Ever since Lutheran CORE announced its intention to be a “free-standing synod” at its Convocation in September of 2009, folks have been scratching their heads trying to figure out what that phrase means. In the six months or so since that gathering, several assumptions have been made as to what Lutheran CORE must be up […]
Welcome to Let’s Talk
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.
Vos sos el Dios de los Pobres: You Are The God Of The Poor
Misa Campesina1 Nicaragüense The Nicaraguan Campesino Mass In the Nicaragua of the seventies, there began a social crisis in the countryside and the city, motivated by the indiscriminate movement of campesinos from their own land by corrupt landowners, which led to a vast army of people displaced and impoverished. Some migrated to cities in search […]
An Urban Theology of Nature
It’s been eleven years since we started Faith in Place and our roots are in the City of Chicago. This might seem a strange location for an organization that connects the teachings of faith to practices of care for Creation, or, if you like, an organization that practices natural theology, but that depends on where […]
The Church’s Mission in a World without “Nature”
A Confession Recently I had the privilege of teaching a seminar at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) entitled “Nature Writing in Theological Perspective,” which was the follow-up to a previous year’s seminar on “Theologies of Creation.” Where the first class had focused on constructive theological texts by academic theologians, the second course […]
Serpents and Doves and Global Climate Change
Let’s say that it’s early morning, Advent. The alarm blares and I crawl out from bed. Through my bedroom window I can hear the wind blow snow, but once I pull on a sweatshirt, I am not cold. Since I live on Long Island, and my house is old, I begin my day by turning […]
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N. T. Wright
N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperCollins, 2008) 332+xiii pp. hardcover. Most people in the wider culture think that Christian hope is about “going to heaven when you die.” Apparently many Christians think so, too. Wright shows that if this is all that […]
Unconformed: A Review of Reason, Faith, and Revolution by Terry Eagleton and Absence of Mind by Marilynne Robinson
Terry Eagleton, Reason, Faith, and Revolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009) 185 pp., hardcover. Marilynne Robinson, Absence of Mind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010) 185 pp., hardcover. Two of the most important contributions to theological discourse in recent years have come from the perhaps unlikely pens of a Marxist literary theorist and a […]
EarthBound: Created + Called to Care for Creation
EarthBound: Created + Called to Care for Creation, DVD. Directed by Hal and Kevin Dragseth (St. Paul: Seraphim Communications, 2009) 158 min., with Facilitators Guide on CD-ROM. $89.95. Lutheran video resources for lifelong learning have made great strides in terms of production value in recent years. For those content with a lecture caught on tape […]
Goldilocks Ecclesiology and the New Lutheranism
The number of Christian denominations in North America is unknowable, perhaps in the vicinity of 3800. Since we don’t know precisely how many inadequate alternatives already exist, the absurdity of introducing a new one is more philosophical than mathematical. The number of Lutheran bodies is more easily established. Valparaiso University’s index puts it at 28. […]
Dealing with Those Who Remain
It was easier for American Lutherans to practice schism in the 19th century. Whole synods moved in and out of fellowship with one another. In 1864 the delegates of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania walked out of the Convention of the General Synod over dissatisfaction with S. S. Schmucker’s Definite Synodical Platform and the admission of […]
Who is my neighbor?
Technology, it would appear, has the accelerator pedal to the floor. Only fifteen years ago, The Internet was a baby. Amazon.com was a new site, eBay had just been founded, portable digital music didn’t exist (the iPod was still 6 years in the future). In order to use the internet, I had to “dial in” […]
Sexual Integrity in the Lutheran Church
It should surprise no one that sexuality saturates American culture in the twenty-first century. Girls’ dolls are looking more and more like prostitutes. Seductive, lingerie-clad Victoria’s Secret models spice up the commercial breaks during prime-time broadcast television. Talk show radio shovels in the smut. Just the other day I turned on the radio and heard […]
That Was Then, This Is Now
This issue of Let’s Talk features essays by seminarians who responded to the invitation to imagine the church and the world they will be serving in the years to come. This is a difficult question to put to students who are immersed in what’s happening now — like, what’s on the next test. Asked to […]
Christians without a Church
I believe that there will be many new and challenging issues facing the church as we plow into the 21st century. There is the pervading post-modern culture to engage in, the rise of Islam to contend with, and economic hardship to struggle with. However, the trend that concerns me the most and will need to […]
If Practice Dwindles…
As I checked a friend’s profile on a social networking website (a friend that I had known from Sunday school), his “religious views” caught my eye. He offered a single word: Why. His question illustrates the skepticism the church encounters as it seeks new ways to tell the old story. We preach law, gospel, and […]
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