A New Foundation to Build On

Author: Lewis Benson

Format: 8.5" x 11" Downloadable PDF

Description: This is a series of five lectures by Lewis Benson given in 1976 at Haverford College. Those five  lectures are on the following topics: 

• Lecture 1: The Problem of Being Human.
• Lecture 2: The Power of the Gospel.
• Lecture 3: The Gospel Generates Moral Power and Fellowship Forming Power.
• Lecture 4: The Gospel and SelfKnowledge.
• Lecture 5: Fellowship in the Work of Proclaiming and Building.
• Appendix: Questions and Responses Follow Each Lecture.

In his opening remarks, Benson describes how God has concerned himself in the plight of humanity.  He stated: 

"The Bible tells us how God, the creator of all things, has concerned himself with the human problem...it tells us how God has spoken to particular men and women, in particular times and places...Abraham is the prototype of the perfect responder to God's call. He believed  and obeyed God, left his home and country and religion, and went forth "knowing not  whither he went." The story of Abraham introduces us to the tension that is found everywhere in the Bible between religion and faith...Abraham is not portrayed in the Bible as the typical religious man--homo religious--but he is portrayed as the man of faith...The prophets of the Old Testament are the speakers of a word from God to God's people. Their message is a call to hear God and believe and obey him. It is the prophets who keep alive the tension between faith and religion...The word of God came to the prophet Isaiah saying: "...look unto the rock from whence you are hewn,...Look unto Abraham your father, and  unto Sarah, that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him..."(Isaiah 51:1 & 2) The prophets are the spokesmen for the God who is concerned with the problem of man, and they frequently remind the Hebrew people that preoccupation with religion is not pleasing to God…"

In the subsequent lectures, Benson shows how the power of the gospel preached by the Apostles and rediscovered by George Fox speaks to the problem of being human. It is that gospel that produces the moral power enabling humanity to be recreated in the image of God. He goes on to show that there can be no true knowledge of one's self outside this gospel. And true fellowship exists only within the confines of living in and laboring in that gospel. Each lecture is followed by questions asked by the attenders of those lectures and Benson’s answers.