The Turk at the Door: Luther, Islam, and the Fate of Christendom in the 16th Century
By Adam Francisco
06/19/26
12mins

The Turk at the Door: Luther, Islam, and the Fate of Christendom in the 16th Century

It is within this charged atmosphere that Luther’s writings take on their full significance. His responses to the Turkish threat were not merely reactions to military events; they were rooted in a deep theological reflection on the nature of God’s rule over the world, the responsibilities of Christian rulers, and the role of the Church in times of crisis.
AI Can't Save You
Erick Sorensen
Erick Sorensen
06/17/26

AI Can't Save You

Your God is not artificially intelligent, but the source of all intelligence (including yours).
No One Builds Alone: Why the Future of Lutheranism Must Be Built Together
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey |
Mark Mattes
Mark Mattes
06/15/26

No One Builds Alone: Why the Future of Lutheranism Must Be Built Together

The church is not renewed when one pastor tries to do the work of the whole body. The church is renewed when Christ’s body begins to act like a body again.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/31/13

Unlearning Evil: Why I Don’t Make New Year’s Resolutions

“Let’s face it,” my mom once told me, while delivering a lecture on making the right moral decisions in high school, “sinning is fun.”
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/19/13

"I Would Have Surrendered My Bethlehem Hotel Room to Mary and Joseph" and Other Self-Serving Fantasies

But when I let my mind go there, in truth all I’m doing is this: bellying up to the bar of sentimentality to drink my fill of falsehoods that leave me intoxicated with feelings of saintly superiority.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/10/13

Drinking with the Dead: Country Music and the Communion of Saints

The details vary, of course, but we too struggle to repair the heart broken by the tragic death of someone we love. We're dazed, angry, speechless.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/09/13

The Uncivilized Baptist: Why John Beckons Us to the Wilderness

Why does John make you uncomfortable? You know. It’s not just the clothing; it’s not only the hair; it’s not even really the diet. John the Baptist is uncivilized—that’s the problem.
Jessica Thompson
Jessica Thompson
11/20/13

Friends

Have you ever experienced the awkwardness of meeting someone you really enjoy and thinking that it was the start of beautiful friendship, only to find out that they didn’t feel the same way?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/18/13

God: The Biggest Loser

He may be a good sport about it, smile for the camera, congratulate the better man, but secretly he hates the loss and covets another chance at victory.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/25/13

Dying to Pray

The reason is much simpler than that: to learn to pray, you must first die. The language of prayer is taught in the school of death.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/23/13

Following the Trail of Blood: Words for the Church as Reformation Looms Nigh

O such is the crumbling fortress of the god of this world, but how it entices our flesh! For it looks like a house of candy to the Hansels and Gretels who wander through this world.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/22/13

Waking up with Leah: Learning to Love a Disappointing Church

Like the patriarch, Jacob, who after his wedding night, awoke to the wrong wife in his bed, I too one day opened my eyes to find that the Rachel with whom I had fallen in love, for whom I'd labored long years, was not the one beside me as the sun rose.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/16/13

The Three Friends Who Sought to Kill Death: A Cautionary Tale for Preachers

What is most remarkable about this tale is not how clever it is, but that the original storyteller was just as greedy as the three fictional young men were.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/08/13

Nothing Gold Can Stay: The Sermons of Creation

But this dying world is still the world of our living God, who graces us with tokens of a final renewal. As leaf subsides to leaf, and frost to snow, and snow to ice, there comes a day when the gold of nature sprouts anew.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/07/13

Barefoot Before God: Holy Space for a Holy God

The place where God appears or dwells ceases to be common ground; it becomes holy. Dust, rocks, vegetation, wood, metals, everything roundabout soaks in his sacredness.
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