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.
When Being Pro-Life Did Not Mean Being Conservative: Students can use this Q&A to consider the extent to which terms such as “liberal” and “conservative” are useful when assessing social views informed by religious heritage and theological traditions. The article explores a time when liberal Democrats opposed abortion with vigor, and conservative Republicans remained largely indifferent.
Transgender Confusion Goes Beyond Elementary School Bathrooms: In this 30 min. audio clip, Mark Yarhouse (Wheaton College) discusses the confusion that characterizes the current politics of gender identity and the church’s responses. “People experience legislation as an attack on the things that they believe in, and other people think that legislation is symbolic of the things […]
The Future Of AI: Is Something Different This Time? For classes in computer science, religion and ethics, business, and mathematics: the biggest shift in AI research has come through two developments. The first is the new capacity for machines to learn for themselves. The other development driving this wave of excitement is the ubiquity of Big […]
Few Protestant Pastors, Churches Prioritize Prison Ministries: Most Protestant pastors go to jail, at least for a visit, and want to help prisoners and their families. But their churches often lack the training or finances to run an effective prison ministry. The report comes at a time when incarceration rates in the United States remain at record levels. […]
The Campaign to Eliminate Hell: This NG brief update on the age-old discussions about hell can be used in courses in geography, doctrine, psychology, and faith and life. While religious philosophers have argued over the true nature of hell since the earliest days of Christianity, the debate has become especially pronounced in recent decades among […]
The Empty Brain: “Like a computer” continues to be the current common brain analogy. This comparison fails on several levels (as have previous analogies across the centuries). Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, explains why in this very readable in-depth article. Recommended for students and all readers.
Mercersburg Theology, Eucharistic Union, and Civil Society: Union in Christ does not translate to union in culture. Mercersburg theology is an ironic misstep. In seeking to magnify the significance of the Church’s sacramental identity, it diminishes that identity by applying to civil society the unique unity that belongs, and can belong, to the Church alone.
Is the United States a Counterexample to the Secularization Thesis? — Forthcoming in the American Journal of Sociology, this article says that “the United States should no longer be considered a counterexample to the secularization thesis,” “it is no longer clear that the U.S. is on a qualitatively different religious trajectory than Europe,” and that “Recognizing […]
A Subject Definition of Death: Some utilitarian bioethicists wants to redefine biological death to include a subjective and sociologically based meaning. Their purpose isn’t greater scientific accuracy. Rather, by making “death” malleable, they hope to open the door further to treating indisputably living human beings as if they were cadavers. Students can consider the author’s arguments […]
Arbitration by Faith: This 10 min. video clip considers interviews a Christian attorney and arbitrator as well as a law professor at Pepperdine on the issue of Christian arbitration, now required in a growing number of business and employment agreements. Some individuals who want to take legal action are bound by their agreements to engage in Christian […]
