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.
Would You Become An Immortal Machine? This brief review of a new book on transhumanism, To Be a Machine by Mark O’Connell (Doubleday, 2017) asks, Since “The Fall,” we “lost” our god-like immortality, and have been looking for ways to regain it. Can science do this? Is mortality merely a scientific question?
Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court, and Religious Freedom: This essay (in support of the Gorsuch nomination to the Supreme Court) provides an inventory of legal issues related to religious liberty that can help students organize this complex topic. “In the United States, the law of religious freedom and church-state relations can be imperfectly, but still […]
The Doctrine of Discovery: The March 2017 edition of Journal of Lutheran Ethics examines the legal and theological rationale with which Europeans justified the often violent (at times genocidal) conquest and colonization of lands which had already been “discovered” and populated. The doctrine of discovery is a theologically grounded legal rationale that kings and popes invented […]
KRAB zinc-finger proteins contribute to the evolution of gene regulatory networks: the science journal Nature has published new research on transposons, indicating ways in which the human genetics system is species-specific and suggesting the protein activity of “KZFPs contribute to make human biology unique.” See also: The proteins that domesticated our genomes Harnessing the Human […]
How a Christian movement is growing rapidly in the midst of religious decline: Among the five Christ-and-culture perspectives, “INC Christianity is a movement to watch because we think it will continue to draw adherents in large numbers in the future. It will produce a growing number of Christians who see their goal not just as saving […]
Gene Editing: Promise & Peril–Is Caution Enough? This Lutheran bioethics scholar comments on CRISPR: What is deemed necessary is the use of countless embryos—always, of course, with caution and with relief of suffering as the ultimate end in view. [And] there remains one further possibility on the gene-editing horizon. Beyond basic research, there is the possibility […]
How Churches Can Give Sanctuary and Still Support the Law: Students can use use this interview as an intro to the pros and cons of the current sanctuary issues for immigration and the undocumented. The guest is an advisor to the New Sanctuary Movement and also works with Matthew 25, a bipartisan Christian movement that […]
The first solar eclipse to cross America in 99 years is coming. To some, it’s an act of God: The total solar eclipse that will cross America this summer — an event that last happened 99 years ago — will be an important moment for scientific observers and a massive nationwide spectator event. It will also, […]
A Police Officer’s View from Street Level: An informative and insightful interview with Sergeant Adam Plantinga of the San Francisco Police Dept. and author of 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (Quill Driver, 2014). “Being a cop hammers the compassion out of you. There’s a 90-10 rule in law enforcement: 90 […]
Christian Bakers, Gay Weddings, and a Question for the Supreme Court: This readable article provides a succinct and balanced summary of the small business issues of religious freedom and civil rights–mom-and-pop stores, artistic liberty, corporate regulation, and competing goods in the commonwealth. It can serve as an introduction to the court cases, arguments, and principles at […]
