Who Ministers to Whom: Matthew 25:31–46 and Prison Ministry

This essay sees Matthew 25:31–46 as Jesus’ offer of both gift and challenge: disciples will simultaneously minister to and be ministered to by Jesus in jail and prison. Following a consideration of two different dominant ways of interpreting the passage in the literature—what are sometimes called the missionary and the social justice interpretations—and Luther's reading of the passage as falling under the Fifth Commandment, the essay invites the reader to engage the transformative consequences of  “seeing” Jesus imprisoned in the U.S. criminal “justice” system.     

“Faith Alone”—Primus Inter Pares: Welcome to the Banquet

Faith alone represents the primus inter pares of the sixteenth‐century Reformation's four solas. Gary Simpson introduces five authors who critically explore and creatively extend the doctrine of justification by faith alone as Dialog with its Fall issues (2013–2017) leans into the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation (2017).     

Freedom from and Freedom for: Luther's Concept of Freedom for the Twenty‐First Century

This article examines Martin Luther's two fundamental claims around Christian freedom. Drawing on Luther, I suggest three primary characteristics of Christian freedom that should be recovered and championed in our twenty‐first‐century context: it is relational, it is a gift; and it contains within it an ethical imperative for the sake of the neighbor. Together, these three characteristics point to the fact that in a Christian understanding, “freedom” is never considered by itself, but only in the larger context of “freedom from” and “freedom for.”     

Contours for a Public Lutheran Theology in the Face of Empire

Abstract : Three themes structure Lutheranism's interpretation of the biblical narrative as it intersects with the present challenges of Empire: justification by faith as a declaration of inclusiveness; God's threefold‐multidimensional action creating and sustaining democratic practices (two kingdoms); and the cross as the critical ‘weapon’ against the ‘glory’ of Empire. This implies placing our theology within the present cultural and religious debate in a way consistent with the methodology of the cross: a theology done from the bowels of Empire, revealing its true face behind its alleged ‘benevolent’ mask.     

Luther on Unio Cum Christo

Although often neglected, Luther's concept of unio cum Christo in justification is a fruitful model for integrating faith and ethics. According to this model, the Christian is justified in union with Christ who is present in faith. Since Christ is the incarnation of God's self‐giving love, the Christian united with Christ will in turn love her neighbor. This model of integration reveals an intrinsic connection between faith and ethics. Justification concerns not only the dyad of self and God, but also the self's relations with other persons. For Luther, loving the neighbor completes justification. Nonetheless, in both Luther's writings and for the purposes of constructive ethics, unio cum Christo is best understood not as an exhaustive account of integration, but as a helpful model for illuminating certain theological commitments, especially the importance of neighbor love to the God‐relation.     

Re‐reading Bach as a Lutheran Theologian

Abstract : The presence of certain motifs associated with pietism in the music of J. S. Bach has led some scholars to conclude that the composer was profoundly influenced by the 17^th century movement within the German Lutheran Church. This essay argues that Bach was a Lutheran theologian, whose works can be understood only in the closest relationship to Martin Luther. Bach's commitment to Lutheran orthodoxy is evidenced by his erudite grasp of the writings of Luther and his long friendship with Eerdmann Neumeister. But it is in his music that Bach shows himself to be the true heir of the Lutheran tradition. This essay examines Bach's commitment to Scripture, his Christology and his soteriology.     

Globalization in Light of Luther's Eucharistic Economic Ethics

This article suggests that Christ “filling all things,” and abiding in a special way in the assembly of believers, offers moral agency for faithful response to economic structures that gravely threaten Earth's regenerative capacities. That claim is explored through Luther's theology of Christ indwelling creation held together with his eucharistic economic ethics, his call to certain practices, his refusal to minimize the pervasiveness of human sin, and his insistence that in brokenness and defeat the saving God is present and calls forth power. The trends designated by the term “globalization,” as used in this essay, are clarified. Dangers posed to the Earth community by that constellation of trends are illustrated.     

Communicating a Protesting Protestant Heritage

This article opens by wondering, as many critics did during and after World War II, why a tradition named for its protesting impetus is today often marked by complacency and quietism. In conversation with political theorist William Connolly and Rev. Dr. William Barber's activism, this article suggests that Luther's unique articulation of the communicatio idiomatum might offer a compelling and coherent model for Lutheran ethical‐political agency that can provide an alternative to—rather than reinforcing—the modern isolated subject cum homo economicus often associated with idealized images of Luther's protest before the Diet of Worms.     

Contemporaneity and communion: Kierkegaard on the personal presence of Christ

Søren Kierkegaard’s claim that having faith requires being contemporary with Christ is one of the most important, yet difficult to interpret claims across his entire authorship. How can one be contemporary with a figure who existed more than two millennia ago? A prominent answer to this question is that contemporaneity with Christ is achieved through a kind of imaginative co-presence made possible by reading Scripture. However, I argue, this ignores what Kierkegaard thinks about Christ as a living agent, and not a merely historical agent. By drawing on Kierkegaard’s discussion of Christ’s true presence in the sacrament of Communion, I argue that contemporaneity with Christ should be understood in the same way as any other intersubjective relation. That is, I argue, that just as relating to any living person as contemporary requires a kind of two-way attention-sharing, relating to Christ as contemporary, on Kierkegaard’s account, requires a kind of two-way attention-sharing with Christ.     

Rediscovering pneumatology in the “Age of the Spirit”: A North American Lutheran contribution

This essay explores Luther's pneumatology, especially in his sermons on the Gospel of John, might offer resources for “discerning the spirits” in the emerging “age of the Spirit,” as Harvey Cox and Phyllis Tickle have dubbed it, which sees the rise of the “spiritual but not religious” and movements calling for spiritual revolution. The author shows that Luther's insistence that the Spirit work through the given means of “Word and sacrament,” was not intended to limit the Spirit's activity in the world, but rather to protect God's people from those who would wish to use the Spirit for their own means and power.