by Ty Andor We are driven at times to ask, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17) There seems to be no earthly reward for those who deserve it, and even worse, those who deserve the opposite of an earthly reward flourish. “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before [...]
by Donavon Riley By the seventeenth century Luther’s formulation of justification had been contradicted in part if not in total by the Protestant doctrine of applied grace. This marked a curious commonality between Lutherans and their presumed Roman Catholic opponents. In Roman Catholic teaching applied grace is at the heart of grace in general. In [...]
Well known are Luther’s theses (propositiones) on the authority of the Church in matters of doctrine and in adiophorous matters. He says: “The Christian Church has no authority to ordain any article of faith, never has ordained and never will ordain one. The Church of God has no power to enact any precept as to [...]
Beginning April 22nd, the Luther Academy and the Association of Confessional Lutherans will be hosting a three day “Congress on the Lutheran Confessions” at the Ramada Mall of America, Bloomington, MN. The schedule of events and speakers are as follows. Wednesday, April 22, 2009 11:00 a.m. Congress Registration Begins 1:00 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks [...]
(the following is a manuscript accompanied by student notes on the theme: “The Death of God” from Christology (1953/54) by Hans Joachim Iwand, translated by Marney Fritts and Donavon Riley) [1] The Death of Jesus as Necessity The necessity of Jesus’ death – if we begin with the first assumption that this is the death [...]
(via William Weedon’s blog Sola Christus) Many times, Lutherans are challenged with: “Well, where was Lutheranism before Luther?” The implication is that Rome or the Eastern Orthodox have some sort of “corner” on the great church Fathers. But Lutherans have never believed this to be true. The Fathers repeatedly present the same or quite similar [...]
by Jaynan Clarck Egland (Note to the Reader: The following is something I felt inspired to write down while meeting with the ACR—Association for Church Renewal—in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. ACR is a gathering of leaders from reform movements across the mainline denominations. The traditions represented at the meeting included Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed (U.S. [...]
“To ordain does not mean to consecrate. Accordingly, if we know of a godly man, we choose him and, on the strength of the Word which is ours, we give him authority to preach the Word and administer the sacraments. This is what it means to ordain.” “The ministry is not to be unduly exalted [...]
by Donavon Riley When Hans Joachim Iwand took the podium during his 1941 lectures, the dust had yet to settle from Barth’s explosive critique of nineteenth century liberal theology, and Friedrich Schleiermacher in particular. Iwand’s colleagues had requested that he address the question Barth and others had raised about Christian faith and its relation to [...]
