Newt Gingrich has been enjoying his brief turn at the top as the non-Romney candidate, as Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain have done. Like the others, he will soon drop. Indications are strong that Ron Paul will briefly occupy the top spot, perhaps even winning the Iowa caucuses and the NH primary. During this time, he'll finally get the exposure his fans have wanted. Moderate and mainstream conservatives will see how significantly he wants to dismantle the federal government. Libertarian Republicans will see that he isn't really one of them but is just an extreme federalist who doesn't want the federal government doing much, but his social conservatism will turn them off. Social conservatives will stop being fooled by his pro-life and other socially-conservative positions when they see that he has no backbone to stand of for such concerns on the federal level. Non-isolationists will be offended at his unwillingness to engage in any ventures of foreign policy to help around the world, and anyone concerned about national security will be scared to death of his willingness to dismiss Iran by saying we just need to be nice to them. To many, he will make Obama look like Dick Cheney. Most important, people of any moral conscience will see his willingness to pal around with racists and tolerate the use of their publications for political gain.

That will leave Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum as the two unvetted candidates. Each will have a turn as the non-Romney, for perhaps a couple weeks each. Huntsman will probably be first. His willingness to work in the Obama Administration and his out-of-context quotes that have wrongly led many to see him as a moderate instead of the genuine conservative that he is will lead Santorum to have a brief time in the spotlight. He is mostly untested. He's known as a social conservative. The left has successfully portrayed him as an extremist, despite the fact that his views are pretty mainstream for social conservatism. That will all occur in an extreme way, and he'll be given the Sarah Palin treatment, as Bachmann was. His statements will be taken out of context. Some of his views that are quite mainstream will be made fun of as neanderthal and called beyond the pale. He does have some strange notions of the Constitution that might or might not become the main issues. I tend to think they won't, because the focus from the left will be not on his odd views but on his mainstream once, which they will portray as ridiculous. But I think his views of foreign policy will be his undoing. GOP primary-goers will dismiss the left's hand-waving on those issues and will worry about views of his that just don't sound reasonable to most Republicans. I know only a little about his views on such matters (I haven't had time to watch more than bits and pieces of the debates, and he's not getting much attention), but being in the room when one debate focusing on those issues early on happened to be playing led me to think that he was making Ron Paul sound mainstream.

What will happen after that is wide open. At this point we'll be getting to a number of bigger states, and the early states will have been all over the map, leading each one (and several are simultaneous) to go in different directions. Candidates with strengths in certain regions will win more states in those regions. It's possible there will be a consensus. The non-Romney supporters will eventually concede and go with Romney, or the Romney supporters may eventually settle on some other candidate. But I'm guessing this will go on for a while, perhaps with no candidate receiving enough delegates to have a clear candidate by the time of the convention. This may well be the first brokered convention in decades. Just four years ago, pundits were claiming that we could never have such a thing again. I'm not so sure. This year looks like a really good chance for it. My suspicion is that Romney will eventually win, although I wouldn't rule out Huntsman, and Gingrich may still have a chance. I don't think Paul, Gingrich, or Santorum will be the nominee. But I can't even really be sure of that. I'd be a little surprised if the first few states turn out to settle things as quickly as they usually do, however.

If this is all right, the GOP will have a harder time using the convention to promote their candidate, which will help Obama a bit. But at the same time he'll have a harder time crafting his own campaign with an opponent in mind, which will mean he won't be able to craft his public image or message in contrast to anyone in particular. There might be some advantage in that, because he'll continue to be able to run against the House Republicans, as he's been doing so far. But I suspect it will frustrate him greatly, and it will play to his weaknesses as a president rather than his strengths as a campaigner.

As to who will win, my prediction is that if Romney gets the nomination he'll have a strong chance of winning the presidency. I think the same is true of Hunstman. Perhaps he would have an even easier time, because he doesn't have a record of changing his mind on one big issue, like Romney has, with every other minor statement being misused out-of-context to pretend he can't take a stand on anything. Perry could pull it off but would have a much tougher time of it, and I think he would more likely lose than win. I don't think Gingrich, Paul, Bachmann, or Santorum could have much chance against Obama unless he tanks much more than he has so far (and he's just gotten a bit of a boost, actually). Gingrich would clean house in the debates, of course. But all four figures have lower positives and as-high negatives as Obama. Even Obama's negatives would, therefore, not help them.

If GOP voters want to make Obama a one-term president, their best shot will be to focus on Romney or Huntsman. They'll have to learn to be more charitable than people largely have so far in interpreting what they've said, and they'll have to settle for the inevitable conclusion that they won't like everything about their candidate. I suspect any other path is likely to lead to another term for Obama, and GOP efforts at some notion of ideological purity would end up leading to what it led to in 2010, this time with the presidency at stake rather than the control of the Senate (if Colorado, Delaware, and New Mexico had nominated more mainstream candidates we might have ended up with a Republican Senate at present).

This post collects those few Trinity Fellowship topical studies that have been preserved from the Tuesday Night Bible Study. All of these studies are by Jeremy Jackson.

8/14/79 How a Church Can Avoid Becoming a Jonestown: Revelation 13
6/18/85 Christians & Elect Angels
6/25/85 Christians & Fallen Angels
7/2/85 Christians & Angels: Distortions of Scripture
8/7/85 How Christ's Death Applies to Us (tape says 8/9, but that's not a Tuesday)
8/20/85 The Lord's Supper
8/27/85 Witnessing and Worshiping
9/3/85 The Law and Love for the Christian
9/10/85 Authority of Scripture II Samuel 6:1-15
7/1/86 Prayer & Intercession
7/8/86 Meaning of Corporate Prayer (tape says this date; this can't be right if the next one's date is right)
7/8/86 Baptism (Jeremy Jackson says this was this date, but the tape has no date; this can't be right if the previous one is right)
7/15/86 Marriage: Divorce and Remarriage
7/22/86 Life After Death I
7/29/86 Life After Death II
8/5/86 Judgement
8/12/86 Judgement II (only first 12 minutes)
9/9/86 Authority of Scripture II Peter 1:20-21
9/19/89 Authority of Scripture Revelation 1:1
9/11/90 Authority of Scripture Joshua 3:7-13
9/12/95 Authority of Scripture Acts 1:1-11

See here for more Bible studies and sermons.

I've discovered the need to adopt a new way of speaking about people who are recently-descended from Africans. We've learned in the last couple decades that we ought to emphasize someone's personhood above any other characteristic, and thus it's thoroughly immoral to use any adjective in front of 'person'. We need to use predicate nouns instead. We no longer have sad people, for example. We simply have people with sadness. We no longer have short people. We have people with shortness. We don't want to define people with sadness as if their sadness is more important than their personhood, so we have a moral obligation to put the noun form after the word 'person'. Grammar does always indicate metaphysics, after all.

One sphere of language in which this lesson has never been properly applied is in the area of race. Why are we still talking about black people, for instance? Do we really want to define people solely in terms of their race? Do we really want to signal that their blackness is so central to who they are that we're going to pretend that people with blackness aren't people? If we call them black people, then we are treating their blackness as if it's a greater part of our conception of people with blackness than their personhood is. People with person-firstness have instructed us that we should never put disability-related adjectives in front of a noun or pronoun referring to a person, because we don't want them identified with that condition. But we've also learned from the same people that having a disability is not negative, which means this policy is not because disabilities are bad. Therefore, we ought to apply it to other cases when something is not bad but might wrongly be taken by someone to be bad, just as we would apply it to things that are genuinely bad. If race is not to be a negative, then I am not a white person. I'm a person with whiteness. It does make it a little awkward to speak of people with Asianness or people with Australian-first-people-ness (i.e. what used to be called aboriginalness). But it's worth the awkwardness of expression to avoid any chance of identifying them with the racial or ethnic group whose membership they possess.

Even worse, it's especially pernicious to say that someone is black (or African-American or whatever racial term we might choose). After all, using predicate adjectives amounts to making identity statements rather than merely ascribing a property to someone the way we would have thought that adjectives in English, even predicate adjectives, do. It's much more preferable to say that someone has blackness than to say that she is black. People aren't anything except persons. I'm not philosophical. I have philosophicalness. Glenn Beck is not unfair to his political adversaries. He has unfairness to the people who have political adversariness with him. President Obama is not bad at speaking without a teleprompter. He has badness at speaking without a teleprompter. I shouldn't say that I am Christian. I'm a person who has Christianity. I shouldn't be identified with my faith. I should claim, rather, to possess the entirety of Christianity, as if it belongs to me. We need to avoid identifying people with any property ascribed to them other than personhood. It's much better to say that they possess the entirety of the thing that formerly we would have used to describe them.

For more explanation, please see here (except you can ignore the sections explaining how people with blindness and people with deafness have offendedness at the obviously-correct way to refer to them, and you certainly shouldn't read person-with-autism Jim Sinclair's reasons for disliking person-first language).

This continues the Trinity Fellowship chronological sermon archive, from the 1978-2000 listing.

This is the chronological archive for sermons from Trinity Fellowship in Syracuse, New York. Most of the current sermons are preached by the elders of the congregation: Jeremy Jackson, Stefan Matzal, Doug Weeks, and Nathaniel Jackson (with Al Gurley preaching a lot of the earlier ones, as one of the three founding elders). Audio for other sermons by current members, former members, and guest preachers is included only if I have permission from the preacher.

With some exceptions, Trinity Fellowship preaches from the gospels in the winter, historical books in the spring, epistles in the summer, and prophets in the fall. In earlier years, the schedule was slightly different, and topical series sometimes occur in place of one of the others (but only once in place of a gospel) during a break between books.

This archive is ordered chronologically. To see them ordered by section of the Bible, see here. I've left out retreat talks and other recorded messages unless they were given on a Sunday or they were given in a series that included a Sunday morning sermon. Some of those left out can be found among the topical sermons at the link earlier in this paragraph.

Because of a post-length limit that I never knew this blog had, I had to split the archive into two pieces. I could have split it anywhere from 1999-2002 or so, and given that range it seemed best to split it at the century marker, so this post covers the 20th century, and the next post covers the 21st.

I pay good money for a service contract for our Dell computers, which in my case is provided by Unisys. They used to be pretty good at giving you the next-day service that you pay for, but it seems to be getting very hard to get next-day service recently. Obviously they can't give you next-day service if you call on a Friday night or the day before a holiday, because the technicians aren't working on weekends and holidays. But I'm talking about calling up early in the day in the middle of the week, getting scheduled for the next day, and then getting assigned to a technician who refuses to rearrange her schedule to fit mine, when there's really only about an hour in my day when I can't do it.

I have a 10:00 appointment today. It's going to take me five minutes to get there. It should be about 45 minutes long. It will take about five minutes to get home. Even if it goes long, I should be home well before 11:30. So I was hoping Dell would put me in the 1:30-5:30 slot for service today, and I was expecting to be able to change that when they called to ask me what time would work for me. What's the point of asking me if a time will work if they're unwilling to change it? The service desk person had me talk to the technician, who said it won't fit her schedule, and I'd have to talk to the service desk people again. I did, and they said only the technicians can change it. There's no way even to move me to the later slot. I have to wait until tomorrow, and tomorrow I have the same problem. I need it to be later in the day tomorrow too. At least they let me schedule that.

This could easily have been avoided if they'd asked me when I could be available for the technician to come before they assigned me to a technician and a time slot. I never used to have a problem with this. If the technician scheduled me for a time I couldn't keep, I'd be moved earlier or later in the day, as long as I talked to them when they initially called me to verify the time. If that technician couldn't accommodate me, they could assign it to a different technician as long as they knew before the technician had gone out with the parts. Now they seem to assign a time and a technician, verify it with the customer as a formality, and then move you to the next day in violation of the contract if you can't conform to the schedule they didn't bother to confirm with you before they assigned you. This does not count as next-day service. If it happened one call in ten, I wouldn't be very upset about it, but this seems to happen to me just about every single time. It happened last week, and it had to be delayed two days. I think something like that also happened a little over a month ago.

After three calls to the scheduling desk personnel and two to the technician, I finally got someone to tell me that I can call the number they had me call and influence my schedule before the parts get shipped (i.e. the day before but only once my dispatch has taken place to be in their system). They don't normally even give you that number until you get your first call from Unisys (in the morning), when your time is assigned already. So maybe I now have a way to ensure that my next-day service really is next-day, but the information required to ensure such a thing is hardly available to most people calling in service requests, and I wouldn't have thought such a thing was necessary.

Russell Moore has a nice post about how, although there's generally a moral mandate upon Christians to adopt, there are plenty of people who ought not to be the ones to fulfill that mandate [ht: Justin Taylor]. In particular, certain kinds of issues tend to come up with adoptions that most people, because of the reasons they're interested in adopting are not well prepared for and do not have the commitment to see those problems through, which leaves kids twice orphaned in too many cases.

I think this is a nice example of what I've elsewhere called a secondary moral obligation, an obligation you incur because you fail at a prior moral obligation. You ought not to have the attitude toward children that you see them as fulfilling your needs, but if you do then it's immoral to adopt, even if it's generally a moral mandate to adopt when such immoral attitudes are not present (and they shouldn't be present) and when there aren't other extenuating circumstances making it a less good idea to adopt (whatever those might be, and I'm open to their being lots of them).

What Moore does not mention is that the same is true of having children naturally. If you have the attitude that children are to meet your needs, then you shouldn't have children, even if (and I know not all Christians agree on this) it's Christian teaching that we ought to seek to have children or at least be very open to it (as many believe it is; whether it is is irrelevant to my point here, but assume it is for the sake of argument). My suspicion is that many new parents who were seeking to have children were doing so for completely selfish reasons. It strikes me as a thoroughly immoral reason to want to have children, and it seems to me that it's just as immoral to go ahead and have children if your desire is for them to fulfill your needs. That's so even if there is a moral mandate upon Christians to seek to have children, as many Christians do believe.

What makes this a nice case of a secondary moral obligation is that you have two obligations that conflict, one of which only appears if you violate the other one. It's wrong to have this selfish kid-possessing attitude, and those who have it ought not to have children. But you ought to seek to have children (on the premise I've been assuming, at least for the sake of argument). There's no inconsistency in such a position, despite the initial surface-level appearance of two contrary obligations. You do have an obligation to seek to have children (at least certain people do, anyway, on this view), and you do have an obligation not to want children for the wrong reasons, but if you do have the wrong reasons for wanting children then you simply ought not to have children, even if that means failing in the first obligation. It's worse to seek to meet the first obligation but violate the second than it is to fail the first because you're meeting the second.

But it becomes a fairly messy question if children come along anyway unintentionally when someone has this attitude. The original obligation still remains in such a case, and you simply ought not to have this attitude, even though most people do before they have children. Once they appear, you ought not to rid yourself of them unless your situation is so bad that they'll have a much better home without you than with you (and this selfish desire isn't usually so bad as to generate that situation; other conditions need to be met for that). I would argue that someone with the selfish attitude toward children does conceive a child, they ought (barring other considerations) to raise that child and to remove that selfish attitude. But that's compatible with thinking they ought not to seek to have children until they can rid themselves of that attitude, especially when it comes to great expense as with adoption.

[cross-posted at Parableman]

Here are some things Herman Cain has said about abortion:

1. He's opposed to abortion in all circumstances, but it's not the government's role to make that decision.
2. The president has no authority to order people not to seek an abortion.
3. He would appoint judges who know the Constitution contains no right to abortion.
4. He would veto legislation funding Planned Parenthood.
5. In the case of rape, it comes down to a family & doctor choice. He's opposed to it morally but shouldn't tell the nation what to think, because the government shouldn't be making our decisions on social issues.
6. The government shouldn't make decisions on whether abortion should be legal.
7. People shouldn't be free to seek abortions. Abortion should not be legal. (This was said immediately after 6.)
8. He opposes abortion with exceptions.
9. He opposes abortion except when the mother's life is threatened.

Sources: Huffington Post, CNN, Wikipedia

When it comes to Herman Cain's view on abortion, we seem to have a choice among (a) the uncharitable dishonest-about-his-views interpretion, i.e. he's not consistently being honest about what he thinks (b) the uncharitable intelligence interpretation, i.e. he's holding a flatly inconsistent set of beliefs in a pretty explicit way, (c) the uncharitable dishonest flip-flopper interpretation, i.e. he's not being honest about some change of views (and one such change has to be within minutes, (d) the uncharitable misuse-of-language interpretation, i.e. he's perhaps saying someone, perhaps only some of the time, that everyone misunderstands because of a highly idiosyncratic use of terms, or (e) he's got such a nuanced set of views that I can't even figure out how to put it together, with all my training in doing so.

(e) is the most charitable, but I'm extremely skeptical that he's so finely-tuned in his language without one of the others being true. I tend to think (d) is the least uncharitable of the others. Perhaps he means "it's not the role of government" and "it's the person's choice" in odd ways. You can, after all, say the second while thinking certain options should be illegal. You just wouldn't say so in an abortion discussion without being radically misunderstood. You could, also, say the first while thinking it's the role of a legislature but not the role of the executive or legislature to countermand the wrongful decision of the courts, but again you'd be radically misunderstood. That's about as good as I can do to put this together, and if it takes something like that, I think he's politically finished. There's no way the general public is going to be willing to be that charitable. But that may well be what's going on.

So here's my proposal. I'm going to take Herman Cain to hold to the following positions, all of them compatible with all of the above statements if they might have pragmatically-odd by semantically-possible meanings, and I'm going to see if I (or a commenter) might find a statement by him that does not fit with this view. So here's the approach I have in mind:

So (1) means abortion is morally wrong in all cases, but it's not the federal legislative and executive's right to do anything on that issue anymore, given the Supreme Court's wrongful intervention on the issue. (2) means the president can't tell people what to think and has been removed from being able to have any direct influence on abortion law at least at the very general level of deciding when it is legal to have an abortion in cases when the Supreme Court takes it to be a fundamental right. (3) clearly states that the Supreme Court wrongly decided Roe v. Wade, despite several claims that he hasn't made such a statement from social conservatives, and his preference for judges who would seek to do what they could to reverse or roll back that decision. (4) signals his opposition to federal funding for abortion or for abortion providers, something a president can have some say in. (5) signals his moral opposition to abortion in rape cases but his willingness to think that (i) that's a case when the law should be less clear than he thinks morality is, (ii) he as president shouldn't dictate what Americans' views on such matters ought to be, even if he has a clear policy preference, or (iii) given the Supreme Court's dictates, it's no longer the president's position but is given to a woman and a doctor to decide, even if he would prefer that the Supreme Court hadn't done that and would undo that dictate. (6) If he means the legislative and executive branch of the federal government here, and he isn't giving his ideal preference but his understanding of the limited role the Supreme Court has given him as president, then it's consistent with his view in his immediate next statement. (7) Ideally abortion should be outlawed, even if it's not possible to do so right now on the level of the legislature and executive. (8) Abortion is almost always wrong. There are exceptions, and he's aware of at least one. (9) One of those exceptions is when the mother's life is threatened, and there may or may not be others (and from above rape is not one of them).

This does strike me as a consistent position, and it does mean taking some of his statements in odd ways, but that's clearly more charitable than taking him to be lying about what his views are, lying about some change in his views, or so confused on the issue that he can't put together meaningful back-to-back statements explaining coherent positions. He does have an Obama-like history of overstating things and having to take them back, but his clarifications don't usually have the character of stating a view he holds and then backing off to a view he doesn't hold, and they also don't usually have the character of being corrected but embarassed to admit it. They usually have the character of not realizing how he might be misinterpreted and then being more careful the second time. It's just that this would be a case where his attempts to be more careful are only partially successful.

So that's my proposal of what I think he most likely is thinking. I admit that there are a couple points where it's a little bit of a stretch, but I don't think the evidence justified being less charitable at this point, and I'm not going to support misrepresentation  even by accident, which is I think what's going on if people are legitimately convinced he's pro-choice if he really isn't. He's certainly got a problem stating his views, but I'm not sure the general-election opponent is any better at expressing his views.

I can't see why pro-life voters would want this man representing them on this issue, but a vote for a president isn't necessarily a vote for the ideal person to represent your cause. It's a vote for the candidate that you think is better than the others. In a primary, that means the person who can best balance (a) the ability to beat the other candidate and (b) the ability to be a decent enough president to be preferable to the other party's candidate. In a general election, it's almost always a choice between two candidates as to which one will be better than the other on the issues you think are most important. It may turn out that someone who isn't the best person to represent your views on an issue does satisfy these criteria. Whether that person for pro-life Republicans is Herman Cain is, at least, not yet settled by this issue, in my view (although there are other issues that might serve as possible obstacles, and I could see this issue turning into one, depending on further statements that I haven't seen or he hasn't yet made). It partly depends on other people, too, but I have a better sense of what they think, at least the ones with much chance of winning.

These are the very first Trinity Fellowship sermons. There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching. Only two of these sermons were recorded, and the tape library didn't begin as a weekly occurrence until later in 1978. There is no record of what the last two sermons covered.

1. Mark 1:1-20 Trinity Fellowship (Jeremy Jackson) 2-5-78 [not taped]
2. Mark 3:7-35 The Will of God: God's Good Will (Jeremy Jackson) 2-12-78 [not taped]
3. Mark 4 Principles from the parable (Al Gurley) 2-19-78 [not taped]
4. Mark 5:1-6:47 Temptations Jesus faced in ministry (Doug Weeks) 2-26-78 [not taped]
5. Mark 9:1-8 The Transfiguration (Jeremy Jackson) 3-5-78
6. Mark 11:12-25 The Fig Tree, Brought a Judgement (Jeremy Jackson) 3-12-78
7. ? (Al Gurley) 3-19-78 [Palm Sunday, not taped]
8. ? (Doug Weeks) 3-26-78 [Easter Sunday, not taped]

For a more comprehensive and systematic study of Mark, see the 1992-1994 sermons here, here, and here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching. The tape library began with the eighth sermon in this series. With the exception of two Mark sermons, nothing before that was recorded.

1. Joshua 1 Continuing in God's Word (Jeremy Jackson) 6-25-78
2. Joshua 2 Rahab, Israel, and the LORD (Jeremy Jackson) 7-2-78
3. Joshua 3 Preparing to enter the Land (Al Gurley) 7-9-78
4. Joshua 4:1-5:12 Entering land: God's faithfulness, the blessings of the covenant (Doug Weeks) 7-16-78
5. Joshua 5:13-6:27 Taking Strongholds: Jericho (Jeremy Jackson) 7-23-78
6. Joshua 7 Study in Contrasts (Al Gurley) 7-30-78
7. Joshua 8:1-29 How to thoroughly defeat the enemy [even after it looks like he's defeated you] (Doug Weeks) 8-6-78
8. Joshua 8:30-13:7 God's Justice (Jeremy Jackson) 8-13-78
9. Joshua 13-19 The Growth of God's Kingdom (Jeremy Jackson) 8-20-78
10. Joshua 20-21 Cities of Refuge & Levitical Cities: God's provision for us in times of greatness (Doug Weeks) 8-27-78
11. Joshua 22 Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh: the Life of the Church (Al Gurley) 9-3-78
12. Joshua 23-24 Life Choices: Joshua's Farewell (Jeremy Jackson) 9-10-78

For a complete, more in-depth treatment on Joshua, see the 1998-1999 Joshua series here and here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching. Jeremy Jackson's introduction in the second sermon explained a little of the justification for organizing the sermons according to some of the major themes of Jeremiah's prophecy. His introduction to the fourth sermon explains some of the thematic movement in the first eight sermons.

1. Jeremiah 1 Introduction: Jeremiah's Calling (Al Gurley) 10-1-78
2. Jeremiah 23:9-40 The Word of God and the Word of Man (Jeremy Jackson) 10-8-78
3. Jeremiah 2:4-13 Israel's Breach of Contract (Al Gurley) 10-15-78
4. Jeremiah [passim] Jeremiah, the person: his testimony to us (Doug Weeks) 10-22-78
5. Jeremiah 44 Apostasy and formal religion (Jeremy Jackson) 11-5-78
6. Jeremiah 9:23-24; 22:11 Basis of Justice (Doug Weeks) 11-12-78
7. Jeremiah 16:1-15 Judgement: Judah (Jeremy Jackson) 11-19-78
8. Jeremiah 51:45-64 Judgement on the Nations (Jeremy Jackson) 11-26-78 [tape missing]
9. Jeremiah 23:5; 29:7; 22:3; 2:33-35; 17:9-11 etc. Accepting God's Justice (Doug Weeks) 12-3-78
10. Jeremiah 30:1-3,18-24; 31:1-17,23-40 The New Covenant: Inner Conviction (Al Gurley) 12-10-78
11. Jeremiah 7:1-16 Jeremiah and Christ Jesus our Lord (Jeremy Jackson) 12-17-78
12. Jeremiah 33:10-18 The Messianic Kingdom (Jeremy Jackson) 12-24-78

For a more comprehensive treatment of the entire book, see the 1990-1993 sermons on Jeremiah here, here, here, and here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching.

1. John 1 The Incarnation Declared (Al Gurley) 1-14-79
2. John 2 Christ Creates Life and Structure to Hold It (Doug Weeks) 1-21-79
3. John 3-4 Lessons on Witnessing (Doug Weeks) 1-28-79 [tape missing]
4. John 5-6 Principles of Life (Al Gurley) 2-4-79
5. John 7-8 Christ the Messiah (Jeremy Jackson) 2-11-79 [tape missing]
6. John 9 Healing the Blind Man (Doug Weeks) 2-18-79
7. John 10:1-30 The Shepherd and the Sheep (Al Gurley) 2-25-79
8. John 10:40-11:54 I am the Resurrection and the Life (Jeremy Jackson) 3-4-79
9. John 13-14 Knowing Christ and doing His works (Doug Weeks) 3-11-79  [tape missing]
10. John 15:1-16 Vine and Branches (Al Gurley) 3-18-79
11. John 15:17-16:15 Union with Christ and the Comforter (Al Gurley) 3-25-79
12. John 17 What Christ Desires For Us (Doug Weeks) 4-1-79
13. John 18-19 The Will of the Lord to Bruise Him (Jeremy Jackson) 4-8-79
14. John 19:23-20:31 I Glorified Thee on Earth (Jeremy Jackson) 4-15-79
15. John 21 Feed My Sheep (Al Gurley) 4-22-79

For a more comprehensive set of sermons on John, you can look to either the series that ran from 1988-1991 (see here, here, here  and here) or the series from 2003-2007 (see here, here, here, here, and here).

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching. Note that the third and fourth sermons are out of sequence, due to Doug Weeks having to postpone the 7-22-79 sermon. A topical sermon (not appearing in this list) was preached in its place, and Doug's sermon on Deborah and Barak, which he had already prepared, came two weeks later, with Jeremy Jackson's sermon on Gideon coming first.

1. Judges 1:1-2:10 Knowing the Work of the Lord (Jeremy Jackson) 7-8-79
2. Judges 2:11-3:6 Cycle of Apostacy and Deliverance (Al Gurley) 7-15-79
3. Judges 6:1-8:28 Gideon: the ordering of God's purposes (Jeremy Jackson) 7-29-79
4. Judges 3:7-5:31 God's dealing with his people (Doug Weeks) 8-5-79
5. Judges 9 Abimelech (Al Gurley) 8-12-79
6. Judges 10:6-11:40 Jephthah: vowing a vow (Doug Weeks) 8-19-79
7. Judges 13-16 Samson: God's Strategies (Jeremy Jackson) 8-26-79
8. Judges 17-18 Micah and the Danites: Our Susceptibility to Satan's Subtlety (Al Gurley) 9-2-79
9. Judges 19-20 Benjamin, Israel, and Response to Sin (Doug Weeks) 9-9-79
10. Judges 21 Reconciliation (Jeremy Jackson) 9-16-79

Judges 1-9 was covered again in 2000.
Judges 10-21 was covered again in 2001.

For more sermons, see here.

The first time through the gospel of Luke, the elders seem to have wanted to cover material across the book at a rate of about one sermon for every two chapters. Some of the sermons covered most of the two chapters, and some selected a smaller portion within the two-chapter range. According to the introduction to the fifth sermon by Jeremy Jackson, one of the criteria for selection was to focus on passages that cover material not covered in other gospel sermons before this point (i.e. from the 1978 Mark series, the 1979 John series, and various topical sermons before this point). Al Gurley explained in the introduction to the twelfth sermon why he broke from this two-chapter-per-sermon pattern at the last minute and preached a Palm Sunday sermon, putting off chapters 23-24 until the Easter sermon by Doug Weeks. There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit on Luke.

1. Luke 1; 2:22-38 Preparing for His Coming (Doug Weeks) 1-13-80
2. Luke 4:1-30 The Temptations: their meaning (Jeremy Jackson) 1-20-80
3. Luke 5; Romans 8:1-17 God's Power (Al Gurley) 1-27-80
4. Luke 7:36-50 Forgiveness (Doug Weeks) 2-3-80
5. Luke 10:25-42 Loving God and Neighbor (Jeremy Jackson) 2-10-80
6, Luke 11:37-44;12:1-34 Things to be Aware of (Al Gurley) 2-17-80
7. Luke 13:1-5 Repentance: teaching and discussion (Doug Weeks) 2-24-80 [included congregational sharing, which has been excised]
8. Luke 16:14-31 Contrasts: Dives & Lazarus (Jeremy Jackson) 3-2-80
9. Luke 17-18 The Kingdom and the King (Al Gurley) 3-9-80
10. Luke 19:1-27 Taking Risks for God (Doug Weeks) 3-16-80
11. Luke 21:5-36 Jesus on the Last Things (Jeremy Jackson) 3-23-80
12. Luke 19:28-46; II Kings 9:1-13 Jesus' Kingship (Al Gurley) 3-30-80 [Palm Sunday]
13. Luke 24:5b,13-33 Why seek the living among the dead? (Doug Weeks) 4-6-80 [Easter Sunday]

For a more comprehensive treatment of the Gospel of Luke, see the sermons from 1998-2002 on chapters 1-8, 9-14, 15-20, and 20-24.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching.

1. Haggai 1 Escaping the Doldrums (Jeremy Jackson) 10-7-79
2. Haggai 2 God's Shakings (Al Gurley) 10-14-79

3. Zechariah 1 God Remembers (Doug Weeks) 10-21-79
4. Zechariah 2-4 Divine Encouragement (Jeremy Jackson) 11-4-79
5. Zechariah 4:6 Practical Applications (Al Gurley) 11-11-79
6. Zechariah 5-6 God's Sovereignty (Doug Weeks) 11-18-79
7. Zechariah 7-8 Thanksgiving... Grace and Law (Jeremy Jackson) 11-25-79
8. Zechariah 9:1-11:3 Triumphant intervention of the Lord (Al Gurley) 12-2-79
9. Zechariah 11:4-17 Which Shepherd do you serve? (Doug Weeks) 12-9-79
10. Zechariah 12-13 Cleansing Vindication (Jeremy Jackson) 12-16-79
11. Zechariah 14 Second Coming of Messiah and Messianic Kingdom (Al Gurley) 12-23-79

Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 were later covered in 2002. Zechariah 9-14 was later covered in 2004.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching.

1. Amos 1:1-2:8 The Lord Roars from Zion (Doug Weeks) 7-27-80
2. Amos 2:9-3:16 Privilege, Responsibility, and Judgement (Jeremy Jackson) 8-3-80
3. Amos 4 Righteous God and Unrighteous People (Al Gurley) 8-10-80
4. Amos 5 A message to shrine goers (Doug Weeks) 8-17-80
5. Amos 6 Man's Law and God's Law (Jeremy Jackson) 8-24-80
6. Amos 7 Amos the Man (Jim Pitcher) 8-31-80
7. Amos 8 Bearing Fruit -- Good and Bad (Al Gurley) 9-7-80
8. Amos 9 Amos' Final Vision (Doug Weeks) 9-14-80

This book was covered again in 2007.

For more sermons, see here.

This series consists mostly of the Sermon on the Mount. Most of the other passages were chosen either because they're central to Matthew's overall argument or unique to Matthew.

1. Matthew 1 The Fall and the Incarnation (Doug Weeks) 1-4-81
2. Matthew 2 God's Word and God's Gifts (Jeremy Jackson) 1-11-81
3. Matthew 3 Preparation, Restoration, Purification (Al Gurley) 1-18-81
4. Matthew 4:1-11 Temptations and Discipleship (Doug Weeks) 1-25-81
5. Matthew 5:1-16 The Beatitudes: A Study in Contrasts (Jeremy Jackson) 2-1-81
6. Matthew 5:1-16; Galatians 5:22-23; II Peter 1:3-11 Character of God in us [Royal Principles of Life] (Al Gurley) 2-8-81
7. Matthew 5:17-26,38-47 The Lawgiver Shows the Law's Heart (Doug Weeks) 2-15-81
8. Matthew 5:27-37,48 Marriage: God's Faithfulness and our response (Jeremy Jackson) 2-22-81
9. Matthew 6:1-18 Treasure (Jim Pitcher) 3-1-81
10. Matthew 6:19-34 the Lord's Prayer (Doug Weeks) 3-8-81
11. Matthew 7:1-11 Judge Not: Ask (Jeremy Jackson) 3-15-81
12. Matthew 7:12-29 False Prophet (Al Gurley) 3-22-81
13. Matthew 18:15-20 Discipline (Doug Weeks) 3-29-81
14. Matthew 25:32-46 The Great Assize (Jeremy Jackson) 4-5-81
15. Matthew 21:1-22 Palm Sunday (Jim Pitcher) 4-12-81
16. Matthew 27:50-28:20 The Resurrection (Doug Weeks) 4-19-81

The first seven chapters of Matthew were covered again in 1994-1995 and then again in 2007-2008. For a more systematic coverage of the remainder of the gospel, the rest of the first of those two series occurred in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The most recent Matthew series is incomplete, but it has continued in 2009, 2010, and 2011. It should be complete by April 2012.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching.

1. Galatians 1:1-9 Galatians intro: the Apostle of No Other Gospel (Jeremy Jackson) 5-3-81
2. Galatians 1:10-2:10 Paul's defense of himself and his gospel (Doug Weeks) 5-10-81
3. Galatians 2:11-21 Being True to the Truth: the Lord our Righteousness (Jeremy Jackson) 5-17-81
4. Galatians 3:1-14 (Jim Pitcher) 5-24-81
5. Galatians 3:15-29 How to Defend the Faith (Doug Weeks) 5-31-81
6. Galatians 4:1-5:1 Sons and Heirs by the Holy Spirit (Jeremy Jackson) 6-7-81
7. Galatians 5:1-15 Freedom: Faith working through love (Al Gurley) 6-14-81
8. Galatians 5:16-26 (Bill Finch) 6-21-81
9. Galatians 6 Glorying in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jeremy Jackson) 6-28-81

Bill Greenman preached a sermon on Galatians 6:14 in 2000. See the topical sermons here.
This book was covered in 2008 in much more depth.

For more sermons, see here.

According to Al Gurley's introduction to the second sermon in this series, the elders decided this time around to cover the book of Mark somewhat topically. The themes of this series came out of the elders' study of Mark's gospel, but several of the sermons spent little time on Mark itself but instead looked at a theme found in Mark but looked at across scripture. Sometimes I've listed those passages below, but sometimes they were too numerous, with nothing standing out as central. Some of the Mark passages that initially led to a particular sermon topic are listed in the official list of sermon passages but get little or even no mention in the sermon. There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit on Mark. The introductions to sermons 3, 6, and 8 by Jeremy Jackson explained some of the thematic organization of the sermons surrounding those weeks.

1. Mark 1:1-20 Repent and Believe (Jeremy Jackson) 1-10-82
2. Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11 Fishers of Men (Al Gurley) 1-17-82
3. Mark 4:1-25 The Preaching of Jesus (Jeremy Jackson) 1-24-82
4. Mark 1:22; Jeremiah 18:1-6; Daniel 2:20-22; Daniel 4:17b; Romans 13:1b The Authority of Jesus (Al Gurley) 1-31-82
5. Mark 2:8-12; 6:5-6 Healing as Doing the Truth (Bill Finch) 2-7-82
6. Mark 4:35-41 Place of Miracles in Jesus' Ministry (Jeremy Jackson) 2-14-82
7. Mark 1:1,9-12,14,16-21,23-45; 2:23-3:5; 7:1-13; 8:31; 11:15-17; 14:12-16; Isaiah 53:11-12 Obedience of Christ and Our Obedience (Al Gurley) 2-21-82
8. Mark 8:27-30;9:2-8 Who do men say that I am? (Jeremy Jackson) 2-28-82
9. Mark 8:31-32; Acts 3:16-18 The Son of Man must suffer (Bill Finch) 3-7-82
10. Mark 8:32-33; Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28.11-19; Revelation 20:1-10 Satan and his opposition to Christ (Al Gurley) 3-14-82
11. Mark 8:27-38 Not being ashamed of Christ's Sacrifice (Jeremy Jackson) 3-21-82
12. Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34,45; 14:22-24; 15:33-35,37-39; Romans 5:6-11; I Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:1-5,13 The Meaning of Christ's Sacrifice (Jeremy Jackson) 3-28-82
13. Mark 8:34; II Cor 4:1-12 The purpose of the cross: sonship, suffering, & ? (Al Gurley) 4-4-82
14. Mark 16:1-6; I Corinthians 15:1-7,12-14,45,51-58; Colossians 1:15-16 The resurrection (Bill Finch) 4-11-82

For a more comprehensive and systematic study of Mark, see the 1992-1994 sermons here, here, and here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching.

1. Hosea 1:1-2:1 God casts off Israel so She'll Cling to Him (Doug Weeks) 7-11-82
2. Hosea 2:2-3:5 Baal, Achor, Jezreel (Jeremy Jackson) 7-18-82
3. Hosea 4 Exposure of Israel's Moral Corruption (Al Gurley) 7-25-82
4. Hosea 5:1-6:3 (Bill Finch) 8-1-82
5. Hosea 6:4-7:16 How Passion's Fire Consumes (Doug Weeks) 8-8-82
6. Hosea 8:1-9:9 Sowing Wind -- Reaping Whirlwind (Al Gurley) 8-15-82
7. Hosea 9:10-10:35 From Luxuriant Vine to Floating Stick (Doug Weeks) 8-22-82
8. Hosea 11:1-11 Mercy Triumphs over Judgement (Jeremy Jackson) 8-29-82
9. Hosea 11:12-13:16 (Bill Finch) 9-12-82
10. Hosea 14 I will Heal their Apostacy (Doug Weeks) 9-19-82

Hosea was covered again in a sermon series in 2005.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit on John. They covered at least part of every chapter except chapters 13-17, which is the meatiest teaching section of this gospel and most easily forms a stand-alone unit. At the time, the elders expected to cover those chapters in the near future, perhaps even in the gospel teaching of 1984, according to Al Gurley's introduction to the twelfth sermon in this series. As it turned out, they didn't return to John until 1988, when they initiated a four-year study covering the book comprehensively, and that series didn't get to those chapters until 1990. They had been covered four years prior to this series, however, in 1979.

1. John 1 Jesus: the Eternal God (Doug Weeks) 1-2-83
2. John 2:1-3:21 Reality of the Unseen (Jeremy Jackson) 1-9-83
3. John 3:22-36 Profile of a Prophet: John the Baptist (Al Gurley) 1-16-83
4. John 4:1-42 What kind of Savior is Jesus? (Doug Weeks) 1-23-83
5. John 5:1-18; 6:1-15 Why do people reject Jesus? (Jeremy Jackson) 1-30-83
6. John 7:1-18,28-29,33-34,37-44 Jesus, the Great Thirst Quencher (Al Gurley) 2-6-83
7. John 8 How the Son Sets us Free (Doug Weeks) 2-13-83
8. John 9 He who follows Me will not walk in darkness (Jeremy Jackson) 2-20-83
9. John 10:1-16,27-29 Characteristics of True and False Shepherds (Al Gurley) 2-27-83
10. John 11:5-57 Christ, the Prince of Life (Doug Weeks) 3-6-83
11. John 11:55-12:50 Sir, we would see Jesus (Jeremy Jackson) 3-13-83
12. John 18:1-19:16 The Greatest Trial on Earth (Al Gurley) 3-20-83
13. John 19:17-42 The Uplifted Savior (Doug Weeks) 3-27-83
14. John 20 Sin and the Resurrection (Jeremy Jackson) 4-3-83
15. John 21 Peter: His Commmission (Al Gurley) 4-10-83

For a more comprehensive set of sermons on John, you can look to either the series that ran from 1988-1991 (see here, here, here  and here) or the series from 2003-2007 (see here, here, here, here, and here).

For more sermons, see here.

There was no preaching schedule for this series. This series originally started out with the intention of being about perhaps a dozen particular character/personality sketches in the gospel of Luke (explained in the opening comments of the first sermon in the series, by Al Gurley). However, it eventually became a series on the distinctives and uniqueness of Christ. In the third sermon, Jeremy Jackson explained how he came to this different theme and described it as focusing on people's interactions with Jesus that show a separation between his mind and their minds. In the fourth sermon, Al Gurley described it as looking at the kinds of things Jesus did that were very distinctive, unique inputs he's given us that are very challenging and radical. In the sixth sermon, Jeremy Jackson describes it as the ways our Lord makes plain the difference between the mind of God and the mind of man. They also attempted to cover mostly passages not covered in the 1980 series on Luke, which had also tried to cover the entire book in large scope, leaving out much of it in the process.

1. Luke 1:5-25 Elisabeth and Zechariah (Al Gurley) 1-15-84
2. Luke 1:26-56 Mary and the Child (Rick Wellman) 1-22-84
3. Luke 2:39-52 Family of Man, Family of God (Jeremy Jackson) 1-29-84
4. Luke 7:24-35 Illustration of no win absurdity (Al Gurley) 2-5-84
5. Luke 8:26-39 Fear of Freedom (Rick Erickson) 2-12-84
6. Luke 9:22,44,57-62 The Necessity of Suffering (Jeremy Jackson) 2-19-84
7. Luke 10:1-12,17-24 The Dignity, Authority, and the Glory of Service: the Characteristics of Christ's Messengers (Al Gurley) 2-26-84
8. Luke 11:1-13 The Place of Prayer (Jeremy Jackson) 3-4-84
9. Luke 12:49-53 The Great Gospel Divide (Al Gurley) 3-11-84
10. Luke 14:35c-15:32 Final Choices (Jeremy Jackson) 3-18-84
11. Luke 16:1-18 Difficult Sayings (Ed Van Cott) 3-25-84
12. Luke 20:19-26,41-47 Levels of Authority (Jeremy Jackson) 4-1-84
13. Luke 21:1-30 Endtime Perspectives (Al Gurley) 4-8-84
14. Luke 19:36-48 Knowing the Time (Rick Wellman) 4-15-84
15. Luke 23:55-24:52 Christ of the Emmaus Road (Jeremy Jackson) 4-22-84

For a more comprehensive treatment of the Gospel of Luke, see the sermons from 1998-2002 on chapters 1-8, 9-14, 15-20, and 20-24.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no preaching schedule for this sermon series. This unit on Matthew focused on the last week of Jesus' life and ministry.

1. Matthew 19:13-30 Who can be Saved? (Doug Weeks) 1-6-85
2. Matthew 20:17-34 A Ransom for Many (Jeremy Jackson) 1-13-85
3. Matthew 21:1-16 Out of the Mouths of Babes (Ed Van Cott) 1-20-85
4. Matthew 21:23-22:14 Christ Declares His Authority (Doug Weeks) 1-27-85
5. Matthew 23:1-15,27-39 False Religion Defined (Jeremy Jackson) 2-3-85
6. Matthew 26:1-16 Honoring the Son (Al Gurley) 2-10-85
7. Matthew 26:17-35 The Last Supper (Bill Finch) 2-17-85
8. Matthew 26:36-56 Gethesemane (Jeremy Jackson) 2-24-85
9. Matthew 26:57-75 The Trial of Peter and the Priests (Al Gurley) 3-3-85
10. Matthew 27:1-10 Judas Judged (Doug Weeks) 3-10-85
11. Matthew 27:11-26 The Trial of the World (Jeremy Jackson) 3-17-85
12. Matthew 27:27-44 The Crucifixion (Rick Wellman) 3-24-85
13. Matthew 27:45-66 The Atonement (Doug Weeks) 3-31-85
14. Matthew 28 The Resurrection of the Dead (Jeremy Jackson) 4-7-85

Three sermons from the 1981 Matthew series were from this section of the gospel.
Bill Finch preached on Matthew 26 in 1982. See this topical series.
Matthew 19-20 were covered again in 1997. See here.
Matthew 21-28 were covered again in 1998. See here.
Matthew 19-20 were again covered in 2010. See here.
Matthew 21-25 were covered again in 2011. See here.

For more sermons, see here.

The introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching is here.

1. Luke 1:5-20 "How shall I know this?": The importance of accepting the Word of God (Doug Weeks) 1-11-87
2. Luke 1:57-66 "What shall this child be?": The significance of each human life (Doug Weeks) 1-18-87
3. Luke 2:39-52 "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?": Priorities of the Son of God (Al Gurley) 1-25-87
4. Luke 3:1-18 "What then shall we do?": Real repentance (Jeremy Jackson) 2-1-87
5. Luke 4:31-37 "What is this word?": The source of Christ's power (Jeremy Jackson) 2-8-87
6. Luke 5:27-32 "Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?": The scope of the Gospel (Jeremy Jackson) 2-15-87
7. Luke 6:46-49 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I tell you?": True religion (Jeremy Jackson) 2-22-87
8. Luke 8:22-25 "Who then is this?": The person of Christ (Doug Weeks) 3-1-87
9. Luke 9:18-26 "For what does it profit a man?": The place of the Cross (Doug Weeks) 3-8-87
10. Luke 12:49-53 "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?": The two humanities (Al Gurley) 3-15-87
11. Luke 18:1-8 "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?": Expectant believing prayer (Rick Wellman) 3-22-87
12. Luke 20:1-19 "What then is this that is written?": Man's estimate of Jesus (Jeremy Jackson) 3-29-87
13. Luke 22:66-23:5 "Are you the king of the Jews?": The meaning of the Son of David (Jeremy Jackson) 4-5-87
14. Luke 23:26-43 "Do you not fear God?": The challenge of the Cross (Jeremy Jackson) 4-12-87
15. Luke 23:56-24:12 "Why do you seek the living among the dead?": The Resurrection (Jeremy Jackson) 4-19-87

For a more comprehensive treatment of the Gospel of Luke, see the sermons from 1998-2002 on chapters 1-8, 9-14, 15-20, and 20-24.

For more sermons, see here.

The introduction and preaching schedule for this part of the book is here.

1. John 13:1-11 The Footwashing (Rick Wellman) 1-7-90
2. John 13:12-30 The Meaning of Lowly Service (Jeremy Jackson) 1-14-90
3. John 13:31-38 Loving or Betraying (Jeremy Jackson) 1-21-90
4. John 14:1-7 Christ the Way (Jeremy Jackson) 1-28-90
5. John 14:8-17 Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Jeremy Jackson) 2-4-90
6. John 14:18-31 Christ Manifested to the Disciples (Jeremy Jackson) 2-11-90
7. John 15:1-16 The True Vine (Jeremy Jackson) 2-18-90
8. John 15:17-16:4 Preparation for Persecution (Rick Wellman) 2-25-90
9. John 16:5-15 The Work of the Holy Spirit (Jeremy Jackson) 3-4-90
10. John 16:16-24 The Disciples' Joy and Puzzlement (Jeremy Jackson) 3-11-90
11. John 16:25-33 The Disciples' Faith and Peace (Jeremy Jackson) 3-18-90
12. John 17:1-5 Christ Prays for his Glorification (Jeremy Jackson) 3-25-90
13. John 17:6-19 Christ Prays for his Disciples (Jeremy Jackson) 4-1-90
14. John 17:20-23 Christ Prays for the Glory of Unity (Jeremy Jackson) 4-8-90
15. John 17:24-26 Christ Prays for Us (Jeremy Jackson) 4-15-90

The 1979 series on John's gospel contains three extant sermons on these chapters. 
Doug Weeks also preached a sermon on John 15 in 1979. See the topical sermons here.
Al Gurley preached a sermon on John 15:1-12 in 1986. See this topical series.
Bill Merry preached a sermon on John 13 in 2001. See the topical sermons here.
These chapters were covered again in 2006. See here.

For more sermons, see here.

The introduction and preaching schedule for this part of the book is here.

1. John 7:1-13 Going to Jerusalem (Jeremy Jackson) 1-1-89
2. John 7:14-31 Jesus, the Apostle of God (Doug Weeks) 1-8-89
3. John 7:32-52 Rivers of Living Water (Doug Weeks) 1-15-89
4. John 7:53-8:11 Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (Jeremy Jackson) 1-22-89
5. John 8:12-30 The Light of the world (Jeremy Jackson) 1-29-89
6. John 8:31-59 The Son makes you free (Doug Weeks) 2-5-89
7. John 9 The works of God made manifest (Rick Wellman) 2-12-89
8. John 10:1-21 The Good Shepherd (Jeremy Jackson) 2-19-89
9. John 10:22-42 Who is Jesus? (Jeremy Jackson) 2-26-89
10. John 11:1-44 The Resurrection and the Life (Rick Wellman) 3-5-89
11. John 11:45-54 The choices of men (Doug Weeks) 3-12-89
12. John 11:55-12:19 The Anointing and Palm Sunday (Jeremy Jackson) 3-19-89
13. John 12:20-36 The lifting up of the Son of Man (Jeremy Jackson) 3-26-89
14. John 12:37-50 To believe or to reject? (Doug Weeks) 4-2-89

The 1979 series on John's gospel contains three extant sermons on these chapters.
The 1983 series on John's gospel contained six sermons on these chapters.
Jeremy Jackson preached on John 8:31-38 in 1986. See this topical series.
John 7-8 was covered again in 2004. See here.
John 9-12 was covered again in 2005. See here.

For more sermons, see here.

The introduction and preaching schedule for this part of the book is here.

1. John 1:1-8 "In the beginning was the Word" (Jeremy Jackson) 1-3-88
2. John 1:9-18 "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us" (Doug Weeks) 1-10-88
3. John 1:19-34 "He said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!'" (Jeremy Jackson) 1-17-88
4. John 1:35-51 "We have found the Messiah" (Doug Weeks) 1-24-88
5. John 2:1-11 "My hour has not yet come" (Doug Weeks) 1-31-88
6. John 2:12-25 "Zeal for Thy house will consume me" (Jeremy Jackson) 2-7-88
7. John 3:1-21 "You must be born again" (Jeremy Jackson) 2-14-88
8. John 3:22-36 "God is true" (Doug Weeks) 2-21-88
9. John 4:1-30 "Where do you get that living water?" (Rick Wellman) 2-28-88
10. John 4:31-54 "This is, indeed, the savior of the world" (Jeremy Jackson) 3-6-88
11. John 5:1-18 "My Father is working still and I am working" (Jeremy Jackson) 3-13-88
12. John 5:19-47 "I do not receive glory from men" (Doug Weeks) 3-20-88
13. John 6:1-21 "They were about ... to make him king" (Doug Weeks) 3-27-88 [not taped]
14. John 6:22-59 "I am the Bread of Life" (Jeremy Jackson) 4-3-88
15. John 6:60-71 "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (Jeremy Jackson) 4-10-88

The 1979 series on John's gospel contains three extant sermons on these chapters.
The 1983 series on John's gospel contained five sermons on these chapters.
Jeremy Jackson preached a sermon in 1995 on John 3:1-17. See the topical sermons here.
John 1-4 was covered again in 2003. See here.
John 5-6 was covered again in 2004. See here.
Bill Greenman preached a sermon in 2006 on John 3:16a. See the topicals here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching, and the tape library began after this series was completed. None of these sermons were recorded, but I am putting a post up for it for the sake of having as much information as I can gather about sermons preached.

I Thessalonians 1-2 Receptivity (Jeremy Jackson) 4-2-78
I Thessalonians 1-2 Leaders in the Church (Jeremy Jackson) 4-9-78
I Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 Preaching Affliction (Jeremy Jackson) 4-16-78
I Thessalonians 1 Characteristics of a ? Church (Doug Weeks) 4-23-78
I Thessalonians 4 Walk, Love, Work, Be Ready (Al Gurley) 4-30-78
I Thessalonians 5 How to live during last days (Doug Weeks) 5-7-78

Jeremy Jackson preached on I Thessalonians 1:9-2:4 in 1992. See the topical sermons here.
Doug Weeks preached two sermons on I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 in 2001 during the II Thessalonians series.
Stefan Matzal preached a topical sermon that included I Thessalonians 2:3-12 in 2010. See the topical sermons here.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this unit of preaching, and the tape library began after this series was completed. None of these sermons were recorded, but I am putting a post up for it for the sake of having as much information as I can gather about sermons preached.

1. Acts 13:1-4 The Spirit of Witness (Jeremy Jackson) 5-14-78
2. Acts 13:1-12 Spiritual Strategy (Jeremy Jackson) 5-21-78
3. Acts 13:13-43 Continuing in the Grace of God (Jeremy Jackson) 5-28-78
4. Acts 13:42-52 Results of Continuing (Al Gurley) 6-4-78
5. Acts 14:1-18 Witnessing in pagan culture (Doug Weeks) 6-11-78
6. Acts 14:19-28 Establishing new believers (Doug Weeks) 6-18-78

Acts 13-14 were preached on again in 1988 by Doug Weeks, Rick Wellman, and Jeremy Jackson. See the Acts 13-19 series.

For more sermons, see here.

There was no introduction/preaching schedule for this series.

1. I Timothy 1:1-2,12-17 Praise (Jeremy Jackson) 5-6-79
2. I Timothy 1 Righteousness and Love (Al Gurley) 5-13-79
3. I Timothy 2 Prayer, Men, Women, and Order (Doug Weeks) 5-20-79
4. I Timothy 3 Caring for God's Church (Jeremy Jackson) 5-27-79
5. I Timothy 4 Freedom and Discipline in the Church (Al Gurley) 6-3-79
6. I Timothy 5 Questions Churches Face (Doug Weeks) 6-10-79
7. I Timothy 6 Godly Contentment (Jeremy Jackson) 6-17-79

For more sermons, see here.

Trinity Fellowship sermons typically work through books or sections of books at a time. Occasionally there will be a topical series, which I am listing as separate series. But individual sermons do occur, usually between series or on special days (most frequently Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, Reformation Sunday, Christmas, and New Years).

This list consists of topical sermons delivered between the 1978 formation of Trinity Fellowship and the 1981 series on eschatology.

1. II Corinthians 8-9 Grace & Giving (Jeremy Jackson) 9-17-78
2. Growth through friendships (Doug Weeks) 9-24-78
3. Colossians 2:6-3:10 Being truly spiritual (Jeremy Jackson) 12-31-78 [tape missing]
4. Revelation 2:1-7 First love (Bill Edgar) 1-7-79
5. II Peter 1:3-11 Becoming partakers of the divine nature (Doug Weeks) 4-29-79
6. Ephesians [passim]: One Another: The Body of Christ & Corporate Christian Living (Al Gurley) 6-24-79
7. John 15 Priorities in Christ's life (Doug Weeks) 7-1-79
8. Isaiah 54:2 Lengthening the Cords (Jim Doupé) 7-22-79
9. Lamentations 3:1-38; Hebrews 11:32-40 Affliction (Al Gurley) 9-23-79
10. I Corinthians 12 On Becoming a Congregation (Doug Weeks) 9-30-79
11. Hebrews 3:7-11 Grace & Faith (Dwight Craver) 10-28-79
12. I Peter 4:12-19 Choice by Fire (Jeremy Jackson) 12-30-79
13. Malachi 3:1-10 Giving: Blessing for God's People (Al Gurley) 1-6-80
14. Psalm 22 The Cross: God's love & separation (Jeremy Jackson) 4-13-80
15. Isaiah 9:1-7 Wonderful Counselor (Al Gurley) 4-20-80
16. Four Kinds of Giving (Doug Weeks) 7-20-80
17 Christian Action Council (Jeremy Jackson & Ted Mehalic) 8-24-80
18. I Corinthians 3:1-4:2 The Church and Its Elders (Jeremy Jackson) 9-21-80
19. Ephesians 4:1-18 Gifts to the Church (Al Gurley) 9-28-80
20. Meditation & Testimony (Dave Shetland, Steve George, Ed Van Cott, Jeremy Jackson) 12-28-80
21. I Corinthians 12:12-27 One another (Al Gurley) 4-26-81 [tape missing?]
22. Matthew 6:14 Forgiveness (Jim Pitcher) 7-5-81
23. II Corinthians 9:8 Accepting forgiveness (Doug Weeks) 7-12-81

For more sermons, see here.

Trinity Fellowship sermons typically work through books or sections of books at a time. Occasionally there will be a topical series during a break between books. This particular topical series covered eschatology, the doctrine of the end times. There is no outline/introduction to this series.

1. II Peter 1:16-21 I Kings 16:29-17.24 The Prophetic Word Made More Sure (Jeremy Jackson) 7-19-81
2. Matthew 24:32-25:13 Readiness: Eagerly Awaiting (Al Gurley) 7-26-81
3. Romans 5:1-11 How to Endure Tribulation (Doug Weeks) 8-2-81
4 Revelation 18 Babylon: the Marks of Unbelief (Jeremy Jackson) 8-9-81
5. Matthew 24 Signs of the Endtime (Jim Pitcher) 8-16-81
6. Revelation 13 Counterfeit Trinity: Satan's Substitute (Al Gurley) 8-23-81
7. Matthew 24:32-44 Last Days' Time (Jeremy Jackson) 8-30-81
8. Revelation 21 The Bride of Christ (Bill Finch) 9-6-81

 For more sermons, see here.

The 131st Philosophers' Carnival is up at Minds and Brains: Musings from a Neurophilosophical Perspective.

There was no preaching schedule/introduction for this unit.

1. Romans 9:1-29 The Will and Character of God (Jeremy Jackson) 4-24-83
2. Romans 9:30-10:21 Two Ways of Righteousness (Al Gurley) 5-1-83
3. Romans 11 God's Severity and God's Kindness (Doug Weeks) 5-8-83
4. Romans 12 Holiness and the Wholeness of Love (Jeremy Jackson) 5-15-83
5. Romans 13 The Christian and the State (Al Gurley) 5-29-83
7. Romans 14:1-15:6 Receiving and Accepting Christians with Different Convictions (Doug Weeks) 6-5-83
8. Romans 15:7-33 The Priestly Service of the Gospel (Jeremy Jackson) 6-12-83
9. Romans 16 The Christian Hall of 'Unfame' (Al Gurley) 6-19-83

John Mickelsen preached on Romans 11:32-12:2 in 1992. See the topical sermons here.
Doug Weeks preached on Romans 15:18-24 in 1994. See the topical series here.

For more sermons, see here.