Eulogies at Christian Funerals–Some Second Opinions

Colleagues, Last week’s posting about eulogies from Bill Moorhead [ThTh 331] elicited responses from some of you. Here are six of the “second opinions” I received.Peace & Joy! Ed Schroeder From Three Women on the Listserve. Deaconess Hospital Chaplain in CaliforniaI can’t keep silent about the “Eulogies” issue. Of course, the Word must be among us as …

How to Give a Eulogy

Colleagues, It’s late Wednesday evening. We’ve just watched the third debate between the U.S.A. presidential contenders. Though funereal thoughts come to mind, the word “eulogy” does not. Threnody and elegy seem more appropriate. Perhaps Alan Paton’s “Cry, The Beloved Country.”But rescuing me (and you) from a jeremiad for this week’s ThTh posting is a guest essay on …

Faith as Surrender (Revisited)

Colleagues,ThTh 328 [Sept. 23, 2004] challenged the claim in the September issue of the ELCA magazine THE LUTHERAN that one fundamental facet of Christian faith is surrender. That posting elicited some response which went out last week as ThTh 329. One of those responses was this: 6. From a Lutheran University prof (math and English lit.)– One context …

Faithful Teaching, but Religious?

Robert W. Bertram [In By Faith Alone: Essays on Justification in Honor of Gerhard O. Forde, ed. Joseph A. Burgess, and Marc Kolden, William Eerdmans Press, 2004, p. 332-340. Permission given by Eerdmans Publishing Company 10/6/04]   This tribute to Gerhard Forde is prompted by a reminiscence. The two of us were flying back from a meeting of …

Responses received to the last two postings: “9-11 on the Third Anniversary” (ThTh 327) and “THE LUTHERAN surrenders ” (ThTh 328).

Peace & Joy! Ed Schroeder “9-11 on the Third Anniversary” (ThTh 327)THREE NOT COMPLETELY HAPPY CAMPERS ELCA pastor, former student–Right on – as always! The diagnosis on America is absolutely correct, although one I am reasonably sure will never usher from the mouth of a politician! However, it raised a question I have wanted to ask you for …

THE LUTHERAN surrenders

An Open Letter to David L. Miller Editor, THE LUTHERAN, “the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” Dear David,This one is serious. Seriously wrong. To wit, your plea [p. 58, THE LUTHERAN, September 2004] for “the beauty of surrender . . . holy surrender . . . surrendered lives” as central to Christian faith. Not so. Couldn’t …

9-11 on the Third Anniversary

Colleagues,Just got home from a week in Barnes Hospital on Wednesday shortly before sunset. And good timing too, since both of my primary physicans–diabetologist and cardiologist–are observant Jews (one reformed, one orthodox, both “keep kosher”) and with yesterday’s sunset Rosh Hashanah began. Despite their genuine TLC for me over the years, they’d be taking time-out for the holiday–so …

Deconstructing the Concept of MISSIO DEI “in the Light of the Gospel.”

Colleagues, God willing, we’re to return to St. Louis on this very day, August 26, from a month-long stint mostly in Malaysia. At the Eleventh Quadrennial Conference of the International Association for Mission Studies, meeting in Malaysia the first week in August, I presented this paper. Not all of my paper for IAMS XI will be new …