Category Archives: Missouri Megatrends
Is This Confessional Lutheranism? A Critique of Confessing the Gospel, Volume I
The following is based on a presentation to my Bible Class on April 22, 2018. It was suggested that I put it in a blog. I would like to think I have refined it and not watered it … Continue reading
Look to the Rock from which You were Hewn – Visit to a Baptist Church
“Look to the rock from which you were hewn,” is a call from Isaiah 51:1. Israel was to look to Abraham and Sara from which the Promised Seed came and therefore their righteousness did. In popular parlance it means to … Continue reading
A Janus-faced Synod
There are words in English that mean two different things. For example, ‘bolt’ means both secure in place and to dart away. ‘Dust’ means to both remove material and spread material. ‘Trim’ means to both add and to take away. … Continue reading
Politics and Peeing on New Hay – Rerun
This is not deja vu. You might have read this in May of 2008; you could have read it in 1998. Think of this as my Carthago delenda est. I am republishing because both at the district and synodical level the political … Continue reading
What do Seminex, Kloha, and ELDONA have in common?
The answer to this query comes from me, but it is based on an article written by the Reverend Doctor David Scaer. It is good to know not everyone is asleep at the switch at the seminaries, not everyone is … Continue reading
Playing First Century in Red Pantaloons
Krister Stendahl, a Swedish Lutheran theologian, gave a lecture at an Episcopalian seminary in 1982. It was on Romans. I was in attendance. I remember thinking either this man is too smart for me to understand or so stupid he … Continue reading
The Fabricated Luther
In Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto’s helpful 1993 book The Fabricated Luther he shows how it takes a misreading of history to lay Hitler and Nazism at the feet of Luther. But the Luther fabricated by William Shirer in his 1960 book … Continue reading
Coupage Coal Miner’s Communion, and Mutage
The 1970 book Wines for Everyone says this. “It would be neat to say that there is only one kind of bad wine but a million sorts of good. Unfortunately, this is untrue, for the ingenuity of some wine merchants … Continue reading
A Boat with Billowed Sail
Whether it’s Peter, Paul, and Mary’s 1963 “Puff the Magic Dragon,” or the 1977 – rather annoying – song by Styx “Come Sail Away” or the 1980 – less annoying – song by Christopher Cross “Sail Away”, images of the … Continue reading
Execrabilis
That is the title of a papal bull of 1460. Its name comes from the opening word of the Latin text declaring it “execrable” to appeal to a council concerning a papal ruling. No confessional Lutheran is a Catholic, big … Continue reading