Articles

Using the work of Martin Marty and Will Herberg, Merle Longwood explores how religious practice has changed in the United States over the centuries, putting our current situation in its historical and sociological context. He then complexifies common notions about nones by demonstrating how there are many different kinds of people who are “spiritual, but not religious.” In 21st century America, people are more oriented toward continual seeking for the divine. Longwood argues that to engage this new generation, churches could provide a space for spiritual seekers to explore, rather than trying to provide all the answers.

H. Paul Santmire. Before Nature: A Christian Spirituality. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014, 253 pages, $39.00

In this issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics, three writers explore the Millennial generation (also known as Generation Y) and the “None” factor. “None” stands for “no religion” and points to the disinclination of young people to affiliate with or belong to a formal religious community. As the parent of two Millennials, I found […]

[1] Joel B. Green offers a second distillation of his landmark Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics. The New Testament and Ethics comes on the heels of the Old Testament survey. Green offers twenty six entries on the books and genres of the New Testament plus an assortment of articles on selected topics helpful for current […]

[1] Joel Biermann, Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, argues that a focus on justification by faith in contemporary Lutheranism has led Lutherans to a neglect the practices of moral formation of individuals and the development of authoritative teachings about the shape of the Christian life. He acknowledges that focusing on […]

[1] Since the sixteenth century the argument has been made, and is made today, that any Christian participation in the public square is properly personal and private altogether. The business of the church, as the corporate body of Christ on earth, is to be concerned with matters reflecting the kingdom of God’s right hand. The […]

Jeff Biebighauser 09/01/2014 [1] Let’s get the cheap shot out of the way first. Aristotle – the “damned, conceited, rascally heathen” whom God has sent “as a plague upon us for our sins”[1] – has had surprising success infiltrating Lutheran ethics in the past two decades. In the wake of Vatican II, a strongly Aristotelian […]

In this issue of the journal, Jeff Olson Biebighauser and Bruce Wollenberg draw upon aspects of Martin Luther’s theological perspectives in order to explore two distinct ethical matters. While Biebighauser critically examines and renders a judgment on the “Virtue Ethics” movement, Wollenberg establishes God’s gift of temporal authority. In so doing, they treat dimensions of […]

Professional Sexual Ethics: A Holistic Ministry Approach, Patricia Beattie Jung and Darryl W. Stephens, Editors. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013. 256 pages, $24.00

Patterson, Eric, (ed), Ethics Beyond War’s End. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2012. Paper, x + 246 pages. $29.95.