The Crossings Blog

Thursday Theology -full listing Crossings Film Series
  • Thursday Theology: Fred Niedner on Preaching that Actually Works (Part 2)
    Co-missioners, Today we send you the second half of Fred Niedner’s essay on “the sweet swap.” And again we add our hope that you’ll be able to join us at the end of January to hear Fred in person along with other gifted presenters, all of whom who will push to us think more sharply about ...
  • Thursday Theology: Fred Niedner on Preaching that Actually Works (Part 1)
    Co-missioners, For the past six weeks we’ve been reviewing the core insights of the Lutheran reformation as presented by Philip Melanchthon in Article IV of the Apology, his defense of the Augsburg Confession. Now our focus shifts to the matter of putting these insights to work in 2023 for the benefit of God’s church and God’s ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part Six of Six)
    Co-missioners, The year was 1530. That’s when leaders of the incipient Lutheran movement confessed their faith at the Diet of Augsburg and prompted the hostile reaction that drove Philip Melanchthon to pen the counter-response we’ve been poring over these past five weeks. The very title of the response flashes an instant signal of the distance between ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part Five of Six)
    Co-missioners, The end is in sight. Paul Jaster will walk us today through Philip Melanchthon’s rebuttal of his opponents’ claim that he and his fellow-confessors have either made a hash of key Biblical texts or ignored them completely. God says a person needs more than faith in Christ to wind up justified—so the opponents argue. “Think again,” ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part Four of Six)
    Co-missioners, Today Paul Jaster walks us through a critical section of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV. Here Philip Melanchthon discusses the relationship between faith and works, between trusting the Gospel and keeping the Law. This matter is as much in contention among Christians in 2023 as it was in 1530. That’s all the ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part Three of Six)
    Co-missioners, We’re devoting this current stretch of weeks to guided tour by Paul Jaster of the Fourth Article of The Apology of the Augsburg Confession. When last Thursday’s installment ended, Paul was walking us through Philip Melanchthon’s take on the essential disagreement between Lutheran confessors and the papal theologians who opposed them. Today’s third installment opens ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part Two of Six)
    Co-missioners, Last week Paul Jaster reviewed the events that gave rise to The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, touched briefly on its English translations, and discussed a key word in today’s standard translation that calls for the reader’s close attention. Today he begins his discussion of the Apology’s critical Fourth Article. You’ll want to keep your ...
  • A Crosser’s Guide to Apology IV (Part One of Six)
    Co-missioners, Students of all ages are heading back to school this week in many parts of the U.S. It’s an apt time for Thursday Theology readers to do the same. With this in mind, we send you the first installment of a six-week-long introduction to one of the fundamental documents that Crossings-style theology takes its clues from. ...
  • A Refreshing Dose of Public Honesty
    Co-missioners, Our editor ran across another article this week that he wants to tell you about. We also pass along that our next post will reach you on August 24th. Those responsible for getting them to you will be busy next week with our annual board meeting. Peace and Joy, The Crossings Community __________________________________________________________________   A Refreshing Dose of Public Honesty by Jerome ...
  • A Bit of Gospel, A Bit of Law, A Bit of Astonishment. An Announcement Too
    Co-missioners, We pass along four brief items from our editor. Peace and Joy, The Crossings Community __________________________________________________________________   A Bit of Gospel, A Bit of Law, A Bit of Astonishment. An Announcement Too by Jerome Burce Gospel I start this week with a passage from Robert Farrar Capon’s The Foolishness of Preaching: Proclaiming the Gospel against the Wisdom of the World (Eerdmans, 1998). Two things ...