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.
A new study by LifeWay Research shows that more than 4 in 10 women who have had an abortion were churchgoers when they ended a pregnancy. Only 7 percent of women discussed their abortion decision with anyone at church. Three-fourths say the church had no influence on their decision to terminate a pregnancy. Students can […]
In “The Illusion of Respectability,” Allen Guelzo challenges the professor or teacher who is Christian to renounce the lust for credibility in the modern academy. Otherwise, that environment changes us—substitutes its reward system, offers its hierarchy, and creates its parallel universe to which we are slowly acculturated. Accreditation and public funding are now discredit and indentured servitude.
The Secularization Symposium: In 1990, the Pew Charitable Trust sponsored a major conference at Duke University on the subject of secularization in modern higher education. 25 years later, the main contributors have agreed to reflect once again on questions of faith, scholarship, academic secularization, modes of specialized learning, and the production of knowledge at contemporary colleges […]
Where is the Muslim peace movement? Richard Ostling has been writing on religious issues for Christianity Today, Time Magazine, and other sources for many years. This Q&A provides a brief but informed discussion about Islam, jihadism, and differences among Muslims: if Islam is a peace-loving religion where are the Muslim voices for peace? The article […]
Explaining Mormons and Their Idiosyncratic View of Religious Liberty offers an interpretation of what some commentators see as an inconsistency in Mormon social policy. Rather than dreaming of imposing ideas on society as a whole, the LDS offer the wider polity a tradeoff: we will support established authority and recognize its right to enforce the law […]
The Science for Seminaries project assists professors and scientists to enable faith leaders to engage with science throughout their ministries. The 10 schools participating in the science for seminaries project include Catholics, evangelical/conservative Protestants and mainline Protestants. “The goal is for schools to present science fairly and accurately, not to ensure that future pastors side with […]
Miroslav Volf at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture: In a globalized world, the terror of God’s crazy-eyed followers is threatening lives, peace and prosperity of everyone on the planet. We are tempted to conclude: The sooner that humanity either eradicates or quarantines off religion, the better our world will be. This conclusion would […]
Researcher, author, and professor Allan Carlson maintains that the U.S. culture never stays in a moral morass for more than a few generations. He cites four distinct periods of family strength and renewal and four distinct periods of family decline since 1630. “There’s going to be another renewal because we human beings—not just we Americans, but […]
The NYT piece covers a current sexting case, “Hundreds of Nude Photos Jolt Colorado School,” and the Mercator article offers some commentary: “Lessons from a sexting scandal.” This case is one of several over the past few years that perplex authorities and may serve as an exemplar for how the culture is now at a […]
From the NYT, “As Transgender Students Make Gains, Schools Hesitate at Bathrooms,” and from the ADF, “The Pressure to Unlock Restroom Doors” — these two pieces will assist with an assessment of the issue and different perspectives on this example of the culture shifts.
