1. 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).
  2. Human history, our history, is the story of two Adams with two very different encounters with the devil.
  3. 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.
  4. Some explanations are better than others, but they remain our explanations—except if we had some perspective from outside, above, and behind nature.
  5. This is the message of Lent. We are not called to sacrifice for Jesus in order to earn our salvation. Rather, we are called to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
  6. As disciples of Jesus, our righteousness cannot be performed before others, because our righteousness was already performed by Jesus.
  7. When I finished this book, I loved the Bible, and the Bible’s author, even more. And I can’t imagine a better endorsement than that.
  8. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  9. A Christian is a man who desires to enter heaven not through his own goodness and works, but through the righteousness and works of Christ.
  10. This is an excerpt from “The Alien and the Proper: Luther's Two-Fold Righteousness in Controversy, Ministry, and Citizenship,” edited by Robert Kolb (1517 Publishing, 2023). Now available for purchase.
  11. This is an excerpt from “The Alien and the Proper: Luther's Two-Fold Righteousness in Controversy, Ministry, and Citizenship,” edited by Robert Kolb (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  12. It all starts with God; and it all ends with God. He is the alpha and omega of giving and generosity.