Ethics

[1] In the section above we situated the responses to our book in a historical framework of Lutheran thought. We now lean into thinking with some of the questions, concerns, and alternatives offered by our reviewers. [2] Both Justin Nickel and Leah Schade commented that we had not clarified the precise notion of justice presupposed […]

[1] As the ELCA finalizes its discussion on civic life and faith and Americans go to the polls for the presidential election, many people are afraid to discuss their stance about politics at church while others proudly proclaim that their views are the only right ones.  Rather than this flight or fight response, we at […]

[1] As we head towards Reformation Sunday, this issue of JLE presents four articles on how understanding Luther’s teachings calls us to consider our ethical responsibilities. These four articles were research presentations in the “Luther and Religion” seminar within the 14th International Congress for Luther Research held at California Lutheran University in 2022.  I am […]

[1] Dr. Robert Benne, prominent Lutheran theologian and ethicist is the closest Lutheran theologian who actively utilizes the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Christian Realism” within a Lutheran framework.[1] Dr. Benne has been a public theologian for the past 30 years and has explored different theological and ethical concepts, authored numerous books, and served as professor […]

[1] Gender is at least one of the major theological, philosophical, and ethical issues of our age. On one hand, the issue’s complexity means that conversation and study is often difficult. Some congregations and individuals have simply chosen not to discuss questions that pertain to gender identity, expression, and sexuality out of fear that such […]

“We do theology because we want to collaborate fundamentally in bringing about a different kind of world in the here-and-now.”   –M. Shawn Copeland   Vocations and Challenges to Vocation  [1] Can you recall a time when you felt truly welcomed and accepted? Can you remember a moment when you brought the fullness of yourself to […]

[1] What will they call us? There is a micro-generation of women whose entire reproductive lives were carried out under the protection of Roe v. Wade. Those of us who came of age with the knowledge that we were (more or less) trusted to make our own decisions about when and how to parent. We […]

[We] need a positive moral vision that would start by rejecting the idea that we are locked into incessant conflict along class, cultural, racial and ideological lines. It would reject all the appurtenances of the culture warrior pose — the us/them thinking, exaggerating the malevolence of the other half of the country, relying on crude […]

“To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.” Mark Nepo [1] We humans are on an unprecedented hinge of history. It’s hard to imagine a more apocalyptic accretion of worldwide catastrophes: among them the most lethal pandemic in a century; the dismantling of formerly stalwart democracies; […]

[1] I want to begin with a difficult and inexplicable truth: white racism is alive and well in the institutional and cultural life of the United States of America. Since the death of George Floyd, there have been multiple calls for racial reckoning in the United States and around the globe. [1] These calls reveal […]