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. 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.
  3. Some explanations are better than others, but they remain our explanations—except if we had some perspective from outside, above, and behind nature.
  4. 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.
  5. Jesus stands before the disciples as the bridge between heaven and earth, and between Old Testament and New Testament.
  6. This week we will take a closer look at God's love in Scripture.
  7. Forty days after giving birth, Mary, along with her husband Joseph, presented their firstborn Son at the temple and "bought" him back with a sacrifice of two small birds. This is known as the "Presentation of Our Lord."
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. That great truth of creedal Christianity – that God is man in Christ – is not set forth for our speculative enjoyment.
  11. The lesson of Malachi reveals God’s love for his people. When the people ask for proof of God’s love, he reminds them of their election.