Category: Theology and Practice
The Centrality of Christian Freedom in Protestant Theology
On Christian Freedom is one of three monumental treatises of the Reformation written by Martin Luther in 1520. The work was foundational in defining the theological emphases of the Protestant Reformation, of which Luther himself was a key figure. The...
“Are You Alone Wise?”: Luther’s Answers for Today’s Protestants
A decade after he began advocating for reform, Martin Luther had become highly attuned to the fundamental issues at stake in the debates with his adversaries. Having made Sola Scriptura his rallying cry, he was forced to face the chaos...
Jesus, Laughter, and the Bright Side of Life
I recall, 20 or so years ago, how stunned I was when I first saw the conclusion of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. A clever film which is ultimately more about people than anything else, it tells the story of...
Farmers and Humanists in an Age of Crisis: Technology, Death, and Resurrection
As a teenager at my parents’ small-town church, I heard men in business suits express relief that they made it out of the farm where they grew up. “I got out,” they would say. The implication: I moved up. I...
Are America’s Megachurches Too Big to Fail?
2008 introduced us to the idea of something being “too big to fail.” In that case it was our nation’s largest banks. They had grown so large and played such a decisive role in our nation’s economy that our national...
Five Theses on Preaching
(originally posted on Resident Theologian) 1. The principal subject matter for preaching, always and everywhere, is the triune God of Israel attested and revealed in the good news about Jesus, the Lord and Messiah of Israel. If a sermon could...
Against An Economy Financed by Human Bodies
By Andreas Vesalius During my teenage years, I experienced periods of intense disdain for my physicality. In becoming fully aware of my sexuality and my existence as a sexual being, I came to oppose such an existence. I envied the...
Book Review: Between Life and Death by Kathryn Butler
In their indispensable book Reclaiming the Body, Joel Shuman and Brian Volck recall a course on literature and medicine taught to 4th-year medical students. Students were asked to describe how they hoped to die with essays, and the results were...
A Review of Walter Strickland’s “Liberation and Black Theological Method”
By Matthew Emerson Walter R. Strickland II. “Liberation and Black Theological Method: A Historical Analysis.” Ph.D. Diss: University of Aberdeen, 2017. Summary Despite common historical pressures that gave rise to its distinctive tasks and goals, Black Theology is not a...
On Fearing Eternity and Being at Home on Earth
By Gary Benton My hands gripped the pew before me so tightly they ached, as if caught in an over-wrought handshake. I drew in quick, sharp breaths. Though I was careful to keep my head still, my eyes darted wildly...