In My Fathers's House Are Many Mansions

In My Fathers's House Are Many Mansions (John 14:2) – came out from Saint Julian Press in November 2018.  The book is a collection of thoughts and sermons written by Robert P. Starbuck, M.Div., PhD, in his fifty plus years as a Christian clergy, and over forty years as a practicing psychotherapist.  

The book's title is an allusion to and a metaphor for the diversity found in a literary and artistic dialogue that promotes world peace, cultural conversations, and an interfaith awareness, appreciation, and acceptance.  Although, Christian in thought and vocabulary, the messages are inclusive and encourage an acceptance of other people and faiths across all humankind.

JOHN 14:1-4 Authorized King James Version (AKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

In a time of cultural wars, social polarizations, fears, conflicts, chaos, and once again the rise of nationalism, authoritarian ideologies and isolationism across the globe there are questions we must ask ourselves as human beings. That is what this book does, as it also touches on the story of a generation who came before us. This is “The Greatest Generation” that lived through World War II, who stood up for justice and mercy. And who fought against many of the veiled and evil –“isms” inflicted upon humankind in the 20th and now in the 21st century.

American poet and the 9th Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish wrote these verses in his seventh book of poetry, The Hamlet of A.MacLeish – published in 1928.

“We have learned the answers, all the answers:
It is the question that we do not know.
We are not wise.”

SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT

There is something more important than dividing a church or a nation into conservatives and liberals. I do not believe that a Christian can be one or the other. We must be both. We must conserve and liberate at the same time. We can never severe our ties from that part of history which belongs to us. Jesus conserved and liberated at the same time. He did not destroy the past, but he always moved out in such a way as to give life to others and to set them free. Jesus was both conservative and liberal. He was open to the future. He came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. Again and again, he referred to the teachings as found in the law and the prophets. They served as the very basis of his sermon —even his Sermon on the Mount. And yet at the same time he offered something new.

​“A new commandment I give you; that you love one another even as I have loved you.” – John 13:34

Robert P. Starbuck received his BA in philosophy from Baker University, in Baldwin City, Kansas; his M.Div. from St. Paul's School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri; and his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Counseling from Texas Women's University Institute of Health Sciences – Texas Medical Center/Houston, Texas. He served as an ordained United Methodist Minister in both the UMC Great Plains - Kansas and UMC Texas Conferences.
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