Education for the Mission: What Good Is Theology

By Matthew Becker Some years ago a Lutheran editor of a church newsletter asked me to write a brief essay that would answer the question, “What good is theology?” At the time I thought it a bit strange that a Lutheran who writes about and for Lutherans would ask that question. Don’t Lutheran Christians have…
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Talking Points about Doctrinal Authority in the LCMS

By Dr. Matthew Becker Next summer will mark the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of a controversial and divisive document at the 1973 Convention of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles” appeared in 1972 and was adopted by a slim majority of LCMS convention delegates a year later. When…
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The Scandal of the LCMS Mind

By Matthew Becker[1] One of the more controversial matters among some Christians today is the relation of Christian faith in the triune God to scientific knowledge of the natural world.  Disagreements about this relationship have led to conflicts within many church bodies, including the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). While educated Christians cannot avoid the knowledge that arises from…
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Reformationsfest 2007

By Matthew Becker Earlier this October I led a group of twenty Valparaiso University students on a week-long study trip to sites in central and eastern Germany connected with Martin Luther (1483-1546). The students have been participating in Valpo’s semester-long study abroad program in Reutlingen, Germany, where I serve as its director. This fall I’m teaching two courses: one on the theology…
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Holy Scripture in the Thought of Martin Luther

By Matthew Becker The most controversial issues in the last half millennium of Christian theology surround the Christian Bible.  Of course the major division that began in western Christendom in the 16th Century was largely the result of disagreements over scriptural authority and interpretation vis-à-vis church doctrine and practice; yet even among the church bodies that adhere…
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