Avoiding the Confessional/Conciliar Reduction: The Scripture Principle
Matthias Grebe offers a good word on the potential problem of being hyper-confessional/conciliar (my phraseology), to the point that said confessions and conciliar determinations come to reduce and coopt the possibility for thinking with greater depth and criticality in regard to the implications of Scripture’s attestation to its depth reality in Jesus Christ and the triune God. So Grebe: The varied understandings of key texts can obstruct consensus in theology. And yet, theology is best done in conversation. When this dialogue does not take place, the stronghold of various doctrines and opinions (often safeguarded by a small minority who thereby…
Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – August 14, 2022
These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod. Intercession prompts: For the capacity to wisely live into the discernments made during the Churchwide Assembly… For those in Seoul, South Korea impacted by heavy flooding… For those in Europe who continue to navigate extreme temperatures… For those who are incarcerated… For educators…
Kataphysics. TFT’s ‘stratified knowledge of God’ and the Christian Existence
Either something is, or it isn’t. Surely, there are nuances on a continuum, and we should all be aware of that as we approach any system or maybe better, organism of thought. Nonetheless, in the end, either a framework of thought is sound and corresponds to reality or it doesn’t. This seems like a good working definition of critical realism. If we apply this to a theological prolegomenon, what, in the end, will obtain, is that we will use various criteria to determine whether or not some belief structure, that we may or may not adhere to, is actually true…
NEW Resource! Housing: A Practical Guide to Learning, Advocating and Building
A New Resource on Housing! The United States faces a looming crisis in housing, the second in barely more than a decade. The job losses and other economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have many of us facing an increased risk of eviction and foreclosure; at the same time, there is a marked shortage of available housing within reach for most Americans. The problems of homelessness and housing insecurity are ongoing and growing. Solving them means developing sustainable solutions for the long term, rather than temporary fixes for a current crisis. This church has a clear imperative to help those…
Total Inclusion!
Today’s blog post comes from Josiah Benedict, the Program Coordinator for Total Inclusion: Total Inclusion was launched in 2020 after some lead up work by the ELCA and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries (LOM). An ELCA program with a deep partnership with LOM, Total Inclusion is completely funded by a grant from the Margaret A Cargill Philanthropy (MACP) organization. The goal of Total Inclusion is to enrich the lives of youth from traditionally marginalized groups by creating a welcoming and safe experience for them at ELCA affiliated camps. Total Inclusion identified three main groups to focus on: People who identify as LGBTQIA+,…
What Does Barth’s Trinitarian Actualism Mean? Against the Monad
When in the realm of Barth studies, you will often hear of ‘Barth’s actualism.’ But what in fact is actualism in Barth’s theology? And might it, once understood, offer the way out of the classical modes of thought in regard to God’s relation to the world through the decretum absolutum (‘absolute decree’)? In other words, could Barth’s actualism allow us to understand God’s ways vis-à-vis the world in such a way that God is no longer understood to be a static monad, but instead, a relational and personalist God, who indeed is constituted by his perichoretic co-inhering relations as Father,…
Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – August 7, 2022
These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod. Intercession prompts: For those who are tending, harvesting and sharing seasonal produce… For communities in eastern Kentucky impacted by flooding… For communities in the western United States experiencing expanding wildfires… For collective engagement in the ELCA’s Truth-Seeking and Truth-Telling Initiative For those who…
What Happened to All of the Posts Critiquing classical Calvinism?
Calvinism continues to be of issue, particularly at the popular Church level. I haven’t posted as much on this issue over the last few years, it seems. It hasn’t been intentional. My blogging is typically shaped by my reading, and since much of my reading time has been consumed by Barth’s Church Dogmatics my blogging has reflected that (and of course the various other readings I am doing concurrent with that). It isn’t that I don’t find these matters of import, or interesting, it is just that in certain respects I have so exhausted myself on the various themes that…
Prompts for Prayers of Intercession – July 31, 2022
These prompts are provided for worship leaders as they prepare the prayers of intercession for weekly worship. The prompts are prepared by several leaders in the ELCA and reflect current world and national events. You are encouraged to adapt and add other concerns for your local context, including staying informed of events and concerns in your synod. Intercession prompts: In gratitude for and solidarity with members of our community living with disabilities… For communities harmed by earthquakes in the Philippines and threatened by wildfires in California… For the life of Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, the first Native American woman ordained…
Special Action Alert: Support U.S. Funding of Augusta Victoria Hospital
Support U.S. Funding of Augusta Victoria Hospital! Take action today. Background President Joe Biden visited Augusta Victoria Hospital on July 15 as part of a two-day presidential visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Biden’s visit to the hospital was the first visit of a sitting U.S. president to East Jerusalem. The president announced a $ 100 million multiyear commitment toward the East Jerusalem Hospital Network (EJHN), of which AVH is a member. Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and the only medical facility in the West…