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The Church in Social
Movements
In Civil Rights
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The Civil Rights Movement of the 60s:
A Personal Perspective
Robert Benne
As a student at Midland College in the late 50s, I became aware of the
civil rights movement going on in the South. The national news
carried reports on sit-ins and demonstrations going on in a
number of southern states.
The Power of One…Community
Rudolf Featherstone
The recent home-going celebrations relevant to the life and
Christian witness of Mrs. Rosa Louise Parks makes available to
us a reflective moment to seriously ponder her impact upon us,
our progeny, and our own witness to the Christian gospel.
The Church in Socially Turbulent Times
William E. Lesher
As I reflect on it from the vantage point of forty years, the
Edmund Petters Bridge in not so sleepy Selma, Alabama marked a
turning point in my ministry, both in what was my second parish
and since. |
In Labor
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Do Not Steal: A Lutheran Vision of Practice of Economic Justice
Alexia Salvatierra
On January 27th, 2004, 200 clergy, lay leaders and workers
participated in a 450 mile pilgrimage to the home of Steve Burd,
the CEO of Safeway corporation, with the goal of appealing to
him as a Christian to settle a strike and lock-out affecting
70,000 Southern California grocery store workers. The
pilgrimage ultimately played a definitive and catalytic role in
settling the strike. |
In the Early Church
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Placing Early Christianity as a Social Movement within its
Greco-Roman Context
Brad Kierkegard
Christianity has frequently been at the forefront of major
social movements, challenging accepted practices and inviting
social transformation. Christian beliefs were essential in such
dramatic movements as challenging
slavery, the political formation of the United States, and the
push for public education. |
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Preaching Politics
Where and how the church is called to be in the world is not
just the subject of much rumination from our best theologians,
it’s a primary concern of our nation’s founding documents. And,
of course, a question that drives much of the work of Journal of
Lutheran Ethics. |
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A Journey of Christian Human Responsibility: Harvey Cox's
Appropriation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jess O. Hale, Jr.
Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology and life inspires
a multitude of responses, ranging from passionate opposition to a
dangerous thinker all the way to emphatic embrace of a saint. With
a large body of contemporary discussion partners included in those
responses, Bonhoeffer’s influence extends far beyond the theological
society that bears his name.
Shipshewana and the American Way of Fear
David Miller
Follow the fear. It will tell you what you need to know about
the challenge of Christian witness in these times. It also reveals
the wound that the incarnation of God in human flesh hungers to
heal—making us, our nation and world more truly human.
Theology in the Context of "World Christianity"
J. Paul Rajashekar
Sometime in the mid 1990’s, the center of gravity of Christianity
shifted from the Global North to the Global South. In a relative
span of one generation, the Christian faith has witnessed an
explosive growth in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Truth Is Stranger than Fiction:
The Da Vinci Code and Early Christianity
Brad Kierkegaard
Since its appearance in April of 2003, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci
Code" has been a remarkable success. Although it
declares itself as a work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code
actually works very hard to blur the lines between fact and fiction.
My fundamental concern is that Christians seem to be so
poorly educated in the foundations of their tradition that many do
not understand the differences between Brown's fictionalizing and
the rich variety of early Christianity.
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Reviews
of "Bioethics: A Primer for Christians"
by Gilbert Meilaender
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Review
by Michael Shahan
Gilbert Meilaender is one of Lutheranism’s brightest lights in
the field of bioethics. He provides
Lutheran clergy and laity with a most welcome challenge to the
pervading secularist outlook of our day.
Review by Martha Ellen Stortz
When they enter the field of bioethics, too many theological
ethicists check their theological credentials at the door. Not
so with Valparaiso University’s Gilbert Meilaender: he never
loses fluency in that first language of faith.
Review by Richard J.
Perry, Jr.
"Bioethics: A Primer for Christians" is a book that seeks to
provide a distinctively Christian perspective
but might have been improved by more conversation with
theologians and other scholars of African descent,
and more guidance for pastoral care.
“Keeping it Real”
While Staying Out of the “Loony Bin:” Social Ethics for
Healthcare Systems
Part 2 in a 2-part Series by Aana Vigen:
Listening to Women of Color with Breast Cancer: Insights for
U.S. Healthcare
I am a Christian social ethicist who contends that adequate
moral inquiry necessarily involves interdisciplinary reflection
and conversation. In my view, the proper place of a
professional ethicist is found in dialogue with others who have
key insights to share. |
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