Reports of the Death of Religious Art Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: With religious literacy an increasing necessity for civic life in an age of globalization, voluntary and involuntary immigration, and new instances of diversity, perhaps the arts might help find the ways renewed connections can be made. And, perhaps ultimately, critics will start paying more […]
Adam Francisco on Luther as Apologist: Christians delight in assertions. They adhere, affirm, confess, and maintain the assertions—the faith—once delivered to the saints. There are times, however, that a bold confession requires more than just mere assertion. “When you have to engage the Jews and Turks,” Luther wrote, “you must use all your cleverness and effort […]
The changing nature of America’s irreligious explained: (From Richard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, University of Southern California) The “nones” category is a fuzzy one with many maintaining some type of religious or spiritual beliefs and practice. However, the bottom line is that the data show consistently and clearly that over time, formal religious institutions are […]
In Remembrance of Me: Memory, the Life of Faith, and the Life of the Church — Here are five presentations covering a spectrum of dimensions of memory including the neuroscience, communal memory, Biblical themes, theology, and remembering the sermon. From the 2015 Theological Symposium at Concordia Seminary.
The Big Thieves Hang the Little Thieves — Luther on a Market Economy: This video presentation from Luther scholar Carter Lindberg, given at Concordia Theological Seminary in January, 2016, examines the various views about Luther’s positions regarding a profit economy, feudal assumptions, and the onset of the modern age, and how many views fail to […]
Lutheran Triumphalism — From the intro to the Jan. 2017 edition of Logia (Issue 26 – 1): “The articles provides valuable insights as to the nature of Lutheran triumphalism [and] its contemporary relevance, especially in light of the forthcoming Reformation 500 observances. The only valid answer to the question of Lutheran triumphalism is the theology of […]
Court Orders Further Hearing In Suit By Church Member Challenging His Expulsion: [T]he court is not deprived by the first amendment of jurisdiction to resolve whether the plaintiff was in fact expelled from the Church because this decision is not so intertwined with religious principles that it can make this determination without interfering with a […]
Terry Waite: 25 years ago, Waite was daily news–a hostage negotiator taken hostage for five years by terrorists in Lebanon. These two recent items examine his analysis of the Middle East, his poetry, and his faith. For example, Waite has come to value corporate silence, “which is something sadly lacking in our society today,” and the […]
Why Hell Can’t Freeze Over: Quantum Physics And Absolute Zero — We frequently hear popular references to “quantum” in movies and TV. Here is a brief, readable intro to the basic themes in classical “common sense” physics and the quantum world. Instructors and students in various disciplines–psychology, theology, lit, math, and others–can consider the implications.
Reforming Music: harmony and discord in the sixteenth century — The Lutheran Reformation impacted heavily on the lives of innumerable people, on their faith, but also on the artistic and cultural output of the era and of the following centuries. This series examines how music and faith intertwined, how they influenced each other, how they […]
