20 years of
Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 1996
We invite submission of papers and talks from members of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA, talks given to members of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, or articles from other pastors and theologians, not limited to ELCA. Send submissions in Word docx. to fcsenn70@gmail.com.
Richard O. Johnson It is my pleasure and my joy to be with you this evening for this event, and to contribute in some way, I hope, to “refreshing the hearts of the saints” here in the Metropolitan Chicago area. My thanks to Pastor Keith Forni for inviting me, and for being such a splendid […]
Maxwell Johnson December 12, 2016 Professor Johnson invited Let’s Talk to use a version of his talk published in Church Life Journal. A journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. Tim O’Malley, the director of the Institute, immediately gave us permission to republish this article. For some Christian […]
From Conflict to Communion – The First Joint Commemoration of the Reformation – Lutherans and Roman Catholics Together PDF of figures referenced in text PDF of this entire article: Historic Medallion Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation – Schumacher It is widely known that had it not been for the invention of the printing […]
The Eucharist as a propitiatory sacrifice offered by the priest on behalf of the living and the dead was at the center of medieval ecclesial life.[i] The biblical scholar and later evangelical reformer will sharply critique the mass as a sacrifice and ex opere operato work in light of the doctrine of justification by faith […]
We have used Lucas Cranach’s portrait of Martin Luther in a silk screen version as the logo for this Reformation 500 Jubilee issue of Let’s Talk. So much of the portraiture of the reformers and scenes of early Lutheran worship comes from Cranach that I thought he deserved some recognition in his own right. When […]
“The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.” I can still remember reading these lines, the twenty-eighth thesis of the Heidelberg Disputation. I don’t recall what prompted me to open Timothy Lull’s Luther anthology […]
Let’s Talk has invited readers to write what they appreciate about Martin Luther as we observe the 500th anniversary jubilee of the Reformation. I’m a cradle Lutheran who grew up in a church-going family, so I’ve had a long relationship with the reformer. I don’t know when I first became aware of Martin Luther, but […]
Johannes Bugenhagen was one of the most influential colleagues of Martin Luther. He was born in Pomerania, attended the University of Greifswald for two years, and served as rector of the Latin school in Treptow and as lecturer at the Premonstratensian cloister of Belbug. He was also ordained in 1509. Impacted by humanism, he was […]
Grace Lutheran Church and School in River Forest, Illinois, is celebrating 500 years of the Reformation in several ways, not the least of which is through music. The Fall of 2017 is full of music that celebrates the best of the Lutheran musical heritage, particularly the work of Luther himself. On September 10 at 4:00 […]
It all started in late January 2016 when a dedicated Week of Prayer for Christian Unity volunteer from an ELCA Lutheran church whispered into the ear of a dedicated WPCU volunteer from a Roman Catholic church, “Did you hear about the Pope and the woman Bishop?” The Vatican and the LWF had recently released news […]
On January 1, 2016 Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wauconda starting counting down to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. We calculated this date as 95 weeks prior to this commemoration (October 31, 2017), constructed a replica of the Castle Church Door in Wittenberg, Germany, and began nailing, one each week, not Luther’s 95 thesis, […]
The first time I bought a copy for myself, I tucked it away at once, as if it were illegal, or a bit naughty. It didn’t look like much on the outside—a black cover, with a simple gold cross embossed on the front. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do with it, […]
Indulge me. One of my Reformation heroes is a Swedish King, Johan III (1537-92; reigned 1568-92). Why? Because of his liturgical interests. He authored, with the help of his secretary Petrus Fecht (a student of Melancthon’s), a Liturgy that included offertory prayers and a full Eucharistic prayer, elements long considered not acceptable in a Lutheran […]
From the fourteenth century onwards, the Italian proponents of the movement we have come to call Renaissance Humanism boldly sought to uncover the textual, artistic, and material remains of antiquity: to renew the use of the Latin language by imitating the elegance of ancient Roman rhetoric; to explore the ancient sources of wisdom; and thereby […]
Please indulge me as I share my own odd Reformation-era enthusiasm: the Lollards. Originating in the work of priest and Oxford scholar John Wycliffe (d. 1384), Lollardy flourished as a movement for church and civil reform from the 1370s and the Peasants’ Revolt. After rebellions led or inspired by Lollards in 1414 and 1431 were […]
