1. It was meant to be Karlstadt’s moment to shine, but all anyone remembered was Luther.
  2. As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
  3. The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
  4. Church historians attempt to determine why Melanchthon made those controversial decisions.
  5. We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
  6. Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
  7. What might Christians of the Reformation tradition think of claims like these about the nature of salvation?
  8. What if sin was truly removed and what if the one who took it from us had the power to conquer it’s curse and spit in the face of death?
  9. It’s scary to share my struggle and to show that I have cracks because once I’ve shown my cards, I open myself up for judgment.
  10. This is an excerpt from the introduction of “Common Places in Christian Theology: A Curated Collection of Essays from Lutheran Quarterly,” edited by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  11. What we discover in O’Connor’s stories and Martin Luther’s theology is that God’s grace is elusive because the human heart is resistant to it.
  12. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.