Colleagues, During the past two weeks (ThTheol #729 and ThTheol#730) we presented the introduction and first main section of Dr. Michael Hoy’s 2011 paper, “Like Living Stones: Chips of the New Rock: Confessional Reflections on 1 Peter 2:1-10 for 21st-Century Lutherans.” In last week’s section, Mike focused on the risks inherent in living a life of Christian faith. This week …
Risking in Faith
Colleagues, Last week (ThTheol #729) we offered you the introduction to Dr. Michael Hoy’s 2011 paper, “Like Living Stones: Chips of the New Rock: Confessional Reflections on 1 Peter 2:1-10 for 21st-Century Lutherans.” Mike ended his introduction by quoting Luther’s own introductory remarks on 1 Peter 2: “We have said often enough that a Christian life is composed …
1 Peter 2:1-10 as a Text for Confessors
Colleagues, Dr. Michael Hoy is your writer today, and for the next two weeks as well. Lots of you will recognize the name. Mike has been writing for Crossings for well over a decade. You’ll see innumerable examples of his work under both the “Text Study” and “Newsletter” tabs of our website. In recent years he has served as …
The Athanasian Creed
Colleagues, With Trinity Sunday fast approaching, this week’s Thursday Theology is an exchange between Bishop Marcus Lohrmann and a congregant from his synod who asks him some trenchant questions about the Athanasian Creed. The Rev. Dr. Lohrmann (whom we last quoted in ThTheol #703) is a pastor and pastoral theologian, as well as bishop of the ELCA’s Northwest Ohio …
The Point of Christian Ministry
Colleagues, Today, the Feast of the Ascension, is the hands-down most under-appreciated day in the entire church year. The congregation I serve continues through the sheer stubbornness of its pastors to celebrate an Ascension Day liturgy with as much pizzazz as we can muster when general interest is low. And it is low. I write this the night …
Politics and Theology
Colleagues, We’re going to make you work this week. We think you’ll decide it was worth it. What follows is an email interchange that happened not quite two weeks ago. On one end was Rich Jungkuntz who got a mention in the first of last week’s post-scripts. Rich studied theology at Concordia Seminary and Christ Seminary—Seminex in the …
Johannes Bugenhagen, Public Theologian
Colleagues, Too few of us, I fear, know much about Reformation history beyond snippets of Luther’s biography and the vague impressions of Melanchthon we may or may not have garnered while working through the Augsburg Confession and its Apology at some point too long ago. Lost in the background, meanwhile, are other giants of the day whose work, …
Following Jesus when things fall apart (Part 2)
Colleagues, Last week we reprinted Part 1 of Pastor Felix Meylahn’s presentation at the Fourth International Crossings Conference, in which he described the liberation struggle in his native South Africa and the subsequent “second falling apart” of South African society. This week brings the conclusion, in which Felix lays out his thoughts on how our “ambidextrous” God “handles” us in …
Following Jesus When Things Fall Apart (Part 1)
Colleagues, One of the most arresting presentations at the Fourth International Crossings Conference came on the last day, when Felix Meylahn, who is a pastor and trainer of lay preachers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa, told the story of his country’s journey from colonialist and white-supremacist oppression, through the struggle for liberation, and into the …
Seeing Christ in Galilee
Colleagues, I sometimes think that we who carry on the Crossings project these days lose sight too easily of the aim Bob Bertram and Ed Schroeder had in mind when they launched it a quarter century ago. Their target audience was the laity, and more sharply, John and Jane Christian as we catch them trudging away from their …