Today’s the 468th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. I thought you’d like to know. The year was 1530. Times were tough. Suleiman the Magnificent was outside the walls of Vienna with 600,000 Muslim troops, having just “scorch-earthed” his way through a big chunk of southeastern “Christian” Europe. That’s …
Gay/Lesbian Ordination – The Central States Synod Resolution
Dear Sabbatarians, Our perusal of Seminex history will begin again next week with Ed’s next chapter, “The first days at Seminex, Feb. 20, 1974ff.” This week I asked Jim Squire to write about the Central States Synod Assembly which took place this past weekend. THE ISSUE of the assembly was the defrocking of a pastor who admitted to …
Summer Conventions: Is it New Orleans all over again?
Next month the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod will hold its convention here in St. Louis. The gossip says it will be a hot one regardless of the local weather. One district president (i.e., a regional bishop) is on the carpet for practicing fellowship with the heterodox. He participated in the wedding of his niece in a service …
And Then There Were Three
Colleagues, A fortnight ago in ThTh (#2) I bubbled about the two Seminex grads, Marcus Lohrmann and Robert Rimbo, who had just been elected to episcopal office in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Robin Morgan, our Sabbatheology editor, added a good word from Article 28 of the Augsburg Confession to accompany them on their episcopal callings. Some …
Bishop’s Job Description: What does Augustana 28 say to us today?
Ed Schroeder was on a high two days ago when he e-mailed me to say that two–yes 2!–of his former students, both Seminex alums, were elected bishops last weekend in ELCA synod assemblies. As far as Ed knows none of his former students have made the cut. So you can see why he was bubbly. ‘Course he doesn’t …
Even Rome Can be Home, but . . . Should Today’s Augsburg Catholics Long to Go There? Not Really
Dear Sabbatarians, He’s baaack! Ed’s passed on the Sabbatheology duties to some of us, but he’s still got plenty to say — as you’ll discover in this wonderfully provocative piece he’s offering us today. “Thursday Theology” is the latest addition to Crossings on-line. On Saturdays you’ll get a pericope study for the upcoming Sunday and on Thursdays …
Foretasting “Full Communion”: Tomorrow’s LutEpisc Today
Robert W. Bertram [Presentation at a Lutheran-Episcopal workshop entitled “Foretasting ‘Full Communion’” sponsored by Lutheran School of Theology, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Mo, May 5, 1998] Dr. Bertram considered this a “’penultimate’ draft, not (yet) for publication.” Unfortunately, he died before he was able to edit it to his satisfaction. Like Gaul, this paper has three …
HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HAND?” YES, BUT WHICH HAND?
[Delivered at Bethel Lutheran Church, St. Louis, MO 10-26-97] At last weekend’s ITEST workshop on the theme, “Creation AND Evolution”, a question arose about the Darwinian (not Darwin’s) phrase, “the survival of the fittest.” Who are the “fittest”? Are they merely whoever happens to survive? But then does the phrase really say anything? Or is it just …
Luther’s Commentary on the Third Article as a Clue to His Theology of Other Religions
Edward H. Schroeder [Luther Research Congress. Heidelberg University, Germany, August 17-23,1997 A Presentation for the Seminar: “Outside the Church No Salvation” Revised & published in Missio Apostolica, Journal of the Lutheran Society for Missiology VII:1 (May 1999), pp. 4-10. Reprinted with permission.] In spring of 1997 the Mormons dedicated a new temple in St. Louis, Missouri, and the …
WILL “FULL COMMUNION” INCLUDE FULL CONVERSATION?
Robert W. Bertram ELCA’s two proposals for “full communion,” one with the Episcopalians and another with the Reformed, will surely be adopted by the assembly, if only for the sake of appearances. Flawed as the proposals may be, to vote them down now would be unimaginable to today’s churches except as an act of schism. There will …