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Overcoming Theological Amnesia

Michael Root

Ressourcement. It’s a French word that means “resourcing”—or, better, “re-sourcing.” As a term in theology, it calls for renewal based on a return to richer, more original sources, especially...

Ecumenical Winter?

Michael Root

In 1870, during a plenary session of the First Vatican Council, the Croatian bishop Josip Strossmayer complained that the introduction to what would become the Dogmatic Constitution on the...

Reforming the German Family

Michael Root

Which is more important for the family: marriage or Sunday-closing laws? The answer is clear for the Protestant church in Germany: Marriage is not to be considered a “presupposition”...

The Achievement of Wolfhart Pannenberg

Michael Root

Some theologians are mirrors of their time. The mid-twentieth century rises from the pages of Tillich as palpably as Combray rising from Proust’s tea and madeleines. Other theologians have...

The Wrong Key

Michael Root

Christ the Key By Kathryn Tanner Cambridge, 309 pages, $29.99 Far too much of what is published under the name of theology these days has about it the air...

The Indulgence Controversy, Again

Michael Root

Most Protestants may not be able to give a precise explanation of the doctrine of justification or, for that matter, of any other central doctrine of the Reformation, but...