By Robert Schmidt At its recent convention, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod resolved to deal with the question of licensed deacons. The President is to create a task force to develop a plan “to resolve questions about individuals who are not rightly called (prepared, examined, called and ordained) serving congregations of The Lutheran…
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By Jim Butler I was sitting in my office one quiet afternoon many years ago when the telephone rang. It was the New England district president (whose office was located in our church building). A meeting would be taking place at Concordia College, Bronxville, the next day. He’d just found out about it and…
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By Eugene Brueggemann All of us have a stake in the interface between religion and politics. Some of us support the agenda of the religious right, which stands for traditional values like opposition to homosexual behavior, for love of country and opposition to the slippery slope of secularism. Others of us emphasize equally biblical…
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By Nolan Bremer Banks, Robert. Reenvisioning Theological Education: Exploring a Missional Alternative to Current Models. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. By “missional” Banks means that the focus of theological education should be outside the classroom. But before elaborating on his vision of this missional alternative, Banks reviews the current scene in theological education and finds…
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By Matthew Becker The Creator’s Tapestry: Scriptural Perspectives on Man-Woman Relationships in Marriage and the Church arrived in today’s mail. This CTCR Report, adopted in Dec 2009, attempts to fulfill the 1995 LCMS Synod Resolution 3-10 that called upon the Commission “to prepare a comprehensive study of the scriptural relationship of man and woman.” One…
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By Matthew Becker On January 24, 2006 the LCMS Commission on Doctrinal Review revoked the doctrinal certification of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions “because of numerous passages and features of the volume which are ‘inadequate, misleading, ambiguous, or lacking in doctrinal clarity.’” You can download the full report here. I agree with the CDR’s conclusion that…
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By Matthew Becker Concordia: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord, ed. Paul McCain et al. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005). The editors of Concordia state in an appendix that their “text for the Book of Concord is not a new translation from the original German and Latin texts” (p. 680). Rather, Concordia…
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By David H. Benke The Radical and Subversive Nature of Ecumenical and Interfaith Social Ministry Efforts (And Why The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Should Lead the Way in Participation) Or Looking For Prayer Wherever You Can Or Cristo Rompe Las Cadenas: Breaking the Bonds of Irony through Purposeful Christian Action Introduction We gathered in the lobby,…
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By Matthew Becker My friend, Dr. Edward Schroeder, often asks the question, “How does one commend good works without losing the gospel promise?” I think that is a good question. Nonetheless, as many others point out, we Lutheran Christians have not done a very good job of rightly and effectively joining the two aspects of…
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By David H. Benke January 12, 2004 1965 LCMS Resolution 1-01D: WHEREAS, Jesus Christ is Lord of all the world and in every area of life; and WHEREAS, The Christian recognizes no area of life that may be termed “secular” in the sense that it is removed from the lordship of Jesus Christ, though…
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