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 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 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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By David Benke As a lad in Old Milwaukee, when drivers’ licenses were available at the tender age of sixteen, the only place to be and the only thing to do on a summer Saturday night was “bombin’ down the Avenue.” Wisconsin Avenue, that is. Slow driving down the straight wide center of the city….
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By Matthew Becker Last October an article appeared in the Lutheran Witness that claimed “Luther’s home city (Wittenberg) includes no Lutheran congregation.” The article quotes Matthew Harrison, executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care: “There are people with deep Lutheran sentiments in Wittenberg, but there is no congregation organized and operating under the…
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By Matthew Becker[1] I. The Foundation for Freedom and Discipline in the Christian Church Thesis 1: No one in heaven or on earth, except God alone, has the right and authority to rule over the faith and conscience of a Christian. (Exodus 20:3; James 4:12; Matthew 28:18)[2] Thesis 2: The entire Christian church does not…
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By Matthew Becker Law, Life, and the Living God: The Third Use of the Law in Modern American Lutheranism. By Scott R. Murray. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002. 250 pages. This book began as a dissertation at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The author, Scott R. Murray, is a 1983 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary,…
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By Matthew Becker Daystar began in 1999 as a small online network of individuals in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) who were concerned about theological issues and problems in and beyond their church body. Organized by Professor Robert Schmidt and Professor Matthew Becker, along with the help of two other LCMS members, the network grew…
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By Matthew Becker INTRODUCTION[1] Christians are taught to be mindful of the future, “to watch the signs of the times,” so that they will not be caught unprepared when the Son of Man and his Kingdom fully arrive (see Luke 21:25-28). Yet, Christians also know from experience that the signs…
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By Jeffrey Anderson INTRODUCTION Lutheran congregations which have adopted a less restrictive practice of administering Holy Communion, sharing the Sacrament with confessing Christians of other synods or other denominations, should not do so quietly or in a hidden manner, for they are celebrating the highest feast God has given us in this world. Rather, they…
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