Edward H. Schroeder [Part of a presentation given at an LCMS Pastors Conference, Thief River Falls, MN, Sept. 11, 1972. The day was titled “The Praxis of the Forgiveness of Sins: A Response to the Fact- Finders’ Report of the Concordia Seminary Faculty.” Most of this presentation is in outline form, only this segment is written out.] …
The Lively Use of the Risen Lord
John 20:19-31 Robert Bertram [Concordia Seminary Chapel, April 13, 1972. Published in Concordia Theological Monthly 43 (July-August, 1972): 438-441. Reprinted with permission.] So Jesus rose from the dead and showed Himself to His disciples. So What? What is the use of that? By putting the question that way, I run the risk, I know, of sounding flippant, …
Reconsidering Lutheran Identity in an Age of Theological Pluralism and Ecumenical Challenge
Robert W. Bertram∗ [Printed in Lutheran World 20, No. 1 (1973): 3-18.] Lutheran Identity In “an age of theological pluralism and ecumenical challenge”, what identifies Lutherans as Lutherans? Answer: the way they identify “theological pluralism and ecumenical challenge”. Isn’t that at least one telltale sign of “Lutheran identity”? Might there not be an appropriately Lutheran understanding of …
Encountering The Last Enemy
Edward H. Schroeder [Printed in Dialog 11. Summer, 1972: 190-194. Reprinted with permission.] The expression comes from St. Paul: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” It is found in his great chapter on resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter that also spells out his view of the span of human history from Adam to the …
Law-Gospel Reductionism in the History of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Edward H. Schroeder [Printed in Concordia Theological Monthly 43. April, 1972. Reprinted with permission.] This essay proposes to trace a segment of the history of hermeneutics in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod insofar as the distinction between Law and Gospel plays a role in that history. The study is important because in recent years one school of thought …
The Orders of Creation—Some Reflections on the History and Place of the Term in Systematic Theology
EDWARD H. SCHROEDER [Printed in Concordia Theological Monthly, #43, March, 1972, p 165-178. Reprinted with permission.] The author is professor of systematic and historical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. In this article, he argues that the concept associated with the term “orders of creation” in current Missouri Synod discussions of the ordination of women is not Lutheran …
Pardon My Dying
A Sequel To Ash Wednesday Today’s first lesson recalls yesterday’s Imposition of the Ashes, Genesis 3:19: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The second lesson is I Corinthians 15:49: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” ‘A …
THE GOSPEL AS GOOD NEWS IN TODAY’S WORLD
[Address, 1972] The theme once more: “The Gospel as Good News in Today’s World.” That theme prompts four quick questions: World? In? New? Good? (If you have a craving for acronyms, as I do, then think of the four-letter word “wing”, W-I-N-G: W is for “world,” I is for “in,” N is for “new,” G is for “good.”) …
How Free are the American Churches? A Clue from Martin Luther King
Robert W. Bertram [Printed in Sonderdruck aus BEGEGNUNG. Beitrage zu einer Hermeneutik des theologischen Gesprachs. Herausgegeben von Max Seckler, Otto H, Pensch, Johannes Brosseder, Wolfhart Pannenberg. Gratz: Verlag Styria, 1972.] In Germany recently a conference of students, including an impressive representation of Marxist-Leninists from The New Left, confronted the American guest speaker with the question: How free …
A Theologian’s Perspective on Economic Activities in the Christian World Mission
Robert W. Bertram [Address, St. Louis, Missouri, September, 1971] ABSTRACT Not just asking can individual Christians operate in their private economic roles as Christians but can the Christian community itself engage in economic activities in the Christian world mission, might that community support itself by profit-making activities without compromising itself for that very mission? To raise such a …