Colleagues, Couple of weeks ago a ThTh reader in Fairbanks Alaska asked me (here on the equator in Singapore!) when I was going to do a review of Gibson’s Passion movie. He got specific:Several Questions; What would the movie look like (or if it wouldn’t even be, why not?) if Mel had come to the Crossings Community …
John Damm’s Homily at John Tietjen’s Funeral
Colleagues, For this festival day, the Annunciation of Our Lord, something special: John Damm’s sermon at John Tietjen’s funeral.Both John D. and John T. impacted me significantly in my very first year as a student at Concordia Seminary. I came to the Sem. with no “prep school connections” having done a B.A. at Valparaiso University instead. All …
First signals from Singapore
Colleagues, We’ve been in Singapore almost three weeks now. I’ve preached both of the last two Sundays. That’s likely to continue, since I’m being “farmed out” to each of the seven congregations that make up the Lutheran Church in Singapore for a two-week stint as “theologian-in-residence.” They’ve even printed a business card for me with that information on …
Bob Bertram in memoriam, Part II
Colleagues, It was on this Thursday –52 weeks ago–that Bob Bertram died. ThTh 248, George Forell’s “Is it Still Worth Being a Lutheran?” had just been posted when I got the news. Was that title on that day a serendip or what? Bob’s own 82 years of “being a Lutheran” might signal his answer if George, Bob’s …
Lenten Reverie. First Anniversary of Bob Bertram’s Death.
Colleagues, For this first full week in Lent, GO to the Crossings to <www.crossings.org> and click on “More Literature – Robert W. Bertram’s.” Then click on “Pardon My Dying — A Sequel to Ash Wednesday,” a magnum opus from 1972. It’s already been a year since Bob died, the second week in March 2003. This week’s ThTh …
Mission Affirmations Run Through a Law-Promise Sieve
Colleagues, Last month’s postings ThTh 291 and 292 featured the DAYSTAR conference in St. Louis at that time and the “Mission Affirmations,” the Missouri Synod’s ground-breaking mission manifesto of 1965. In ThTh 291 I did a bit of sifting through the MAs using the law-promise filter. Some aspects seemed good to me, some “needed a little work.” …
Your Responses to recent ThTh Postings
Colleagues, PERSONAL ITEM This week’s ThTh is the last one for a while that I’ll be confecting in St. Louis. After that, God willing, Marie and I will be 10 thousand miles away on the equator working with the Lutheran Church of Singapore. But I do have a couple ThTh postings already in the hopper to bridge the gap. …
Book Review of Martin Marty’s MARTIN LUTHER
Colleagues, This week’s ThTh is Steve Krueger’s review of Martin Marty’s just-published biography of Martin Luther. A couple of weeks ago we passed on to you a sermon that Steve preached at the January DAYSTAR conference. From this review you’ll see the same law/promise theology at work which grounded that sermon. That’s one reason I pass it …
Your God is Too Small
Colleagues,First off some corrections on ThTh 293 a fortnight ago, “Seminex at Thirty. Random Ramblings for an Anniversary.” Senectitude triumphed over rectitude. There were three errors that I know of. I forgot Carl Volz’s name in the roster of the dear departed. Here’s how the paragraph should have read:Of the 38 faculty folks who walked “off,” 14 have …
John Tietjen’s Sermon on Confessing Christ
Colleagues, ThTh 294 is a sequel to ThTh 293’s reflections on Seminex’s 30th birthday. On Sunday of that January week in 1974 John Tietjen was suspended from his office as President of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and the labor contractions began that birthed Seminex. This year on that same Sunday John preached in the congregation where he …