Articles

[1] We begin Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE) in the shadow of the horrendous and shattering events of September 11, 2001. As we planned and prepared for this journal, little did we anticipate the critical historical moment that is now upon us all. Little did we imagine that people everywhere would be struggling through the […]

[1] In his first nationwide address as president, George W. Bush said that he would allow federal funds to be committed to research on those stem cells already obtained from human embryos “where the life and death decision has already been made.” Significantly, Bush’s first prime time remarks focused not on the tumbling NASDAQ or […]

[1] “I’m a loving person, but I have a job to do,” said the President. His statement reminds one of the famous distinction Luther made when he wrote about the Christian’s calling. He said that if an individual Christian went into the forest and was beset by robbers, he might well not resist and even […]

[1] As the United States considers various responses to the September 11 attacks, including bringing to justice the perpetrators of the attacks, we, as a nation, should be giving attention to the root causes of terrorism and the anger, fear, and sense of hopelessness that prompt a few to act desperately and violently. [2] All […]

This essay is slightly revised from a paper delivered at a meeting of the Faith and Order Commission, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, St. Louis, Missouri, October 11, 2002. [1] According to current statistics, there are over 65 million Lutherans in the world. Most of these (61.7 million) are members of […]

[1] Ronald F. Thiemann died of pancreatic cancer November 29, 2012, at the age of 66.  The Humble Sublime, accepted for publication on the day of his funeral, was published November 30, 2013.  It includes a brief but rich factual biography composed by four of his Harvard colleagues.  In the Foreword, his daughter, Laura Theimann Scales, adds further […]

The works reviewed in this issue approach migration through three different lenses — academic, artistic and activist. Professor Laura Alexander reviews Tisha Rajendra’s Migrants and Citizens: Justice and Responsibility in the Ethics of Immigration (2019). Rajendra addresses questions of political philosophy, arguing that Christian ethical thought can enhance global dialogue on migration and prompt Christians to understand […]

Please consider submitting a paper proposal for the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.  For our submission guidelines, click here.  June, 2022 Summer Book Review Issue Please submit the title and a short description of a book you would like to review.  Please send proposals for reviews to Jennifer.Hockenbery@elca.org.  August, 2022  “Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sexuality” Please consider […]

[1] The Sacredness of the Person: A New Genealogy of Human Rights, a monumental study of human rights as a value commitment, serves as the testing ground of Hans Joas’ theory of the “genesis of value commitments” developed in his earlier works The Genesis of Values and War and Modernity (originally published in German in […]

In the midst of those threats of life in this not-yet world that give rise to anxiety, even debilitating or all-consuming anxiety, Jesus calls for his followers to make the promise of God’s kingdom their ultimate concern. We experience the threats of life as real and anxiety producing; they are often essentials that need to be tended to. Yet we are still called to make trust in God’s promises the paramount force in our lives. Wolfhart Pannenberg in his early and still very useful lectures on anthropology, contrasts security and trust. The drive for security is the drive to control one’s life and one’s world. When this striving for control becomes an end in itself then security and one’s own efforts becomes the ultimate concern, perversely, the object of trust. The opposite is the trust of faith in the promises of God, an openness to God’s future kingdom made present in the Christ.