Union with Christ in the Epistle to Diognetus, Ambrose, and Luther
Christ, in whom alone is our righteousness before God, not only makes us just from without, but personally comes and dwells within us. He simultaneously stands before the Father as our head, our representative, our mediator, our Savior, and sits with us in our struggles, our sufferings, and our daily failures and sins. He never ceases being our mediator before God, and he never leaves us personally stranded like sheep without a shepherd. We are declared righteous due solely to what Christ has done for us on our behalf, and we are daily renewed and strengthened as Christ is in us and is leading us toward that celestial city at the end of this often painful and difficult life.
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Sleep
“Keep watch with me,” he said, yet still we sleep—
And, dreaming, never dream of all his sorrow.
Alone the shepherd watches while the sheep
Doze unconcerned, undoubtful of tomorrow.
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What Is Truth? The Answer of St. Anselm
Are there any significant problems for Anselm’s understanding of truth? I don’t believe so. While there may be dimensions or aspects of truth that Anselm does not consider, his theory should seem both plausible and tenable to those who grant that God is real and all things depend on him. For if all things depend on him, then the truth of any created thing must ultimately be defined by the relation in which it stands to God, and Anselm has provided an elegant and illuminating way of conceiving what this relation is and how God establishes it.
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The Lutheran Doctrine of Justification in a Patristic Perspective: A Critique of Alister McGrath's Iustitia Dei
McGrath’s conclusions should be rejected as they are drawn from a biased and partial selection of church fathers that fails to accurately represent patristic thought and cannot support such wide and generalizing assertions as those made by McGrath. His treatment of specific church fathers should also be questioned, such as his treatment of Victorinus, which presents a view of Victorinus’s theology difficult to square with his own writing on the relevant issues.
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The Core Failures of Pro-Nazi Christians in the Third Reich
But race was not the only idol pro-Nazi Christians were tempted to worship. Many pro-Nazi Christians considered Hitler himself to be a savior figure, a new messiah that Providence sent to save Germany. He became an idol too. Hitler presented himself as a man mediating between the people and Providence, and we know the people put their trust in him to lead Germany into the Thousand-year Reich. Even as the Allies invaded Germany and the end was all but certain, there were still some who earnestly believed that Hitler could snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.
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The Stygian Fairy
Along the river down to death
A fairy-nymph lives in the reeds
Who told in whispered, quiet breath
Of one returning from Hades.
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The Theology of Johann Gerhard: Exploring His Relevance in the Twenty-First Century, Part II
Gerhard’s works, albeit not as well-known as they should be, change the lives of those who read them. They truly transcend time. Because of Gerhard’s focus on the resurrection, on comfort, on theological acumen, on suffering, on oratio, meditatio, tentatio, on life, and on loss, his words and his insights hit his reader in ways that can only be received as if it were Jesus himself speaking to us. I am certainly not saying that Gerhard’s words are Spirit-inspired, but they are inspired words. Gerhard knew the heart of man, both in its depravity and in its deep need, and was able to speak God’s word clearly and rightly to it.
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The Theology of Johann Gerhard: Exploring His Relevance in the Twenty-First Century, Part I
Gerhard is a theologian for the twenty-first century, even though he came about four hundred years too early. His theology stands the test of time, but not many have read him today. His devotional work is exemplary, but we just have not spent the time in it that we should. The first part of this essay will serve as an introduction to Gerhard and his work. In a subsequent part to be published separately, we will explore some of examples of Gerhard’s work and why it is important for today.
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Reclaiming the Virtues: Lawful Living According to Thomas Aquinas
Some might object that that Aquinas’s conception of virtue is wholly incompatible with the Lutheran view of good works. After all, if faith is a necessary condition for good works and true virtue, in what sense can we speak of moral virtues that are attainable through one’s natural powers, especially in the case of those who reject Christ? Gerhard provides a straightforward solution. Even though only good works done in faith are spiritually good, the works of the unregenerate can still be deemed “morally and civilly good.” We can still consider their deeds and virtues “according to the substance of the act,” which is exactly the analysis that Aquinas provides. Even if the efficient, impulsive, and final causes of the works of the regenerate and unregenerate differ, the analysis of virtue according to the substance of the act remains the same.
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Poor Instrument
Poor instrument am I, and so rejected—
Now sharp, now flat, now tarrying behind.
I flout the score the flautist has selected,
Mar the tune the player has designed.
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The Argument from Desire
While less prominent than other theistic proofs, the argument from desire nevertheless bears several strengths. Perhaps its greatest asset is the ease with which someone can grasp the premises and conclusion of the argument, yet the proof remains sound enough to answer common nontheistic objections. Consequently, the argument from desire belongs in the toolkit of every Christian apologist.
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Abortion as a Freedom
The worst harm from the decades of legalized abortion in the United States is probably the millions of dead human beings that none of us ever got to know. But I would argue, almost as bad has been the entrapment practiced on millions of women who found themselves unexpectedly in a tight spot, with an innocent new life suddenly blocking the way between them and their dreams, who had no externally enforced standards to keep them from taking the easy way out, and just rolling over it. If this life isn’t developed enough to say, “Don’t tread on me,” does it count when I do? “No,” the laws told them. “It doesn’t.
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Can Liberalism Be Saved? A Proposal from F.J. Stahl
Postliberal authors like Patrick Deneen rightly understand the dire situation of the modern west and the failure of individual rights to serve as some underlying philosophical basis for a functional society. Nonetheless, one does not need to abandon the liberal tradition altogether to correct course. Friedrich Julius Stahl provides a roadmap for us today to consider how it is that we are to think about the role of law, the nature of rights, and the common good in an era of increasing secularization.
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What Is a Great Book?
What then are these truths that matter most? They are truths which are spiritually nourishing. This means they are truths which concern who God is, who we are as human beings, what makes for a good life, and what awaits us after death. They are truths which make us aware of what our ultimate purpose is, and what beliefs, affections, and habits can serve as appropriate means to realizing that purpose. The Bible, being full of such truths, and in fact containing all of the ones that are truly essential, is the foremost example of a great book. It is the book of books, the enduring and timeless archetype by which all other books must be measured and evaluated.
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Theology: Theoretical or Practical?
Theology, the study of God and divine things, is the paramount discipline because it concerns the highest and most sublime realities. All Christians should aim to be good theologians, as all are called to believe and confess the truth. Yet, there is no Christian consensus regarding the classification of theology as a genus. In other words, there is no agreement about whether theology is a theoretical or practical discipline. This is an important matter, as it shapes how we understand the purpose of theology.
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Feminine Fortitude: Reflections on a Cardinal Virtue
It would be wrong, however, to imply that fortitude is, in any way, an exclusively masculine virtue. This is where the claim that “fortitude means ‘to act like men’” requires careful qualification. Some species of fortitude are necessary for feminine vocations. Not only that, but some expressions of fortitude are only possible in feminine vocations, as we demonstrated above with motherhood. To be a good mother is to be patient. To be a good daughter is to be persevering.
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Technology, the Body, and the Modern Condition: What Christians can Learn from Byung-Chul Han
Han further contemplates achievement and optimization in The Burnout Society, where he argues that “achievement society is the society of self-exploitation. The achievement-subject exploits itself until it burns out.” While society promises complete autonomy and the removal of sources of oppression or repression, this “absence of external domination does not abolish the structure of compulsion. It makes freedom and compulsion coincide. The achievement-subject gives itself over to freestanding compulsion in order to maximize performance. In this way, it exploits itself. . . . Exploitation now occurs without domination. That is what makes self-exploitation so efficient.”
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"Holy Images Are Not Forbidden": Martin Luther against Iconoclasm
How does this discussion relate to modern Protestant Churches being afflicted by a lack of imagery? This isn't merely a stylistic choice, a preference for stylistic minimalism. For how you worship is a confession of what you believe. As with Luther, we should see and use iconography and images, especially the crucifix, as devotional aids. (They do say a picture is worth a thousand words!) The perspective of Luther and the iconodules demonstrate to us the need there is to recapture some of that love for iconography today.
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The Conservative Reformer: Classical Lutheranism for the Contemporary World
Every tradition occasionally needs people within its ranks to articulate a vision of its aims and to indicate the preferred means for bringing such a vision to realization. In other words, it calls for writers and thinkers who enable it to capture a true sense of what it is and clarify what it seeks to accomplish. To provide such a vision is not to presume to speak for everyone else within a given tradition, but it is to stake out a position regarding the best way forward for the tradition and to invite others to rally around this perspective. Such efforts often bring renewal to a tradition’s self-understanding and provide an impetus to reclaim and reinvigorate what makes the tradition exceptional.
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