20 years of
Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 1996
By Frederick J. Schumacher
By John A. Lang
By Frank C. Senn
By Benjamin Dueholm
By Gordon J. Straw
By Maxwell E. Johnson
By Frank C. Senn
By Frank C. Senn
by Tim Brown
I remember reading Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics in college. Today I pulled it out, blew off the dust (I ceremoniously sprinkle dust on all my books just in case I get the opportunity to pull one out in front of someone and impressively blow it off) and read until I landed on the […]
Many churches intentionally welcome all people, citing especially persons of color, gays and lesbians, and those of differing socio-economic classes. Knowing that many people today struggle with the institutional church, our congregational welcome also singles out people who are ambivalent toward organized religion. It is surprising how often people name the significance of that brief […]
Question: How do you talk about Jesus’ crucifixion at an open mic show with spiritual- but-not-religious types, many of whom have been badly burned by Christians and the church? Answer: It’s a trick question. You don’t talk about it – you embody it. The idea first occurred to me during the winter of 2008 after […]
What’s the difference between “communion” and “community”? The two words come from the same root and suggest the connections we so quickly draw. But there are important differences that we easily overlook. Communities are all around us, formed by various boundaries—racial, geographic, ideological, etc. One community is those people whom the Holy Spirit gathers to […]
How do we let people say “No”? In tandem with many churches, Lutheran and otherwise, my own parish has moved toward a wider, more explicit, and less qualified invitation to Holy Communion. This development has been more pragmatic than principled, at least as far as my own role is concerned. I am generally persuaded by […]
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has recently launched a significant churchwide discussion: Table and Font: Who is Welcome? An Invitation to join the conversation about Baptism and Communion. A number of resources and perspective papers have been published to seed and orient the conversation.[1]Some themes of this conversation have become familiar to many of […]
The ELCA is having a conversation about “radical hospitality” in the practice of Holy Communion. This means that the Table is open not only to all baptized Christians, but to all worshipers, even if they are not baptized. I can only assume that we are having this conversation because some pastors and congregations are issuing […]