Neither the Bible, nor church history, nor Christian experience indicates that a one-size-fits-all crisis conversion is necessary. Why is this claim the sort of thing that scares American Evangelicals? Continue Reading »
Lutherans should not fall for depictions of Luther as one whose self-conflict gives rise to blasphemy. Continue Reading »
The quest for Christian unity is a call to a new life, to lifelong metanoia, and to conversion in the deepest sense. Prayer is essential in every step of this process. Continue Reading »
In going to Lund to participate with Lutherans in a joint commemoration of the Reformation, Pope Francis is following in the footsteps of his two papal predecessors, both of whom were deeply committed to the ecumenical pathway set forth in the documents of Vatican II. Continue Reading »
Catholics should resist importing from today's Lutherans a view of Luther that Luther himself would not have recognized. Continue Reading »
David Curtis Steinmetz, one of the leading church historians of our time, died this past November at age 79 on Thanksgiving evening. He spent most of his distinguished academic career at Duke Divinity School, where he was the Ragan Kerns Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the History of . . . . Continue Reading »
As a recent Atlantic essay points out, Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber’s emphasis on sin and grace in Christ sounds downright conservative. Her congregation even utilizes orthodox Lutheran liturgy! In a sense, the claims to Lutheran orthodoxy are correct. Bolz-Weber’s approach is the . . . . Continue Reading »
Tullian Tchividjian was Evangelical royalty, and once again we are reminded never to put our hope in princes. Grandson to Billy Graham, Tchividjian assumed the legendary pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on Easter Sunday, 2009. Now he has joined Mark Driscoll and Ted Haggard as a megachurch . . . . Continue Reading »
In 2009, my colleague Theodor Dieter and I started teaching a two-week course every November on Luther’s theology, for Lutheran pastors from all over the world, in no less venerable a location than Wittenberg itself. We approached the first year with post-Christendom and post-colonial qualms. Did Luther have anything to say to people anymore? Was it pure anachronistic antiquarianism on our part still to love him? Did we have any business inflicting Luther on Africans struggling with malaria and tremendous political violence, or on Asians negotiating a level of religious plurality unimaginable to North Atlantic Christians like ourselves? Continue Reading »
Let’s get right to the point. Why are Catholics such poor hymn singers? Continue Reading »
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