Articles

[1] This May marked the 90th anniversary of the Barmen Declaration, which was written to denounce the German Christian movement under the Nazi regime and continues to serve as a guide for avoiding the false teaching of Christian nationalism. [2] This issue of JLE contains a lengthy two part essay, first presenting the history of […]

[1] Two things many people learn we should never discuss in public are religion and politics.  As American Lutherans we often think that the separation of church and state and the “Two Kingdoms Doctrine” mean that we should not discuss politics when we are discussing our religion and we should not discuss our religion when […]

Introduction and Scope [1] The assault on Germany’s Protestant church through the nationalist “faith movement” called the “German Christians” was as swift as it was successful: In 1931, “German Christians” did not exist. In the church elections of 1932 they scored dismally. On church Election Day July 23, 1933, “German Christians” took over leadership of […]

[1] The “God Bless the USA Bible,” featuring the King James Version, includes within its covers a copy of a handwritten chorus to “God Bless The USA” by Lee Greenwood, the U.S Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.[i]  Licensed in 2021, this Bible was met with some […]

[1] In the glossary of the draft of the proposed ELCA Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith, Christian Nationalism is said to be: A cultural framework that idealizes and advocates fusion of certain Christian views with American civil life.  This nationalistic ideology believes, among other things  that the U.S. Constitution was divinely inspired, that […]

[1] In keeping with the theme of this journal issue, the books section consists of an annotated list of resources for further study on the important topic of Christian nationalism.  The resources are diverse and cover a range of perspectives and angles on the topic.  The first section addresses White Christian Nationalism in the United […]

[1] This issue of JLE showcases three excellent articles about Artificial Intelligence.  These articles explain how generative Artificial Intelligence works, some of the current ethical challenges, and some frameworks for building a set of guidelines for our use of this new technology. [2] The first essay, written by William Rodriguez, begins with a calming introduction […]

The AI Revolution [1] The ELCA Social Statement on Genetics establishes that [scientific and technological] developments “illustrate the abundant gifts of God’s creation” but cautions that “these developments also exemplify how contemporary human knowledge and technology are causing a different relationship between human power and life.”[i] Our church also teaches that “the Gospel does not […]

Introduction [1] Anyone who has interacted with generative models like ChatGPT or Midjourney knows that their responses can sometimes be deeply flawed. Large language models (LLMs) will sometimes confabulate[1] factual errors. They can also respond in manners that are biased, racist, sexist, or explicit.[i]  Text-to-image diffusion models can make relatively harmless errors like misspelling image […]

[1] Article XVI of the Augsburg Confession affirms the responsibility of Christians to engage in civil affairs. However, engaging well and faithfully requires Christians to understand the civil and political contexts in which they are embedded. Many recent works in political theory have described various contemporary political crises and challenges: social fragmentation at global, national, […]