Articles

[1] In January, the Lutheran Ethicists Network held its annual conference in Washington D.C. before the meeting of the Society for Christian Ethics. The topic of the conference, “Ethics and Democracy,” was chosen because of the location and the times. Two of the three plenary papers are published here in this issue of JLE. The […]

[1] Esteemed readers of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics, this edition contains two reviews. [2] Pastor Thomas Johnston examined James M. Childs’ ReEngaging ELCA Social Teaching on The Church in Society. This is the first in a series of books, “For the Sake of the World,” reexamining the social teaching of the ELCA. Pr. Johnston […]

[1] In 2019 the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee, WI., condemned white supremacy by declaring that (1) white supremacy is racism, and (2) violent rhetoric against persons of color in the name of so-called “Christian Nationalism” is not a true Christian faith. It is idolatry and the church condemns it.[1] The connection between Christian nationalism […]

      In this episode, our host, Rev. Matthew Best, interviews Rev. Dr. Sivin Kit, who serves as Director for Theology, Mission and Justice at the Lutheran World Federation. In a time that can feel hopeless, what can we learn from our Lutheran siblings working for justice and peace throughout the world? This interview […]

[1] Crossing Boundaries is the perfect book for this summer’s travel season.  Published during the pandemic, when traveling was all but closed, this book encourages travel as a path to personal growth and community peace building in a world marked by escalating conflict and division. Today, although the pandemic is over and the world even […]

    We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men   [1] This Lost Generation lament for selves in search of authenticity is taken up by Catholic University of America’s Angela Franks in a deeply researched elegy for “the identity crisis in the West: the crisis of the subject that resists being fixed.”  […]

(Contact Book Review Editor William Rodriguez if you are interested in reviewing any of these books. We will get you a copy of the book for free.)   A History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century: Confrontations with Nothingness by Jon Stewart (physical copy available for mailing) A Guidebook to Progressive Church by Clint Schnekloth […]

[1] Why would you want to take a deep dive into seeing and understanding the Pharisaic Paul of the New Testament? I will tell you up front that John Dominic Crossan’s Paul the Pharisee: A Vision Beyond the Violence of Civilization is that deep dive and you will want to take your time, and even […]

[1] Esteemed readers of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics, this edition offers a fascinating biographical examination of New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan’s 2024 examination of Paul’s as a Pharisaic Jewish teacher whose messianic message resonates today. Crossan links the prevalent violence of first-century Roman civilization to modern ecological and societal issues, presenting Jesus’ execution […]

[1] 2025 marked 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea (325 CE), where bishops gathered—including from Bichvinta in what is now occupied Abkhazia to articulate the Church’s faith. Yet, in the last century, neither together nor separately did the Christian churches, East or West, protect humanity from the Holocaust and the Gulag. Today, the occupying […]