By Philip Bartelt

12/12/25

8mins

A Review of "Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus" by Wade Johnston

Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.

Matthew L. Rubinstein

12/11/25

A Tale of Two Mothers

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.

Christmas with the Herdmans: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Sam P. Schuldheisz

12/10/25

Christmas with the Herdmans: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

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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Wade Johnston

01/30/23

God's Right Hand

Christ our Word, as with a two-edged sword, burst the devil's belly.

Bruce Hillman

01/27/23

I Don't Want Eternal Life, It's Too Long

I think the problem with the idea of eternity is that we do not have any direct experience of it, but we encounter enough of its possibility to be unsettling.

Bradley Gray

01/25/23

Consider Jesus

All of Scripture, every last syllable of it, is meant to drive us to "consider Jesus," the One who comes to "make us right" by gifting us his righteousness.

Donavon Riley

01/23/23

And From That Very Hour, You Are Healed

Jesus not only healed her daughter, but he also gave himself to her. Wherever she went from then on, he was with her.

John Bombaro

01/19/23

True Tolerance

We assert, we herald, the truth about God becoming King of the world in and through Jesus of Nazareth alone. It is our public announcement.

Ryan Couch

01/16/23

I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

God gives us the power and authority to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to burdened sinners who entrust us with their pain, guilt, and defeat.

John Bombaro

01/13/23

Very Superstitious: A History of the Sign of the Cross

The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.

Haroldo Camacho

01/10/23

Another Look at the "Loving" Expert on the Law

The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.

Luke Kjolhaug

01/02/23

A Toast to the End of Ourselves

Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.

John W. Hoyum

12/14/22

Finding the Catholic Luther: A Review of Martin Luther and the Rule of Faith by Todd Hains

Hains offers a novel yet simple contention: Luther is most catholic where he is boldest.

Wade Johnston

12/09/22

We Know All the Signs

By his first Advent in the flesh, through his second Advent with bread and wine and water and Word, we await his third Advent at the end.

Donavon Riley

12/08/22

Isaiah Prepares the Way for Jesus

We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.

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