This War

J. L. Precup Editorial Note: Chaplain J. L. Precup graduated from Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, in 1972.  After ordination he served a parish in Chicago, Illinois, and then took a call to a congregation in Mexico City, Mexico.  While in Mexico he was commissioned at our embassy as a chaplain in the Naval Reserves.  After two years…
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Latin America Moves to the Left

Jerrald Pfabe Editorial Note: Jerrald Pfabe is a professor of history at Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska. He teaches courses in Spanish and U.S. and Latin American history. He has traveled extensively in Latin America and has studied in Mexico and Costa Rica during sabbatical leaves. A graduate of Concordia, River Forest, he has M.A. and…
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Ablaze? Or Merely Flaming?

Karen Miller A graduate of MIT and Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois, Karen Miller teaches junior high school at Christ Lutheran School, Rancho Palos Verde, California. Ms. Miller is a frequent contributor to the Journal. The last two years in the LCMS have seen some of the rudest and most inappropriate attacks fo­cused on the Ablaze! initiative. However,…
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Is There a Lutheran Difference?

Marie Meyer A deaconess, Marie Meyer is a noted speaker and author who lives in Bethel, Connecticut. A decade has passed since church historian Mark Noll, writing in First Things, called attention to “The Lutheran Difference.”1 Noll concluded that Lutherans have much to offer the wider Christian community but only if they “remain authentically Lutheran.” His question, “Did…
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A Commentary on Biology and Theology

Robert Sylwester Editorial Note: Robert Sylwester is an emeritus professor of education at the University of Oregon who focuses on the educational implications of new developments in science and technology. He has written 20 books and curricular programs and 150+ journal articles. His most recent books are A Biological Brain in a Cultural Classroom (2003, Corwin Press)…
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Remembering Concordia Senior College

Remembering Concordia Senior College (1957—1977) and the Burning Question of the Free Pursuit of Truth Stephen C. Krueger (a 1971 alumnus of Concordia Senior College)   One way of addressing the issue of LCMS synodical identity today is to focus on the question, “Who were we once?” The closure of an institution barely twenty years…
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Hospice Reflections on John 11

Editorial Note: When Steve Krueger wrote these reflections, in the season of Pentecost 2006, he was serving as a chaplain for LifePath Hospice and Palliative Care, the largest not-for-profit hospice program in the United States. LifePath Hospice currently serves almost 2,300 patients in the counties of Hillsborough, Polk, Highlands and Hardee, Florida. The listed counties…
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Hearts Ablaze

Ronald Jones Editorial Note: Pastor Jones serves Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Raritan, New Jersey, having returned to the parish in 2002 after thirty years in academic, campus ministry and social ministry settings. His doctorate is in higher education (Texas Tech), and he holds master’s degrees in classics (Wash­ington Uni­versity) and New Testament (Concordia, Saint…
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What’s In a Name?

Herbert Hoefer Editorial Note: Dr. Herbert Hoefer was a missionary in India, is currently the LCMS area secretary for India, and holds the chair of missions at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. He is also the chair of the Ethnic Ministry Task Force of the Northwest District. He recently served as the chaplain for the…
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Don’t Speak of Love; Show Me

John Helmke Forty-two years since ordination, eighteen spent discussing financial services in the homes of our Lutheran people, has convinced me that more evangelism is done by the laity than most pastors ever dreamed of. Our laity, however, is not blessed with the privilege of the pulpit. As a result, most of their faithful witness…
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