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.
In Germany, secular ‘confirmation’ thrives again: The history of secularism as an alternative to organized church religion in Germany is a long and winding one. Begun more than 150 years ago, the Jugendweihe was a way to educate and raise young people outside a religious tradition, a movement that faced persecution during Nazi times and later […]
Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life: Pew has focused its summer Polling and Analysis section on religion, social problems, and current politics. The snapshot may offer a set of perceptions that students can use to assess the current climate of religion and culture in election year 2016.
The Atlantic dissects Jesus’ ‘wife’ story: The institutions in God’s left-hand kingdom are, as always, a blessing and curse. The emerging account of a 2012 news event about an ancient manuscript alluding to Jesus’ wife can help students think critically about news stories, scholarly claims, and asking the right (and sometimes obvious) questions.
Is There No Moral Law, or Is There No Law Without Morality? Canada’s parliament has passed the assisted-dying bill into law. This position piece challenges the autonomy argument of such a law and examines the ethical claims at work in that argument. Students can consider the various positions and the social and theological implications of the […]
‘I was in prison and you came to me’: Lutherans well-suited for ministry to incarcerated: This ministry of mercy and healing is one about which many in Synod are under-informed. “Behind the barbed wire and watch towers languishes someone’s son or daughter, father or mother, brother or sister who desperately long to hear that Jesus loves them […]
Did Richard Dawkins Hand Creationists (sic) Their Next School Strategy? This position piece re-examines Kitzmiller v. Dover, an important court case that involves issues and unresolved questions about jurisprudence, science, and religion. The case and article may serve as an intro for the larger topic or selected themes.
Faith in translation: The gospel as a second language — Students in writing, communication, language, and the letters can consider that a fast-growing number of people do not have a religious first language. And many churches don’t seem eager to learn how to connect with them—how to teach Christianity as a second language as well as […]
As California’s End of Life act goes into effect, some doctors question where to draw the line: Physicians are contemplating this new law and whether they would ever write a prescription for death. “We have always, up till now, been able to say we will never hasten a death,” Dr. Neil Wenger said. “Suddenly, that bright line is not […]
What happens when the military chaplain is shaken by war: One account of several chaplain cases of active duty under fire from Bosnia to Afghanistan to Iraq. The comments section is also instructive. The article prompts the usual issues and questions about suffering, the role of religion in the military, the endurance of faith, and […]
An Interview with Ana Revenga–Ending Extreme Poverty: This discussion of the the poor and left-hand kingdom notes that considers that for the first time in history less than 10 percent of the world’s population was living in extreme poverty—down from 37 percent in 1990 and 44 percent in 1981. Ana Revenga, senior director of the Poverty and […]
