The Crossings Blog

Colleagues, Here is the second part of the paper that launched the 2018 Crossings conference at the end of last month. Two weeks have gone by since I sent you the first part. When introducing that I encouraged you to mull on the coincidence of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day on February 14. Love’s day arrived, and hate ...

Colleagues, A week and a day have gone by since the party broke up in Belleville, Illinois. I refer as you might guess to the Seventh International Crossings Conference that was held there on the last three days of January. The group of 60 or so who gathered included a wonderful mix of both new and ...

Colleagues, This is John 1 season. We sampled it on the Third Sunday of Advent (1:6-8, 29-28). The main course followed on Christmas Day (1:1-14). Where I do most of my work, a pesky saint has finally prevailed on me to tackle the Gospel of John in the Sunday morning Adult Education class. I consented with ...

Colleagues, Below is the final installment of our serial post on Luther and mission, penned 15 years ago by Ed Schroeder. Here Ed moves from reportage to analysis and assessment. He also stirs the pot with some polite though pointed critique of positions and trends that people who passed as he did, from the LCMS to ...

Colleagues, Here is the next installment of Ed Schroeder’s exploration of Luther’s thinking on the topic of mission. Peace and Joy, Jerry Burce ______________________________________________  Luther’s Theology of Mission (continued) by Edward H. Schroeder C. The Sermon from 1536 The Mission Mandate Here Luther is struck by the overwhelming magnitude of the mission mandate. “These are words of impressive majesty, pure majesty. Jesus commands ...

Colleagues, Here is the second half of Rudolf Keller’s essay on Luther the human being, a sinner who trusted Christ. One of you wrote over the weekend to say that Part One was “the best thing I’ve read in the avalanche of materials on the 500th anniversary.” I trust the rest of it will be just ...

Colleagues, Today’s main event is the first part of recent essay by Professor Rudolf Keller of Regensberg University. Dr. Keller, a friend of Ed and Marie Schroeder, spoke at one of our early Crossings conferences. Ed and Marie served as translators for the presentation here. We offer it at as a worthy chaser for the rich three-part ...

Colleagues, The Reformation drew scant attention in Cleveland, Ohio today, its 500th anniversary notwithstanding. There were no parades in city streets, nor any Lutheran crowds flocking as once they might have to a downtown venue for a jubilant celebration. If any congregations bothered to hold their own muted liturgies, I didn’t hear about it. Mine didn’t. After all, ...

Colleagues, See below for the final installment of Ed Schroeder’s “Kerygma, Dogma, and Ethos: What We Preach, What We Confess, Who We Become.” For background I send you again to guest editor’s Stephen Hitchcock’s introduction of the piece in ThTheol 910. And again my sole suggestion as dispatching editor is that you read slowly and with ...

Colleagues, Here is the second installment of Ed Schroeder’s “Kerygma, Dogma, and Ethos: What We Preach, What We Confess, Who We Become.” There is much to digest here. Chew slowly, with thanks to God. Installment Three will follow in seven days. For the story behind this essay, see last week’s introduction by guest editor Stephen Hitchcock. Peace and ...