Christian Living, Discipleship, and/or Spirituality

​In a time of moral ambiguity surrounding discussions of drone warfare, Peters invokes Luther’s “Sin Boldly!” to urge people to adopt a “responsibility ethic” that puts the neighbor’s needs at the forefront of ethical deliberation. ​In our broken world, can we avoid sin? No. Therefore, Peters asks the question–“Should we try?” For him, the answer is no. In order to best serve our neighbors, we need to accept that doing our best is better than doing nothing at all.​

Martin Luther spoke of Anfechtung as an essential part of the life of faith. Trials of spiritual angst can serve to teach us to despair of our own merits (or lack of them) and to rely solely on God’s amazing grace. But what happens when religious leaders in public service have to undergo such tribulations […]

When a layperson feels the absence of God in their life, they go to their pastor for guidance. However, what should a pastor do when they have the same experience? Lammi lifts up the examples of Mother Theresa, Martin Luther, and Augustine to demonstrate that this experience has happened to many faith leaders throughout history. Their experiences of living with and through doubt, as well as faith, provide a model for us all.

As Kurt Lammi demonstrates, feeling the absence of God in one’s life does not automatically make a person a bad pastor or a bad Christian. Showers goes one step further to explore what techniques a person can try to bring about a renewed awareness of God’s presence in their lives. He particularly focuses on Bernard of Clairvaux’s four stages of loving God, which Showers illustrates through an image of a “grace spiral.” For Showers, what may begin as a frightening experience can open a door to a deeper relationship with God.

Clint Schnekloth, Mediating Faith: Faith Formation in a Trans-Media Era, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014, 126 pages, $29.00.

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 […]

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

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 […]

[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 […]

The statistics about gun violence in the United States are staggering–especially when compared to other countries. Day examines the role of American culture in the gun control debate and how Christianity is often invoked to support gun ownership. She also notes the potential within Chrisitian theology and the Christian community to work to end violence.