Ecclesiology

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 […]

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 […]

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (b. September 6, 1711; d. October 7, 1787) accepted a call to serve as a missionary pastor “to the Lutheran people in the province of Pennsylvania” on his thirtieth birthday, after having served two years as a Lutheran pastor in his native Germany. Following an additional year of preparation, he arrived in […]

[1] In 2002, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was involved in a lawsuit over the “parsonage exemption,” a provision in the federal tax code that allows “Ministers of the Gospel” to exclude from their taxable income the value of a parsonage or other congregation-provided housing allowance.[1] On its own initiative, the federal appellate court hearing […]

“As she listened her tears ran and her body was melted, as the snow melts along the high places of the mountains when the West Wind has piled it there, but the South Wind melts it, and as it melts the rivers run full flood…” (Homer, Odyssey, 19.204-207) “… he emptied himself…” (Philippians 2:6) “… […]

[1] From here…. Some years ago a woman from a congregation in the Northwest offered her congregation’s mission statement: “Gathered to worship, scattered to serve.” [2] It stuck in my imagination — for any number of reasons — but in part it stuck, because it so succinctly stated the mission of the church: worship and […]

[1] When theologians speak of the “mission of the Church” they usually try to describe what the Church is to do in the particular environment in which it is found. Of course, there are many biblical texts that provide direction for this: the Church is to make disciples by baptizing people from all nations and […]

[1] Allow me to try to state the situation in which I think we find ourselves, since our perception of our situation governs our praying. I think there’s a sense in which the current war began on September 11, 2001 when attacks on the World Trade Center precipitated a “war on terrorism” with far-reaching consequences […]

[1] This good occasion brings together two groups that divide the magisterial responsibilities that belonged to the Wittenberg faculty in the early decades of Lutheranism. Luther functioned well because he was surrounded by a gifted group of theologians who worked together, sharing the task and compensating for each other’s weak points. Many in that circle […]

[1] The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been mired in debates about ordained service by non-celibate gay and lesbian persons since 1976. [2] In 1976, two presbyteries (local districts) overtured General Assembly, the denomination’s highest governing body, for “definitive guidance” whether persons who openly acknowledge a homosexual orientation and practice may be ordained. The 1978 General […]