- Robert Bertram on “The Twice-Free Student—or Citizen.” (Part One)
Co-missioners,
Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July this weekend. We can’t think of a better time to send you a reflection on freedom by the late great Robert W. Bertram.
Bob took this topic up fifty-five years ago in an address to the graduating class of a late, great school, Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, ...
- On the Fear and Love of God
Co-missioners,
We send along a sermon Steve Albertin shared with us recently. He preached it this past May 14th at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Carmel, Indiana, on the north side of Indianapolis. Steve will soon be wrapping up a year of service there as Interim Pastor. He has also served for many years on the Crossings ...
- St. Paul’s Dangerous Idea (Part 3)
Co-missioners,
For the past two weeks Steve Kuhl has been exploring how St. Paul thinks about God, and how this contrasts with presumptions common to much of American Christianity. Today we send along the final section of Steve’s essay. A reminder that we extracted the essay from a longer paper Steve presented in 1997 at a ...
- St. Paul’s Dangerous Idea (Part 2)
Co-missioners,
Today Steve Kuhl will plunge us into the scandals that lie at the heart of St. Paul’s thinking about God and his proclamation of Christ crucified. We can’t urge you strongly enough to take the time for a close and careful reading—all the more if the theological milieu you interact with regularly ignores the distinction ...
- St. Paul’s Dangerous Idea (Part 1)
Co-missioners,
Last week we sent you a brief exhortation by the late Robert W. Bertram to let Scripture expose the deep problem with God that every hearer is caught in, and for which Christ crucified is God’s liberating solution.
This week we send you the first part of a long essay in which Steven Kuhl discusses the ...
- “From Three to Four, Not Before!”
Co-missioners,
Michael Hoy has rendered enormous service over the years as chief steward of Robert W. Bertram’s legacy as a writer. Aside from ensuring that some of Bob’s work would appear posthumously in book form, he also tackled the large task of assembling a bibliography of everything Bob wrote and published over the course of his ...
- “Unity after Uvalde?” A Year-Old Sermon on John 17:20-26
Co-missioners,
Today is the Feast of our Lord’s Ascension. It’s also the Thursday before the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Easter 7 is the church’s date for a sermon we share with you today. It was preached in 2022 at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois, a second-ring suburb due west of downtown Chicago.
Grace was established ...
- Ten “Promising” Words? An Interchange (Part 2)
Co-missioners,
Today we send you the continuation of a discussion between Mike Hoy and Paul Jaster about Paul’s recent essay, “God Ten Promising Words.” As you may have seen last week, Mike sent a note about this to our editor, who passed it on to Paul. Paul responded to Mike.
Came a second and lengthier note from ...
- Ten “Promising” Words? An Interchange (Part 1)
Co-missioners,
Last month we sent you a two-part posting of an essay by Paul Jaster entitled “God’s Ten Promising Words.” It prompted an interchange that we share with you this week and next. Our editor, Jerry Burce, provides a brief introduction.
Peace and Joy,
The Crossings Community
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Ten “Promising” Words? An Interchange between Michael Hoy and Paul Jaster
Introduction
Lutherans started ...
- On Checking the Blind Spot (A Sermon)
Co-missioners,
Today’s first-time contributor to Thursday Theology is the Rev. Bradley Haugen, pastor of Follower of Christ Lutheran Church in Plainfield, Illinois. (Plainfield is on the southwest edge of metropolitan Chicago.) Brad is a graduate of Valparaiso University and Luther Seminary. Some years ago he found his way to a Crossings conference and has been involved ...
