Articles

[1] As the debate about privatization Social Security takes center stage, there are all sorts of political analyses and economic analysis to be found in newspapers, journals and elsewhere. There is a glaring shortage of ethical analyses, however. Perhaps this is an area where those laboring in our corner of the vineyard can help out […]

[1] If judged on the basis of its ambition, In Justice is a commendable book. In it, Ann-Cathrin Jarl purports to investigate “feminist critiques of neoclassical economics and what feminist liberation ethics might contribute to strengthening the assumptions of justice in feminist economics.”1 Note that such an effort would require (1) a review of neoclassical […]

[1] Today in powerful places in the U.S.A., compromise is slurred as truth’s enemy, and only the single-minded know justice. Peace will arrive when the other, the different, is eliminated or turned into an impotent minority. Thus, on Comedy Central, “The Daily Show” never runs out of material. [2] In the long run, however, how […]

[1] Hotel Rwanda attends, with sensitivity, to the actions of a man and his family in the midst of carnage they do not understand and are powerless to stop. It is Rwanda, 1994. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), a Hutu, and his Tutsi wife and children, have taken refuge at the Belgian-owned Hotel Des Milles Collines […]

[1] In many Latin American Lutheran churches the challenges of globalization have recently been linked to the act of confessing. In declaring this to be a confessional matter, many Lutherans claim to be following a tradition which goes back to the time of the Reformation. The confessional aspect has also been emphasized by many in […]

[1] The performance by Garrison Keillor with the Minnesota Orchestra entitled “Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days” draws its name from the alternate designation for the Fourth of July in that mythical Minnesota town. “Back during World War I, they called it ‘Loyalty Days,’” Keillor states, “and they made all the people of German extraction stand up […]

[1] At one point, the Canadian General bitterly says to Paul, “you’re dirt, Paul. You’re not even a nigger. You’re African.” Discuss the stereotypes (positive or negative) we have of “Africa” and how we have arrived at them. What do we know or not know of the daily lives of Africans? Was there anything in […]

1] The big story in this year’s election, we know by now, is that at a time when Americans were asked to consider a host of important issues ranging from Iraq to health care to the economy to terrorism, 22% of voters accorded priority in their deliberations to a nebulous thing like “moral values.” The […]

[1] We now know the recommendations of the task force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality: Retain “Vision and Expectations,” but enforce it using “pastoral discretion.” This presents a problem: What criteria should we use to adjudicate enforcement? It would be decidedly un-Lutheran (“enthusiastic”) to locate such discretion in the immediate activity of the Holy Spirit. […]

[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 […]