Tag Archives: faith
All Hallows’ Eve, Reformation Day, and Two Anniversaries
According to legend, 493 years ago today Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on indulgences on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, sparking off what came to be the Reformation. Of the ninety-five, these two are the … Continue reading
From Martin Luther’s “A Brief Introduction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels”
“The gospel is a story about Christ, God’s and David’s Son, who died and was raised and is established as Lord. This is the gospel in a nutshell. Just as there is no more than one Christ, so there is … Continue reading
An Interview with Jared Wicks, S.J., Catholic scholar of Luther
Jared Wicks is a theologian and writer at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. We asked him a few questions about his unusual vocation. How did you as a Jesuit become a scholar of Luther? My pre-ordination theology studies … Continue reading
…and the Methodists Get in on the Action!
It was amazing enough that Lutherans and Catholics together for the first time in their history made a mutual doctrinal statement together in the Joint Declaration. But nobody expected the amazing follow-up: the world’s Methodist churches signing on as well! The … Continue reading
Australia Ahead of Everybody Else
While the final text of the Joint Declaration was undergoing review in the Catholic Church and in the member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, the folks Down Under were way ahead of the game. They looked into the JD … Continue reading
Sweden and Finland Get Justified Too
The international agreement in the Joint Declaration, with both churches signing at the highest level, was a huge breakthrough. The JD is binding and permanent. But the reality is that nothing is binding and permanent unless the whole church receives … Continue reading
The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification: So Much More Exciting Than It Sounds
This bulkily named declaration is exciting, first of all, because it’s the first time ever that the Lutheran and Catholic churches mutually committed to a statement about the Christian faith. Given the range and depth of their accusations against each … Continue reading
A Whole New Take on the Church
After 1928’s Mortalium Animos, you wouldn’t expect such a change of heart in the Catholic church in such a short time. But many exciting things were happening. Brilliant Catholic scholars like Henri de Lubac and Yves Congar, among many others, … Continue reading
From Martin Luther’s Letter to George Spenlein, April 8, 1516
“Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. For in our age the temptation to presumption besets many, especially those … Continue reading
From Martin Luther’s “The Freedom of a Christian”
“Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in … Continue reading
Wait, Wait… continued
The question at hand is: how is ecumenism even possible? If we disagreed enough in the past to split into different churches, how can we claim sudden agreement now without totally selling out everything we believe in? I already covered … Continue reading
From Martin Luther’s “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church”
“God does not deal, nor has he ever dealt, with man otherwise than through a word of promise, as I have said. We in turn cannot deal with God otherwise than through faith in the Word of his promise. He … Continue reading
