Articles

[1] There was a time when being a pacifist was something brave and bold-a stand of nonconformity over and against a church that had grown complacent in its assimilation of Western culture through the doctrine of “just war.” In the past few years, though, a revolution has occurred among the mainline churches, to the extent […]

[1] Allow me to try to state the situation in which I think we find ourselves, since our perception of our situation governs our praying. I think there’s a sense in which the current war began on September 11, 2001 when attacks on the World Trade Center precipitated a “war on terrorism” with far-reaching consequences […]

Preaching has not changed at all [1] As Craig Satterlee and Trish Madden recently reaffirmed, the core of Lutheran preaching has been and always should be centered on one thing, and one thing alone: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[1] If we continue to hold that “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today” (Hebrews 13:8 […]

[1] “Did you notice that there is not stained glass in the lobby of this building when you walked in here this morning?” my interviewer asked. “I noticed that,” I replied and retorted, “and funny thing, I didn’t see a cross on top of 50th floor either.” It was the winter of 2000 and this […]

[1] We had finally gotten her off to college, we being the village that it took, pastor, social workers, vaguely present but unhelpful grandmother, and various church friends who responded to confidential appeals. We had deposited Keyshante 300 miles away, on the other side of the Mason-Dixon line from New Haven, CT. After years of […]

[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 […]