Articles

In 21st century America, we live in a world in which women have supposedly achieved equality with men. However, despite new emphases on women succeeding in the classroom and at work, many women still feel a lot of anxiety regarding the pressure to get married. This anxiety, coupled with the pressure to be successful in one’s career and the persistent disparities in American society, presents today’s women with a complicated knot of worries our foremothers did not face.

​The need for responding to fearful narratives of aging has never been greater. Very large numbers of baby boomers are beginning to retire. As those born between 1946 and 1964 move into their seniority, they are often impacted by negative scripts that can easily lead to heightened anxiety, feelings of meaninglessness, and despair. The task for Lutheran ethics in this (crisis) context is to provide a more complex, faith-filled narrative. To do so, it is important to begin a conversation around how we might best articulate the hope that is ours in Christ as it intersects with the context in which this cohort group is aging.

How does the reality of hope address the deepest anxieties of human beings? This issue explores this question from a variety of perspectives. It seeks to illuminate the intergenerational and gender contours of anxiety as well as its intra-generational manifestations among Baby Boomers and Millennials. It also reflects on this question drawing upon rich biblical […]

[1] I like books that confirm my considered judgments, but I have come to like even more books that compel me to litter the margins with observations, questions and challenges. Transformative Lutheran Theologies, a collection of sixteen essays presenting feminist, womanist and mujerista perspectives, offers reading experiences of both types. My first question concerns the […]

[1] There is no single question concerning technology and religion; the variety of technologies, their vast phenomena require attention to each and every instance to discern and evaluate their significance. A. K. M. Adam’s essay urges caution; it also charges communities to carefully evaluate technology from the various teachings and orientations that arise from the […]

[1] An essay in a journal about Lutheran ethics must do two things by my view, it must say something practical about how we live together, and it must speak from a particular theological vantage point. This is a big target, too big. Fortunately, I have been graciously asked to tie this all together using […]

[1] The question concerning technology and religion2 typically confronts us today when skeptics and enthusiasts debate the reality and validity of computers’ mediation of theological experience, when dubious observers denounce the deleterious effects of digital technology on spirituality, or advocates praise the benefits of online piety. Some laud, some decry, some embrace, some recoil — […]

[1] Let me begin by thanking the Journal of Lutheran Ethics for making possible such extensive consideration of my Procreative Ethics: Philosophical and Christian Approaches to Questions at the Beginning of Life. I owe particular debts of gratitude to my friend Paul Hinlicky for his generous and detailed engagement with the book and to Jennifer […]

[1] Fritz Oehlschlaeger and Paul Hinlicky are gentlemen and scholars who walk their talk here at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. I am honored to work alongside them. We are allies at most points, but assigned dialogs such as this one call for highlighting differences. In fact there is not much higher praise […]

[1] The central philosophical question posed in Fritz Oehschlaeger’s Procreative Ethics and Paul Hinlicky’s review of the work relates to the origin and the identity of the self and the moral responsibilities of that self to others. Both works lead their readers towards a conclusion that we have moral responsibilities to those in our communities. […]