Deaconess Evelyn Middelstadt, R.I.P.

Colleagues, Deaconess Evelyn Middelstadt was murdered in Wichita, Kansas, last week. Evelyn and I were classmates at Valparaiso University 60 yrs ago and have been friends ever since. We’ve bumped into each other sporadically during those 6 decades at church gatherings, Lutheran Deaconess events and Valpo homecomings. At age 79 she’s been officially “retired” — a couple of …

FOUR WEEKS IN WESTERN CANADA

Colleagues, Sabbatheology text studies come in the matrix of the Crossings paradigm–3 diagnostic steps, 3 prognostic steps. So you readers know something in advance of what you’re getting each week. Not so with ThTh. There’s never been a paradigm, let alone a mission-statement, to norm these Thursday postings. Consequently EHS whimsy–yes, and sometimes dyspepsia–has had its day for …

Review of John H. Tietjen’s The Gospel According to Jesus. (St. Louis: Creative Communications for the Parish, 2006), 83 pp.

To write a first-person account of the life of Jesus, when that voice is Jesus’ own, is a daunting task, rarely undertaken. Even efforts, which have presumed to come close, such as Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor or Kazantzakis’ Last Temptation of Christ or The Greek Passion, did not quite manage to get into Jesus’ skin to tell the story. Such a work would …

A Review of Carl Braaten’s “Principles of Lutheran Theology”

Carl E. Braaten, Principles of Lutheran Theology, Second Edition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007) A few weeks ago, Ed Schroeder handed me his own copy of Carl Braaten’s Principles of Lutheran Theology (Second Edition) and asked whether I might append a word for Thursday Theology in review of this text. Ed was well aware that Carl Braaten was my …

The Confessing Church in the Midst of Empire

The latest round of work by the Lutheran World Federation’s “Theology in the Life of the Church” series focuses on the theme of “Confessing and Living Our Faith in the Triune God: Being the Church in the Midst of Empire.” I was privileged to be invited as one of the 20 global theologians to present a paper and …

Missio and Promissio–Mission and Promise

Colleagues, [A Pre-script. This ThTh #473 posting comes a tad early in the week. Here’s why: Marie and I, d.v., early on the morning of July 4, are heading out of the country for most of the rest of the month. ThTh #474, 475, 476 are already in the pipeline. D.v., they will be posted by listmaster Nathan …

Memento Mori

Colleagues, Memento mori. Although it’s Latin, it’s in the English part of my Webster’s 10th edition, not in the “Foreign Words and Phrases” at the end. Says Webster: “A reminder of mortality. (L, Remember that you must die.)” A whole bunch of these memento mori have come our way in the last six months, six of these …

Summer Solstice and Solo Survival

Colleagues, For the first time in my life I’ve been tracking the sun at sunrise as it moves north on our horizon toward this day when “the sun stands still,” and then starts heading south along our northern hemisphere horizon. So I’ve been up and out of bed to see the sunrise (still possible for an old farm …

Assorted Gospel Tidbits–Some from Luther, Some from Others

Colleagues, “Summertime and the livin’ is easy,” Bess (of Porgy and Bess) sings to us in that American classic opera. Revised Schroeder version of that libretto is “Summertime and I’m just a tad lazy.”So herewith some tidbits that have accumulated on my desk–not all of them from Luther, but most. The Luther items come from my attempt …