Articles

[1] Enron and Tyco, Arthur Anderson and WorldCom: all have become household words and all bring up the questions of how and why we got to this place in our history. Since the formation of the ELCA, the church has been involved in the work of corporate social responsibility and that work has been spurring […]

[1] Again this year, in our Lutheran congregations and in varied and diverse pastoral settings we will proclaim and announce the central message of Easter – the Lord Is Risen Indeed. Some will hear this message and intellectually conceptualize it as an abstract given in their faith. Others have come to know the reality of […]

[1] I got a beep. My beeper was running. I found out a doctor wanted me to talk with a patient in the Labor and Delivery Unit. [2] I walked into the unit, read the chart, talk with the in- charge nurse. Then I entered the room, accompanied by a Spanish translator. [3] A woman […]

Where We Are [1] The full dimension of the economy in today’s world signifies a concentration of power and influence that penetrates economic, political, social and cultural life. As a result, the character of contemporary capitalist society is experimenting fundamental transformations that have significant repercussions on the populations of developed and developing countries. One cannot […]

This essay results from a war-long discussion by an ethics class that met during winter and spring 2003, sponsored by the Alaska Lay School of Theology and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, and under the direction of Larry Jorgenson. A Nation Still at War [1] Our Vice President predicted that the Iraq war’s duration would be […]

[1] For half a century and more, citizens of the ‘developed’ world have banked on the notion that the social and economic capital of individuals and communities are the keys to a better life. Secure where we are, our faith in the efficacy of socio-economic assets is the lens we use to view the needs […]

[1] In 1973 I began a year of Clinical Pastoral Education at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. The director of the program, Rev. Ronald Leslie, told our group of CPE residents that if we spent a quarter of the year at the Alcoholism Rehabilitation Center (as it was called at the time), it […]

The just-war tradition differs from pacifism in assuming that killing can sometimes be justified, e.g., in defense of the innocent. But just-war criteria also assume that war can be so destructive that the burden of moral proof is on those who would wage war. A basic distinction in the tradition is between jus ad bellum […]

[1] The miracle of Easter can only be known from the vantage point of Good Friday. Christ died for us. To experience the reality of death creates the potential to understand the incredible power of new life. Mary Magdalene’s view of Easter is born of that reality. So is the experience of Chau, a young […]

What does this mean? Luther asks this of each of the Ten Commandments, each petition of the Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed in order to reveal the implications of our articles of faith. We ask this question of Easter Sunday in the context of pastoral care. What does it mean to us that our Lord […]