I came across several articles on Luther's humor--his wit, his satires, and even his scatology, which one scholar found similar to that of another Renaissance monk and scholar, the comical but filthy genius Rabelais--and how this relates to his theology.
A major issue today is immigration, especially as the COVID-era provision expires and we face the prospect of a new mass surge across the border. We are a nation of immigrants, and yet surely immigration must be controlled. What do you think about this issue? What would a good immigration policy look like?
Martin Luther said, “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.” My travails in finding the source of that quote, which stymied even ChatGPT.
This is the 50th anniversary of "The Gulag Archipelago," which documented Communist atrocities. Its author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, said that ideology is what allows people to do evil while considering it to be good. This echoes Biblical teachings. But Christianity too can be distorted into an ideology.
John Kleinig's new book "God's Word: A Guide to Holy Scripture" will kindle or rekindle your love of the Bible. "I do not intend to set out an argument to prove anything about the Bible as God's written word, let alone explain its divine nature and inspiration," Kleinig writes. Rather, he shows us what it does. (A free post) Read more
The plan to make every black Californian a millionaire, the results of legalizing marijuana, and the proposal to eliminate traffic cops.
Someone sent me this video from Flame, the rapper who became a Lutheran, in which he interacts with my book Spirituality of the Cross. He now has an M.A. from Concordia Seminary, the Extra Nos Academy website, and a book coming out from CPH telling his story. (A free post) Read more
What do you appreciate about your church? You can focus on your local congregation, its larger church body, the theological tradition it is a part of, or all of the above.
Progressives condemn the global spread of American pop-culture and corporations as "cultural imperialism." They have long opposed Christian missionaries for "imposing Western values" on other cultures. But in trying to impose a progressive woke agenda on countries that find it repellant, President Biden's foreign policy is purposefully imposing Western values on other cultures and committing cultural imperialism.
Parents have long worried about the effects of "peer pressure" on their children. Experts call it "social contagion" and are seeing it as a factor in the jump in the number of transgender teenagers. But it also can account for other cultural syndromes.
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