Author: Kathryn A. Kleinhans

Rev. Dr. Kathryn A. Kleinhans is Dean of Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University.

Review: Lutheran Theology and Secular Law: The Work of the Modern State

Lutheran Theology and Secular Law is the second of two volumes edited by Marie Failinger and Ron Duty that boldly take on the task of bringing Lutheran theology and legal theory and practice into conversation. The fifteen essays in the volume are divided into six parts: (1) Our secular age, (2) Lutheran theology and legal philosophy, (3) The individual and the state, (4) International law and human rights, (5) Domestic legal issues, and (6) Professionals, law, and neighbor-love. The three essays in the first two parts of the book are the most theoretical. For this reason, readers might consider jumping in midway through the volume, with the more topical essays, and circling back to the introductory essays later.

Sources of Authority in the Lutheran Tradition: Back to the Future

Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. [1] Let me begin by saying that I am not an historian; I am a theologian who works within a confessional tradition, frequently drawing on historical sources for constructive purposes. Reflecting […]

No Red Synods/ Blue Synods in the ELCA: Attempting to Hold the Middle Ground

[1] When I have spoken publicly on these issues in recent years, I have said that if decisions concerning blessing same-sex unions and rostering persons in such unions split the church (in either direction), it will not be because of the issues themselves but because we have failed to understand and to live out what […]