Editors Note: This book review was first published as the Featured Review in the Summer edition of Concordia Journal, 2021, Vol 47, No. 3, pp. 71-73. THE WEIRDEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. By Joseph Henrich. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2020. 704 pages. Hardcover. $35.00. Harvard professor Joseph Henrich’s book ..
By Robert Rosin “Greeks seek wisdom,” Paul once wrote, and they had plenty to offer. Over the centuries, sages had tried to make sense of things with varied results. Their wisdom of the time had come to accept the idea of fundamental chaos as a starting reality, which they then sought to overlay with some ..
Oxford University Press has published (April 2014) The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology, in its series of “Handbooks” to aid study of a wide variety of subjects. Editors of this Handbook include Irene Dingel, co-director of the Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (heading its Department of Western Church History) in Mainz, Germany, and professor of ..
By Robert Rosin Behold the Host Apocalyptic literature is not confined to Christianity, of course. So with a text from the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John it is important to understand its place at the end of the New Testament, and in Christian thought. In popular parlance, apocalyptic literature is seen today as a ..
The journey from text to pulpit can be a long and winding road, filled with false starts, surprising discoveries, and hard choices along the way. On a semi-regular basis, the homiletics faculty of Concordia Seminary invites you to walk the road with the preacher in the Preacher’s Studio series. Each sermon was preached during chapel services at ..
By Robert Rosin The Grace is in the Details “Have I got a deal for you.” No sooner do we hear those words than we stiffen and step back. Too good to be true? Probably. So often—too often—talk is cheap, and, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. So those who heard ..
Homiletical Helps on LSB Series C—Old Testament
by Robert Rosin
By Robert Rosin Although the reading begins with verse 14, the context from the start of the chapter is helpful. Nicodemus, a learned man, an expert in the law, and a leader of the religious community (Sanhedrin), came by night to see Jesus—to see but not be seen. Darkness provided cover, giving Nicodemus hope that ..