What Happens When the Gospel Isn’t Threatened
Has the modern world taken too strong a dose of the gospel as its inheritance from the Reformation?
Contributors
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum is a graduate of Bethel University (2015) and Luther Seminary (2018), both in St. Paul, Minnesota. He now resides back home in the Pacific Northwest, serving as the pastor of Denny Park Lutheran Church in Seattle. He is also a PhD student in systematic theology at the University of Aberdeen. He spends much of his time thinking about the Reformation, Christian dogmatics, and the relationship between philosophy and theology. He writes about these topics when he can.
Most Recent
Dominus Mortis
Perhaps this past year has prompted the recognition that God is not the tame projection of our highest hopes and dreams. Instead, he is the one who uses even his foes to make a point.
Repent!
The Thinking Fellows talk about repentance.
Post-Christians
Caleb, Scott, and Rod are joined by John Hoyum to talk about reaching out to Post-Christians.
All My Deeds Are Sin
The Fellows talk about good works their necessity and imputation.
Luther at Marburg
Luther's signature insight on the sacraments was that God’s word of promise doesn’t just symbolize an absent reality but that it gives and bestows God’s real favor.
When You Have An Under-Realized Eschatology
Everyone dreads what might happen if political control is captured by the enemy. Paranoia is the characteristic feature of this kind of under-realized eschatology.
The Telos of the Law
Scott and Caleb are joined by John Hoyum to talk about the Reformation shift on the doctrine of the Law.
The Doctrine of Sin
Scott and Caleb are joined by John Hoyum to talk about how Luther and Melanchthon approached the doctrine of sin.
Predestination is for Preaching
Predestination is a promising teaching as Paul teaches it in Romans 8. It’s promising when Christ and his work for us are held firmly in hand.
The Theologian's Craft
Scott and Caleb are joined by John Hoyum to talk about the theologian's craft. What makes one a theologian?
The Difference between Philosophy and Theology: Following in Luther's Footsteps
The gospel does not proclaim the results of our practical reasoning about things we experience, but the horror of God crucified for our sins and at our hands.
The Unreturned Gift
This gospel is not like all other human acts of gift-giving. It doesn’t come with the expectation of a gift in return. His mercy is an unreturned gift.
Gospel Identity is Passive Identity
What fundamentally and truly matters about me is not what I do, but what has been done for me. Discipleship isn’t a virtue or habit that is honed through practice. Instead, the emphasis is placed on the one who has made it his mission to forgive sinners, raise the dead, comfort the troubled, and exorcise the demons that haunt us…
Law, Gospel, and Politics
Christians are free to engage in political matters, even as Christians, but the church as an institution has a responsibility not to lobby for specific political ends, however worthy and just they might be.
Where All Men Are At Home
Christmas is, therefore, the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry, even while he awaits a number of years to gather his disciples and inaugurate his preaching of the kingdom.
Between Fear and Hatred: Two Kinds of Divine Hiddenness
We might not appreciate that God chooses to save us by his word alone, but our discomfort doesn’t make the promise any less effective.
Christ's Limitless Atonement
Terror and even hatred of God are the only things with which divine hiddenness can leave us.
What Does this Mean: Union with Christ
Christ’s indwelling in the Christian must be tied relentlessly to these external and objective events of God’s own action.
Theology and Philosophy: In Conversation with Robert Jenson
Theology is not to simply adopt the positions and presuppositions of philosophy, nor should it reject philosophy.
Preaching and Sola Scriptura
Preaching is simply the verbal bestowal of what Scripture has already given us in written form
Evangelism and the Comfort of Predestination
Divine election is nothing other than God’s freedom and power to choose, and He has made His word the instrument by which He makes His choice about you.
The Comfort of the Two Kingdoms
Only the ministry of the Gospel can forgive sins, even while civil government rightly carries out retribution for lawlessness and disobedience.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Theology of the Cross
I’d like to offer a short reflection on the theme of “worldliness” as it appears in his later work and how that’s connected to an item of his Lutheran heritage: the theology of the cross.
Luther's Counsel for the Bereaved
For Luther, Jesus does something much better for those who grieve than simply identify with them: He brings suffering and evil to an end in His own death.