Posts tagged "Martin Luther"
Identity, Division, and Luther’s “Evil Name”
Identity / Reformation / Religion / Theology

Identity, Division, and Luther’s “Evil Name”

by Mockingbird on May 29, 2013 • 2 Comments

Another quick one from new Mockingbirder Win Jordan.

Muzafer Sherif’s famous “Robbers’ Cave Experiment” says that we embrace division—not just that we are happy with divisions, but that we actively seek them out. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that we develop our identities and our community by way of our divisions. (If you want proof of this, just introduce yourself as “Democrat” or “Republican” at your next mixer and see how you’re received.)

It certainly has not and is not different for the Christian. We look to theologians, churches, or denominations to define the “Faith” marker of identity.…

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Tiger Woods: Theologian of Glory
Celebrity / Sports / Theology

Tiger Woods: Theologian of Glory

by Nick Lannon on Apr 3, 2013 • No Comments

Tiger Woods’ new ad campaign (or, more accurately, Nike’s new ad campaign featuring Tiger Woods) is making the rounds. Featuring Woods staring down a put, the tagline is “Winning Takes Care of Everything,” a quote attributed to “Tiger Woods, World #1.” There has been much debate about the taste level of this ad, seeing as how Tiger Woods remains a divorcee with less than full custody of his children. Has “everything” really been taken care of? Is this an appropriate message to be sending to children?

The great Gerhard Forde (via the greater Martin Luther) talked about…

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A Lenten Devotion: The Difficulty of Receiving and the Greatness of the Giver
Bible / Testimony / Theology

A Lenten Devotion: The Difficulty of Receiving and the Greatness of the Giver

by Lauren R.E. Larkin on Mar 18, 2013 • 3 Comments

‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ Nehemiah 8:9-10

As the people weep and mourn for the sinful, law-breaking ways, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites call the people to look no longer at themselves but…

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Intellectual Honesty, A Theology of the Cross, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
Fashion / Psychology / Sports / Theology

Intellectual Honesty, A Theology of the Cross, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

by Nick Lannon on Feb 20, 2013 • 8 Comments

My four-year-old daughter Hazel is a Sports Illustrated subscriber. It’s a complicated issue of expiring airline miles; don’t ask. This week, the annual swimsuit edition was delivered. I remember, as a younger man, subscribing to SPORT Magazine (it was a cheaper monthly option than the weekly Sports Illustrated) and eagerly awaiting the swimsuit issue. SPORT, it should be noted, performed a service to its libido-crazed readership: it actually produced a normal sports-themed magazine to put around the models in bikinis.  In other words, when your mom looked askance at the cover, you could always complain that “it just took pages…

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The Gospel According to Hoosiers, Part 2: Hickory’s Leper and the Love that Takes No Account
Film / Grace in Practice / Sports

The Gospel According to Hoosiers, Part 2: Hickory’s Leper and the Love that Takes No Account

by Matt Patrick on Feb 4, 2013 • No Comments

In part 1, we glossed over the moment in which Coach Dale experienced grace from i-dotting and t-crossing extraordinaire, Ms. Myra Fleener. This installment will focus on another unlikely, yet incredibly encouraging relationship.

The town of Hickory has a town drunk and his name is “Shooter” Flatch, who is also one of Coach Dale’s players’ father. Not only is Shooter an impossible alcoholic, he loves the game of basketball with endearing zeal, and has impressive insight into the sport. Coach Dale and Shooter have a very interesting (and hilarious) relationship. As noted in the last post, the suspicious town of Hickory…

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The Duality of Lance Armstrong: Simul Jerk et Humanitarian
Celebrity / Interviews / Reformation / Sports

The Duality of Lance Armstrong: Simul Jerk et Humanitarian

by Matt Schneider on Jan 24, 2013 • 3 Comments

I have been in mourning over the revelation of cyclist Lance Armstrong’s guilt for several months now since the preponderance of evidence seemed to point toward his having indeed doped (using banned performance enhancing substances) during his seven-year Tour de France reign. Of course, the man himself finally confirmed his guilt last week during a highly publicized two-part interview/confession with Oprah Winfrey. Now I find myself at a new place with the story since I am finally viewing Armstrong (and the many other cyclists allegedly guilty of doping) through a theological lens. In fact, I found Armstrong’s confession to be…

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Bible / Christmas / Reformation / Sermons

Rod Rosenbladt Reads Martin Luther’s Christmas Sermon

by Matt Schneider on Dec 25, 2012 • No Comments

This recording of the Great Reformer’s Christmas sermon was posted by the good folks at the White Horse Inn a couple of years ago (it was dug up from their tape archives). It’s a great read and an even better listen from the lips of Dr. Rosenbladt. I should note that it isn’t one of Luther’s actual sermons but an assembly of pieces from his many Christmas writings, put together by Roland Bainton as he envisioned Luther might have preached them.

A New Jeremy Lin Already?
Law / Sports / Theology

A New Jeremy Lin Already?

by Nick Lannon on Dec 19, 2012 • No Comments

There’s a Chinese player at Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy (a school famous for producing NBA talent such as Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith) named Chris Tang. He toiled in total obscurity until those magical nights last winter when “Linsanity” struck New York. Now, good luck finding his name anywhere on the internet without an attendant mention of Jeremy Lin. Tang has been labelled, for better and worse, “the next Jeremy Lin.”

It’s better for Tang now because his profile is exponentially higher. He has a much greater chance of attracting the attention of major college recruiters and NBA…

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Martin Luther on the Humility of Mary and the Work of God
Christmas / Reformation

Martin Luther on the Humility of Mary and the Work of God

by David Zahl on Dec 18, 2012 • 1 Comment

A couple of beautiful excerpts from the Great Reformer’s Sermon on the Visitation, in which he sounds very much like the progenitor of Alcoholics Anonymous that he is. Taken from Martin Luther’s Christmas Book that Roland Bainton put together (indispensable reading this time of year), these paragraphs are part of Dr. Luther’s exposition of The Magnificat, AKA Mary’s song in response to news delivered by the angel Gabriel:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.” (Luke 1: 46-48a)

The stress should not be on…

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Why Then the Law? The Persistence of Original Unbelief
Law / Reformation / Religion / Theology

Why Then the Law? The Persistence of Original Unbelief

by JDK on Nov 8, 2012 • 3 Comments

One of the great tragedies of the Christian life is captured in Article 9 of the 39 Articles of Religion in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Article 9 is entitled “Of Original or Birth-Sin,” and argues that “Original Sin,”

Is not found merely in the following of Adam’s example (as the Pelagians foolishly say). It is rather to be seen in the fault and corruption which is found in the nature of every person who is naturally descended from Adam. The consequence of this is that man is far gone from his original state of righteousness. In his own nature…

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The Guilt Hangover: Disbelief, Shame, and Love
Relationships / Theology

The Guilt Hangover: Disbelief, Shame, and Love

by Lauren R.E. Larkin on Nov 8, 2012 • 3 Comments

A friend of mine recently made the following Twitter-confession:

Sometimes it’s really hard to accept being loved. Sometimes, my husband makes me get out of bed, and then cleans the kitchen and makes me coffee while I’m in the shower. And I still have to tell myself “he’s not mad at me for oversleeping; he doesn’t think I’m lazy; he’s not impatient with me to finish here.” He’s never like that. Ever. He’s consistently tender. [why is my head so messed up?] I call this “guilt hangover” and it’s just stupid. God isn’t mad at me. Kevin isn’t mad at me.…

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Why Then The Law? Part 4: Vanity, Mortality, and the Shipwreck of the Soul
Law / Reformation / Religion / Theology

Why Then The Law? Part 4: Vanity, Mortality, and the Shipwreck of the Soul

by JDK on Nov 1, 2012 • 1 Comment

We have come to a point in our discussion where we have ruled out a few of the more traditional ways of misunderstanding the role and function of the law in the life of the world. We have seen that the attempt to do away with the law as something that only applied “back then,” (a’la Marcion) rested upon a misunderstanding of its continued pedagogical role in leading people to Christ, i.e., its end. On the other hand, we saw how attempting to rescue the law from the Marcions of the world by boiling it down to a set of…

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Film / Grace in Practice / Reformation / Suffering

Happy Reformation Day! Martin Luther on Robbers, Suicide and the Mercy of God

by David Zahl on Oct 31, 2012 • 1 Comment

The 2003 movie Luther may have left a bit to be desired, aesthetically speaking, but it did contain a few undeniably powerful moments, not the least of which is the scene–based on a comment in his Table Talks–in which the Great Reformer encounters a local suicide. Be warned, it’s (appropriately) heavy:

Why Then The Law? Part 3: Letter, Spirit and Life
Bible / Law / Religion / Theology

Why Then The Law? Part 3: Letter, Spirit and Life

by JDK on Oct 25, 2012 • 1 Comment

In our last installment, the argument was made that in an attempt to shore up appreciation and respect for the Old Testament—replete with its necessary connections to the history of Israel–by asserting that its importance was found in the fact that it contained the “moral law,” actually ended up helping to marginalize its truly radical claims. By the 13th Century, when Thomas Aquinas had come and reached full flowering as the towering mental giant of the Middle Ages, the 10 commandments had become the model for “natural reason,” and virtually synonymous with “natural law,” in a way that further solidified their claims…

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In Bad Company with Christian (Criminal) Heroes
Law / Music / Relationships / Theology

In Bad Company with Christian (Criminal) Heroes

by jason redcay on Oct 1, 2012 • No Comments

I started wrestling with the idea of dual identity a few months back, having discovered ing Gerhard Forde’s A More Radical Gospel a section where Martin Luther describes simul et justus et peccator, which means simultaneously saint and sinner. Around that same time, the new NBC series Awake was coming out, and I began to see some parallels when I saw the show’s illustration of living in 2 realities at the same time. In the series, detective Britten is in a car crash along with his wife and son. After the crash Britten discovers that every time he goes to sleep…

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