Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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Luther had a living Word from God intended to land squarely among sinners.
Only in Christ has God taken upon himself the worst that could ever happen between God and man: he has allowed himself to be rejected.
An immense amount of ink has been spilled contesting and interpreting Bonhoeffer's significance as a figure of Christian history and a theologian of the church.
When we read a good story, we sojourn with the characters and authors upon the trail of longing. Such is the pilgrim’s path.
The sword of the spirit in Holy Scripture does indeed show us our sin, but thanks be to God, it also shows us our Savior.
Aquinas would craft a systematic theology that did with the matter of faith what Aristotle had done with the natural world.
Not only does Scripture command us to maintain purity of doctrine and practice, it also commands us to reconcile with our brother, to seek to end division, and recognize common ground where there is common ground.
Our only claim to fame is that we have been claimed by a God who is consistently drawn to losers!
What I like about Giertz’s approach is the devotional nature of these commentaries. He’s a pastor concerned with what these texts have to say to us today.
Throughout the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Lutherans would work together on the mission field, at home, and abroad.
Bo Giertz attained infamy in Sweden for a humble adherence to unpopular, orthodox practice and doctrine.
What is it to perform the Word? Is it to speak about it, to retell it, to illustrate it, to enlighten it? What?