Denise Rector

When, during my tenure with JLE, some internet blogger referred to me as the “editrix” of JLE, I was baffled and uneasy. Given the context I was pretty sure it was not intended to be a compliment, and I found the vaguely sexual overtones kind of creepy. A few years Nadia Bolz-Weber named her first book “Pastrix,” and from the definition given on the book jacket I concluded that my intuition was correct. I stand in awe of Pastor Bolz-Weber’s literary acuity, calling women-despisers (misogynists) out and owning their puerile insult all in one bold stroke. ​

Forty five years ago the ELCA’s predecessor church bodies took the courageous and wise decision to no longer keep women away from the ministry of Word and Sacrament. We want to commemorate such an important occasion in the life of the church by looking back to previous articles in the Journal of Lutheran Ethics dealing […]

[1] Rufus Burrow Jr.’s A Child Shall Lead Them is about the courage and contributions made by black children and youth, and some whites (282), in the struggle for civil and human rights in the United States. We see in this narrative how black children, youth and others aided the efforts of Martin Luther King […]

[1] This book reestablishes Williams’s doctoral dissertation work at Fuller Theological Seminary, entitled: “Christ-Centered Empathic Resistance: The Influence of Harlem Renaissance Theology on the Incarnational Ethic of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” Williams’ exploration is a welcome journey into a domain of praxiological substance in a contemporary age where vain ideologies, boisterous pathologies, and impotent philosophies have become […]

Archbishop Antje Jackelén addressed the Class of 2015 at the Lutheran Schol of Theology Chicago at their commencment. She notes that when Jesus prayed for the apostles to unite and protect them as they are out in the world. Jesus would not take us away from the world: we are invited into it to share the joy we have in Christ. Climate change will test our ability to hope and to care for our neighbor. Faith leaders need to be at the forefront of this movement that spans all borders.

Climate change has already begun changing the world as we know it–and it is hitting the poor and marginalized the hardest. What is a pastoral response to those working against climate change and those affected by it? Saler explores how as Christians we have the ability to hold onto hope while still naming and experiencing pain. Claims of hope should not muffle shouts of pain, nor should pain eclipse the knowledge that God will bring about a new heaven and earth.

The prognosis for our planet is deeply troubling. Already we are witnessing such drastic events as roads melting and people dying under the scorching heat of the summer, droughts killing crops and drying up streams and other sources of potable water, monster storms relentlessly buffeting islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and blizzards dropping record breaking amounts of snow through out the North American continent. Things are not looking good for the prospects of life as we know it, and especially human life, in this blue planet that we call home. What is the church called to do in the midst of such overwhelming circumstances? Is there a word of hope, of credible hope, that the church can speak to our dying world?

[1] In N.T. ‘Tom’ Wright’s Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship, one finds the same compelling insights into the Bible that make Wright’s “The Bible for Everyone” series so popular. Rather than biblical commentary, in Following Jesus Wright describes Christian discipleship based on different images of Jesus Christ and a variety of religious themes. [2] […]

[1] This book is at heart a textbook, and as such it is a wonderful contribution to the field of Christian environmental ethics. Blanchard and O’Brien set up a series of chapters pairing seven Christian virtues with seven environmental issues. This book is well crafted, accessible, and even occasionally humorous. Undergraduates will enjoy it, as […]

What does gentrification look like to a community living inside of it? Brau and Vasquez from Luther Place Memorial Church explore the congregation’s response to gentrification in Washington D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood. N Street Village ministries was founded out of the congregation to respond to the needs of the neighborhood. How does a congregation respond when poeple who are not impoverished move in, potentially forcing the poor out?​