- The Ascension of our Lord
Colleagues,Today is probably the most uncelebrated “Feast of our Lord” in the whole church year–at least among Christians in the USA. Lutherans included. Signal of it insignificance may be the glitch in the Thrivent “Lutheran Pastor’s Desk Diary–2006” that puts Ascension–mirabile dictu!–on Friday this year! Not so. It’s always a Thursday–40 days after Easter and ...
- Theologian Giants out of Missouri
Colleagues,With the death of Jaroslav J. Pelikan on May 13, 2006 one of the super-nova theologians who grew up in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has arrived at rest in peace. The Pelikan family were Slovaks, JJP’s father also a pastor in the “Slovak district” of the LCMS, into whose ministry JJP ...
- ELCA Launches Project on How to Read the Bible
Colleagues,
Pastor Robin Morgan supplies this week’s ThTh posting, some reflections on “literalist” Bible-reading in connection with the ELCA’s current project to find a better way to “read and understand the Bible.” Apparently such literalist Bible reading still afflicts the membership of the “liberal” ELCA. I know that’s true. But it may surprise some folks, especially ...
- In the Afterglow of Easter 2006
Colleagues:
ForewordAlthough the ThTh number above is “only” 412, there came 88 Sabbath Theology postings beforehand from the computer on this desk. Add them up and it’s 500. Five hundred postings choreographed around law-promise theology. As Luther might ask: What does this 500 mean? It’s you readers who can best answer that question, of course. But ...
- I’ve Got my Doubts about “Praising Doubt”
Colleagues,Not till this past Sunday afternoon did I get around to reading the March 2006 issue of THE LUTHERAN, the monthly journal of “my” church, the ELCA. The cover page hyped the 4 lead articles: “In Praise of Doubt . . . Plus Study Guide.” Because it was “last Sunday afternoon,” the Sunday after Easter, ...
- “Lutheran Theology and Global Capitalism” [Or “Empire-building and Me”]
Colleagues,
Pastor Robin Morgan, occasional co-conspirator in these postings, links in this book review the grisly underside of today’s global capitalism with the results of her just-completed doctoral dissertation. In that dissertation she takes case studies of Lutheran ministry here in St. Louis and “crosses” them with Luther’s axiom of God’s ambidextrous work in the world. ...
- Easter Epistle from Indonesia
Colleagues,
The ThTh postings for the past two weeks have looked at Christianity “moving south.” Here’s a case study. Today’s ThTh is an interview that appeared in the current issue of THE LUTHERAN, the national magazine of the Lutheran Church of Australia . Marie and I have been reading the magazine ever since 1994. That was ...
- Luther and World Christianity. Part Two
Colleagues,
Here is the second half of the essay “Philip Jenkins’ Global Christianity Viewed through Luther’s Lenses”Peace & Joy!
Ed Schroeder
PART III: THE SOUTH IS COMING NORTH
JENKINS’ THESIS #3. By that time Christianity in Europe and North America will to a large extent consist of Southern-derived immigrant communities.
LUTHER: If these Southern-derived communities ...
- Luther and World Christianity
Colleagues,
Not long ago Philip Jenkins (Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and History, Penn State University) startled some folks with his book THE NEXT CHRISTENDOM (Oxford University Press, 2003). Jenkins argued that “global” Christianity was “moving south” and that the “next” Christendom — already on the scene throughout the southern hemisphere — was quite different from, ...
- Major American Jewish Theologian Calls for “Left-Hand-of-God” Theology
Colleagues,
One of you ThTh receivers sent me this review of “The Left Hand of God,” a book by Michael Lerner. No surprise, such a title caught my attention. Also no surprise, Lerner’s left-hand, right-hand, distinction is not congruent with stuff you have read in past ThTh posts, that have commended Luther’s view of the ambidextrous ...
