This post is part of a Patheos-wide symposium on the question “What good is religion?” Read other perspectives here. Few questions are as treacherous as “does religion benefit society?” The true answer is yes, but it’s one of the most dangerous truths you’ll ever come across. And the more socially beneficial a religion is, the more dangerous it is to know that about it. C.S. Lewis, asked whether the faith would solve people’s problems and make them happy, replied: “Christianity... Read more
Fifth in a series of posts on Luther, Lutherans, and calling by Lutheran pastor Adam Roe with responses over at Cranach by Gene Veith. See the whole series at the bottom of this post. They’ll appear from time to time in this space for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy! Lest one imagine that the priesthood of all believers is merely an academic topic for Lutherans, we need only to compare Protestant conceptions of the state of the medieval church... Read more
By Keith Reeves Note: This article is the first of a three-part series on economic production and Jubilee in the Old and New Testaments. Stay tuned for the other two! Jubilee is often proclaimed as a time when debts are forgiven and land is redistributed so everyone can begin again with a fresh start. I have personally heard sermons to that effect, and one does not need to dig too deeply on the Internet to find this view expressed. But... Read more
Those of you who frequent this channel and not just this blog may have noticed a teeny weeny blog post over at M:W’s sister blog The High Calling called “Trapped: The Church Vocation Issue We Don’t Talk About.” In it author Gordon Atkinson notes: There are thousands of ministers out there who no longer wish to be ministers. They no longer want to work in churches. They don’t want to do it anymore. But they don’t know how to leave.... Read more
Fourth in a series of posts on Luther, Lutherans, and calling by Lutheran pastor Adam Roe with responses over at Cranach by Gene Veith. See the whole series at the bottom of this post and read Gene’s response to this post here. They’ll appear from time to time in this space for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy! Luther was quick to note that Christians now have one great high priest, and that Jesus Christ is the both the sacrifice and the... Read more
This post comes to us from Duke Divinity School’s magazine Faith & Leadership, an offering of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. No one was laughing when Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School closed in 2012. Not only were the residents of the South Philadelphia neighborhood losing what had been a bulwark institution for generations; they also had no idea what would become of the landmark building. So when 1812 Productions, Philadelphia’s only all-comedy theater company, arrived about a year... Read more
Third in a series of posts on Luther, Lutherans, and calling by Lutheran pastor Adam Roe with responses over at Cranach by Gene Veith. Read Gene’s response to this post here and see the whole series at the bottom of this post. They’ll appear from time to time in this space for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy! One cannot help but note that the famous Lutheran Augsburg Confession, and its subsequent defense, were written by a layperson. Philip... Read more
What happens when your journey takes you to unexpected places? Read more
Second in a series of posts on Luther, Lutherans, and calling by Lutheran pastor Adam Roe with responses over at Cranach by Gene Veith. See the whole series at the bottom of this post, and Gene’s response to this post here. They’ll appear from time to time in this space for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy! Popular depictions imagine Luther to be an entirely conflicted monk who spent day and night obsessing over his failures. Such opinions too simply... Read more
Five hundred billion dollars. That’s how much economists estimate the US economy loses every year due to employee disengagement. Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In