Colleagues,A ThTh subscriber from the other side of the world (“other side,” that is, from where I live in St. Louis, Missouri USA) sent me recently the text of a new creedal statement his Protestant denomination is working on. He asked for my comment. In the course of doing so I wound up confecting my own thoughts about …
Third Use of the Law–One More Time
Colleagues,It wasn’t long after Luther’s death that his students started arguing about what the Meister had said about God’s law. Specifically its role in the life of the “regenerate,” folks now trusting Christ as Lord and Master. Actually the debate began before Luther died, but it blossomed post mortem. Bob Bertram, similarly Meister for many of us, died …
Jaroslav Pelikan and Roland Bainton–Just before Christmas
Colleagues, D.v., on December 17, next Wednesday, Jaroslav Jan Pelikan will celebrate his 80th birthday. One of the super-whiz-kids to grow up in the Missouri Synod–in its “Slovak District”–Pelikan is now a member of the Russian-rooted “Orthodox Church in America.” That move to Orthodoxy was really no surprise. He always was a Slavophile. I know. He was …
Faith Place
Dear Folks,Below is a compilation of two pieces about Faith Place, the new mission that we’re developing in the city of St. Louis. The first part is a theological reflection I wrote the day after Christ the King Sunday. The second and shorter part is a weblog entry I wrote the following week. Between the two I think …
Martin Marty’s SPEAKING OF TRUST. A Review.
Colleagues, Today’s ThTh 285 comes from the hand of Albert J.Jabs, retired (well, not really) professor, Allen University and Limestone College, Columbia, SC. Al and I have some common bonds. We’re both graduates of Valparaiso University. Both septuagenarians born in November, though he just entered the 70s turf. Both with family roots going back to the German …
The Reformation. What was it all about?
Colleagues, God willing, Marie and I will be out of the country when this week’s ThTh gets to you. And next week’s too. Costa Rica’s the place. San Jose the town. We have a niece there, Heidi Michelsen, erstwhile Lutheran deaconess and now an M.Div. and ordained ELCA pastor. Heidi’s husband Marco Ruiz is also a Lutheran …
Third Use of the Law and “Valparaiso” Theology – A Book Review (Part II)
Colleagues, Here’s the final portion of Matt Becker’s review of “Law, Life, and the Living God: The Third Use of the Law in Modern American Lutheranism.” By Scott R. Murray. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002. 250 pages. Part I was posted last week as ThTh 282.Peace & Joy! Ed Schroeder Murray’s book offers inaccurate assessments of …
Third Use of the Law and “Valparaiso Theology” – A Book Review (Part I)
Colleagues, November 6, 1930 was the day I was born. So I’m 73 today–well beyond the Biblical 3-score-and-10. And this past year’s deaths of oh-so-many dear co-confessors–Bob Bertram, Curt Huber, Tim Lull, Marcie Childs, Jim MacCormick, Dick Jungkuntz, Walt Rast, Andy Weyermann–has been a memento-mori drumbeat for me. So for one more year, one more day–Thank you, …
Proposal: When Jesus says: “That they may all be one,” he’s NOT talking about ecumenism.
Colleagues, Here’s what prompted the heretical claim in the proposal above. It was this throw-away line from a big-name speaker last month at St. Louis University: “Remember, Jesus spoke Aramaic.” [His point was that the Greek New Testament, our closest contact to Jesus’s own words, is a translation. Jesus spoke Aramaic, the “pigeon”-Hebrew in the culture of his …
The God Question
Colleagues, One of my Schroeder nephews, an M.D., has an associate who asks theological questions. Recently he sent me the last batch of such questions. He wasn’t actually asking for help, he said, but wondered what Uncle Ed might say. Here are the questions (the numbered paragraphs), and here’s what I said.Peace and Joy! Ed Schroeder The …