Featured Study
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Lesson 5: America First
Read More »Recently, I again heard politicians using “America First” to express their positions. At first, I assumed it referred to buying American goods to support American businesses. We should be willing to pay more so our friends have jobs. However, eventually I realized MAGA was using the slogan to express restoring US world dominance. “America First” […]
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Lesson 4: Fear and Power
Read More »The nation is reeling after just three weeks of the Trump administration brandishing naked power. Many citizens are trying to figure out how we got to this place as if knowing might contribute to overcoming the violence. When I ask about this, I remember a visit to the South several years ago. All the conversation […]
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Lesson 3: Cooperation and Sharing
Read More »”Love your neighbor” could be rephrased “Masters, act as servants.” If we have power over others, we are to use it to care for them, not to take advantage of them. Thinking about this brought to mind two ethical observations that rang true 25 years ago and still do today. Both were propositions about changes […]
Church & Society
Lesson 1: History
Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment introduces a new stage in the ongoing conversation between Church and Society.
Lesson 2: Sensus Fidei
Lupe mentioned the situation her son faced when on assignment for the World Bank in Pakistan during Ramadan. With extremely high temperatures, over 700 people died observing the fast that includes not drinking water during daylight hours. Does following God’s will include this kind of renunciation?
Lesson 3: The Global Economic System
Certainly a major factor Christians have to consider when making decisions in our modern world is the global economic system. Electronic media and computing enable us to engage with people we do not know on the other side of the earth, and we have used this primarily for economic transactions. This has brought new challenges […]
Practical Theology
Lesson 1: Practical Christianity
Obviously, the first task is to define what I mean by Practical Christianity. Not so obviously, the second is to point out this is a very controversial subject. When I speak of Practical Christianity I simply mean what faith offers for everyday living here and now. People used to speak of it as “Applied Christianity”. […]
Lesson 2: Overcoming Suffering
The course will look at some of the components of Practical Christianity, sometimes described as the art of Christian living. It will begin examining how Christianity offers a way to overcome suffering, whether this is from natural disaster, social injustice, or personal problems. God obviously does not promise to shield us from the suffering caused […]
Lesson 3: Cause of Suffering
After writing, “Suffering is inevitable for all, but some suffer more, and some feel the pains of life more deeply than others, or so it often appears,” Concordia asked, “Is there a point or purpose to any kind of suffering? Does suffering build character?” The answer to those questions is essential for understanding our way […]
Woke Christianity
Lesson 1: What is Woke?
Many of my friends at some time in the past year have asked, “Exactly what is ‘woke’ anyway?” It’s usually in response to politicians using the term in a derogatory way, in mockery as if something “woke” is silly or in anger as if it is dangerous. My understanding is “woke” goes back a long […]
Lesson 2: Religion is Woke
All the great world religions could be said to be “woke” in the sense that awareness is a basic teaching. They all claim to discern reality. That might be described as facing the truth, providing a healthy way of life, bringing us into harmony with the grain of the universe, or doing God’s will. In […]
Lesson 3: Woke Christianity and Racism
If religion is by nature “woke,” the spiritual wakes us up to what is hidden and sometimes upsetting about ourselves and our institutions. This applies even to the church. We can begin examining how this works with racism from which the term comes. Back in the 1930s, the Black American singer Lead Belly talked about […]
Technology & Culture
Lesson 1: Technology and Culture
A member of our Science, Technology, and Society group from South Korea mused that he belonged to three different cultures during his lifetime. The first was the traditional Korean in which he grew up, the second was American after the war in 1953, and the third was the technological in recent decades. He argued technology […]
Lesson 2: Definitions
I think I got ahead of myself. Responses to the first lesson indicate I should define what I mean by culture and technology. In the past, a community was associated with a culture. That culture was not something consciously built but an understanding that developed naturally from living together. That is not to say everyone […]
Lesson 3: Unrestrained Technology
Traditional culture provided all sorts of guidelines for relating to our neighbors. Some of you have questioned if there was ever such a thing. You argue I should recognize the US has never had a common story. In the past, our democratic government has simply been able to prevent our present cultural wars. Perhaps then […]
Christian Lifestyle
Lesson 1: Jesus
Welcome to the new course. It’ll be a little different than the first. I shall try to offer one- page, four- sessions series. Hopefully, that will help everyone to keep up, as the course will work best if we have participants sharing their ideas. The goal is to develop a Christian lifestyle appropriate for our […]
Lesson 2: The Counter Culture Church – The Radical Life
This is the second of the four Christian lifestyles we’ll examine from our past. Remember we are talking about designs for living rather than theologies, histories, or even ethics. Some believe this radical lifestyle is the only genuine one, because it was the first. It is certainly exemplified by the first three hundred years of […]
Lesson 3: The Established Church – The Balanced Life
When Constantine accepted Christianity in the 300s, the counterculture community became one of many institutions performing their functions for the common good. This Established Church took the role of providing religion for conventional society. She has been part of the establishment in some form from that time. The Established Church serves sometimes as the conscience […]
Luther\'s Small Catechism
Lesson 1: The First Commandment in Luther’s Small Catechism
Being that this is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting the 95 Theses Against Indulgences, I plan to offer two series on the reformer this fall. The second will expand on a lecture I am giving at La Roche College on November 1, 2017. It suggests that the Lutheran and Roman Catholic narratives these […]
Lesson 2: The Ten Commandments in Luther’s Small Catechism
I do not intend to examine every part of the catechism. You can do that yourself here. Instead, I shall highlight some of the more important parts of Luther’s explanations, especially emphasizing some of his distinctive insights. He numbered the commandments just as he was taught in the Catholic Church. The first three included those […]
Lesson 3: The First Article of the Apostles’ Creed in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism
Luther’s explanation of the Creed’s first article is another classic. He uses everyday language to interpret creation as God’s ongoing action to provide for all our needs, protect us from all dangers, and preserve us through all changes. This is far from the deism most of our contemporaries associate with creation in which God sets […]
What is Truth?
Lesson 1: Trust
The present concern with fake news and a post-truth culture goes deeper than we usually acknowledge. I pulled out some quotes from Sissela Bok’s 1978 book, Lying, that I used when writing about trust decades ago. She wrote that “trust in some degree of veracity functions as a foundation of relations among human beings: when […]
Lesson 2: Truth and Facts
At first, I was taken aback when people read last week’s lesson as a political statement. My intention was simply to point out that a healthy society depends on being able to trust that people are telling the truth. The political examples were meant to show ours is ailing. This week, I wanted to suggest […]
Lesson 3: Truth and Political Correctness
A few weeks ago, Father Jude reminded us that the given in a democracy is a reasonable, educated audience. “Absent that as the valid context, free speech in a democracy is just so much noise, at best, and, at worst, a detriment.” Knowing Jude, I am sure he did not mean that all reasonable and […]
Power
Lesson 1: Truth to Power
I had decided to do a series on the Christian concept and use of power. People say they no longer feel safe, and their fear seems to explain a lot happening all around us. For instance, I think the slogan that has headed Donald Trump’s home page for years best explains his election. It reads, […]
Lesson 2: A Biblical Perspective on Power
Let’s take a preliminary look at what the Bible says about unconditional power being a human problem that could destroy the world. It’s an idea found from beginning to end in the scriptures. Hopefully, we can find some guidance for handling the present threat. The danger is usually personified. Way back in Genesis 4, Lamech, […]
Lesson 3: Cooperation and Sharing
”Love your neighbor” could be rephrased “Masters, act as servants.” If we have power over others, we are to use it to care for them, not to take advantage of them. Thinking about this brought to mind two ethical observations that rang true 25 years ago and still do today. Both were propositions about changes […]
The Church & Politics
Lesson 1: The Bible is About Politics
When I entered the ministry back in the early 1960s, pastors were warned not to get too political in the pulpit or they would lose their tax exemption. John Kennedy was elected president after promising his Catholic faith would not influence his politics. And everyone I knew tried to separate church and state. Then all […]
Lesson 2: The History of Church and State
If the Bible can pretty much be read as God’s Word speaking truth to human political power, Church history is more diverse. It offers a variety of relationships in different periods. Before we examine what is going on in the present, it would be helpful to trace very quickly what went on in the past. […]
Lesson 3: Christian Nationalism
The separation of church and state that historically has been a cherished principle of the USA is being severely threatened. The media pictures Church leaders laying hands on political candidates and popular pastors speaking prominently at campaign rallies. Election committees regard religious groups as critical voting blocks. Then Pew Foundation’s recent study of religion in […]
Friendship
Lesson 10: Early Christian Meals
In the last lesson, I suggested conversing over fine food and drink might be the best way to promote friendship in our day. In this one, I’d like to support the thought by showing how important this is for Christianity. Meals played a major role in the Old Testament. There was Abraham and Sarah offering […]
Lesson 1: Changes in Friendship
When I was growing up in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, people spoke of “family and friends.” I had all sorts of “family” throughout the small city. When we would gather for annual reunions, we would be joined by some of the few who had moved away to seek their fortunes. I could also point to many “friends” […]
Lesson 2: Professional Friends
Last summer, I participated in a conversation that illustrates the current situation of friendship. A man sat down beside me and revealed he worked at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas. When I asked what he did, he hesitated. “It is hard to explain,” he responded. “Many people can not understand. I am a friend.” […]
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