- Luther’s Theology of Mission
Colleagues,
Six months ago an ELCA bishop asked me: “Was Mission the ‘Great Omission’ in the Lutheran Reformation?” Robin Morgan and I had heard that question turned into an indicative statement earlier this year at the international missiology conference in S. Africa. Finally I’ve come across something that speaks to the question. It’s an essay published ...
- Response to Sermon
Colleagues,
Four weeks ago (ThTh 114) I reported on the Schroeder clan reunion and our ...
- Two Letters 1: Out of Africa — Some Observations 2: How ugly evil is!
Colleagues,
The text for ThTh #117 is two letters just arrived from South Africa.
First letter comes from Art and Mitzi Preisinger, ELCA mission volunteers. Art and I were seminary classmates in the 1950s. The Preisingers did campus ministry for a good long while, and in more recent years Art taught theology at Texas Lutheran University (Seguin ...
- Unity of the Church:the ELCA’s In-House Controversy on the Historic Episcopate
Colleagues,
Last week’s posting, a series of your responses to ThTh #111, asked me to re-think the historic episcopate , specifically my contention that if HE is now a YOU GOTTA in the ELCA, then it could indeed be a no-no for Reformation-rooted Lutherans.
Several of you respondents went to the Lutheran Confessions themselves to show that ...
- Readers’ Responses
Colleagues,
Today’s edition, ThTh #115, offers readers’ responses to recent postings. There’s quite a bunch. If possible I’ll try next week to address some of the items raised here.
Peace & Joy!
Ed
Last week’s critique (ThTh 114) of a Christ-less sermon we encountered on the weekend of the Schroeder family reunion elicited this from an ELCA pastor in ...
- Preaching the Gospel (again!)
Colleagues,
It’s clearly a bone caught in my craw (or a barley-beard inside my pants leg, as we used to say back on the farm 60 yrs ago). Namely, preaching, less-than-Gospel preaching–and that from preachers who know the Gospel, but (apparently) don’t notice when they are NOT preaching it.
Case in point.
Background: Every two years on the ...
- Common Christological Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East
This week’s piece comes through Richard Leigh, a frequent student of the Lutheran School of Theology here in St. Louis.
Enjoy!
Ed
Common Christological Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East
His Holiness John Paul II, Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church, and
His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian ...
- Nestorius and the Nestorian Church
Colleagues,
Last week’s ThTh #111–Luther and the Jews, historic episcopate–generated considerable response. It’s still coming in. So I’ll wait a week or two before sorting it out and passing it on to you. Another reason for such a delay is that we’re doing a bit of vacation from now to mid-August–and NOT taking along the laptop!
So ...
- Requests from Bishops
Colleagues,
Two ELCA bishops have asked me for some theological help on sticky questions. That doesn’t happen often, so when it does, I perk up. Each bishop had 2 such tough questions. One bishop’s pair was:
What did Luther really say about the Jews (and why)?
Do the Lutheran Confessions give us any real help in the ELCA’s ...
- Reader Responses
Colleagues,
Our posting for ThTh #110 is a collection of smaller items–a mixed bag, but good stuff. After a lead-in citation from Luther there follows reader-responses to recent postings and then an insider’s report from Canada.
Peace & Joy!
Ed
God’s law and Christian ethics: The heart of the matter.Sent in by an ELCA pastor
Luther’s Sermon on I Timothy ...
