The Rev. Matthew Best serves as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church on Allison Hill in Harrisburg, PA as well as the Director of Health Ministries of the Christ Lutheran Church. He resides in Carlisle, PA with his family and has a blog – www.pastormatthewbest.com – where he writes prayers, posts on theology and politics, and more.
Journal of Lutheran Ethics: The Podcast Episode 2 “Unpacking Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times”
October/November 2024: Ordinary Faith as an Antidote to Polarization (Volume 24 Issue 5)
Amy Carr, Christine Helmer, Matthew Best
Americans are more divided from one another than at any point in recent history. The divisions that we feel individually are even seen in recent research. Even faith communities are not free of sharp polarization. But that doesn’t have to be the case. In this episode, host Matthew Best talks with Amy Carr and Christine […]
New! Journal of Lutheran Ethics: The Podcast, Episode 1
April/May 2024: Protecting Children: What Is the Role of the ELCA? (Volume 24 Issue 2)
This issue features a first for the Journal of Lutheran Ethics – a new podcast to accompany this month’s articles! Host Rev. Matthew Best talks with Rev. Dr. Craig L. Nessan of Wartburg Theological Seminary about the prevalence of child abuse and the need for the ELCA to become a trauma-informed church. “I want our […]
Mourning
The Need for Mourning [1] Recently my aunt died, and I traveled to attend her viewing and funeral. Funeral related travel offers a mix of emotions – sadness over the loss of a loved one, fond memories of my aunt from my youth, and genuine gladness over being able to see family that I don’t […]
Book Review: The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts by Karen Armstrong
[1] The Lost Art of Scripture by Karen Armstrong is one of the most important books I’ve read in a long time. I don’t say that lightly. It’s not an easy read. But it is well worth the effort. Karen Armstrong is a prolific author who has written numerous books on a variety of theological […]
Book Review: Disruption: Repurposing the Church to the Redeem the Community by Mark DeYmaz
June/July 2023: Book Review Issue (Volume 23 Issue 2)
[1] Disruption by Mark DeYmaz was a book written for me. The summary on the back of the volume says it all: “We must become disruptive.” The author is talking about how we think about church. Amen. [2] In defining a disruptor, DeYmaz turns to an opinion piece by Mel Robbins, an expert on human […]
Book Review: Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week by Jason Porterfield
I read this book during Lent, which was the perfect time to read such a book. And let me just say – WOW! Great book. I highly recommend it. For our purposes here, I’m going to break down the review of the book in a manner similar to the structure of the book itself, which […]
The Church’s Faithful Responses to Conspiracy Theories – The Modern Gnosticism
October/November 2022: What Does It Mean To Be Church Now? (Volume 22 Issue 5)
[1] Over 20 years ago I worked on Capitol Hill for a Member of Congress. We would receive letters, phone calls, and emails about an assortment of issues. And we were required to send a response to every correspondence we received. Most of the time, those responses contained information or a constituent’s opinions about up-coming […]
Review: White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity by Robert P. Jones
December 2021/January 2022: 2020-2021, A Retrospective (Volume 21 Issue 7)
[1] As a white male middle-aged pastor with a beautiful family and photogenic dog, I couldn’t possibly be more of the image of white privilege in the church. Which is why it was important for me to read White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. [2] The book White Too Long […]