http://lutheranforum.org daily 1 2007-08-15T18:07:56Z http://lutheranforum.org/blogs/the-argument-from-antiquity Every so often you hear in the church the argument: “We’ve never done that before, so we’re not going to start now.” Nowadays this argument is generally invoked against things like the ordination of women or of homosexuals. It has a converse expression, too: “We’ve always done it this way,” and therefore to do otherwise is wrong. This I will term the “argument from antiquity” and honestly I find it quite baffling that pastors (or any other Christians, for that matter) ever use it... No publisher sarah blog 2008-07-15T19:51:31Z News Item http://lutheranforum.org/articles/Mary%20Todd/one_Pilgrim O.P. Kretzmann was president of Valparaiso University when I started there as a freshman. By the time I graduated he had retired to the role of Chancellor and his health was failing, but most Monday evenings a room full of invited seniors literally sat at his feet to learn what we could from this remarkable man about living as Christians in the modern world... No publisher Mary Todd 2008-07-17T16:41:06Z News Item http://lutheranforum.org/blogs/mark2019s-indirect-christology My brother Will once had the misfortune of taking a New Testament class with one of those professors whose chief joy seems to be the destruction of youthful faith for reasons that are more psychological than intellectual. Among other things this professor claimed that “Mark did not believe Jesus was divine in the ontological sense.” Quite apart from the obvious and gleeful departure from Christian dogmatics in a statement like this, the professor was just being an idiot. If you are looking for a full-blown Platonic or other such theory of divinity developed by Mark in which Jesus is subsequently forced to fit, then you will certainly be disappointed. But that says far more about your own preconceptions of divinity than anything else. And if there is one thing all the gospels are determined to do, it is to demonstrate the falsity of your preconceptions of divinity... No publisher sarah blog 2008-06-25T17:11:39Z News Item http://lutheranforum.org/blogs/practical_mass Though mildly irreverent in its portrayal of Roman Catholicism and Christianity in general, I have found the now decade-old British television program Father Ted to be an insightful critique both of Christianity and of human nature in general... No publisher paul blog 2008-06-28T13:36:34Z News Item http://lutheranforum.org/hymns/o-lord-our-lord-your-excellent-name The hymn from our Summer 2008 issue. No publisher Kile Smith Hymns 2008-06-26T18:25:13Z News Item