Items included for this subject area 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 non-technical treatment of the biology of asexuality–Virgin Births Happen All the Time–can be used to introduce parthenogenesis, and it can also be used to explore themes in creation, the Deus absconditus, and the relationship of the spiritual and the material. “I don’t want to make a direct line. But might it add to our […]
Yoshino on Obergefell v. Hodges: As part of the discussion of its implications for Christian higher education, debate continues on whether this Supreme Court decision is significant for more than its holding that same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right. In his Comment on Obergefell for Harvard Law Review’s annual Supreme Court issue, Kenji Yoshino argues […]
Expert Religion: The Politics of Religious Difference in an Age of Freedom and Terror — The American foreign policy establishment has a history of collaboration with scholars and experts across disciplines. In the context of the war on extremism, these partnerships are taking new forms. This essay examines the intersection between religion and global governance in an […]
Habit-Forming — Liturgies of Education: The liturgy is one of the Spirit’s instruments for shaping godly persons and communities, and the same is true in education. This 46 min. video from Peter Leithart will explore implications of this perspective and present examples of healthy and unhealthy educational rituals. Every educational model assumes an answer to the […]
Why I’m Not a Conscientious Objector is another installment in the CT series on Christians and service in the armed forces. This first-person account explores the writer’s tension as he explores an Anabaptist community opposed to such service and his participation in Centurions’ Guild, a group of veterans and service members that helps Christian communities have […]
From Ryan Anderson’s Witherspoon Public Discourse site, this legal opinion piece considers argues that same-sex marriage endangers not only religious liberty, but also the school choice movement. We need new laws to protect schools from being forced to adopt sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies in order to be eligible for voucher, tax credit/deduction, or educational savings […]
Unbelief As A Belief System: Core Tenet For Christians’ Fight For Religious Rights: This 6 min. audio clip from All Things Considered can serve as a brief intro to the discussion of whether current forms of secularism amount to another religion with its own set of faith convictions. For some additional brief reading, see Timothy […]
From the New York Times (picked up from The Column): More than two dozen religiously affiliated colleges and universities across the United States have received exemptions from the federal civil rights protections provided under Title IX since 2014, documents show, waivers that activists said allow them to discriminate against students and employees on the basis […]
Chaplains, produced by Martin Doblmeier (who also made the film Bonhoeffer), raises a fundamental issue for Christian chaplaincy: What is its ecclesiology? When a Catholic or Baptist serves as a chaplain for the U.S. military, he or she is a soldier no less than any other person wearing a uniform. Sure, the church ordains and […]
Why We Cannot Compromise — an essay on whether civil consensus is possible in some areas of cultural dissent: the West is increasingly incapable of engaging in true debate, achieving broad consensus, and reaching compromises about our most important controversies. Students in political science, theology, the social sciences, and communication can consider when discourse is possible […]
