Ecclesiology

[1] There can be little question that doctrinal theology, not to mention “dogmatics,” has become disreputable, not only in the eyes of hostile critics of Christianity, but also to the consciences of many Christians. For ELCA Lutherans in particular, doctrinal theology connotes ecclesiastical policing, conjuring up medieval inquisitions, rancorous disputation, hairsplitting scholasticism, witch hunts, heresy […]

[1] Holy Mischief is a timely book that witnesses to the painful and difficult reality of women’s oppression and discrimination in the church.  Her book talks specifically about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but the situation there is not unique. Many people seem to think that because women have been ordained in this Church for 50 […]

Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the United States is written by Lenny Duncan, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Duncan was a “free-agent Christian” until he met the ELCA through an open communion table. This revolutionary symbol of grace and welcome later led […]

Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. [1] My concern is to sort out the kinds of authority that exist in the church. The Questions [2] Three basic, interlocking questions need to be considered. What is the nature […]

Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. [1] A lot of our talks have been focusing on the issue of authority as power and process. I am going to focus on the issue of authority as truth, with […]

Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. [1] Let me begin by saying that I am not an historian; I am a theologian who works within a confessional tradition, frequently drawing on historical sources for constructive purposes. Reflecting […]

[1] Welcome to the continuation of the excellent papers presented at the Association of Teaching Theologians. The papers posted this month, still heeding the call to address the theme of authority, are threefold: [2] Darrell Jodock, in Rethinking Authority in the Church Today addresses the nature of authority, the nature of authority in the church, […]

See Part II of this article by Susan Wilds McArver Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. [1] The decision by American Lutheran churches to ordain women, made in stages through joint study and church convention, used modern […]

[1] Sez You! [2] This well-known playground rejoinder (or am I the only one reading JLE who knows Brooklynese?) doesn’t characterize ecclesiastical disagreements. But it does get at the root of what they are often about. To put it in more refined terms befitting this journal: Who can exercise authority, and how is it properly […]

Copyright 2011 Lutheran University Press. This essay will be published by Lutheran University Press in a book entitled Sources of Authority in the Church. Exordium A poem inspired by Genesis 4, the story of humanity’s first child. It’s entitled “Without You.”1 Back before the dawn, east of envy, error or wrong, that’s where I wish […]