Issue: May/June 2011: Interfaith

[1] Shortly after getting to know some young Muslim men from Malindi while traveling in Kenya in 2009, they invited me to join them for prayer — to observe and participate as I wished. Outside of the mosque, after removing my shoes, they welcomed me to wash my hands, feet, face, ears, and mouth — […]

A Household Divided? [1] In a single generation, the religious landscape of the United States has changed dramatically. America can no longer be described as “Judeo-Christian,” if ever it could. Today the religious demography of the United States reflects the spectrum of the world’s religions and the diversity of global Christianity.1 Certain forms of Christianity, […]

[1] One of our great American patriots and public servants has always been a staunch advocate of the need for immigrant communities to assimilate into traditional American culture, adopting the English language and the values of its national heritage. So, it is not a surprise that he has also been critical of immigrants coming to […]

[1] The topic of religious formation resonates for anyone with a vocational commitment to ecumenical and multi-religious realities today. The topic is: Forming Religious Identity in the Context of Religious Pluralism, and in this paper I will measure the height and depth of this sentence together, within four thematic buckets, reading this topic (like Hebrew) […]

Mary Nelson is a leading Lutheran social activist who lives on Chicago’s west side. In addition to consulting, teaching, writing, and serving on several boards, she is Chair of the Board of Directors of Sojourners and President Emeritus of Bethel New Life. Journal of Lutheran Ethics recently caught up with Mary, hearing her latest reflections […]

Other responses to Hearing the Cries Kathryn Getek Soltis Bradley R. E. Wright Wayne N. Miller Ned Wisnefske When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. (Luke 23:33) They crucified him with the criminals. Do you […]

Other responses to Hearing the Cries James Samuel Logan Bradley R. E. Wright Wayne N. Miller Ned Wisnefske [1] The fact that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has invested its time and resources into a statement on faith and criminal justice is itself worth commendation. The fruit of that labor earns further and earnest […]

Other responses to Hearing the Cries James Samuel Logan Kathryn Getek Soltis Wayne N. Miller Ned Wisnefske [1] Hearing the Cries: Faith and Criminal Justice aims to “inform, challenge, and guide the church into action” in responding to crime in America. It does so by highlighting the ways that crime affects our society and the […]

[1] Of all the dispiriting signs of the times in Lutheran pastoral circles these days, the one I find most troubling is the anti-theological bias of so many clergy. Before I go any further on this track, I must confess that my research on this matter is constricted by my own small world of contacts, […]

[1] When America learned the President of the United States identified Reinhold Niebuhr as a person who influenced him, I imagine many people scurried to probe more deeply into the nature of Niebuhr’s ethical and political thinking. Of course, there were people wondering who Reinhold Niebuhr is. I imagine some people saw this as an […]

1] In the midst of Christian debates on sexuality that ultimately rest on various biblical hermeneutical schools and practices, Patricia Beattie Jung and Aana Marie Vigen have edited a multi-faceted volume on human sexuality that challenges an overriding focus in Christian theological discourse on one normative source, Scripture. As a whole, the volume’s contributors offer […]

See also Daniel M. Bell, Jr.’s Liberation Theology after the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering by Paul R. Hinlicky [1] Does life in twenty-first century America involve compromises of the soul unlike anything else in the history of the Christian faith? Is being Christian more difficult in an affluent, market-driven, consumerist society […]

[1] To read Reinhold Niebuhr is pure pleasure; to read his disciples less so. The book, with a forward by Martin Marty and an introduction by Daniel F. Rice, seeks, as the title says, to revisit and engage with our greatest public intellectual of the twentieth century. Given that as an ethicist, Niebuhr’s applications are […]

See also Daniel M. Bell, Jr.’s Liberation Theology after the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering by Paul R. Hinlicky I am grateful for the care and charity with which Professor Hinlicky read the book. I hope the comments that follow reflect the same. — Daniel Bell [1] Capitalism. Professor Hinlicky asks why […]

[1] Thomas Aquinas’s theology of charity testifies throughout to Paul’s proclamation that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).1 Charity is a supernatural virtue, infused by God the Trinity in order not only to heal the fallen human will, but also to […]

Other responses to Hearing the Cries James Samuel Logan Kathryn Getek Soltis Bradley R. E. Wright Wayne N. Miller [1] This study, written by the Criminal Justice Task Force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is an “invitation to join this church’s moral deliberation.” Aiming toward a social statement on criminal justice, this study […]