This conversation is part of a special series, The Heart of Methodism. Eddie and Chris, who are both pastors in the United Methodist Church, will talk to guests who can help us dive a little deeper into Methodism and its history, theology, traditions, and future.

Today, Eddie and Chris are joined by a previous guest, Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School. He is also the Irene and William McCutchen Professor of Reconciliation and Theology and the director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke. He earned both his Masters of Divinity and his Ph.D. from Duke University. Dean Colón-Emeric was the first Latino to be ordained as an elder in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Dean Colón-Emeric gives us a hopeful view of the future of the United Methodist Church through the lens of some of Christianity’s past saints, John Wesley and Thomas Aquinas, and their . Dean Colón-Emeric acknowledges the struggles and fragmentation of Christianity in the American context, but for him, the end is not a thing to worry about. The end is just the beginning, because the end, in the Christian context, means reconciliation. We may not see the way to reconciliation, but we don’t have to. God’s got this, and our story isn’t over.

Resources:

Learn more about Dean Colón-Emeric

The People Called Metodista: Renewing the Doctrine, Worship, and Mission from the Margins