heatherdean

American gun violence today [1] On an average day, gunshots injure more than 300 Americans. 200 survive while more than 100 perish. In 2021, 47,000 Americans died from guns, an increase of 44% over the last decade. This loss exceeds record highs in the 1990s, although death rates today remain slightly lower. Males account for […]

[1] As the ELCA urges congregations to host  open discussions on issues such as gun violence prevention, the following discussion guide gives readers a list of questions to discuss as a group after looking together at the “Notes from the Discussion” in this issue. [2] Considering the nine ideas generated at the Lutheran Ethicists’ Gathering, […]

[1] The April issue of JLE publishes the papers and proceedings from The Lutheran Ethicists’ Network Gathering that was held in January. The conference topic in 2023 was “Guns, Violence, Security in the U.S.: What Might the ELCA Say Now?” [2] This issue is released the same week as the mass shooting at The Covenant […]

 [1] As we are launched into the Anthropocene era—the proposed new geologic period defined by climactic changes and mass extinction brought on by humans—Dianne Rayson takes us through an analysis of this event through the lens of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings. She asks if the theology and ethics of the young pastor Bonhoeffer that were formed […]

[1] Let me begin by underscoring that this is a book to be bought and read. Mary Streufert is the Director for Justice for Women, ELCA at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In this volume she calls for “multigendered language and images for God … unhinging Christian language for God from almost entirely masculine […]

[1] The books reviewed in this issue of JLE bring the insights of Luther and Bonhoeffer to contemporary struggles over gendered language for God and the crisis of climate change. In Language for God: A Lutheran Perspective, Mary Streufert offers reasons and resources for embracing multigendered images of God. Reviewer Allen Jorgenson finds that her […]

[1] Working with the authors who contributed to this issue of JLE, has been an exercise that has renewed my spirit.  I admit my spirit needed renewing. The news of the Dobbs decision and the immediate consequences has felt like a forceful slap against women as persons deserving of the rights to moral autonomy and […]

[1] June 24th 2022: The United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization; this ended the guarantee of abortion as a protected right. The weight of the issue of abortion does not solely rest on the shoulders of cisgender women. This also impacts MaGes (marginalized genders), men, and […]

[1] This is a period piece, a snapshot of one Gen X theologian’s first reactions, landing on some observations and questions to hold open in the life of faith. [2] At some point on June 24, 2022, I realized I had entered the same kind of space I found myself in on September 11, 2001 […]

[1] Have you ever been unexpectedly pregnant?  I have. [2] When I realized I was pregnant, the visceral alarm I felt brought the words, “How can this be?” to my lips.  I did not intend to speak Mary’s words when the angel spoke to her (Luke 1:34a).  But there they were, signaling disbelief, alarm, disruption.  […]