Vocation

[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 […]

[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, […]

[1] What does theology have to do with ethics? The significance of this question might not be as pressing for Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians as it is for Lutheran theologians and ethicists. Roman Catholic theology has a history of connecting doctrine with moral teachings. Similarly, Reformed theology has historically insisted on the relation of […]

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] 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 […]

[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] What does it mean to have a calling—to live out vocation—if human civilization is headed for extinction?   Extinction, after all, is absolute in its finality.  Theologically, it is the unraveling of Creation.  It voids the relationship between God and God’s people, effectively terminating the Genesis injunction to “be fruitful and multiply” and “fill the […]

[1] In our digital age, distractions are an inescapable part of daily life. From the moment we wake up to the instant we fall asleep, our attention is constantly being pulled in multiple directions. The ubiquity of smartphones, the enchantment of social media, the prevalence of multitasking, and the endless stream of digital content have […]

The seeds:  [1] Martin Luther is often quoted as saying something like, “If I knew the world were ending tomorrow, I would plant an apple tree today.” Luther didn’t say or write that,[i] but it is a variant of a longstanding saying in both Judaism and Islam: the tradition of the sapling. Different versions are […]

“In the year of the death of Uzziah, ruler of Judah, I saw Yahweh seated on a high and lofty judgment seat, in a robe whose train filled the Temple. Seraphs were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two […]