Archive for February, 2010

Letter to Rome

History

Julian of Eclanum’s Letter To Rome Edited By Rev. Daniel R. Jennings Synopsis: This letter was a defense against the doctrines of the established church and a statement of faith of the Pelagian Christians. It was sent to Rome, as a defense of sorts as well as a warning against what they understood to be [...]

Read more

Confession & the Lord’s Supper

Mondays with Martin

Mondays with Martin A sermon by Martin Luther published in eight editions in 1524-1525. Via Volume II:193-214 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin [...]

Read more

Where Shall I Refuge Find?

Theology, Weekends with Bach

Chorus [S, A, T, B] Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Tromba da tirarsi col Soprano, Continuo Wo soll ich fliehen hin, Where should I flee Weil ich beschweret bin since I am weighed down Mit viel und großen Sünden? by my many grievious sins? Wo soll ich Rettung finden? Where should I find rescue? Wenn [...]

Read more

Johnny Cash

History

We just recently posted one of the songs (Ain’t No Grave) from the new Johnny Cash album, but since today marks his birth in the year 1932, here are a few more from the Man in Black.

Read more

The Hallmark of the Christian Religion

Theology

Franz Friday Via F. Pieper, “C.F.W. Walther as Theologian” According to Walther, the doctrine of justification is what differentiates the Christian religion from all other so-called religions; it is the hallmark of the Christian religion. If we speak of justification, he says, then we are speaking of the Christian religion, for the doctrine of the [...]

Read more

In Defense of Barth

Theology, Thursdays with Iwand

Thursdays with Iwand Via Iwand, Nachgelassene Werke 2, pp. 404-405 As unlikely as one can trace Barth’s “fear” to the “anthropocentrism” of the nineteenth-century but instead to the necessity of proclamation (1 Cor. 9:16), just as unlikely can one maintain that Luther did not fear that we humans could be masters over God; in fact, [...]

Read more

Ain’t No Grave

Theology

A song from the grave from American VI, the latest Johnny Cash album. There ain’t no grave Can hold my body down There ain’t no grave Can hold my body down When I hear that trumpet sound I’m gonna rise right out of the ground Ain’t no grave Can hold my body down Well, look [...]

Read more

Impious Madness

Theology, Wednesdays with Augustine

Wednesdays with Augustine Via The City of God Chapter 1 Chapter 1.— Of the Adversaries of the Name of Christ, Whom the Barbarians for Christ’s Sake Spared When They Stormed the City. For to this earthly city belong the enemies against whom I have to defend the city of God. Many of them, indeed, being [...]

Read more

In Name Only

Theology, Tuesdays with Forde

Tuesdays with Forde Thesis 13. Free will, after the fall, exists in name only, and as long as it does what it is able to do it commits a mortal sin. After the fall, free will exists in name only and not in reality. How is this audacious claim to be understood? It is, of [...]

Read more

Lent II

Resources

Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the Second Sunday in Lent. 10 Lent 2nd Sunday-Luke SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT Heavenly Father, it is your glory always to have mercy. Bring back all who have erred and strayed from your ways; lead them again to embrace in faith the truth of your [...]

Read more

Non-white Lutherans Share Concerns

News

Via LCMS e-News By Paula Schlueter Ross It was a telling moment when Rev. Eloy Gonzalez posed a question to more than 100 mostly non-white participants at the recent multi-ethnic symposium: “How many are delegates to the next [LCMS] convention?” Only one person, a Black woman, stood. “That’s the problem,” responded Gonzalez, senior pastor of [...]

Read more

Genesis 1-5

Mondays with Martin

After completing a series of lectures on the Psalms, Luther dug into on Genesis beginning in 1535 and continued on through 1545. While he recognized the need for future commentary–“This is now the dear Genesis… God grant that after me others will do better.” [LW 1, 333]–these lectures remain a rich theological resource for preaching [...]

Read more

Tempted As We Are

Theology

Via Bo Giertz, To Live with Christ pp. 191-92 But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. – Hebrews 4:15b The devil is a particular power with lifelike desires. He thinks. He has a plan. He takes initiative. He fights to keep his hold on us. The decisive [...]

Read more

Lent I

Resources

Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for the First Sunday in Lent. 10 Lent 1st Sunday-Luke FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT O Lord God, you led your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land.  Guide now the people of your Church, that, following our Savior, we may walk through [...]

Read more

Walk on the Road of Faith

Theology, Weekends with Bach

BWV 152 Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn The Sunday after Christmas Salomo Franck, Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer…in geistlichen Cantaten (Weimar, 1715); Facs: Neumann T, p. 275. 30 December 1714, Weimar. BG 32; NBG Jg. 48-50,1; NBA I/3. 1. Sinfonia 2. Aria (B) Walk on the road of faith, God hath the stone established Which holds and bears up [...]

Read more

Searching & Reading

Franz Friday, Theology

Franz Friday Via Pieper’s Church Dogmatics Vol. 1, p. 289 Luther’s words read: “In this manner, without doubt, the Prophets studied Moses and the last Prophets the first, and with the phrase “in this manner” he refers to his preceding remarks about Scripture study, which God enjoins upon all Christians and all teachers, as he [...]

Read more

The ‘But’ of Holy Scripture

Theology, Thursdays with Iwand

Thursdays with Iwand Via Iwand’s sermon “The Loincloth” But – room must still remain for the great “But” of Holy Scripture. “But without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). This “But” is not to be overlooked even here. On the contrary, this “But” is the final and deepest meaning of that most [...]

Read more

Praying the Catechism

Resources

A devotional resource for Lent: I Pray the Catechism, prepared by the ELS board for Parish Education & Youth, adapted by Pastor Shawn D. Stafford. Catechism Lenten Devotion

Read more

Two Letters to Valentinus

Theology, Wednesdays with Augustine

Wednesdays with Augustine Via Augustine’s ‘Two Letters to Valentinus,” chapters 6, 11, 12 Chapter 6 [IV.] – God’s Grace to Be Maintained Against the Pelagians; The Pelagian Heresy Not an Old One. It is, however, to be feared lest all these and similar testimonies of Holy Scripture (and undoubtedly there are a great many of [...]

Read more

The Question of Will

Theology, Tuesdays with Forde

Tuesdays with Forde Via On Being a Theologian of the Cross pp. 50-51 …we always come back to the question of the “little bit,” one of the telltale signs of the theology of glory. This is the issue in theses 13-18. Can we or will we by our own natural powers, doing our best, prepare [...]

Read more

Death’s Duel

History

Pastor and poet John Donne (1572–1631) preached his final sermon on this day (Feb. 15) in 1631. It was delivered before the King at the beginning of Lent, 1630. Donne, at that time, was Dr. in Divinity, and Dean of Saint Paul’s, London. This sermon was preached not many days before his death; and the [...]

Read more

Prayers for Ash Wednesday

Resources

Via Let Us Pray P: O almighty and everlasting God, Your people come to You with weeping and mourning over all our sins, yet we give You thanks that You are gracious and merciful to us. Grant to us Your Holy Spirit that our hearts may be contrite, our faith steadfast and immovable, and our [...]

Read more

Sermon for Lent I

Mondays with Martin, Resources

Mondays with Martin Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent; Matthew 4:1-11 Via Luther’s Church Postil, taken from volume II:133-147 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred [...]

Read more

Christ’s Holy Sufferings

Mondays with Martin, Theology

Mondays with Martin Via Volume II of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans In All Lands (Minneapolis, MN), in a series titled The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 11. The original title of this sermon [...]

Read more

Convicted by the Spirit

Resources

From Lutheran Press, the publishing house devoted specifically to “publishing and promoting the theology of Martin Luther,” here is an online version of Luther’s Postil 235 – John 16:8-13, translated by Holger Sonntag and adapted by Paul Strawn. Convicted By the Spirit

Read more

My Only Joy

Theology

BWV 208 Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd! Jagdkantate Birthday of Prince Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels (23 February). Salomo Franck, Geist- und Weltlicher Poesien Zweyter Theil (Jena 1716); Facs: Neumann T, p. 288. 1713, near Weißenfels; Parody: —> BWV 208a; 7 — BWV 68/4; 13 —> BWV 68/2 and Cantata V/5; 15 —> BWV [...]

Read more

Dutch Church Decides Not To Discipline Atheist Pastor

News

(ENI) — A self-proclaimed atheist can continue to serve as a local pastor of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, and no longer faces disciplinary action because of his controversial position on how to describe God. A special assembly of Zierikzee, a regional church body given the task of investigating the theological statements of Pastor [...]

Read more

The Historical Critical Infraction

Franz Friday, Theology

Franz Friday Via Pieper’s Dogmatics Volume 1, p.366 In fact, we go astray in our exegesis of Scripture as soon as we think that the historical background given in Scripture needs to be supplemented by material from secular history and permit this supplementation to have any decisive influence on our exegesis. Such a procedure, too, [...]

Read more

Bo Giertz Bibliography

Resources

New translation: The Knights of Rhodes (Wipf & Stock, 2010) Writings by Giertz available in English, in alphabetical order by title “Adapted Translation of Bo Giertz’s Holy Week Homilies.” Trans. Eric R. Andrae. Logia XIV:3, Holy Trinity 2005:84. “Be Not Discouraged.” Trans. Eric R. Andrae. Logia VIII:2, Eastertide 1999:54. Bishop’s Letter to the Gothenburg Diocese [...]

Read more

Vehementer Nos

History

It was on this day (February 11) in 1905 Pope Pius X (1835–1914) published the encyclical Vehementer Nos, in which he denounces the idea of separation between the state and the Roman church, calling it “a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error.” Here is the full text of the encyclical (via Vatican.va): VEHEMENTER NOS [...]

Read more

The Humanity of God

Theology, Thursdays with Iwand

Thursdays with Iwand Via The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther pp. 37-38 The view that a person is changed through faith is the view of the Cross. Luther drew many of his concepts regarding the flesh and suffering from the theological mystics. However, his view differs radically from the mystics in that the recovery [...]

Read more

Words & the Word

Theology

Wednesdays with Augustine Via On Christian Doctrine Book II, chapters 4-6 Chapter 4.—Origin of Writing. 5. But because words pass away as soon as they strike upon the air, and last no longer than their sound, men have by means of letters formed signs of words. Thus the sounds of the voice are made visible [...]

Read more

Transfiguration Sunday

Resources

Here is the handout from Bob and Cathy Mattson for Transfiguration Sunday. 10 Transfiguration Sunday – Luke

Read more