Document Actions
What's New at Lutheran Forum
Review of "As Christ Submits to the Church" by Alan Padgett
A reader’s first question in response to Alan Padgett’s title might run something along the lines of, “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” Certainly the phrase “as Christ submits to the church” has a biblical cadence to it, imbuing it with authority, and yet it jars against other phrases and concepts that echo about in the Scripture-steeped mind. A reader’s next question, then, might be so bold and accusatory as, “Did he take the phrasing of some particular New Testament verse and flip it around? Is the rephrasing some clever, attention-snaring ploy to advance his (possibly nefarious, certainly liberal) purposes? Or worse” —for our uncertainty gives way inevitably to self-doubt— “is it possible that he is actually quoting the New Testament? Have I missed something? Does Christ submit to the church?”...
Prayers for The Pentecost Season (Series B)
Richard Bansemer, former Bishop of the Virginia Synod of the ELCA, and author of the ALPB's devotional books O Lord, Teach Me to Pray based on the Small Catechism, and We Believe based on the Augsburg Confession, has graciously provided prayers of the church for the Season of Pentecost, series B. All of the prayers reflect the lessons of the day...
Tearing the Soul by Violating the Body
One more on Harry Potter, and then I promise I’m done. In the Potterverse, the whole plot hinges on Voldemort’s creation of Horcruxes: physical objects in which a fragment of his soul have been concealed, which mean that whatever assaults come on his body, he cannot die. Division of body from soul normally spells death plain and simple for mortal creatures, but in a Horcrux the division is turned to a warped sort of advantage. Professor Slughorn, from whom the young Voldemort learns this, assures him “few would want” the kind of existence resulting from such an act. “Death would be preferable.” But to Voldemort, absolutely nothing conceivable is worse than death...
The Resurrection of Saggy, Lumpy, Longing Bodies
Once you start theologizing about Harry Potter, it’s kind of hard to stop. I have been pondering another blog post about all the central theological details of the last HP book that the movie version left out. To my surprise, what I consider the biggest movie error of all was not mentioned: namely, that when Voldemort is finally defeated—through his own death curse rebounding upon him—his body explodes into a billion pieces...
The Presence in the Absence
The Harry Potter series, once giving rise to accusations of seducing young folk with witchcraft, ended a couple of years ago with the most powerful christological themes to come out of fiction since the Chronicles of Narnia. Theological reflections on the Potter saga accordingly abound...