April 1, 2021
[1] Our first review launches a periodic series of reviews covering books reflecting Native American experiences and issues. Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah is reviewed in light of the ELCA’s action and inaction on these matters. The authors address the damaging theology and […]
[1] In its February 2021 Issue, published in Black History Month, during a time when the United States is going through yet another period of racial reckoning, The Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE) published five articles under the collective theme of Racism, Justice, and Mercy. Only one of these was co-written by a woman of […]
FROM: ELCA Authentic Diversity Advisory Team TO: Dr. Jennifer Hockenbery Journal of Lutheran Ethics, Editor February 18, 2021 Dear Dr. Hockenbery, I write on behalf of the Authentic Diversity Advisory Team, many of whom also served on the task force that developed the Strategy Toward Authentic Diversity which was overwhelmingly adopted by an 855-13 vote […]
[1] The February 2021 Issue of JLE was intended to create a place for diverse opinions and deeper deliberations about racism, justice, and equity in the ELCA at a time when the nation is reeling with both systemic racism and racist violence. The issue more than missed this mark. It created a painful distraction for […]
This ‘think piece’ is dedicated to the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Stewart Pero, PhD, child of God, friend, colleague, theologian, and advocate for justice in the church and world.[1] “Our hope for creative living in this world house that we have inherited lies in our ability to re-establish the moral ends of our lives in […]
[1] We’ve all seen them. Those oh-so-charming news segments in which the expert is holding forth on international relations and in barges a rogue child. In the viral video of the BBC interview with Professor Robert Kelly first one then a second child bursts in followed by a frantic woman ushering them back behind the […]
[1] We did it. We crossed the quarter million mark in numbers of deaths due to Covid 19 in the United States. And just before Thanksgiving. Estimates now include being at over four hundred thousand by Inauguration Day. Someplace in the middle for when Lutheran Social Ethicists gather?[1] [2] With over a hundred and eighty […]
February 1, 2021
[1] This book breaks no new ground and has little to offer cognoscenti. But this is an observation, not a criticism. The authors, a biblical scholar and a religious journalist, aim for a general audience made up of millennials and others who are comfortable with evolution and distance from Christian faith because of its perceived […]
[1] Followers of Luther began debating relationships between faith, ethics, and justification during Luther’s lifetime. Heirs of Luther’s theological vision have never ceased to debate them. Some Lutherans believe that ethical prescriptions beyond freely “serving one’s neighbor” out of a response to the Gospel, constitute works righteousness, leaving believers anxiously wondering if they have done […]
