Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
I ended the last lesson reporting that the Latin American bishops with whom I associate Pope Francis’ theology of the spirit think the times call for institutional and pastoral reform. There are two ways to understand reform. The first sees it cleaning up corruption and the second making changes needed in a new situation. Both […]
John’s comment after last week’s lesson offered an important qualification. He observed that becoming a voice in the political conversation is essential in our time but serving the needy as caring individuals is still more important. That distinction accurately indicates how Pope Francis’ Theology of the Spirit moves beyond Liberation Theology by carefully modifying its […]
There is no doubt that Pope Francis’ theology of the spirit is an outgrowth of the liberation theology prominent during the middle of the last century in Latin America. He literally echoes the preference for the poor that they advocated. Many of you might remember this group featured priests gathering the poor for small group […]
Many of us think Pope Francis serves as a much-needed model of the faith in our time, at least in his words and personal examples. Obviously, some of his witness has been thwarted by the very institutional structures that he identifies as outdated and irrelevant. I’d like to spend some time examining the Theology of […]
My wife helps me write sermons. Last week, she came home saying I should incorporate something about Service Week. “How am I going to do that when I promised to preach on Sodom and Gomorrah?” I moaned. And then, as if that were not challenging enough, she came a second time saying I should mention […]
The Passover celebration is a family meal that begins when the youngest child asks, “Father, why is this night different than other nights?” The Father then tells the Exodus story as simply and clearly as possible, so that even this child can understand. “There was a time long ago when a mighty nation, who thought […]
When Jesus was baptized, the writers report the heavens were torn apart, God’s Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, and a voice pronounced, “You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” The message was clear: God loves Jesus, and his Spirit will fill Jesus’ life so that he can perform mighty deeds and […]
In my denomination, we pretty much just celebrate on Easter Sunday. We read about the empty tomb, loudly proclaim, “He is Risen” to each other, and do a lot of singing. We wait until the following Sundays to reflect on what all this means. Then we take time to ponder Jesus’ appearances among his first […]
After much discussion, I have decided to give in and admit talking about the common story of Christianity is not helpful. As many of you have pointed out, there are just too many incredibly divergent claims out there. Instead, I shall speak about the book’s understanding of what the Christian voice should be in the […]
Last week I wrote that a proper understanding of faith, hope, and love provides a common story for the Church by acknowledging our real life connections to community, nature, time, and place. I quickly got a marvelous critique from Lupe that raised three challenging questions about the relevance of my thoughts. The first two stem […]
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