There has been some recent discussion on the “What Would Pless Read?” group on facebook regarding the priority of union with Christ in the ordo salutis in a discussion of my theology of Christification. Dr. Jack Kilcrease has been an adamant critic of the position taken by myself, as well as that of Rev. Dr. Eric Phillips regarding the union of faith which precedes justification (subjectively). These criticisms have appeared here as well as on other websites. I would like... Read more
This sermon was preached on Romans 8:28-39 at Hope Lutheran Church in Brighton, IA on July 27, 2014. Here is the message. Read more
Gottlied Christoph Adolf von Harless (1806-1879) was one of the most influential Lutheran theologians in nineteenth century Germany. Though a disciple of Hegel’s philosophy in his early years, Harless’ developed thought arose from a consistent reading of the Lutheran Confessions. He was a professor of New Testamen at the university of Erlangen, where he promoted a rigorous Lutheran confessionalism in contradistinction to the liberalizing tendencies of the nineteenth century. Alone with his friend Wilhelm Lohe, Harless attempted to bring the... Read more
On today’s program I finished my response to an article by Federal Vision leader Rich Lusk titled “Why the Law/Gospel Paradigm is Flawed,” which can be found here. I discussed the relationship between the law and promise, the nature of the Mosaic administration, and the broad and narrow sense of the term “Law.” Here is the program Read more
Trawled from the now kaput blog of Rev. Paul McCain. Rev. McCain writes… From time to time, I hear that there are still some Lutherans who are very confused about the doctrine of justification, specifically the aspect of it known as objective justification, the teaching that God was in the world reconciling it to Himself through the death of His Son. This was an issue of some moment years ago when a dear friend of my mentor, Kurt Marquart, had... Read more
This work is based on the manuscripts of Sartorius’ lectures on Christology which were given at Tartu University in 1831. These lectures discuss the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and incidentally touch on several other aspects of Christian theology. Sartorius’ manner of proceeding is devotional rather than dogmatic, though traditional Lutheran systematic theology stands behind Sartorius’ words. About the author: Ernst Wilhelm Christian Sartorius (1797-1859), was a German orthodox Lutheran theologian with a prolific theological career. He studied... Read more
. Long defeat? Imitate Josh Barro?! For the long defeat thing, see here. For the Barro bit, read on. This is a reflection based on a compilation of recent Rod Dreher blog posts (if you do not regularly check out Rod Dreher, I strongly advise you to do so). N.Y. Times reporter Josh Barro wants anti-LGBT attitudes to be ruthlessly stamped out. Of course, in the current environment in which the Roman Catholic Church is beyond morally compromised, all of... Read more
From Ch. 3, “American Lutheranism, 1961-76: A Period of Extremes”… (Nota Bene: boldface emphases mine. — TDD) “Gospel reductionism” was a term coined in the Missouri Synod during the 1960s. The term had its birth in the battle over the normative nature and extent of the Law and Gospel principle implicit in Lutheran theology. In the 1960s some theologians began to invoke Law-Gospel as the ruling or the only hermeneutical presupposition in Lutheran theology. They adopted this hermeneutic as a... Read more
This is the beginning of #WeidnerWeek, and we will have new releases each day from now until Friday. Today’s release is Revere Franklin Weidner’s book An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology. Here is the book description: Revere Franklin Weidner authored a number of books on dogmatic theology, which together comprise an almost complete treatment of the various loci of systematic theology. This first volume is Weidner’s theological prolegomena. This work covers a variety of topics such as: the definition of theology, the... Read more
This sermon was preached on July 20, 2014 at Hope Lutheran Church in Brighton, IA on Romans 8:18-27. Here is the message. Read more
Just and Sinner
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