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…
A Response to Plato’s Impact on the Great Tradition of the Church
Earlier this morning I listened to Credo Magazine’s podcast in which Matthew Barrett interviews Louis Markos, the author of From Plato to Christ, among other books. You can listen to that podcast here. They were discussing, of course, the role and impact that Plato had, and continues to have on the development of Christian theology. Barrett often likes to refer to the Great Tradition of the Church, which of course is really more of a Latin way to think about things theological and ecclesial (the Greeks have the Consensus Patrum, ha!) I of course repudiate the general prolegomenon, or theological…
“Our Wholeness Is In Jesus Christ” by Rev. Peter Heide
I remember a particular Sunday in October 1962. It was the first anniversary of me being blind, and I was pretty proud of myself. I had made the transition from sight to blindness with some degree of competency. I had learned Braille well enough to continue with my class. I had learned how to write with a slate and stylus, a process of writing Braille that requires learning how to write from right to left and backwards. I was adjusting to living in a residential school during the week, only coming home for weekends, and I was learning to live…
July Updates: UN and State Edition
Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices (sppos) in the ELCA Advocacy Network this month. Full list and map of sppos available. U.N. | Colorado | Minnesota | Pennsylvania | Virginia | Washington U.N. Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), United Nations, New York, N.Y. – ELCA.org/lowc Dennis Frado, Director The UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) is was held from Tuesday, 5 July, to Thursday, 7 July, and from Monday, 11 July, to Friday, 15 July 2022, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It…
An Entrée to Karl Barth: A Suggested Reading List
A reader of the blog just contacted me via email to inquire about what I would recommend as introductory reading on and from Barth. The following is the list I put down off the top. 1) Michael Allen’s: Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics: An Introduction and Reader 2) George Hunsinger: How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theology 3) The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth 4) David Guretzki: An Explorer’s Guide to Karl Barth 5) Bruce McCormack: Orthodox and Modern: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth 6) Christiane Tietz: Karl Barth: A Life of Conflict 7) Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline 8) Karl…