HOW OUR SINS WERE CHRIST’S: A STUDY IN LUTHER’S GALATIANS (1531)

By Robert W. Bertram 1. Peccator Peccatorum [Sinner of Sinners] The sinlessness of Christ, indispensable as this was for Luther’s christology, was seldom the major point at issue. In fact, Christ’s innocence, readily enough accepted by Luther’s opponents, threatened to overshadow what was equally essential to Christ’s redemptive achievement: that “for our sake God made Christ to be …

“Preface” to Theology in the Life of the Church

[in Theology in the Life of the Church, iii-iv. Edited by Robert W. Bertram. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1963.]   The hope of theology lives in this balance: Quod vitam theologiae, id Ecclesiae animat, et Ecclesia, quae ad vitam pertinet, eadem ad theologiam. What is life for theology Is life for the Church, And the Church for life Is …

C.F.W. Walther On Law and Gospel Toward a Revival of Lutheran Hermeneutics

Robert W. Bertram, Paul G. Bretscher, Albert G. Huegli, O.P. Kretzmann, Edward H. Schroeder, John Streitelmeier (The typist was able to distinguish only those items written by Bertram and Schroeder. After each thesis, the writer is indicated.) [Reprint of “The Orthodox Teacher and the Word of God.” The Cresset 25 (March, 1962):.4-18. Reprinted with permission from The Cresset.] …

C.F.W. Walther On Law and Gospel Toward a Revival of Lutheran Hermeneutics

Robert W. Bertram, Paul G. Bretscher, Albert G. Huegli, O.P. Kretzmann, Edward H. Schroeder, John Streitelmeier11 (This typist was able to distinguish only those items written by Bertram and Schroeder. After each thesis, the writer is indicated.) [Reprint of “The Orthodox Teacher and the Word of God.” The Cresset 25 (March, 1962):.4-18. Reprinted with permission from The Cresset.] …

Scripture and Confessions; A Session with Schneeweis

[Presentation, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, 1962] Robert Bertram His name alone was enough to lure me into conversation with him, “Simon Schneeweiss, pastor at Crailsheim.” I had passed him often, on page 317 of my Book of Concord. There he stood with the other confessors of Smalcald, only a few lines up from Melanchton, though he had signed …

Lord Teach us to Pray

Edward H. Schroeder [Printed in Nexus, Vol. 2:1 (Nov. 1961).]   “Pious Roman Catholics pray the entire Psalter once a week, Anglicans once a month, Lutherans almost never.” Why? In public worship we tolerate the psalms. The synodical hymnal includes about one third of them. The Sunday introit and gradual preserve a snatch of them. In Walther League …

The Gospel as the Answer to Youth’s Problems: Vocational

Edward H. Schroeder [Printed for First Annual Conference for Lutheran Workers with Youth, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, Proceedings, 1961.]   The dilemma that all of us face as we try to speak with young folks is well depicted in a cartoon in the Saturday Review. A young father comes into the living room looking distraught and harried, followed …

What Can Law Do For Revelation

Robert W. Bertram [Printed in “Colloquy on Law and Theology: Papers presented at Valparaiso University, October, 1960” by The Lutheran Academy for Scholarship, St. Louis, MO]   The subject of this panel discussion is “Law and Revelation.” This general subject, in turn, has been subdivided four ways. Mr. Duesenberg’s question was, What can revelation do for law? Mr. …

IT IS A SIN TO TELL A LIE; THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Edward H. Schroeder [n.d. Possibly in response to Sidonie M. Gruenberg, “When Your Child Lies or Steals,” The Gary Post-Tribune Family Weekly, February 28, 1960]   PROBLEM OF HONESTY AND TRUTHFULNESS Rigged Quiz Shows Payola Election Year Doesn’t affect us WHAT DOES HONESTY AND TRUTHFULNESS MEAN IN COLLEGE LIFE? When is my witness-bearing true, when is it false? …