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.
How do we understand suffering through a theology of the cross? This question allows for an open dialogue with the subject allowing for a fuller exploration of the topic at hand. The question that most people are really asking is how to understand suffering. The answer to this question can only rightly be understood through […]
Conflicted Catharsis: On ISIS and Revenge Films: in movies and in life, should Christians celebrate when villains are killed? The police, the military, the enforcement agencies who preserve peace in the world—when they are not abused—are agents of temporal justice in a world desperately seeking shalom. The complication is that sin infects not just the […]
In “My Top 5 Works of Religious Satire,” Terry Lindvall thinks back through his research to pick the 5 best books of religious satire. Students can be introduced to Erasmus, C.S. Lewis, Guareschi, Bierce, and Swift. His recent book, God Mocks, (NYU Press, 2015) traces the development of faith-based humor from biblical times through today.
Young Adult Ambassador Essays: (The download takes about 30 sec., click to open about 2 min.) Four students have been published by the Free to be Faithful initiative in essays addressing religious liberty and themes related to the two kingdoms. The writers include Isaiah Armbrecht (Concordia University, Nebraska), Bethany Glock (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) , […]
In “The Reading Cure,” Gabe Haley asks, “How can a seven-hundred-year-old poem have such a profound effect on a twenty-first-century reader?” Dante’s Divine Comedy is, among other things, a work of speculative fiction. Because Dante’s vision of the future is of the afterlife, its present conditions have the potential to encompass times outside of Dante’s […]
“Is There Prayer on Mars?” is an essay on Andy Weir’s book, The Martian, that considers the positivist worldview of the book (and perhaps the movie). Students can consider this example as a representation of an outlook distinctly different from the sort of narrative that would be informed by the Bible. There is no traditional religious significance in […]
The NYT piece covers a current sexting case, “Hundreds of Nude Photos Jolt Colorado School,” and the Mercator article offers some commentary: “Lessons from a sexting scandal.” This case is one of several over the past few years that perplex authorities and may serve as an exemplar for how the culture is now at a […]
The Katy, Texas, public-classroom dispute abut God between a teacher and a 12-year-old student serves as a case study on the challenge for journalists reporting on religion. On a critical-thinking test, the student declined to give the correct answer, which was that “There is a God” was a statement of opinion, not fact. Why is […]
A Theological and Journalistic Reformation: Martin Luther’s bold theological stand on Oct. 31, 1517, made independent journalism possible. Modern journalism began in 1517 as the German prince Frederick the Wise was putting the finishing touches on his life’s work of building up Wittenberg’s sacred relic collection. The effect of Luther’s 95 Theses and his subsequent publications […]
Reprogrammed Stem Cells Work as well as Those From Embryos: The journal, Science, reports that a new study suggests that ES stem cells and iPS stem cells are equivalent, and this may help soothe worries about the capabilities of iPS cells. From 2002 to 2010, claims about the unique potential of human embryonic stem cells were common. Now, ES cells and […]
