Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
These two chapters lift the veil from heaven so we can see first hand what is happening there. When an angelic voice calls John and places him in his prophetic trance, he finds himself in a throne room at the time of Jesus’ ascension. The prophet describes incredibly magnificent cosmic phenomena and wondrously strange creatures […]
Any decent understanding of Paul’s letters begins with an appreciation that they were written to particular congregations in a specific historical period. They were preserved in scripture, because the apostle handled their problems in a manner that remains relevant for us. So, too, any meaningful interpretation of Revelation depends on discerning the situation John was […]
I decided to write a short series on Revelation after a number of onliners indicated that they were not aware that the book charted the fall of the Roman Empire. Once you begin reading it this way, it offers another perspective on the relation of church and state. Most of us think Paul’s instruction in […]
Looking back over this series, I realize how much I was compelled to continue, because the news every last morning provided a new set of lies spewed out by public officials to whom we had given our trust. That compulsion also was fired by the large number of people who repeatedly told me this disregard […]
The Bible describes salvation as God’s attempt to save humanity from self-destruction and sees this, in part, as unveiling the truth that humans fail to discern. From beginning to end, two of the primary ways the scriptures explain our failure are that our violence and greed get in the way. The prophet John attempted to […]
Try as hard as I might, I find I cannot let go of this rather disjointed investigation of truth. Every time I think I find a way out, another unanswered question disturbs me. My intention was to slip away with a lesson on truth and irony, perhaps beginning with E. C. Bentley’s “Between what matters […]
Recently, a wonderfully kind young man, whom I respect greatly, was explaining to me why he was not religious. He indicated he thought scholars would come up with a unified theory in the next 25 years. Obviously, he regarded me as an old, traditional kind of fellow who lived in the past as he gently […]
If the history of humanity is read as the search for truth, and if that search involves making common sense of the kaleidoscope of sensory data that constantly bombards us, and if making common sense involves coming to agreement on not only fact but also the meaning and purpose of those facts, and if our […]
I find that I have trapped myself, and you, by examining the conflict between power and love during Holy Week. The church year narrative uses this period to present the ultimate confrontation of these truth claims. Current news reports remind us we find ourselves in the same situation in real life. The Holy Week narrative […]
More than ever I hear from friends in academia, business, and government that they are accused of not knowing how the world operates whenever they advocate for options including sharing and caring. The accusation always implies that a loving action is naive, because only power brings success. We are dealing here with two fundamentally different […]
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