Terry Todd’s understanding of the Pentecostal altar as “the space where Pentecostals learn what it means to follow Jesus through encountering the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit” reminds me of what Lutherans and other Protestants mean by the Priesthood of All Believers. In every space and occasion of life, we Christians have opportunities […]
The reflections of Robert Millet about the Latter-Day Saints’ (LDS) vision of the Christian life are thoughtful and helpful. I have always been impressed with the level of commitment and real-life practice of the faith of many members of the LDS (a feeling I also share regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses). But I must say […]
Serving the Black church for three decades in its largest accredited seminary in the States, I’ve been asking this question of friends, colleagues, and students quite frequently. And so on the basis of his thoughtful presentation, I now turn to Farris Blount to get his read on what the Lutheran tradition needs to do […]
I was tempted to sing the Paul Simon hit again about the mother and child reunion in response to this fine piece of Methodist theologizing. After all it is well known that John Wesley had his famed Aldersgate Experience while reading the work of Martin Luther on justification by grace through faith (Journals, May […]
To paraphrase the 1972 Paul Simon hit: Now I would not give you false hope, on these great and mournful [Lenten] days. But the mother [Lutheran] and child [Pietist] re-u-ni-on is just a couple of [theological] clarifications away. Can we grant that Lutheranism is the mother of Pietism? This relationship is readily apparent when […]
Lutherans tend to have innate suspicions of Baptists, second only to our historic hang-ups with Pentecostals. Of course this is a function of Luther’s bad experience with Anabaptists, and perhaps that makes his critique irrelevant to Lutheran-Baptist relations today. Alas, many modern Lutherans have this stereotype that Baptists are legalists, creeping Pelagians. But all […]
When a Lutheran like me dialogues with a Reformed theologian like Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, at least to this Lutheran it feels like a conversation among kin. In no other part of Christendom do Lutherans find the celebration of God’s grace more strongly and compellingly articulated than among the heirs of Calvin. How wonderful to live […]
Randall Balmer’s compelling story of finding Jesus in the cadences of the historic liturgy and the Presence of Christ in the Church’s Sacramental life was a sweet song in my Lutheran ears. How wonderful to be worshipping the same way Christians have for 1500 or more years, to be worshipping with all the faithful who have […]
What led me to fall in love with God, Christian faith, and the church of my youth was the awareness that ours is a faith for rebels, for people who are committed to living counter-culturally – going against the grain of what society expects. My high-school years in Pennsylvania led me to sense that Mennonites and the […]
IS SPONTANEITY AND FREEDOM FROM THE LAW A LEGITIMATE OPTION IN THE CHURCH CATHOLIC? I really appreciated the dialogue with all my partners (the new friends I’m making), and my personal responses to each which you can read will indicate in more depth my appreciation and thoughts about your insightful reflections. I am struck by how two elements […]
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