Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
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.
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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Ambrose's preaching continues to ring out in churches around the world, especially during Advent when we sing his magnificent, proclamatory hymn, "Savior of the Nations, Come."
Longstanding tradition must be bolstered by something outside of ourselves that also lies outside of the traditions of men.
The crucified and risen Christ comes to renew, restore, and build up.
A Bit of Earth is about the garden, but it’s also about us—as we are made from dirt.
Christ is the beating heart of Christian faith and its only object.
We love hearing about Jesus, but we also love hearing about how much effort we need to exert to truly pull off this whole “Christian life” thing.
No amount of ritual, sacrifice, devotion, or money could ever do what Jesus of Nazareth was sent to accomplish.
Show me a sinner, and I’ll write you a story of a God who saves them.
You have real freedom through the gospel of Jesus Christ, a freedom that doesn’t rest on founders, votes, or power plays.
One Christ rules over all of it. He is the constant, the root that nourishes every estate and every vocation.
No matter how many times we hear this good news, it never stops being good news.
Mary looms large in our theology, our liturgy, our confessions and creeds.