Education

[1] I have been invited to draft an essay regarding biblical perspectives on education. The specific context for this essay is the preparation of a social statement on education by the ELCA. Two qualifications need to be stated at the outset. The first qualification is that the communities that formed the Bible did not share […]

[1] I wonder if church can be “church” if you are not face to face with other people gathered to be together as a believing community. I wonder if being together, physically together is mandatory for “church”? If your first reaction is to say being physically present is mandatory, then www.shipoffools.com is not church. [2] […]

[1] Journey Together Faithfully: The Church and Homosexuality is the study series offered by the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality. The primary text provided is a study guide with instructions for six study sessions, plus appendices of pertinent ELCA documents, a list of resources, and frequently asked questions. The study is intended as […]

[1] Rare is the pastor or other church leader who will not agree that young people are the future of the church or that the church is called to care for children in their midst and in society. Some will even agree with the assertion that young people are not just the future of the […]

[1] The first crisis of my parenting career came early in my daughter’s life. Having bravely weathered an unexpected early delivery, survived the anxiety of having our healthy but low birth weight child spend her first night in the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit, and patiently begun to learn the art of breastfeeding, I was […]

[1] In recent months I have had several conversations with colleagues in various aspects of church work about their experiences balancing family life and vocational obligations. Two particular scenarios stand out sharply. In one instance a friend and I discussed exhortations (or was it reprimands?) we had received from childless persons about not allowing our […]

[1] Certainly many people today are concerned about children in our midst and in our wider culture, and we all wonder: Are they being raised with love and affection? Are they receiving a good education? Are they safe in their homes and schools? Are they being exposed to good role models? Will they have a […]

[1] Schools in the United States face a multiplicity of challenges, from gaining adequate funds to hiring well-qualified and dedicated teachers to meeting the ever-increasing obligations of state-mandated testing to determining policy about such complex issues as bi-lingual education. In a nation of extraordinary religious, cultural and ethnic diversity, does Martin Luther, writing in the […]

[1] Christian ethics of children1 – as opposed, say, to the study of children’s spirituality or faith formation – has traditionally asked profound questions about the larger meaning and purpose of child rearing and the relation of children to society. Deep roots of these questions lie in Jewish concerns with creation, pro-creation, and offspring; New […]

[1] In his Confessions, St. Augustine tried in vain to understand where his infancy went. Did boyhood overtake it? Or did infancy leave of its own accord, and if so, “where did it go?”1 Were Augustine to write today, he would have only been more confused. Children like Jon Benet Ramsey sport grown-up costumes and […]