Podcasts on Lutheran and Reformed Distinctions

Last updated on: January 26, 2015 at 10:31 pm By Jordan Cooper

Throughout the past couple years of recording my podcast, I have dealt heavily with Reformed theology. I have compiled a list of links to these audio resources for easy reference. The Atonement: Limited atonement in the history of the church Refutation of limited atonement part 1 Refutation of limited atonement part 2 Refutation of limited atonement part 3 Refutation of limited atonement part 4 Refutation of limited atonement part 5 The Calvinist teaching of “definite atonement” (Issues etc) Limited... Read more

Luther, Zwingli, and the Hermeneutical Principles of the Lutheran (Christian!) Church

Last updated on: January 26, 2015 at 1:12 pm By nathanrinne

I think one of the more entertaining Martin Luther quotes I have read that pertains to the matter of biblical interpretation is this one: “This is certainly an extraordinary situation! It is just as if I denied that God had created the heavens and the earth, and asserted with Aristotle and Pliny and other heathen that the world existed from eternity, but someone came and held Moses under my nose, Genesis 1 [:11] “In the beginning God created the heavens... Read more

Preaching the Two Kinds of Righteousness

Last updated on: January 25, 2015 at 11:52 pm By Jordan Cooper

A selection from my current work in progress, Hands of Faith: A Historical and Theological Examination of the Two Kinds of Righteousness: The teaching of the twofold righteousness is not merely an academic one, but is immensely practical. Lutheran pastors sometimes feel constricted in preaching on specific good works for fear that doing so will result in legalism and displacing the central article of justification. With this distinction, however, the pastor is given the tools whereby the Christian’s good works... Read more

Book Review of Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition

Last updated on: January 25, 2015 at 11:19 pm By Jordan Cooper

Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition by Roger E. Olson and Christian T. Collins Winn is a brief introduction and defense of Christian pietism. Throughout this work, Olson and Winn seek to dispel common misconceptions about the pietist movement, such as the common contention that pietism is staunchly legalistic, opposed to social action, and intent on achieving Christian perfection. Olson and Winn argue that pietism is an essential forerunner of the contemporary evangelical tradition, and that the contemporary church would... Read more

An Interview with Eric Swensson on Pietism

Last updated on: January 23, 2015 at 9:33 pm By Jordan Cooper

On today’s program I interviewed Rev. Eric Swensson on the history and theology of pietism. Swensson argues that pietism was largely a positive movement in the Lutheran church, though he does not consider himself to be a pietist. This is an important interview for those who are critical or supporters of pietism. Note: I do not consider myself a pietist. I am interested in the movement for historical reasons, as an important aspect of Lutheran history, and believe that we... Read more

Book Review of Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical Tradition

Last updated on: January 23, 2015 at 9:08 pm By Jordan Cooper

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord

Last updated on: January 18, 2015 at 1:36 am By ericphillips

Now that it’s almost Sunday again, and I’m about to preach on the Confession of St. Peter, maybe I should post last week’s sermon. It comes in at just under 15 minutes, which surprises me because it’s normal length on paper. I must have been moving that morning. Read more

Episode 31: The Lord’s Supper ain’t no buffet-table!

Last updated on: January 16, 2015 at 6:32 pm By trentdemarest

Down a man once again, two-thirds of the Pseudepodcast crew wrapped up a discussion on the Lord’s Supper, rambling in peripatetic and pedantic fashion about the third question posed by Dr. Luther viz. the Sacrament: Who should receive it? Their discussion touched on the issue of Christian unity, the importance of discerning the body and blood of Christ, and the practice of closed communion. Related content: “The Sacrament of the Altar and its Relationship to Justification,” by Rev. Dr. Scott... Read more

Blessed Martin Luther: "The Communion of the People"

Last updated on: January 16, 2015 at 6:12 pm By trentdemarest

So far we have dealt with the mass and the function of the minister or bishop. Now we shall speak of the proper manner of communicating the people, for whom the Lord’s Supper was primarily instituted and given this name. For just as it is absurd for a minister to make a fool of himself and publicly preach the Word where no one hears or to harangue himself in an empty room1 or under the open sky, so it is... Read more

A Brief Response to Kolb and Arand on Theosis

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 10:08 pm By Jordan Cooper

An excerpt from a book I’m currently writing: In the context of active righteousness, Kolb and Arand place a creational view of Christian living over and against theosis, arguing: “Luther opposed both the view of psychological transformation and the view of salvation by ontological transformation (both of which make sense only in a Platonic, spiritualizing frame of reference.”[1] Instead, “Luther rejoiced in his creatureliness. It is a great honor to be called a creature.”[2] The theme of deification in Gerhard... Read more