Items included on this page come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
Why Christians Should Tell the Best Stories: Believing that reality itself is narrative is the key. To tell a story, whether one’s own or a traditional tale, is to mediate the world in its intentionality and narrative character. To tell a story is to affirm that there is meaning to life, and that experience is shaped and […]
What is to be done about the death penalty? This set of four essays on the current death penalty debates include a from natural law scholar, Pope Francis, an African-American community activist, and a Mormon studies expert. These concise articles may be useful as a single introductory reading or for a brief unit series of […]
Biblical Farce — The Book of Esther Laughs at Empire: “I am so great an enemy” to Esther, said Luther, “that I wish it had not come to us at all.” He felt it had too much “Judaizing” and “pagan naughtiness.” But the book is edgy, funny, and strange, a holy book about a woman who—without father […]
“Concussion” Makes a Christian Argument Against Football: Students across several areas of study and interest may find the arguments within and about this film worth exploring. “The movie’s moral arguments are framed less as matters of medicine than of religious faith. It’s not a sports movie, or a medical thriller, so much as a Christian […]
How Sci-Fi and Fantasy Help Us Understand the Divine: this series of six articles explores ways that the literature of fantasy and sci-fi intersect with themes in the Bible and, more broadly, religion. Students may find much to agree and disagree with in what these writers propose.
The Artistry of Grace: The Lutheran tradition insists that the spiritual is not above the material. Dinesen’s stories all celebrate physicality as something deeply spiritual. “Babette’s Feast” does so in excelsis. In style it is stark but shining; in plot it is unpretentious—indeed nothing more than one long anecdote—but also a complex interweaving of characters and […]
An empirical analysis of emotional language in legal briefs before the Supreme Court: Supreme Court opinions employ controversial emotional language aimed to tug at the heart strings and to provoke ire, yet the Justices counsel lawyers to avoid such emotional language. “Our model predicts a 0.61 probability that the petitioner wins a Justice’s vote when […]
How secular Americans are reshaping funeral rituals: Students can examine the trend toward cremation as a pattern in sociology, business, religion, family studies, ritual expression, and psychology. According to estimates by the funeral industry’s main trade group, 2015 is on track to be the year that cremation surpasses burial for the first time, as a long-standing […]
God May Forgive Ads That Offend, but Customers Probably Won’t: The advertising industry typically avoids religion, but some advertisers have made God or prayer a part of their campaigns, albeit very carefully. This high-risk, high-reward strategy, if done right, can inspire religious or spiritually minded consumers to act, but if done wrong, it can alienate an […]
The GetReligion monitor site on news coverage of religion offers this overview of the case and how it has been reported. School officials at Castle Elementary School in Johnson County, KY, have edited the Luke nativity text out of the script of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” This case may be of interest for courses in theater, […]
