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.
This review of Tales of the Ex-Apes: How We Think About Human Evolution by biological anthropologist Jonathan Marks (Univ. of Calif. Press, 2015), can assist students with the discussions about human nature in the current terms of biological anthropology, human exceptionalism, and the cultural determinism of scientific terms and ideas. Says Marks: “My point is precisely that nobody can […]
This LA Times article, “Gov. Brown signs controversial assisted-suicide bill,” covers the news item itself with several quotes and views on the event. Students and courses interested in the topic can begin here and move to other sources and analyses. The California law will permit physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to mentally competent adults who […]
“Churches step in after feds drop Fugitive Safe Surrender” is an in-depth article on a program for fugitives from law enforcement. Churches in more than 50 cities have hosted Fugitive Safe Surrender events over the past decade, some of them more than once, resulting in thousands of cleared warrants. Churches are integral to Fugitive Safe […]
From the Journal of Lutheran Ethics: Lutherans have a complex and complicated relationship with the public and organized struggle for social justice, especially when it involves political action and taking a prophetic stance. Calls for the church’s active involvement in social, economic and political causes is often viewed with suspicion. Luther himself had a complicated relation […]
This 45 min. exchange from The National Constitution Center on various proposals of legislation regarding religious freedom and equal rights touches on several of the disparate, conflicting, and confusing issues in advocacy, practice, and the role of religion in the public square. While the discussion wanders a bit, it does serve as a way to […]
“Did Neanderthals Have Souls?” is a brief starter article that can be used to explore views and responses to the findings in paleoanthropology, human origins, human nature, and the image of God. The article includes the usual popularized ideas and will need additional content and sources to assist students with the larger discussion.
Religion and the Social Sciences, edited by R.R. Reno and Barbara McClay (Cascade, 2015): More often than not it’s a class in the social science that challenges the faith of students, not a class in biology. Does critical understanding of our religious traditions, institutions, and convictions undercut them? Or can a modern social scientific approach deepen faith commitments, making […]
The Christian Post recently spoke with leading Christian non-profit organizations to find out how followers of Jesus Christ are working to eradicate poverty in America. Poverty in the United States affects about 1 in 10 people despite them living in one of the richest countries in the world, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 […]
Shanghai would seem an unlikely place, on the edge of WW II, for Jewish refugees to flee. But as the Nazi regime stepped up its anti-Semitic persecution in the mid-1930s, German Jews were running out of options. This improbable cross-cultural intersection of world events reveals some profound truths about the arc of God’s redemption […]
S. 1598, the First Amendment Defense Act, sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), prohibits the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one […]
