Polarization

A Story from Malaysia: Standing Together Against Violence [1] When I started as a church planter in the year 2000, I never set a goal to be a prophet or social activist. I do not think my Malay-Muslim friend Ali, who was a businessman, not a religious leader, saw himself as my fellow comrade for […]

[1] This issue of JLE publishes the papers given at the January 2025 Lutheran Ethicists Gathering held in Chicago. The theme of the Gathering was constructive use of Lutheran theology and practice to resist polarization–to resist the pull of separation from our neighbors in a political situation which is designed to destroy common community. The […]

[1] The Journal of Lutheran Ethics hopes to provide reading material to stimulate thinking and conversation among academics, clergy, and laity. To this end, this section is included in each issue of JLE in order to encourage constructive discussion within congregations about the topics discussed in JLE.  Consider using this section in formal adult education […]

Note: From the Editor It is the practice of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics to consider for publication letters written to the Journal about current or past issues or in regard to current events. Letters to the editor should be sent to the email address linked here for consideration by the editor. Authors will be contacted by the editor if the letter […]

November 5, 2024 [1] Something substantive on the cultural-political landscape changed on the morning after the November 5, 2024 U.S. elections. When Professor Amy Carr and I were writing Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: Justification and the Pursuit of Justice (Baylor University Press 2023) in 2022-2023, the political state in the U.S. seemed stuck in […]

[1] There are three questions I would like to explore, working from a different angle than that Christine Helmer examined regarding the relation between the theological doctrine of justification by faith and ethics. While she critiqued a separation between theology and ethics, I will ponder questions that address temptations to conflate theology and ethics. First, […]

What is polarization?   [1] As befits a preacher, I begin today with a quote from a great theological authority in these matters, Rabbi Leonard of Montreal, who wrote:   I’m sentimental if you know what I mean I love the country but I can’t stand the scene And I’m neither left or right, I’m […]

[1] Successful social change movements begin with persistence in bearing witness from a minority position with regard to the status quo. “To what should I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened” (Luke 13:20-21). So […]