Pastors and basketball are on my mind these days. Last month Concordia Seminary held its fifth annual “Hoops for Hope” alumni event. Twenty former “Preachers” (yes, that’s our mascot) laced up their sneakers and stepped back onto the hardwood at Eldon Pederson Fieldhouse. With more than twenty players on the current squad, we divided the ..
The entire world is watching the crisis unfold in Ukraine. The horrors of war come to us via TV and the mass media 24/7. We hear reports from the field, see videos of the action, and listen to pundits interpret the war. How should we Christians think about this war from a theological perspective? Here ..
On Friday, January 21, 2022, Dr. Jeff Gibbs, Professor Emeritus of Exegetical Theology led Concordia Seminary’s annual Pre-Lenten Workshop on his new sermon series, “You Meant if for Evil, But God Meant it for Good.” Regarding the workshop, Dr. Gibbs remarked that it was, “most importantly a genuine opportunity to hear and study and be ..
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 ..
Concordia Seminary Professor Rick Marrs recently discussed issues related to Christian counseling and his book Making Christian Counseling More Christ Centered on the podcast Ringside Preachers. Podcast
This letter was written to a friend. Names have been changed to safeguard identity. Dear John, It is hard to believe that you have lived at the retirement home for nearly two years. When I look back upon the timing of your move just before COVID turned things upside down, I can see the hand ..
“But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do” (Acts 9:6). With these words, Jesus calls Saul of Damascus to go into the city in preparation for the beginning of his ministry as Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Through the centuries, the risen Lord has continued to ..
Editor’s note: This year, sadly, with all of the ambiguities that we continue to experience in the course of this pandemic, we had to cancel our Faith and Film festival. It was especially unfortunate this year since we also had our first ever short-film contest. The theme of the contest was “hope.” And so, because ..
Editor’s note: This year, sadly, with all of the ambiguities that we continue to experience in the course of this pandemic, we had to cancel our Faith and Film festival. It was especially unfortunate this year since we also had our first ever short-film contest. The theme of the contest was “hope.” And so, because ..
In the United States pragmatism is the very air we breathe. It goes back to our country’s roots with Benjamin Franklin and others. We are continually inundated with videos and blogs and books from self-improvement gurus. There is a lot of pressure on preachers and teachers to make every message about you, your daily life, ..
The familiar words of the Patriarch Joseph, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20 ESV) capture something of the uniqueness of Luke’s account of Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection. Enemies, faithless disciples, hapless crowds, pragmatic powerbrokers, and Satan himself are all arrayed against the perfectly innocent ..
Here’s the understatement of the New Year: Pastors are busy people! Coming out of the hectic Christmas season, pastors look a bit worn out as Epiphany begins. Yet the tasks and demands of pastoral work are ongoing: Preaching, teaching, worship, spiritual care and visitation, mission and evangelism, leadership and administration, and works of mercy and ..
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 Preachers Studio series. Each sermon was preached during chapel services ..
Now I understand Lionel Richie. “Easy like Sunday morning.” While serving in the parish, Sunday mornings were busy, and they gave birth to more activity as conversations with members would prompt follow-up visits. Sunday mornings are far more relaxed now. Christmas, too, was a far more relaxed pace than what I have known in the ..
Browse the interactive version above, download here as a pdf, or purchase print copies at the online store. Going beyond H. Richard Neibuhr’s famous paradox model on “Christ and Culture,” Dr. Paul Raabe contends for a biblical, dynamic tension that exists between the culture and the faith. Using the image of a house, Raabe explores ..
Browse the interactive version above, download here as a pdf, or purchase print copies at the online store. From Dr. Sánchez: According to the United Nations, more than 65 million people (about 23 million of them refugees) are counted as forcibly displaced due to persecution, war, and violence. Only one percent are resettled each year, ..