Openly Secular, Baptists, and Defending Religious Freedom — Christianity Today interviews Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary president Danny Akin who posted a 2-minute video for Openly Secular, which is dedicated to eliminating discrimination against atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists, and nonreligious people. This event can serve as a case study for how Christians should or should not […]
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.
"Open Book" by R. Marxhausen: the Bible, the book open to us all
Freedom Within the Disciplines
Freedom Within the Disciplines — The faculty at Notre Dame has been discussing the role of theology in its core curriculum and the nature of the academic disciplines: Are disciplines the building blocks of university education and thus the proper focus for a core curriculum? Or should we recognize that academic disciplines are “artificial” and […]
Comment Magazine: Inequalities
Inequalities — The June 2015 issue of Comment zooms in with a more granular understanding of the sources and causes of unjust inequalities, and makes a bold claim: There can be just inequalities, and with them often comes an unequal responsibility for the health of society.
The Slippery Slope to Polygamy: Pro and Con
The Slippery Slope to Polygamy: Pro and Con — This exchange between two thoughtful columnists can help students sort through the arguments whether the current culture is moving toward an acceptance and legalization of polygamy. In this order, The Prospects, The Polygamists, The Fascinating Politics, and Polygamy Redux.
The Real Christian Debate on Transgender Identity
The Real Christian Debate on Transgender Identity — Some have made mocking remarks about transgender news, but their attitudes obscure deep, meaningful questions about the meaning of gender, says this editor of The Atlantic. The writer seeks to set out the underlying philosophical, etiological, and theological themes (not the arguments) at stake in the debates. […]
Bringing a Christian Perspective to Common Human Experiences
Bringing a Christian Perspective to Common Human Experiences — The Spring 2015 edition of Concordia Journal includes a set of articles that explore this intersection theme, including justice, marginality, and hospitality; suffering and joy; and vocation in work and rest.
Traces of the Trinity
Traces of the Trinity — In what sense or by what senses does the creation declare the glory of God? Peter Leithart explores the theme that the doctrine of the Trinity invites us to gain glimpses of God in vocation, nature, marriage, language, music, and even in the past-present-future quality of time. A Lutheran perspective […]
The Death of the Death Penalty
The Death of the Death Penalty — Upon the Nebraska legislature’s repeal of the death penalty, here is Time Magazine’s cover story on five reasons why the era of capital punishment is ending. The author focuses on the pragmatic problems of sustaining and applying death penalty laws but concludes with a discussion of the courts’ […]
Hostile Environment: Understanding and Responding to Anti-Christian Bias
Hostile Environment: Understanding and Responding to Anti-Christian Bias — This new release from IVP (2015) by George Yancey, professor of sociology at University of North Texas, maintains that sometimes Christians are too quick to claim that they are being persecuted. But Christians aren’t just being paranoid or alarmist. Anti-Christian hostility is real. Yancey shows how […]
Luther’s Great and Worthy Undertaking: the German NT
Luther’s Great and Worthy Undertaking — We are cautious about conforming Christ to culture, but Bible translations must to some extent conform God’s word in order to communicate it. This excerpt from James Reston’s new book, Luther’s Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege (Basic, 2015), explores Luther’s challenges when translating the NT into […]
